Unfortunately, Sir Derek Jacobi has been forced to withdraw from the list of guest speakers at the Graham Greene International Festival 2012 in Berkhamsted (Hertfordshire, England, UK) because of his filming commitments.
Prof Thomas P. O’Connor (above; at the gravestone of Graham Greene in the lower photograph) (School of Media, Arts and Design at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA) will take his place at 3.45pm on Saturday 29th September 2012, when he will introduce a screening of his documentary film titled Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene (USA, 2013) in Deans' Hall, Berkhamsted School. The film is narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi, and the voice of Graham Greene is spoken by the actor Bill Nighy.
“Considering Greene's worldwide literary stature and colourful life,” Prof O'Connor said, “it's remarkable that there hasn't been an American-produced, in-depth documentary on him until now.”
The film was photographed on high-definition video, and it is scheduled for a national prime-time broadcast in the USA in Spring 2013.
This film includes contributions from novelist John Le Carré, psychologist Kay Jamison, critic David Lodge, Time magazine's correspondent Bernard Diederich, former CIA Inspector General Fredrick Hitz, and Greene's daughter Caroline Bourget.
Prof O'Connor's production was enhanced by a distinguished production team, including executive producer Barbara De Fina (GoodFellas, The Age of Innocence), cinematographer Allen Moore (The Civil War, Baseball), and London based sound engineer Trevor Hotz (Operatunity).
Since 1979 Prof O'Connor has written and produced over fifty documentaries and plays for television, several of which have won major awards. He has travelled widely for his productions — throughout Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Mexico. His film Fatima (USA, 1984) was the first documentary shown nationwide in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. During a NASA fellowship in 1998, he wrote and produced a documentary on the first manned lunar landing. A production company in Los Angeles has taken an option on his screenplay titled Fools of Time.
The Graham Greene Birthplace Trust apologises for the alteration to the programme originally published, and hopes that members of the public will be delighted with the film and talk by Prof O’Connor.