“My brilliant father lost his hearing very suddenly when I was 12 and lived the last 2 years of his life profoundly deaf. I witnessed first hand the huge effects deafness has on a family. I also saw him for the first time seem vulnerable and I noticed how easy it was for people to…
Category: Short films
Aldo Iuliano’s Penalty: Short Film Review
In the middle of nowhere, on a grass patch among scattered bushes, a group of younger men is playing a game of football. It looks innocent at first, with basically no audible dialogue. But there is a growing sense of desperation and aggression involved in the game, up until the moment when one of the…
Santiago Paladines’ The Fare: Short Film Review
Somewhere in the USA, the police comes into “a drop house” – a hideaway where illegal immigrants are being kept by traffickers before transporting them deeper into the country – and what they witness is a plastic rubbish bag, filled with human waste. In it, there is a man who is barely alive, and next…
In Conversation with Adrian Lo
Pottery is as much a philosophy as it is an art form. In Mashiko and Kasama, two regions of Japan which is the home to some of the best potters in the world, this is especially the case. Those that work in these areas spend decades perfecting their craft, refining their skills until they are…
Lift-Off Film Festival Awards Show
Try to picture it: Pinewood Studios on a brisk Friday night, the champagne is flowing, and filmmakers, actors, and guests of honour are dressed in their finest. Guessed what the event is yet? No? It’s the Lift-Off Film Festival Awards Show. It’s not quite the Oscars, but it’s the largest independent film festival in the…
In Conversation with James Bradley on the London Lift-Off Film Festival
Look beyond the gloss, put talent before technology – that is the motto for the upcoming London Lift-Off Film Festival, which aims to expose audiences to the beauty of independent cinema. In the four years since its creation, The Lift-Off Film Festival has grown from a local event into a global exhibition of independent films…
In Conversation with Boris Seewald
Boris Seewald is a film director who was raised in Central-West Germany, he first ventured into digital media through design and played music in various bands. He moved to Berlin in 2005 with a clear intention of pursuing a career in film, and began work on his own film projects and developing work experience. Owing…
In Conversation with Marijn Poels
Marijn Poels is a documentary and independent filmmaker, who stole my heart with his extraordinary film stories. He focuses on making reports and films worldwide for organisations, governments and educational films concentrated on human rights. Apart from being a filmmaker he is also a writer and photographer. Poels’ film style is characterised by real-life recordings,…
In Conversation with Ruud Lenssen
Ruud Lenssen is an independent documentary filmmaker. His films focus on socially relevant topics. In 2010 Lenssen graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam with a BA in Audiovisual Design. His graduation film ‘Kathem & Chris’, a short documentary about the friendship between former asylum seeker Kathem and the local villager Chris in the Limburg village…
Chasing Cotards review
‘Chasing Cotards’ is a visually stunning work of art. The short film, directed by Edward L. Dark, lasts only 13 minutes and has no dialogue to speak of. And yet it is a powerful piece telling the story of a man, Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Sea Wall), who struggles with the recent death of his…
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