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★★★★★ Starring: #IsidoraFairhurst, #MiaMckennaBruge, #RitaBernardShaw, #DaniDyer, #MalachiPullarLatchman Directed by: #TeddyNygh Short Film Review by: Alexandra James Watch What I Do is an all-female cast and short drama. It focuses on 3 teenage girls in secondary school attempting to navigate their way through friendship, social status, and their love for basketball. Being a teenager today can be a difficult transition, emotions and arguments become heightened and at this point in life. Conflicts at this age are all consuming and it becomes difficult to break away and see the light, as well as ignore the negativity. This becomes the case for protagonist Layla, as she struggles to become friends with the new girl joining the group. Layla often feels excluded and is unable to connect with Nikki, who chooses to disregard or shame Layla as a form of one-upmanship making her appear to be the ‘popular’ friend out of the group. Layla must find a way to channel her anger and focus on what is most important to her, true friendship, and her passion for sport. Layla’s skills in basketball become clear when she walks past a court and jumps at the chance to make a shot, she is encouraged by the other players to join and be a part of the team. However, through fear of ridicule she shy’s away from this opportunity and ignores their praise. Instead, she is left feeling embarrassed and even more of an outcast by showing an interest in the sport. It became evident that Layla has some form of anger issues which she needs to work on. Layla often represses these thoughts of violence and aggression; the viewer is given snippets of Layla’s frustrated mind with use of cutaway shots. Her anger becomes fuelled when faced with conflict, and unfortunately for Layla she becomes tested to her limit as Nikki starts to put a wedge between her and her friendship with Kezia. Layla has managed to control this anger for a long period of time, however, like a bubbling pot, it does not take long for this anger to spill. The characters are extremely relatable, especially to teenagers growing up and learning to adapt and change throughout their school years and rise above the hate. Director Teddy Nygh breaks down some of the barriers that stop kids from being their true selves. Nygh highlights that for Layla, basketball gives her the chance to channel her energy, focus and discover some new friends who follow a similar passion. This was a great story, and the characters were able to really convey that emotion of betrayal, fear, hurt but also happiness and the importance of friendship. It was an enjoyable watch and the interactions between each character were engaging throughout, you really feel for Layla’s character and want her to overcome her fears and see the true bond between her and Kezia.

Filmmaker Interview by William Hemingway Hi Antonia, Thanks for sitting down with us to chat about your films and filmmaking. Where in the world do we find you today and how are you doing? I am in Santa Monica, California – about 6 blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles. I’m a surfer – so being near the ocean helps. You’ve just completed a Director’s Cut of your film Sleep No More. Can you give us a little background to the story of the film and say what it was that made you want to revisit it again? What differences can the audience expect from the new version? I grew up and hung out with troubled teens, as I was one too -- the ones your parents don’t want you to hang out with. Many of them were small town crooks, and the more talented ones burglarized homes in Santa Monica - on the nicer side of town – the side of town where my mother owned a home. So the initial inspiration for this story centered around my best-guy friend, who was a first class musician, extremely handsome, and a master thief. The reason I wanted to revisit this film was for a number of reasons, first and foremost there were a few scenes I felt shouldn’t be in the film and I also wanted to adjust the ending a bit. Originally, we had a different ending, but the producing team felt strongly that the original ending with some adjustments would be best for the film, and I couldn’t help but agree. Sleep No More also began life as a short film, My Left Hand Man. Can you talk us through some of the process of developing the film from one format to the other? How was that process for you personally? I wrote My Left Hand Man solo, but I had a partner on the feature length script. Anne Heffron has a dark, unique sense of humor, so she brought in her own unique style. A lot of the bits that are absurd, like Miss Rose sitting at the bottom of her empty pool sun bathing, came from her bizarre and often absurd sense of humor. Also, we added a lot of characters to the feature version, so once we wrote back stories for those characters and determined how they connected and intertwined with the lead characters we had a lot to play with. The plot is still the same as the short though. I remember when I was really young and had told my father I wanted to be a writer, he said that all the plots had already been written by Shakespeare and so my focus should be on creating interesting characters and how they navigate through the story. You’ve talked before about the film being representative of your time growing up in LA without it being entirely autobiographical. What was it that you saw in the characters