IFFR
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 …
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 …
IFFR Review: Birds of America
One of my local galleries houses John James Audubon’s beautiful Blue Crane, Or Heron. It’s a picture which has always fascinated me. It’s a magnificent work of art but it’s the sheer vibrancy and animated majesty of the illustration which jumps out at you. The French ornithologist, naturalist and painter embarked on his quest to …
IFFR Review: Bebia, à mon seul désir
For a species with a limited shelf life, we spend a bizarre amount of time thinking about death. Since early man we’ve surrounded our exit from the mortal coil with rituals and rites. Indeed, the ancient Egyptians seem to have built many of their pyramids with the intention of using them to fire the dead …
IFFR Review: The Year Before the War
The second decade of the Twentieth Century was a turbulent, exciting period and a time of huge scientific, social, political and economic change. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated Sarajevo. This would provide the catalyst for the culmination of decades of militarism, sparking the outbreak of …
IFFR Review: Liborio
Since the rise of ancient civilisations, humans have sought solace and instruction through religion. The concept of a God or gods seems to have sprung-up independently at all points of the compass. Whether these are supernatural, preternatural or merely other, they are a reflection of the people who offer them up for worship. There’s usually …
IFFR Review: Drifting
Hong Kong has long been an anomaly in Asia, largely owing to the hundred-year lease Britain obtained on the colony following the Opium Wars. After the Second World War the population rapidly increased. Given both the Eastern and Western influences and different political tensions and ideologies, it became the economic hub of the region. However, …