Ben Apfelbaum

LAST CHRISTMAS : LIGHTS UP THE YULETIDE SCREEN

Every year Hollywood seems to produce a commercial film  about Christmas. This year’s entry film is entitled LAST CHRISTMAS.

The AACTA bar at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction was festooned with Christmas decorations complete with elves

In attendance was director Paul Feig sartorially resplendent in a dark suit and tie complete with a cream waistcoat. Feig has stated that whilst on set he always directs his films in a suit and tie.

His breakout film  was ‘Bridesmaids’ and leading actresses and comedians clamour to work for him.

Emma Thompson  brought the script based on George Michael’s ‘Last Christmas’ to Feig for his consideration. In fact, a self confessed  Anglophile, he leapt at the chance to direct  but also stated that it would not be like Richard Curtis’ Christmas film from a few years ago as there would be more drama as well as comedy in his effort

On James Corden’s The Late Late show shown in Sydney two days later local time, after he had flown from Australia back to Los Angeles, and still sartorially elegant, he told of the difficulties of filming on location in London. Night shoots would commence at 2am and on several occasions at Piccadilly Square he was propositioned by drunken young women mistaking him for a wealthy aristocrat!

The film .stars Madison Ingoldsby, Emma Thompson, Boris Isakovic Lucy Miller, Henry Golding, Michele Yeoh and Emilia Clarke.

LAST CHRISTMAS is in cinemas now.

All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.