Film Festival
Film Review: Savage Waters
Animals, by our nature, are curious creatures. Born to explore. To sniff that new scent. Eat that strange smelly thing on the floor. Some are braver than others, but we all learn through experience and being taught. Humans might like to think we’re superior, but when it comes down to it there are far fewer …
CPH:DOX Review: Just Animals
Veganism has never been so popular. Arguably, the main contributing factor is the growing awareness of how we treat animals. Not to mention the chain of events which bring livestock to our plates. Animal welfare activists have tried all manner of approaches to get issues the media attention they deserve, over the years, but it …
Visions du Réel Review: Tolyatti Adrift
It has been decades since the fall of the Iron Curtain but our general understanding of what is now Russia, or within its orbit, is poor to say the least. While I think most people in the West could name a handful of cities, there are well over a thousand of them (although they don’t …
Visions du Réel Review: My Paper Life
While the continuing refugee crisis is never too far away from new headlines, the discourse is rarely positive or not toxic. Indeed, many people seem to forget that these are ordinary families. Normal people driven from their homeland by war, poverty, persecution or a myriad of other reasons. Everyone has their own individual story. Their …
Visions du Réel Review: Daughters
Most people will have known friends, family or even just acquaintances who have committed suicide. Many will have been in a position where they’ve contemplated doing it themselves. Even attempted it and been unsuccessful. It’s a terrible thing to feel like you’re backed into a corner where you have no other choice. The aftermath of …
Visions du Réel Review: Dogwatch
The term ‘pirate’ conjures up a number of images, mostly inspired by Disney and childhood films. Maybe visions of Captain James Hook in Peter Pan or even Johnny Depp hamming it up as if his life depended on it. While the galleons, skull & crossbones and eye patches of yore may now be ancient history, …
Visions du Réel Review: Mutzenbacher
We live in an oddly puritanical age. I don’t think anyone could have envisaged that the widespread availability of pornography via the internet would have such a strange effect. It’s ubiquitous and in just about any fetish can be satisfied at the touch of a button. After a few decades of moral panic about our …
Grimmfest Easter Review: The Family
When Europeans made the long and dangerous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the new world, they took their religion with them. Indeed, in many cases the more puritanical elements saw it as a great opportunity to practice their beliefs in peace. Numerous communities sprung up, drawn together by their piety. Often becoming fanatical and …
Visions du Réel Review: Silent Love
If you’ve grown up in Western Europe it’s easy to become complacent about all the freedoms we’re afforded. Things we take for granted are very much major issues in countries not too far away. Many of the former Soviet Central and Eastern European states are much less progressive than you’d expect, even if they’re now …
Grimmfest Easter Review: Post Mortem
The scientific and lay world have been fascinated with near death experiences for hundreds of years. In the same way we humans are overly preoccupied with our own mortality, our curiosity around the concept of an afterlife often gets the better of us. The desperation to believe that there’s something more than this mortal realm …