des1967

Former teacher and formerly Curriculum Support for Media, Aberdeen City. Freelance CPD provider. Secretary of AMES (Scottish media teachers) and editor of The Media Education Journal www.mediaedscotland.org.uk

Posts

The Global Film Book Blog

Under the Tree (Undir trénu, Iceland-Poland-Denmark 2017) August 21, 2018
At first, I was under the misapprehension that Under the Tree was a follow-up to Rams (2015), the Icelandic film that became a surprise arthouse hit in the UK in 2016. I was wrong. Under the Tree is a different writing and directing team. Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson wrote and directed the film with Huldar Breiðfjörð as … Continue reading Under the Tree (Undi […]
The Bridges of Sarajevo (France-Bosnia-Herzogovina-Germany-Italy-Switz-Portugal-Bulgaria 2014) July 25, 2018
This compendium/portmanteau film features the work of 13 European directors who were asked to represent aspects of Sarajevo’s turbulent history. The film was completed for the centenary of the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which triggered the First World War. Since then the city, which had been in Austrian-Hungarian control since 1978 after […]
The Nile Hilton Incident (Sweden-Denmark-Germany 2017) May 15, 2018
The Nile Hilton Incident is an intriguing film, not only in its presentation of an exciting crime thriller in a precise location, but also as a film production which invokes a specific kind of response. In its own way it’s the perfect case study for ideas about global film. This film is a product of … Continue reading The Nile Hilton Incident (Sweden-Denmar […]
Gholam (UK-Iran 2017) April 26, 2018
This unusual film places a major Iranian star actor, known in the West for three leading roles in the films of Asghar Farhadi, into a downbeat slow-paced thriller set in parts of North London. The director is Mitra Tabrizian, Professor of Photography at the University of Westminster whose 2005 exhibition ‘Border’ appears to have been … Continue reading Ghola […]
Las Plantas (Plants, Chile 2015) March 26, 2018
Chilean cinema has certainly developed in recent years. This month a Chilean film won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and here is a first-time writer-director Roberto Doveris creating an unusual coming-of-age story which succeeds on several levels. A weird and wonderful tale, Las Plantas combines genres and ideas that don’t always cohere, but the … Cont […]
Godspeed (Yi Lu Shun Feng, Taiwan 2016) February 21, 2018
This year’s Chinese New Year screening at HOME Manchester presented by the Chinese Film Forum UK and the Confucius Institute at The University of Manchester, was a Taiwanese film. We’ve had a variety of features over the last few years in Manchester and they have usually been films that haven’t been acquired for UK release. … Continue reading Godspeed (Yi Lu […]

Media Student’s Book Blog

Balancing left and right
The Labour leadership election appears to have got the UK press and broadcasting media in a real tizz. One of the most aggravating aspects of the reporting is the constant appendage of ‘left-wing’ to any reference to Jeremy Corbyn. He is … Continue reading →
Defining the other
The 10th anniversary of the ‘7/7 bombings’ in 2005 in London saw a range of remembrance events across the UK. These resulted in a great deal of media coverage. One BBC radio reporter referred to the four young bombers and … Continue reading →
Getting the balance right
The local elections in England last week produced two examples of quandaries for broadcasters. The big story for the BBC and other commentators was the rise of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), led by a curiously charismatic Nigel Farage. UKIP are … Continue reading →
Welsh TV noir: Hinterland (UK 2013)
Hinterland is a good example of the global/local. Like some other modern states the UK has statutory requirements and cultural policies that protect the other languages in the Home Nations and this means support for both Welsh and Gaelic broadcasters … Continue reading →

Cineuropa

Zombi Child by Bertrand Bonello is selected by Arte France Cinéma - Funding – France
The new film by Lav Diaz and the first feature films by Vincent Le Port and Chen Bo Yilin are due to be co-produced by the Franco-German channel
GoCritic! Review: Redemption - GoCritic!
A blast from recent past that travels and certainly will continue to: a Karlovy Vary-premiering Israeli film that garnered its star the best actor award and was also very well received at Toronto
Interview: Magnus Meyer Arnesen • Director - "Sometimes something seemingly insignificant can change everything, for better or worse"
As I Fall, the somewhat controversial first feature film by the Norwegian director Magnus Meyer Arnesen, is released tomorrow in Norwegian cinemas
Macedonia sends Secret Ingredient to the Oscars - Oscars 2019 – Macedonia
Gjorce Stavreski’s debut feature is the Macedonian submission for the 91st Academy Awards, in the Best Foreign-language Film category
GoCritic! Feature: Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky - GoCritic!
Our David Katz takes an in-depth look at the career of the recently departed and universally beloved American actor, through the lens of John Carroll Lynch's film which featured him in his last role
Interview: Nawara Shoukry • Cinema and distribution manager, Zawya Cinema and Distribution - “Commercially produced titles tend to fall short on the artistic front”
At the Venice Film Festival, where she attended a training seminar organised by CICAE, we talked to Nawara Shoukry about film distribution in Egypt
Review: Gwen - Toronto 2018 – Discovery
TORONTO 2018: A young girl is forced to grow up too fast in British director William McGregor’s haunting feature debut
Review: Rosie - Toronto 2018 – Contemporary World Cinema
TORONTO 2018: Irish director Paddy Breathnach takes aim at the homelessness crisis in Ireland in his new drama

	Roy Stafford on The Cruel Sea (UK 1953)…
	keith1942 on The Cruel Sea (UK 1953)…
	Roy Stafford on Leave No Trace (US 2018)…
	John Hall on Leave No Trace (US 2018)…
	Roy Stafford on Leave No Trace (US 2018)…
	keith1942 on Puzzle (US 2018)…
	John Hall on BlacKkKlansman (US 2018)…
	keith1942 on BlacKkKlansman (US 2018)…

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