that made you want to tell their story? This film is about my family – it’s actually quite personal – but in a highly fictionalized setting and format. I mean no one can argue that the film industry is not the most moral and ethical industry – and I literally grew up surrounded by film folks. My uncles and step dad were in the industry too. Everyone and everything I was exposed to up until middle school, when I hung out with kids from the bad parts of town, was entertainment industry centric. Not to mention my family went through an incredibly violent and highly publicized murder when I was barely out of elementary school. So even though I wasn’t consciously connecting it – the ending of my film is influenced and connected to the murder of Dorothy Stratten. Also, Luke Kleintank’s character, Beckett is based partly on myself but mostly on my best guy-friend I mentioned above, the master thief, who quite tragically robbed my mother’s house when I was 16. I found out much later that it was him, and that betrayal crushed me. He apologized and I did forgive him. My group of friends helped me understand the mind of a thief – they get a thrill out of it – some can’t help but steal while others do it if they are desperate for money. My friend’s mother was mentally ill and couldn’t work, so he struggled financially growing up. There are a strong variety of themes throughout Sleep No More, ranging from Shakespeare to comic books to abusive relationships. Can you talk us through how you used these themes to develop your story and why you wanted to use them in your film? Great question. So, growing up, cinema was like Jesus or God in our house; great cinema was all-knowing and could teach you anything you needed to know about life, art and humans. Cinema was literally worshipped, and it pervaded everything we did and said. On the flip side of that was TV, there was NO TV at my father’s home, if we wanted to watch something it had to be a movie, and his collection was not contemporary, all but a few were made before 1959. Then at my mother’s home, she took the remote with her to work, so we were rarely allowed to watch TV and she frowned upon it as well. Now keep in mind this was before The Sopranos and what I call the Golden Age of TV which began with that show in 1999 – which, ironically, my father ended up being an actor in. In general, other things such as traditional school, college and things like morality and how to conduct oneself as a parent were secondary to art. My childhood was anything but idyllic, my parents fought amongst each other and in the media and in books. My father was a huge success when I was quite young, but struggled to work in the 80’s and 90’s, while my mother had huge success throughout the 80’s and 90’s. But still cinema was the WORD. In Sleep No More, I took these ideas to the extreme - Shakespeare is cinema and comic books are TV. I have studied Shakespeare, read every play, and have gone to see many of his plays whenever I’m in London. I identify so much with so many of his works, perhaps because my childhood at times felt like a never-ending drama and that at times it was very public and a lot like theatre. So, I really wanted to intertwine Shakespeare’s mythos into my first feature. And yes, I would die to direct a Shakespeare play in the UK! Even though the patriarch is a hopeless gambler and alcoholic, who puts his entire family in jeopardy, he won’t tolerate bad grammar, comic books or state-mandated education. He lives in a fantasy world of Shakespeare and conducts himself like one or several of the Bard’s characters. You wrote this film with your writing partner Anne Heffron, was this something that you felt you needed or wanted to do from the beginning or was the process of coming together more organic? Is having a writing partner something that you are keen to do again in the future? This was the second screenplay we wrote together, the first one she asked if I wanted to write a screenplay with her and I was struggling with a novel I couldn’t finish so that sounded a lot more fun. Since I had grown up in the film business, I figured it has to be easier than writing a novel, which it most certainly was, at least for both of us. That first screenplay, a road trip film about a mother who sets out to find a daughter she gave up for adoption as an infant, got a lot of attention in Hollywood and so we naturally wanted to write another script together. Anne went on after that to write a memoir and is working on other prose and I kept writing screenplays, but if there is ever a project where we can write together again, I’d be down. Before deciding to direct you had already been in the film business for some time. You’ve been an executive producer, producer, production assistant, post production supervisor, writer, director and actor. How invaluable was this experience when you finally came to direct and did you find that you used skills learned from these other roles as you were heading up your own film? I used all my skills, all of them. I produced mostly after I had directed, and I didn’t enjoy that at all, but I wanted to help my dad get his film made, so I went for it and I was able to help make that happen, which he was very grateful for, and of course I am now too, since it turned out to be his last film. Most of my other credits you mentioned: acting, production assistant, assistant editor credits were “before”.  