Stories of our Lives is a sequence of five tales sourced from real life experiences of gay Kenyans. The film uses the same crisp, saturated black and white photography across its five sections. Even though this creates a flattening of visual tone, the films-within-the-film each have a different feel. ‘Ask me Nicely’ is briskly punctuated by a school bell but its scenes are also divided by (…) Continue Reading »

Also released under ’Alda and Maria’, the inspiration for the feature film was director Pocas Pascoal’s own life (see interview here) and the need for Angolan migrants to tell their stories. Of course, this is the reflection of a woman looking back as a migrant forced from home by war and conscription, but it tells the larger story of nationalism and identity. The story begins with (…) Continue Reading »

I almost didn’t watch Ayanda as the synopsis described the title character as an Afro-hipster. Did that really need a racial qualifier in South Africa? Why is the racial default for hipsters white? Things will never change if we keep normalising whiteness. Nevertheless, I’m glad I moved past it as the film has something to say about family and the agency to dream. The adage ’it takes money (…) Continue Reading »

In 2014, Sight & Sound asked 340 critics, programmers, and filmmakers to name the best documentaries ever made. This autumn, in partnership with Sight & Sound and Open City Docs, DocHouse is running a season of ‘Filmmakers’ Favourites’, inviting award-winning documentary filmmakers to present their choices from the poll. Director Brian Hill (Songbirds [2007], The Confessions of Thomas (…) Continue Reading »

The Bristol Radical Film Festival returns for its fourth edition. It has partnered up with the Arnolfini gallery in Bristol to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first ever Festival of Independent British Cinema. The festival, a milestone in (…) Continue Reading »

Director Oliver Nias’s first feature The Return premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London, where it was nominated for Best UK Feature. A sober, atmospheric atmospheric psychological thriller, the black and white production is an impressive first film and augurs well for Oliver’s next projects... How would you describe the genre of the film? Where did the idea come from? The (…) Continue Reading »

We caught up with director Jordan Schiele at this year’s Encounters festival in Bristol. His funny, off-beat short The Turtle was screened and made our very own Mydy awards list! How did you get into filmmaking? Going to the movies or the videostore was a hobby that my parentsshared with my sister and me. We both became filmmakers. I never thought of it as a career, but just something to (…) Continue Reading »

No. 27 Dir Lola Peploe France 2015 21 mins Fr Lilly Page est une jeune Anglaise partie vivre son rêve d’aspirante romancière dans la Ville Lumière. Dans ce Paris fantasmé, tout peut arriver. C’est donc sans trop de surprise que dans une librairie, Lilly trouve une annonce déposée par un homme qui fait commerce des rêves que l’on veut bien lui vendre. Le premier court métrage de Lola (…) Continue Reading »

We caught up with writer/director Dan Hodgson at Encounters in Bristol. His second film LOVE IS BLIND was screened at Encounters and has been shortlisted for a short film Palme d’or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Can you tell us a bit about how your first short-Are You Albert-came about? In the final few years of her life my grandma was in a care home with dementia and the idea grew (…) Continue Reading »

As we were up in Bristol for Encounters, we caught up with Elizabeth Mizon, programmer for the Radical Film Festival, which will take place on 9-11 October, just opposite the Watershed, the current home of Encounters, at the Arnolfini. We had a chat about funding, this year’s programme and whether the political environment in Britain has led to an increase in interest. More info at: (…) Continue Reading »