Following Encounters Short Film Festival in 2017, I was moved to write about a film that, after repeat viewings, has deeply affected me and become of my most highly rated contemporary works, Mark Jenkin’s Bronco’s House. My article appears for BFI Sight & Sound online, “Mark Jenkin’s short movie about the Cornish housing crisis was…
Re-imagining Reality: 61st BFI London Film Festival
My report on the 61st BFI London Film Festival for Senses of Cinema includes review and rumination on Alex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned, Sinéad O’Shea’s A Mother Brings Her Son to be Shot, Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris: New York Public Library, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Paddy Considine’s Journeyman, Kogonada’s Columbus and Warwick…
Is a House a Home?
As part of the Exeter Phoenix’s Two Short Nights film festival, I was asked to curate a short film programme on behalf of 20th Century Flicks. Given the current housing problems in the UK, it struck me that the question of what makes a house a home is was ripe for discussion. Here, I have…
Immersive Encounters: virtual reality, real bodies
At this year’s Encounters Short Film Festival I checked out all of the VR they had to offer – with varying results. While I admired the attempt to make a solitary art cinematic, my body was at a loss in its engagement… so I wrote about it for BFI’s Sight & Sound online.
Cinema Rediscovered Blog
At this year’s Cinema Rediscovered we launched our inaugural talent development programme in the shape of a critics day – The State of Things: Film Critics Day. Ahead of the programme, film critic Mark Kermode visited the Watershed to deliver the Second Annual Philip French Memorial Lecture, which I wrote about for the CR blog:…
Triple R Outside Broadcast: Plato’s Cave at MIFF at the Forum
After three years abroad, I returned home for a special guest appearance on film criticism radio show and podcast Plato’s Cave. On Monday August 7th we presented a very special live outside broadcast at the Melbourne International Film Festival at the Forum. The following week saw my second guest appearance to discuss more MIFF gems…
Pioneering Women and Getting the Hell Out of There
I had the pleasure of serving as a mentor on the critics campus at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. Following the festival, I wrote about the extraordinary Pioneering Women programme for Desist Film. Also screening at the festival was Kriv Stenders’ new film, Australia Day, which I found surprisingly affecting.
A number of (non) essential ideas for (resisting) understanding in the work of Basim Magdy; and the world.
I will be introducing a screening of Basim Magdy’s beautiful short films at Bristol’s Arnolfini, Thursday May 18th. If you are or were unable to make the screening, you can read my short blog post for Arnolfini here: Notes from the road: an epic and enchanting excursion through the films of Basim Magdy. I have…
Fresh Frontiers: five of the best Scottish short films at the Glasgow SFF 2017
After serving on the Scottish and International short film juries at GSFF 2017, I wrote about five impressive, Scottish shorts that challenge the status quo for Sight & Sound.
The Fits: gender, sports and stereotypes – standing out and fitting in
The Fits is a new release film I adored, for its mesmeric and poetic aural and visual affect as well as its treatment of complicated gender politics in adolescence. I wrote about it for the BFI, and the post was re-published on Conversations About Cinema. Sunday May 28th I’ll be joining Kelli Weston and Elinor Cleghorn…