I quit the business for 11 years, during that time I fell in love, left Los Angeles, got married, and had a child. I actually swore I’d never return to film. Then came “after”. After I began writing with Anne and then I directed my first short, I knew that all along I was destined to direct. The notion of being a director had literally never occurred to me. When I was young, my father had so many ups and downs, so much unemployment and disappointments, I just couldn’t imagine living a life that way. Ironically, I’ve been confronted with similar challenges he faced, but I am so passionate about making films that I will never walk away again. Just like dearly departed father. He was very encouraging, and he would have told me if I was a terrible director or writer, my parents didn’t mince words, or bullshit about talent, not ever. You grew up and started your career in the Hollywood film industry, but making Sleep No More, and the original short My Left Hand Man, meant that you were now involved in independent filmmaking. How much does the process differ in getting a film made and seen when you are doing it all independently? What do you feel are the benefits/drawbacks of making an independent film? What I would do to make a studio film! To have access to all the money I need and a support system of trained professionals. I just don’t have that in the indie world. I miss the studios terribly. Independent filmmaking is brutal, I worked at WB, Sony and Paramount and I had no idea at the time how great I had it. It’s become so hard to make a film. There are stops and starts and financiers who pull out at the last minute; there are actors who drop out that cause the picture to fold; and distribution is a killer. The main reason I’m putting out this film now is that the original distributor went bankrupt shortly after buying my film and my film got buried in lawsuits, so it really never saw the light of day. To the best of my knowledge it never got a chance in Europe, so the public at large both here and overseas had no access to it. Your parents, Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt, were both big players in their own ways in the filmmaking business, your father as a director and your mother as a producer and production designer. Do you feel that the types of careers in the film industry still follow some sort of typecasting in terms of gender? Do you feel that you were more accepted, as a woman in the film industry, when you were working in the more ‘unseen’ roles and was there ever any doubt for you about becoming a director? Were there ever any difficulties that you faced from other people’s perception of women’s roles in film? My parents taught me so much about filmmaking – SO MUCH. We talked about making movies and how to make movies all the time - at every meal, in the car and while watching films, on set and on vacation. My mother was a genius, I was there the day she brought home Matt Groening’s Life In Hell cartoon and told me she was taking it to Gracie Films as this guy had the goods! There are many, many more stories like that about my mom’s ability to discover talent. I told her I wanted to work in film when I was about 10 and so she took it upon herself to mentor me, even though she often pushed me towards science and college all the time (I was very good at math, chemistry, biology and physics). I think she pushed me towards other fields as she wanted me to have a steady income. But it never stuck. I think it’s much easier to be a male film director. I have very close friends in the VFX industry who will call me from set and tell me some young male director who has no clue how to direct is at the helm and it’s a disaster. They tell me they wish I was the director, and I wish I were too! I get calls from editors too about the very same thing. When I was working in the more “unseen” roles I thought about editing, but never directing, until I started directing theatre and writing screenplays later in my life. I think all women have been exposed to sexual harassment at work, my mother told me quite a few stories, but kept it to herself, as she would have for sure lost her job back then. I have dealt with those issues and never went public about it, but I don’t tolerate that anymore under any circumstances, and I would certainly deal with any such conduct immediately on my film set. It really has changed ME TOO and I’m so happy about that. The last few years, I have been very fortunate to find a group who are all about the work and I feel safe to create and build projects with them. You’ve previously mentioned that you learnt a lot through osmosis by watching your parents work, which must have been an incredible experience for you growing up. Since you’ve carved your own path for yourself and come back to filmmaking have you been inspired by anyone else in the filmmaking industry or perhaps by other writers, stage directors or other professionals? My father was not necessarily attracted to stories about crime, murder and violence, but as a kid I was. Although I love a wide range of films and filmmakers I was always drawn to dramas and dark subject matter. I was obsessed with Francis Ford Coppola’s early works and Apocalypse Now changed my life. Ridley Scott’s early works like Blade Runner is a film I’ve watched over and over, and many other of his earlier films. The directors that have inspired me since right before and after I become a director would be Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson - I study There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights – to me they are both master classes in contemporary cinema. I adore David O. Russell – Three Kings is literally one of my favorite films. And then there is Alejandro Inarritu – he’s got to be my favorite contemporary film maker – from his first film, Amores Perros, which I saw in the theatre in 2000 when it came out, to The Revenant. