Farewell, then, to an all-time great edition of the London Film Festival. In the 13 years I’ve been attending the festival, this is by far the best programme of films selected, and given the festival’s innovative changes to the screening schedule (such as building an entirely new venue), there were opportunities to get tickets to most of the big items, especially for members. Continue reading London Film Festival 2016 Round-Up
Tickling Giants (dir-scr Sara Taksler)
During the Egyptian revolution 2011 Bassem Youseff, cardiologist by day, satirist by night, starting making five minute shows for his Youtube channel. Within three months they had had five million views. Youseff finds himself the golden boy of Egyptian comedy, and has a networked TV show, Al Bernameg (The Show) by the end of that year. Continue reading London Film Festival 2016 Days 8 to 9
Contains spoilers for Layla M.
The stand out point about The Revolution Won’t Be Televised and An Insignificant Man is that they were made by a Senegalese woman and a pair of young Indian filmmakers in their own countries about things that they know about. The stand out point about Layla M is that it was not directed nor written by Dutch Moroccans, and it shows. Continue reading Whose Story Is It Anyway? London Film Festival Days 5 to 7
Director Shola Amoo grew up in the Elephant and Castle, so he is no stranger to what gentrification can do to a community. A graduate of the National Film and Television School, this is Amoo’s first feature. It is a documentary film within a drama, which allows him to use interviews with Brixtonians, scripted drama and the photographs of Neil Kenlock to explore a changing Brixton through what happens to Nina (Tanya Fear) when she returns there. Continue reading London Film Festival 2016 Days 3 to 4
The 60th BFI London Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday evening with a gala performance of A United Kingdom, the story of Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), king-in-waiting of Bechuanaland (now Botswana), and Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), an underwriter’s clerk. They marry, and incur the wrath of her family, his uncle, and the British and South African governments, who all conspire to separate them. Continue reading London Film Festival 2016 Days 1 to 2
MostlyFilm 