Most recent articles
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 »
22 May 2020
Emerging Filmmakers Night - Q&A with Ben Mallaby
by Erifili MissiouDespite our collective laptop confinement, the EFN team has managed to create a fun and interactive film experience in their 2nd LIVESTREAM event.
The multi-award winning directors Francesco Gabrielle, Francesca Fowler and Ben Mallaby livestreamed their films and engaged in an informative and fun Q&A. In real time, the directors answered questions submitted to them by our cinephile audience.
We especially enjoyed the two shorts films by BAFTA-nominated comedy director Ben Mallaby and (...) Continue Reading »
21 May 2020
Q&A with Tatevik Vardanyan, director of District 16, 16 Floors, 16 People
by Abla Kandalaft“16 District, 16 Floors, 16 People”, is a short film featuring a district in Yerevan, Armenia, where the legacy of the Soviet Union still occupies the minds and daily lives of the residents living in these huge unfinished monolithic structures built to write the letters CCCP.
The film highlights the communities everyday issues and concerns, linking the past and present with all its changes and difficulties of the people once living in a superpower that’s become a decaying empire.
WATCH (...) Continue Reading »
18 May 2020
Guest pick of the week: Suburra - Blood Of Rome
by Radhika Aggarwal BassignaniRecently, I have become addicted to the Italian Netflix series Suburra: Blood on Rome.
As a fan of Gomorrah, I met this series with trepidation, wondering if this Roman ’gangster show’ would be a shadow to its Neopolitan counterpart. How wrong I was! It is a compelling exploration of Roman society, and the real-life events of the Mafia Capitale investigation which culminated in 2014.
On the surface, Suburra navigates the intertwining interests of the various factions competing for land in (...) Continue Reading »
12 May 2020
On Pretending
by Ben PlumbEmerging Filmmakers Night’s Ben Plumb on the craft of acting. EFN’s next live streamed film event will be on Monday 18 May 2020 on Facebook - Caught in the Act!
’How do I act so well?’ asks Sir Ian.
Andy says nothing. ’What I do is I pretend to be the person I am portraying in the film or play’ he insists, answering himself, a picture of sincerity. ’You’re confused…’ You might recognise this exchange from that scene in Extras, the best one. Ricky Gervais’ character is being given a rundown on (...) Continue Reading »
4 May 2020
This week’s picks - Striking Colour Schemes
by George CrosthwaitJapanese Avant-garde and Experimental Film Festival [JAEFF] producer George Crosthwait picks his three favourite films currently available on streaming platforms in the UK. This time tailored to suit precise days. It’s May and the world is looking lush and vibrant (and empty). So this time I’m recommending three films with particularly striking colour schemes.
Viva - BFI Player
Watch on: Wednesday (because like a bored 70s housewife, you’ll only get through the rest of the week with (...) Continue Reading »
30 April 2020
Picks of the Week - DEVS, A World Not Ours, Ema
by Abla KandalaftI’ll concede that my selection this week is eclectic but I’ll argue that the three picks are sort of tenuously linked together by their haunting qualities. Read in that what you will. So here’s a series, a doc and a fiction film.
DEVS - Available on BBC iPlayer
I think "haunting" probably best describes Alex Garland’s miniseries Devs. Absolutely gorgeously shot, Devs is set in some sort of vaguely parallel / mildly futuristic San Francisco, in a world in which quantum computing is in a fairly (...) Continue Reading »
25 April 2020
Q&A with Rob Summons - director of Skewwhiff
by Abla Kandalaft, Elise LoiseauAn elderly man insists on granting his wife’s wish of taking their car through a drive-thru car wash.
Could you explain the title?
The title Skewwhiff meant a couple of things to me. On one level, Bill’s shirt collar becomes “skewwhiff” or askew at one point and Rae adjusts it for him. This felt like a worthy moment to use as a title as we get the sense Rae has spent her life caring for Bill, which is bittersweet as the roles are beginning to reverse. More broadly, the couple’s world of (...) Continue Reading »
25 April 2020
Q&A with Johanna Pyykkö - director of The Manila Lover
by Abla KandalaftDuring a trip to the Philippines, middle-aged, Norwegian Lars has met Abigail - the Filipina he wants to share his life with, but does she share his plans?
I’m so pleased to finally be able to share this interview that we carried out at the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2020. The Manila Lover, which premiered at Semaine de la Critique, was one of my favourite shorts, a nuanced and sweet film with some excellent character development. The character of Abigail is sadly still (...) Continue Reading »
22 April 2020
Emerging Filmmakers Night introduces live-streamed film parties
by Erifili Missiou, Mydylarama teamMydylarama is looking forward to teaming up with the EFN team. Keep your eyes open...
With the world’s film festival and screening events on an indefinite hiatus, the Emerging Filmmakers Night programming team, filmmaker Erifili Missiou, comic Mike Sheer and filmmaker Ben Plumb, launched their own live-stream curated screening event on the 6th of April, the first of its kind, and attracted an audience of over 1,000 people.
Undaunted by the challenge of Covid-19, they decided to continue (...) Continue Reading »
Latest comments