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to make all gritty and violent films, I’ve actually been leaning towards dark comedy lately, as I feel the world needs to laugh right now. What’s next for you after this? Are there any projects that you currently have on the go and what are you looking forward to that you can see in your future? Yes! I am directing a fantasy comedy/drama about a Catholic boarding school for child geniuses, who set out to build a rocket that will get them to heaven. It’s more otherworldly rather than pure fantasy. It’s incredibly unique and very inspiring. My producer, Josh Russell, also happens to be a brilliant screenwriter, and he wrote it. I am very excited to explore this genre and the comedy is what really drew me in – I can’t wait to make people laugh. After that, I have a WWII script that my parents wrote in 1968 – it’s like Schindler’s List meets Ocean’s 11 – it’s unbelievable and I’m going to cast mostly Europeans for this and of course shoot in Poland where the story takes place. Where can people get to see the new cut of Sleep No More and how can we keep up to date with what’s happening with the film and any other Antonia Bogdanovich projects? Sleep No More comes out in the US for a limited theatrical day and dates in July – it will be on Prime Video, VOD, Apple + and a few other streamers, too. In the UK, we aren’t sure yet, but after the Cannes film festival I will be able to tell you more, as we are selling foreign distribution there. #WilliamHemingway #FilmmakerInterview

Film Feature by Chris Olson UK Film Club was back in March with a new episode of their film podcast. Hosts Brian Penn and myself (Chris Olson) brought you a jam-packed show with a heavy dolloping of great movies to check out, across the spectrum of film. As with all episodes of UK Film Club, the podcast covered theatrical releases (in cinemas), streaming movies, independent cinema (short films & features), and a nostalgia pick. It was one film that impressed Brian the most though and his coveted Film of the Month award went to Wicked Little Letters starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Timothy Spall, Anjana Vasan and more. In Brian's written film review, he summed the plot thusly: Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley) is a feisty Irish girl who brings her daughter to the sleepy town of Littlehampton in the 1920s. Her husband died during the Great War and aims to start a new life in a tight knit community. However, trouble is afoot when she falls out with God fearing neighbour Edith Swann (Olivia Colman), who mysteriously receives poison pen letters laced with profanity. Her father Edward (Timothy Spall) is an upstanding member of the community and repulsed by such vile prose. Soon these wicked little letters are dropping through everyone's letter box. Read our full Wicked Little Letters Review here https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/wicked-little-letters Soon to be on home entertainment release, I look forward to checking out Wicked Little Letters. Other movies covered in the film podcast episode 13 of UK Film Club included: Bob Marley: One Love - a biopic about the legendary music artist. Brian found this to be a safe but effective film, perhaps a little too sterile for its own good. Dune: Part 2 - a fan of Part 1, this second outing seemed to have lost its magical appeal with Brian, who likened it more to Marvel movies. If you want another film podcast opinion, check out the episode by The Fantom Zone on the UK Film Review Podcast - it goes into incredible detail! Spaceman - a Netflix movie starring Adam Sandler, this was an interesting film to say the least. It will make you think about all manner of humanity but leave you pondering how you felt about the journey. I Bring Joy - a powerful and potent indie feature film. Written and directed by filmmaker David Stuart Snell, this female-led thriller set in London pulls no punches with an incredible story about a dancer who finds a new way of life after almost being mugged. Everyone - written and directed by filmmaker Marcus Flemmings, this indie comedy set in a restaurant and told in real-time was a big hit with both me and Brian - a firm recommendation! Dagr - a fantastic found-footage film about two social media influencers attempting to run a scam who end up on the receiving end of some serious scares. Expertly done and proof that films on phones can be excellent! The ACTT - a humble and comedic short film about a community theatre group attempting to organise their new show. Full of classic theatre stereotypes and playful jibes at the scene, it's a fun movie. Beneath a Mother's Feet - from filmmaker Elias Suhail, this gripping and movie short film about one woman's struggle to be a mother and widow makes for essential viewing. Absolutely knockout! The UK Film Club podcast is one of several shows on the UK Film Review Podcast and can be found on all top platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, PodBean, Pocket Casts and more.

