In Chloé Zhao’s 2020 docu-fiction, Frances McDormand plays a woman in her sixties whose financial circumstances force her out of her home and into a life on the road, roaming the country in a camper van in search of temporary work. Nomadland (2020) is a romanticisation of misery. And for that reason, it is going to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In an era where hopelessness is the (…) Continue Reading »

We’re stretching things a bit this week to include filmed theatre: our guest is director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour whose latest production is Typical at the Soho Theatre (available to stream online). The play stars Richard Blackwood as Christopher (…) Continue Reading »

WATCH THE FILM BELOW! Is David based on anyone you know? Nope. My co-writer Brandon Gardner and I talked about lots of people we care about when we were writing. But there wasn’t one person in particular. What gave you the idea of setting (…) Continue Reading »

Highlights this week include the Glasgow Film Festival, entirely online, with its usual strong selection and carefully curated programmes, running from 24 February to 7 March and MLK/FBI is a 2020 American documentary directed by Sam Pollard who (…) Continue Reading »

Why did you choose to revisit this – I presume traumatic – event as a short film? Actually, I am still trying to understand what I have done and why. However, I have held in these memories and feelings throughout these years with the purpose of (…) Continue Reading »

Do you have a particular interest in football? In your opinion, what place does football have in Tunisia? I am both a big fan of football as well as a critic of its excesses (the business of football, the political exploitation of football, the (…) Continue Reading »

International Film Festival Rotterdam had some dazzling pieces in its programme this year, but Sexual Drive seriously stands out in its ambition and creative execution. Japanese director Yoshida Kota’s odd but undeniably endearing film is (…) Continue Reading »

How did your film come about? In the beginning, there was the desire to talk about what had happened to Lebanon since October 2019, precisely, a catastrophic economic crisis and the protest movement that ensued. What happened in Lebanon in the (…) Continue Reading »

This week, guest and Mydylarama co-founder Judy Harris joins us to discuss the beauty of amateur cinema, community cohesion, gentrification, colourblind casting and the joys of play in Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. We also touch on the (…) Continue Reading »

How much are you aware of the severity of the droughts in Lebanon? Is this what sparked your interest in this subject matter? A lot of the environmental science concerned in the film derived from discussions with my father who is a soil-chemist (…) Continue Reading »