Most recent articles
5 August 2020
Our Picks And American Horror Story: Apocalypse
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco GreenAnother fortnight, another episode! We start with our picks and move on to a discussion about American Horror Story: Apocalypse (S8, 2018). As huge horror fans, we’ll have other episodes down the line in this genre.... Coco’s Top Pick is American Son (2019), performed as a one set straight play, in which an interracial couple waits at the police station for news of their teenage son’s whereabouts, revealing the lies a family has told themselves about political race and the limitations of (...) Continue Reading »
21 July 2020
Our Picks And The Staircase
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco GreenIn this episode, we discuss our picks of the fortnight and focus on true crime documentary The Staircase and the issues that it brings up.
The Dark finale was definitely a highlight, a truly gripping series, with twists and turns as bonkers as those in Lost, with none of the incoherence and sheer wackiness. Palestinian filmmaker Sameer Qumsieh’s doc Walled Citizen, in which he explores travelling with the world’s lowest ranking passport was screened as part of the Galway FF selection. You (...) Continue Reading »
9 July 2020
Top 5 on Netflix - The Black Middle Classes
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco GreenMydy’s second podcast! It’s the second part Secorro’s look at the Netflix Black Lives Matter collection and associated films. We’re still tinkering with tech and format. Other episodes will feature discussions with more back and forth, as well as interviews and guest spots. As always, comments welcome!
This week, from five films on Netflix, (1) Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker (2020); (2) Strong Island (2017); (3) Skin (2019); (4) I Am Not Your Negro (2016); and (5) Black (...) Continue Reading »
3 July 2020
Interview with Louis Chan, director of Stationary
by Abla KandalaftLouis won the Audience Award at the June Emerging Filmmakers Night live-streamed event for his short film Stationary. EFN partner Mydylarama interviewed him the following day, giving him an opportunity to talk at length about his work.
Stationary won the Audience Award for the Bottled-Up edition. The characters in Chan’s short are fully-rounded, three-dimensional and fully engaging to watch. Within a restrained setting, he manages to create quite a rich storyline and relationship between (...) Continue Reading »
3 July 2020
Interview with Emma Gilbertson, director of Crashing Waves
by Abla KandalaftEmma won the Critics’ Award at the June Emerging Filmmakers Night live-streamed event for her short Crashing Waves. EFN partner Mydylarama interviewed her the following day, giving her an opportunity to talk at length about her work.
Crashing Waves won the Critics’ Award for the Bottled Up edition, more on which can be found here.
Crashing Waves manages to convey a complex relationship between its protagonists without any dialogue and in such a short amount of time. Emma doesn’t simply rely (...) Continue Reading »
2 July 2020
Top 5 Black Lives Matter on Netflix
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco GreenOur first Mydylarama podcast begins with this top 5 from Secorro Green. She lists her Netflix picks of the last 2 weeks that address issues around Black lives and identity - The "King Richard" episode of Trial by Media; Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story; Time: The Kalief Browder Story; American Gospel; Malcolm X.
The grating but faint buzzing in the first 3 min is that of a very inconvenient leaf blower. Lesson learned. Comments and feedback (...) Continue Reading »
22 June 2020
BOTTLED-UP! The 7 finalists of the next EFN event - 29 June 2020
by Mydylarama teamEmerging Filmmakers Night is back with another live-streamed film event on 29 June via the official Facebook page. And so, to mark the end/easing/continuation of or whatever the hell new rules are regarding confinement, this month’s theme is .... Bottled-up!
"Films that capture the sense of feeling trapped and claustrophobic. That could mean people literally locked in a single location, but it could be broader than that, it could be a feeling of being trapped in a relationship, it could be (...) Continue Reading »
15 June 2020
Short of the Week: Reclaiming Work - Countering the gig economy
by Abla KandalaftCycle courier cooperatives are turning technology on the gig economy giants.
"As a customer, I love the ease of Deliveroo, but I worry about the worker rights, I wish there was a worker-owned alternative," says a commentator on YouTube. Reclaiming Work addresses just that and should be shared far and wide.
Made by Cassie Quarless and Usayd Younis of Black and Brown Film, it tells the story of cycle courier cooperatives who offer a fairer alternative to the likes of Deliveroo and Uber and (...) Continue Reading »
4 June 2020
Emerging Filmmakers Night - Q&A with Paul Frankl
by Erifili MissiouPaul is a London based writer and director. His short films have screened at festivals around the world, including Tribeca, Palm Springs, Rhode Island, the Iris Prize and Aesthetica and collectively have over 900,000 views online. EFN have screened his work twice: the multi-award winning ROXANNE was part of our LGBTQ+ event in July and GOLD STAR was part of our livestream event in April!
His film The Life Tree is now available to watch on BFI Player, Curzon Home Cinema, iTunes, Google (...) Continue Reading »
27 May 2020
A Dog Barking at the Moon - BFI Flare At Home
by Tommy HodgsonTommy’s review of the week is Xiang Zi’s A Dog Barking at the Moon, streamed on BFI Player as part of the #FlareatHome film festival.
A Dog Barking at the Moon is a fittingly dramatic piece following the trials of a Chinese family as they deal with the revelation of repressed homosexuality within the family. Director Xiang Zi’s semi-autobiographical feature brings the uncomfortable feelings and lingering resentments of each character to the fore through slow-paced shots, with long drawn-out (...) Continue Reading »
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