★★★ Starring: #KieranReeves, #ZainUllah, #TeniOsho, #ArchieClark, #OliviaBurley Directed by: #Shayaan Short Film Review by: Alexandra James After Hours is a short crime film that explores some extremely dark themes. The film begins in a flat, people have been drinking, but there is one girl in particular who seems to have taken drunkenness to another level and unfortunately for her, this leaves her in a very dangerous and vulnerable position. The audience at this stage can guess what happens next for this young girl, and its at this point the story takes a sinister turn. Director Shayaan who also created North Nights has a clear passion for crime and gangster theme short films and has created his own cinematic style and its interesting to see this carry through to the film After Hours. You can see there is a particular look and feel to each of his films and its great to see this established style develop within his projects. Many of the camera angles used throughout this film were diverse and set this film at an impressive level in terms of quality. There were occasions that the film appeared too dark in places so became difficult to make out what was taking place, however, the car scenes and within the parking garage were all fantastic and helped to create this into an action-packed short. Moreover, the main protagonist was a great choice of actor, the character was filled with rage and needed to establish that dominance over others, so it was crucial that he was able to tap into that deep emotion and convey his pain and torment. I would liken this actor to Stephen Graham, who can portray a wide range of emotions in such a deep and raw way that the audience are able to feel that character’s pain. This is a crucial skill to adopt for any actor and makes for an exciting and dramatic film. Unfortunately, not all the actors were up to this standard, and this can simply be put down to inexperience and lack of confidence, this is a skill that can be acquired over time, it meant that some of the characters seemed very detached from the scene and looked somewhat emotionless when dealing with some extremely heavy and dark subjects. It was also difficult to understand how the characters were connected to one another and the story sometimes became lost amongst the chaos. With a short film, the audience need to be able to connect with the characters and know the link between them to follow the central story. When trying to determine this, the story becomes confused, and it can be hard to remain engaged. Keep it tight and concise, with such an action packed and dramatic piece we need to establish whose who so that we can watch the turmoil unfold and develop. All in all, there are some great elements to this film and Shayaan should continue to develop his projects further and delve deeper into the world of crime films, this is a clear passion of the directors that should be explored.

★★★★★ Directed by: #MaxFox Short Film Review by: Alexandra James Cinerama is a short music video created by Matt Fulks also known as the Mad Fox. It is a short rap video, however, its also a great trivia game in terms of how many movie references you can spot in 3 minutes and 47 seconds. This video is crammed with fantastic edits of classic movies from Psycho, The Shining, North by Northwest to James Bond, Happy Gilmore, Pulp Fiction and so many more. However, this is not a video that does things by halves as a lot of detail is put into each movie reference, and there are a lot! The imagination and creativity within this short video are at a high level. It was great to see some classic films being included as well. The video begins in a cinema and there are numerous short clips of famous scenes from movies we all love. Combined with the lyrics, the video fit in perfectly with the scenes, and is jam packed with references, it was hard to keep track of them all. What worked well was the level of detail, it’s clear that a green screen was not used to portray the reimagining of all these scenes (apart from E.T flying past the moon!) instead a lot of hard work and effort is put into this piece and Cinerama certainly reflects that dedication to the project. This is certainly a challenging video, as not only does the song and lyrics need to come across powerful and engaging but also our protagonist needs to remain in character for a bunch of different roles. Essentially Cinerama is multiple videos wrapped into one which is a difficult concept to pull off, however, the transitions between each scene are seamless. I really enjoyed seeing some oldies but goldies in there, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s classics, however, the overall vibe of the video is young, fresh, and appealing to people of all ages by mixing old with the new. It did feel as though we were bombarded with a lot of scenes, and it would have been great to see these cutaways for a longer length of time to really appreciate the amount of work and detail in each scene, understandably with 30 different movie references it can become overwhelming! However, this is not a negative it just would have been great for the audience to really admire and take in each scene. Cinerama was attention grabbing, creative and energetic. I would love to see more of Matt Fulks innovative projects as well as see this creativity develop further with his love of music and cinema, this can pave the way for any artist to reflect this passion within their work.

Film Feature by Chris Olson On Thursday March 7th, 2024, regular Nerd News providers The Fantom Zone released their epic podcast episode covering (in incredible detail) the biggest film release of the year so far - Dune: Part 2. Part of the UK Film Review Podcast collection of awesome film podcasts, The Fantom Zone is made up of Chris, Ian, Symone and Toby, who entertain their listeners with regular banter and bickering about comic book films, superheroes, and generally nerdy things (their words). This month's film podcast episode for them focused on the latest movie adaptation of the 1965 sci-fi novel from author Frank Herbert. The story is known as being "unfilmable" and the 1980s attempt by David Lynch left me and fellow film critic Brian Penn less than impressed in our recent film podcast episode for UK Film Club (another UKFR show). You can check out our thoughts on the Lynchian Dune in Episode 12 of UK Film Club on all good podcast platforms. But 2024 is all about filmmaker Denis Villeneuve's second instalment, after a very impressive first part in 2021. With an incredible cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Christopher Walken in a bathrobe, audience expectations for Dune: Part 2 were high - almost as much as those on cinemas for stocking those special edition popcorn containers. In the episode of The Fantom Zone, the film critics were broadly impressed by almost all aspects of the film. Which is rare (see their episode on Oppenheimer!). For a film that closes in on a 3-hour run time, one of the only complaints was that the film was too short, which, if we are honest is a compliment. Chris Buick was sadly missing from this month's film podcast episode but for the remaining 3 hosts, they each had different reasons for loving Dune: Part 2 and the episode is well worth a listen if you have seen the film. If you haven't yet seen Dune: Part 2, perhaps wait to listen to the episode - as it contains a ton of spoilers. It also contains a brief mention of Avatar 2 and some incredible impressions of Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons, so it literally has everything. Listen below or find the episode on ALL good podcast platforms by searching UK Film Review Podcast.

