2018 Director: Ari Aster Starring: Toni Colette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Dowd Words – Carly Stevenson Few contemporary horror films of the last decade have been capable of stirring the kind of slow-building, unrelenting anxiety that Hereditary produces in its audience. The use of imagery and sound is masterful, the casting is…
Cult Corner: Aelita, Queen of Mars
1924 Director: Yakov Protazanov Starring: Nikolai Tseretelli, Valentina Kuindzhi, Pavel Pol, Yulia Solntseva, Konstantin Eggert, Nikolai Batalov Words – Nathan Scatcherd Aelita, Queen of Mars is a rare beast – a silent, dreamlike Soviet sci-fi romance, splitting its time between two distinct settings. The first is set in contemporary Soviet Russia, examining the struggling marriage…
Doel
2018 Director: Frederik Solberg Words – Christian Abbott What does it mean to call a place home and what would you do to protect it? This very question seems to be at the heart of Frederik Solberg’s film – Doel. Named after the Belgian town itself, it is surrounded by an immense industrial landscape –…
The Eyes of Orson Welles
2018 Director: Mark Cousins Words – Christian Abbott Orson Welles was and is one of the most beloved and well known of Hollywood’s pantheon. He was an actor, director, radio personality and as Mark Cousins explores here, a painter. Many would question what more could be said about Welles, there are countless books, films, television…
A Northern Soul – Director Q&A
2018 A Northern Soul Director: Sean McAllister Words – Christian Abbott Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018 kicked off this year with the world premiere of A Northern Soul, the latest film from director/filmmaker Sean McAllister. It sees him return to his home town of Hull after a career of exploring the world through cinema. Hull recently became…
Boys Who Like Girls – Director Q&A
Boys Who Like Girls follows the work of Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), a group in India addressing gender issues, and the story of one boy, Ved, as he deals with family, school and the challenging culture of gender inequality. See our full review of the film >here<. We spoke to Inka Achte, director…
For The Birds – Director Q&A
Richard Miron, director of For the Birds, reflects on discovering protagonist Kathy Murphy’s surreal story while studying his undergraduate degree at Yale University and the profound impact of emotional connection when making a documentary. You can see our full review of the film >here<. Reel Steel: I suppose the first question I really want…
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
2018 Director: RaMell Ross Words – Rhiannon Topham Distinctively intimate and poetic, the longitudinal not-a-narrative narrative of Hale County This Morning, This Evening replaces traditional storytelling with a more immersive kind of portraiture, as told through a sociological observant lens. By fully engrossing himself in the Alabama community he comes to live and work in,…
Too Beautiful: Our Right To Fight – Director Q&A
Maceo Frost may be “100 percent new to this whole world” of successful documentary making, but following the glowing reception at the world premiere of his new film Too Beautiful: Our Right to Fight, you’d be forgiven for assuming he were a master craftsman with decades of practice. Too Beautiful is the personal story of…
When The War Comes
2018 Director: Jan Gebert Words: Josh Senior When the War Comes is a startling look at the rise of neo-fascism in Slovakia, and in particular the young paramilitary group ‘Slovak Recruits’ and their firebrand leader Peter Švrček. The Recruits are a small group of young men who style themselves as radical patriots, and protectors of…
Home Games
2018 Director: Alisa Kovalenko Words: Josh Senior Home Games is the debut feature length documentary from director Alisa Kovalenko. In her film we follow the plight of Alina Shilova, a gifted footballer who is also living on the margins of society in Kiev, Ukraine. Kovalenko spent two years practically living with Alina and her family…
Bruce Lee & The Outlaw
2018 Director: Joost Vandebrug Words – Christian Abbott One of the most wonderful things about documentary film is the feeling of discovery – discovery in knowledge and understanding, not just for the viewer, but also the filmmaker behind it. This was the feeling when walking out of Bruce Lee & The Outlaw, the debut film…
