Film Festival
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: My Dear Spies
Now that many records have been digitised and access may only be a few clicks (and a few more pounds) away, more and more people have begun to research their family histories. The popularity of sites like Ancestry.com around the turn of the century saw millions of people around the world cast their nets back …
Sheff Doc/Fest Review: Who We Were
On Earth at least, human beings are the only sentient lifeforms who spend a large proportion of their lives thinking about the bigger picture. Contemplating those pressing questions around life and death and whether there’s intelligent life out there in the vastness of space. Other animals are probably more concerned about where their next meal …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Lift Like A Girl
One of the ways in which many societies has changed over the last few decades is in the relationship between women/girls and traditionally macho sports. Whilst there was an initial push-back in some disciplines, particularly boxing, they’ve rapidly become areas where equal participation is starting to at least feel like the norm. Strangely, this is …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Splinters
Memories are precarious things. They can be elusive and fragmentary, especially when up against the sands of time. Our minds are tricksters, constantly finding new and imaginative ways to pull the wool over our eyes. That’s why we, as humans, document our experiences; from the early days of cave painting to today’s obsession with social …
IFFR Review: Homeless
The ‘developed world’ is in the middle of a housing crisis. With populations on the rise, increasing migration and jobs becoming increasingly centralised in large cities, the pressure on available housing stocks continues to push up house prices at an alarming rate. Whilst wages largely stagnate. Real estate has become an investment opportunity for the …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Charm Circle
As the sayings go, blood is thicker than water and you can choose your friends but not your family. Whilst we might consider ourselves to be enlightened and evolved creatures, in many ways our traditional household structures mimic the animal kingdom and early humans. The units we create and the roles we assign aren’t too …
IFFR Review: Nudo Mixteco
Mexico, in many ways, has a PR problem when it comes to portrayals of the country on the big screen. More often than not, the Latin American country features for its connections with the manufacture and distribution of drugs. Whether it’s the violence and murders driven by the cartels or its position in the transportation …
IFFR Review: Bloodsuckers
Popular culture has a habit of returning to ‘classic’ literature again and again. Whether that’s to place the characters and plot within a different timeline or re-examine the contents from another angle or perspective. This is often done through satire. Cinema is no exception. Audiences love to watch much-loved characters placed in unfamiliar situations. In …
IFFR Review – Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Genre film fans tend to be a rather avid bunch. Staunchly faithful to, and rabid defenders of, our favourite films, we naturally have a preference when it comes to sub-genres. Personally, I love a bit of folk horror. Tales which conjure up our connection to a once mysterious past. To strange myths and legends of …
IFFR Review: The Day is Over
Traditionally, when focusing on youth the cinematic gaze has rested squarely on boys. Boys were the ones with rampant imaginations and a fearlessness which made for great cinema. This was obviously a load of old codswallop, but films such as Stand by Me and The Goonies undoubtedly are still hugely popular. Thankfully, in modern times …