Film Feature by Chris Olson Being a film critic was a journey that started for me in 2010, working in Plymouth, Devon. I was a Customer Host for First Great Western, essentially serving coffee on the trains. It was a really enjoyable job for many reasons, in particular the time it afforded me to read. Often I would work the route from Plymouth to London Paddington and on the way back another Host would take over around Exeter - working the train from there down to Penzance. This would give me one of the most serene experiences: reading my copies of Empire Film Magazine sitting in First Class (because I was staff) whilst viewing the gorgeous coastline around Dawlish and Teignmouth. This story of British rail travel is my origin story because it was walking home from a shift that I decided I would be a film critic - I wanted to be like the writers I was reading every day on the train. Not long after, I moved to London and started writing for some of those free magazines you get through the door (sorry about that) and then started my own blog. In 2012 I set up UK Film Review, without much knowledge about web design or SEO, and started writing film reviews in a more professional manner. Since then, I have been incredibly fortunate enough to come across numerous others who also want to be film critics and have been generous with their time, effort and talent to help grow the site to the place it is today. That's why my latest Film Podcast Episode is dedicated to those of you at the earliest stages of your film critic journey. Perhaps some of you are even reading this on a train (spooky!) and are connecting with the feelings I had all those years ago. In the episode "Top Tips for Film Critics" , I go through the fundamentals of writing film reviews, as well as some handy shortcuts on getting ahead of the pack when it comes to pitching to publications as well as networking in the film industry. It is by no means a full account of everything I have gone through as a film critic but it is a bitesize tutorial that I hope you will find useful. Have a listen using the player below or feel free to seek out the episode on your podcast platform of choice. #ChrisOlson #FilmPodcast #FilmCritics

Film Feature by Chris Olson With February 2024 being a leap year, we had a bit of extra time last month to cultivate a huge episode of the UK Film Club podcast, part of the UK Film Review Podcast series. Each month, myself and fellow film critic Brian Penn review the latest: Cinematic Releases: films that are at (or will be) showing in UK cinemas Streaming Pick: a new film available on a streaming platform like Netflix, Prime Video, or Disney+ Indie Films: reviews of feature and short films made by independent filmmakers who submit them to us for review via our website (click the Get Reviewed button if you would like more details) Nostalgia Pick: a film from the past that we revisit (or watch for the first time because everyone tells us to) The movies released in February 2024 (or just before) gave us an incredible selection to cover in this month's film podcast episode. Being BAFTA and Oscars season, filmmakers releasing movies in this period tend to give us some real gems. In Episode 12 of UK Film Club, the cinematic films we reviewed included: Banel & Adama: a powerful and expertly crafted drama that explores the expectations of youth in a remote village. With incredible performances and a gothic undertone, it's a terrific film to catch. The Colour Purple: a musical version of the story, released in 2023 and one that Brian very much enjoyed. In the podcast episode, we play a clip from the film that is sure to get you excited about it. Argylle: Brian called this a fun filler whilst we wait for another James Bond film and from the clip we played starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell, listeners will be intrigued about the fun time the film offers. Poor Things: doing well at the awards, Brian wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. He liked the film but "...not that much". I am still very excited to see it once I finally get done with all this article-writing malarkey. Priscilla: another Elvis movie to gorge on and this has a fantastic cast to boot. A lack of songs from The King but still a great soundtrack according to Brian, and one to see on the big screen for sure. The final February 2024 cinematic release we reviewed in Episode 12 of UK Film Club was a new movie directed by none other than George Clooney, aka the Best Batman (I'm joking, calm down). A Sports Biography film set in the 1930s, Brian Penn chose this as his coveted Film of the Month! The film, The Boys in the Boat, stars Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner and Peter Guinness and is currently available in cinemas. It's a story many will not be familiar with, even Brian was chastising himself for not being aware of this Depression-era rowing story and do let us know what you think about it by commenting on our social posts about Episode 12 of the UK Film Club podcast. Episode 12 of UK Film Club also saw a review of the new Turkish film on Netflix called Ashes. I enjoyed this a lot more than other people, it seems. With an average score of 4.2 on IMDb, I hope people aren't put off from seeing this intriguing drama about a woman in a failing relationship