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Rob Aldam

3316 posts

Rob worked on a number of online music magazines, both as a writer and editor, before concentrating on his first love - film. After stints as Cultural and Film Editor on local magazines, he took up residency as Film Editor at Backseat Mafia. He specialises in covering world cinema, independent film, documentaries, and championing the underdog.

Blu-Ray Review: Encounter of the Spooky Kind

Courageous Cheung comes face to face with fear

Chinese folklore is full of stories of ghosts, supernatural creatures and monsters. These spirits and apparitions are largely malevolent and play a prominent role in popular culture. Cinema is no…

Mr Prentice and the unhappy couple

Blu-ray Review: Merrily We Go to Hell

Between 1927 and 1943, the year when she retired from feature filmmaking, Dorothy Arzner was the only female film director working in Hollywood. While the situation isn’t exactly perfect now,…

Mr and Mrs Orlac

Blu-Ray Review: The Hands of Orlac

Robert Wiene was one of the great directors of the German expressionist period at the beginning of the 20th century. Indeed, he’s responsible for one of the best and still…

The WTC on fire

Sheffield Doc/Fest Review – 9/11: One Day in America

I’d argue that we can define modern history as the period before and after September 11th 2001. Anyone waking up on that Tuesday morning would never have believed the events…

A young Mir

Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan

The first rule of documentary filmmaking is to never get involved. To observe your subject objectively and not interfere with the events taking place on screen. This often throws up…

Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: The Story of Looking

To say Mark Cousins loves film would be an understatement, to say the least. The former host of Moviedrome went on to create the definitive history of film in The…

Gorbachev holding court

Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Gorbachev. Heaven

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a name and a face which will be well known to anyone of a certain age. His role in the dismantling of the Iron Curtain is…

Film Review – Occupation: Rainfall

Most of today’s modern science fiction films, and there is nowhere near as many as there should be, are big budget star driven vehicles. They tend to be very hit…

A planning session

Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Sing, Freetown

In many ways the more recent history of Sierra Leonne is not so different to that of its neighbours. Its climate and habitat shielded it from conquest until the European…

The team inspired a number of volleyball animated series

Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: The Witches of the Orient

For an athlete the Olympic Games is the pinnacle of sporting achievement. An event which marks the culmination of years of training and dedication. However, there’s much more to Olympic…

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