Most recent articles
13 September 2020
Our Picks + Waves
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green, Matt Howsam
This week we are joined by Matt Howsam, a production coordinator in the VFX industry and a film critic.
We mention the hilarious and highly original One Cut Of The Dead by Shin’ichirô Ueda, a Japanese Zombie comedy in the style of some of the best mockumentaries out there and a homage to low budget filmmaking. Depending on where you are you can watch it on Shudder or buy the DVD (it’s from 2017). Abla also highlights the Netflix series Unwell, which looks at the dark side of the wellness (...) Continue Reading »
7 September 2020
Our Picks + Pablo Navarrete (No Extradition)
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green
This week, Coco and Abla interview documentary filmmaker and journalist Pablo Navarrete. Pablo’s latest film No Extradition is a record of the campaign of support for Julian Assange who is facing extradition to the US. He also follows John Shipton, Assange’s father, over several months as he fought to secure his son’s release from Belmarsh prison in the UK.
The filmmaker whose first documentary "Inside the Revolution: A Journey into the Heart of Venezuela" dates from 2009 was working for (...) Continue Reading »
24 August 2020
First edition of the Independent Iraqi Film Festival
by Abla Kandalaft
Oline and entirely free to watch, the Independent Iraqi Film Festival brings us features, shorts and discussions, shedding a spotlight on a thriving cinematic culture in the country and among the Iraqi diaspora.
IA: Israa Al-Kamali AH: Ahmed Habib RT: Roisin Tapponi SD: Shahnaz Dulaimy
1. How did the team come together and initiate the idea for the festival? IA: It started with a call from Ahmed Habib, one of the four people working on the festival, back in March. Ahmed and I got (...) Continue Reading »
19 August 2020
Our Picks + Black Is King (Special Guest)
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green, George Crosthwait
For this episode of Mydylarama’s Top Picks podcast, we’re joined by our guest, academic, film programmer and Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival producer George Crosthwait. George Crosthwait.
George’s pick of the week, and also his first trip back to the cinema since February, is Shannon Murphy’s debut film ’Babyteeth’. An Australian coming-of-age drama that both impressed and confused him due to it’s tonal eccentricities.
Abla’s picks of the week include Richard Pryor: Omit The (...) Continue Reading »
5 August 2020
Our Picks And American Horror Story: Apocalypse
by Abla Kandalaft, Coco Green
Another 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 Green
In 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 Green
Mydy’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 »
Louis 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 »
Emma 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 Green
Our 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 »
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