having a fire lit underneath her when she discovers a compelling book based on characters living in a nearby town. Our indie film review section was jam-packed this month on the film podcast too. We reviewed 3 indie feature films: Tyger, Settling Down, and Suit Hung. Tied Tongue - all of which had incredible strengths. We also reviewed a compelling short film about toxic masculinity called The Lost Weekend. You can find reviews of all these indie films on our website too. If you would like to hear what Brian said about the film in the episode you can listen below, or use the links after the player to head to your chosen Podcast Platform. Podcast Platforms that host UK Film Club You can listen to our Film Podcast by clicking the following links to the top platforms: UK Film Club on Spotify UK Film Club on iTunes UK Film Club on aCast UK Film Club on Muck Rack UK Film Club on Podcast Addict UK Film Club on PlayerFM UK Film Club on Podbay

The Cemetery of Cinema Dir: Thierno Souleymane Diallo Thierno Souleymane Diallo is embarking on a quest, an adventure to find a lost treasure which happens to be Mouramani, the first film made in French-speaking Africa. The trouble with the hunt for Mamadou Touré‘s 1953 film is that little is known about it. Diallo knows that it is 23 minutes long and he has two different synopses for it, alas he struggles to find anyone who has even seen the film, let alone uncover a surviving print. He journeys across Guinea in a t-shirt and jeans, with bare feet, camera in hand and microphone strapped to his back. He plays the roles not only of director and star, but also that of a cinematographic cartographer, historian, and activist. He and his barebones crew document abandoned cinemas with reels turning to ash and witness the absence in the collective experience of cinema in 21st century life. To address this they screen some of their own footage to a community which pulls in a great audience. Why has this collective space vanished? Quickly we are drawn into the politics of authoritarianism, the quashing of the arts, and colonialism, Guinea does not have access to its own filmic history, and presently does not fund filmmakers enough to cultivate a rich national cinema. In one particularly affecting scene Diallo arrives at a school and teaches a class on filmmaking. He distributes wooden cameras, a lesson he has taken from an anecdote of Dutch documentary maker Joris Ivens. He encourages the skill of seeing and hearing, editing, and relaying what one has captured. A student tells that they shot a film of happy sheep, another tells that a group blocked them from filming (despite the camera obviously being a piece of wood). The importance of the work in art, the practice, no matter the lack of resources. After Diallo ascertains that Mouramani likely does not exist in Guinea he adorns a suit and sets sail for Paris (one of a few nods to Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki). When he arrives in France he finds that Western cinema culture may be better preserved than in Guinea, but is in a precarious position itself. He arrives at La Clef, “the last community cinema in Paris”, a cinema being occupied by a group of cinephile activists, projecting films to keep the space alive despite the building’s owner continually trying to sell the venue. Furthermore, a visit to a cinema archive uncovers more rotting film reels despite the hard work of archivists. Inevitably, time leads to decay, but we must fight to preserve our history. The Cemetery of Cinema may document at length the tragedies that have befallen the cinema of Guinea, but there is little pessimism here. In fact, it reads more as a passionate call for revival. Diallo’s enthusiasm and energy and drive are infectious, and will likely have audiences rushing out to pick up a camera and create. We must be curious.

Film Feature by Chris Olson In the second episode of 2024, film podcast show Gay, Actually, hosted by Amber and Joyce and part of the UK Film Review Podcast, covered the December 2023 release All of Us Strangers starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. All of Us Strangers is about Adam (Andrew Scott) being alone. A writer living in a London high rise that’s still under construction, his solitary days bleed into his solitary nights, 80s hits on video and vinyl his main companions. Adam is trying to write about his parents, so he decides to leave his flat, take a train, and revisit his old neighborhood. And soon his solitary days turn into afternoons spent with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) and nights spent with his only neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal). What follows is a beautiful, melancholy meditation on reconciling your love for someone who has failed you, recognizing their love for you and their failure. (above from Hope Madden's review of the film) In the episode, the Gay, Actually hosts explore the various themes of the film such as loneliness, dealing with sexuality, grief and more. They passionately discuss the meaning behind the film and the terrific performances by Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. You can listen to the full film podcast episode below: "Adam is so unreliable you don't know if Harry is a character he is writing...We don't know what we are watching."

