Adrianne and The Castle is a fascinating oddity of a documentary from filmmaker Shannon Welsh, a fantastical love story told from the perspective of a fairytale that is sadly over. It follows Alan St-George, an artist and entrepreneur of a world famous mascot company, responsible for numerous iconic cuddly heroes […]
From the Festivals
I Saw The TV Glow (2024) An urgent personal plea that could change the world (Review)
I Saw The TV Glow should come with a warning. It’s a film you can’t prepare for, with no easy answers other than the ones you may not want to face, a film you can’t unsee. There are few adjectives more thudding when critiquing a film than ‘important’, but it’s […]
Carnage for Christmas and Liminal (Salem Horror Fest 2024)(Review)
As both a transgender woman and an enthusiast in horror, folklore, and all things spooky and fortean, I find myself frequently considering the relationships that people have with places; with horror, I frequently consider the ways in which locations can be haunted (literally or figuratively) by the actions of people […]
In The Rearview (Kinoteka 2024)(Review)
When Maciek Hamela was shooting this documentary on the roads between Ukraine and Poland there was probably still hope that this would remain a relatively short-lived war. Indeed, several of Hamela’s passengers – refugees carried in his volunteer’s van from urban and rural areas across the nation – often speak […]
7 Keys (SXSW 2024): Stylish Execution of High Concept British Thriller (Review)
Receiving its world premiere at SXSW, Joy Wilkinson makes her feature film debut as writer and director with 7 Keys, having found success in theatre, television, and radio. Immediately, she shows confidence in executing her vision with the opening shots of houses and flats around London, each one tinged with […]
Horror Story – (Kinoteka 2024)(Review)
As the feature debut of writer-director Adrian Apanel, Horror Story pulls off a nice little magic trick. When fresh-faced finance graduate Tomek (Jakub Zajac), rents a room in a crumbling boarding house that’s straight out of the horror cinema interior decorating textbook, we expect things to go full-blown supernatural (or […]
In Flames (Glasgow Frightfest 2024)(Review)
Fifteen or so years ago a movie called In Flames would’ve conjured up images of Scandanavian terror, full of blacks and dark blues, probably quite nihilistic, where an unlucky group were victim to supernatural terrors from beyond. Admittedly, part of that hypothetical may be influenced by sharing a name with a Swedish […]
Danger Zone (Kinoteka 2024) (Review)
It’s the kind of sentiment you expect to hear on stage at the Kodak Theater around this time of year: “It’s important to learn from the suffering of other people”. Except this time it’s not coming from the mouth of someone who’s just made an Oscar-winning film, it’s said by […]
Au 8ème Jour (SXSW 2024) – Wonderfully Unique and Gorgeously Atmospheric (Review)
One of the many short films that SXSW are showcasing is the French animated student film Au 8ème Jour, or On The 8th Day, an eight-minute short depicting the creation and sudden collapse of a planet we can only assume to be similar to Earth. Many filmmakers in recent years […]
Doppelganger. The Double (2023) (Kinoteka 2024)
Here’s useful viewing for anyone wondering what the attitude of the Polish public towards the USSR might be almost forty five years on from the forming of Solidarity. Doppelganger. The Double is a new thriller from film-maker Jan Holoubek that’s set between the late-seventies and mid-eighties, and is currently showing […]