Film Festival
Sundance Review: Prime Time
Today, anyone who wishes to publicly air their thoughts, opinions or grievances can easily do so at the touch of a button. The internet has afforded us all a soapbox. A place where we can be whoever you want. Say whatever we feel. The likes of YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram et al have given everyone …
Sundance Review: Writing with Fire
There has never been a more dangerous time, in modern history, to be a journalist. Whilst the profession has been traditionally afforded protection and immunity, in many areas of the world being a reporter now puts a target on your back. Making you ripe for kidnap, imprisonment or much worse. Governments has begun to restrict …
Sundance Review: In the Earth
When Ben Wheatley first arrived on the scene, he was a breath of fresh air. Down Terrace passed most people by at the time but Kill List became an instant cult sensation. The Billericay native followed this success up with the hilarious and brilliant Sightseers. However, the rather strange release of A Field in England …
Sundance Review: Sabaya
In summer 2014, daesh captured the town of Sinjar and most of the Sinjar district in Northern Iraq. The population fled into the mountains, including an estimated forty thousand Yazidis. The insurgents waged a systematic campaign of genocide against the Yazid People, capturing girls and young women and murdering everyone else. Whilst the exact number …
Sundance Review: President
The ‘resignation’ of President Robert Mugabe in 2017 ended a chapter in Zimbabwe’s history which had begun almost four decades earlier. Whilst the ZANU-PF leader might have been hounded out of office following a year of protests, he was then simply replaced by a man in the same mould, Emmerson Mnangagwa. A year later the …
Sundance Review: Mother Schmuckers
The film industry is often a family affair. There is probably no other area of the economy where this is so prevalent. While the insipid nepotism of children of the rich and famous getting an unfair advantage is widespread, there’s also the unusual phenomenon of film siblings. Whether that’s in-front (Affleck, Gylennhaal, Mara) or behind …
Sundance Review: Son of Monarchs
The United States of America and Mexico have a long and complex history. Dating all the way back to the Texas Revolution in 1835, the socio-political relationship between the two nations has been interwoven over many generations. Millions of Mexicans have crossed the border chasing the American dream of a ‘better life’, forming a vital …
Sundance Review: Human Factors
Since the rise of the first great civilisation in Mesopotamia, there has probably never been a time in human history where we’ve been so disconnected. While we might now have friends scattered around the world, our busy work schedules and online lifestyles can lead to families becoming virtual strangers. Family units can often be more …
Sundance Review: In the Same Breath
2020 was the most difficult year, around the world, in post-war history. 2021 seems set to rival it, but with the approval of several vaccines at least there’s now a light at the end of a very long tunnel. Whilst it’s not over yet, thoughts have turned to the handling of the pandemic. With the …
Sundance Review: Censor
The rise of the video nasty created a moral panic across the UK in the early 1980s. These low-budget films were characterised by their violent and bloody content. However, due to a loophole in the law, they escaped the ever-vigilant gaze of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). After a public outcry, this omission …