Film Feature by Chris Olson The UK Film Review Podcast was back in action from January 2024, with episodes released by popular shows such as The Scream Test, Gay, Actually, and The Fantom Zone. It was on our show, UK Film Club, however, that we covered an incredible selection of films at the cinema and on streaming in Jan. My colleague and co-host Brian Penn gave an incredible run-down of films available for UK audiences to see at the cinema in January 2024, ranging from Roald Dahl remakes, to supercar biopics. It was one film, however, starring Anthony Hopkins which stood out amongst the rest - and was crowned our "Film of the Month" on the UK Film Review Podcast. One Life - Film of the Month January 2024 In the film podcast episode, Brian was hugely complementary about One Life's important themes and terrific performances, particularly those by Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham-Carter. Of the film, Penn said: "As sadly, World War 2 begins to slip from living memory...it makes it even more important to shine a light on stories that we might not be familiar with." The synopsis of One Life reads: Sir Nicholas 'Nicky' Winton, a young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Listen to the episode of UK Film Club to hear our review in full: Other Film Reviews in Episode 11 of UK Film Club Whilst Brian was impressed by Anthony Hopkins and One Life, there were other movies in the episode which also shined. Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Colman, and Calah Lane was a firm favourite, allowing us to reminisce about the Gene Wilder version and reluctantly mention the Tim Burton outing. Read our Wonka Film Review by Brian Penn here https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/wonka Ferrari was also on the slate for the January 2024 film podcast episode. Michael Mann's latest film is always going to be one for film fans but this proved to be a very impressive film according to Brian. Read his Ferrari film review here https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/ferrari Napoleon also made an appearance (not literally, the guy's been dead a while), the 2023 film from director Ridley Scott starring Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role. With an impressive supporting cast and cinematic splendour, this was one to watch as well. Read our Napoleon film review here https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/napoleon Onto movies that I also saw and reviewed in the film podcast episode, Saltburn has seen a wild amount of social media coverage and I was thrilled to watch another film by brilliant director Emerald Fennell, and also another starring Barry Keoghan who I have been reviewing proudly since his short film days in Candy Floss at Raindance Film Festival all those years ago. Saltburn was excellent, a ruthless and sumptuous film about class. Excellent supporting performances (particularly Richard E. Grant) but the two leading lads, Keoghan and Jacob Elordi are phenomenal. Everyone talks about the bath scene but watch out for some naked grave action too. We were fortunate enough to cover some indie movies on our film podcast this month, with the mesmerizing Room 20 (a beautiful animated movie) as well as a comedy feature The Bez Felcher Show. Listen in to here our thoughts on those. I also interviewed Michael Stevenson and George Siougas about their short film The One Note Man. Our "Nostalgia Pick" - a film from the past we revisit - was the 1984 version of Dune. Directed by David Lynch and starring Kyle Machlachan. Without spoiling our podcast review, let's just say we are really looking forward to Dune Part 2!

★★★ Starring: #MahsaAkbari and #NimaHaghighi Short Film Review by: Alexandra James Mannequin is a short film that has a rather curious and unusual storyline. The film begins with a wife watching late night TV and ordering something from one of the channels which appears to be a mannequin in a bow tie for her husband’s birthday. A very strange gift for a husband, however, she seems convinced that this will make the perfect present. The story then moves on to the couple preparing for her husband’s birthday party, as they decorate their home and await guests, the doorbell rings and it’s the mannequin that has arrived right on time, she is convinced that it looks exactly like her husband. However, the husband seems quite confused and cannot see the likeness himself but goes along with his wife’s opinion. The film after this event takes a strange turn and this is when things become very confusing for our male protagonist as well as unclear for the viewer. As the story begins to develop, the wife Leila is no where to be seen, instead, her husband attends his own party without knowing a single person who has arrived. As he becomes heavily intoxicated with drink and drugs, everyone around him seems to be a stranger and yet are aware who he is. The scenes became hard to follow at this stage and although it added that element of curiosity and fed into the ambiguity of some of the scenes, it also made it tricky to link the story together. There wasn’t a natural flow, and the central theme was this mannequin which did not appear again until the very end of the film. The audience were left in the dark, so it was hard to understand the direction the narrative was taking. However, the party scenes were great as it became interesting to see the transformation of the everyday home to a drug and alcohol fuelled event. The juxtaposition between the two added to the hecticness as well as feed into the confusion of the character as well as the viewer. Unfortunately, the storyline became lost amongst the craziness and so it became difficult to engage with the characters. Ambiguity can be an intriguing quality, but there also needs to be a central theme to the narrative that ties everything together and remains a constant throughout.