This introductory scene serves as a résumé of what Brazil was like under the military dictatorship and what it is like to try to make it here today. Oppressive, improvised, comical, dramatic, paranoid, and charismatic all at the same time, these qualities are blended under the peculiar writing and lens of auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho, as well as the world-class acting skill of Wagner Moura.

‘The Secret Agent’ dialogues with Mendonça Filho’s memoir-documentary ‘Pictures of Ghosts’ (2023): both use Downtown Recife’s classic film palaces. In the documentary, these theatres are fading memories of a bygone, elegant era; in the Solimões saga, they become a character alongside the picture, with a blend of colonial, neoclassical, and art nouveau architecture. The same sun that gives the distinctive coloring and shades also touches the skin of locals, granting Recife a unique look compared to more well-known Brazilian cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, or Salvador. Mendonça Filho presents aspects of local culture that resonate abroad without losing identity—his film is a love letter to his childhood in Recife and its cinema culture.

Although Brazil has brought to the world many films depicting the dictatorship years, ‘The Secret Agent’ stands out. For the untrained eye, it feels like a B-movie, but this presentation is just a layer of a nuanced arthouse picture that can also entertain. The exploitation gene is more alive when the legend of the hairy leg is told during a friend’s meeting, and the narration is followed by scenes of an amputated hairy leg causing mischief in Recife’s night, which was, in fact, a way to expose the abuses of the dictatorial law enforcement agents during that era of suffocating freedom of expression. Not to forget that, according to the National Truth Commission, 434 people were killed or disappeared by the dictatorship. Nevertheless, experts like Eugênia Augusta Gonzaga believe this number exceeds 10,000 people.

Besides being another chapter of Brazil’s revisionism of its authoritarian past, ‘The Secret Agent’ follows the world success of Walter Salles’ ‘I’m Still Here’ (2024), in which a widow and mother of four defies the regime in search of her state-abducted, tortured, and murdered husband. Both films take place in the 1970s under the same government, but they feel very distinctive and showcase that Brazilian narrators have more stories from that period to tell, and ‘The Secret Agent’ keeps the Brazilian momentum in world cinema.

Since the last decade, Brazilian films have been gaining space abroad. To explore this trend, renowned Brazilian critic Sérgio Rizzo shared his perspective in an exclusive interview with The Big Picture Film Club. Rizzo explains the international award-winning picture in the global landscape: “For Brazilian cinema, the film’s successful international run represents yet another contribution to the self-esteem of audiovisual production in the country. Its international production and distribution alliances also help, following ‘I’m Still Here,’ to reinforce the image of Brazilian audiovisual production as a good partner, capable of creating works deeply connected to national culture and, at the same time, with the capacity to communicate with audiences in other countries, especially in Europe and the USA.”

Still, it is not an easy way to reclaim the role it had in the 70s and 80s as happened with ‘The Kiss of the Spider-Woman’ (1985) or the acclaim it got at the dawn of this century with ‘City of God’ (2001) and there is work to be done after ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent,’ according to Rizzo: “However, for the success of these two films to cease being merely episodic and become a permanent occupation of a space in the international spotlight, measures are needed in the area of public policies that strengthen the Brazilian industry in the medium and long term, which is not currently happening.”

A pool of international exchange under tropical weather

Brazilian pictures have attracted international talents like Italian legend Marcello Mastroianni in ‘Gabriela’ (1983), ‘My Hindu Friend’ (2015) with Willem Dafoe, and Frenchman Vincent Cassel, who has strong ties with the nation, was cast in ‘Adrift’ (2009) and ‘The Movie of My Life’ (2017). Late German veteran character actor Udo Kier was a collaborator of Mendonça Filho, playing the main antagonist in ‘Bacurau’ (2019), which also had a squad of foreign talents, and portraying a Holocaust survivor in ‘The Secret Agent,’ a metalanguage of authoritarian regimes and their everlasting impact on their survivors, and also his last role. These and other collaborations show that there is room for foreign talent in authorial and independent Brazilian films.
When asked what foreign talent can bring to the Brazilian table, Rizzo explains: “‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent’ already feature foreign professionals, especially Europeans, in artistic and technical roles. These are concrete and successful examples of opening new avenues for internationalising work, which are fundamental to the audiovisual production system in the 21st century.”

‘The Secret Agent’ features impactful cinematography by Russia’s Evgenia Alexandrova, while ‘I’m Still Here’ has a rich soundtrack by Australian musician Warren Ellis. Rizzo further elaborates on these symbiotic international relations:

Just as the US audiovisual industry traditionally relies on the talent of professionals from other countries; the Brazilian audiovisual industry has its doors open to the participation of foreign ‘players’ in strategic positions. Actors and actresses, for example, can revitalize their careers by participating in auteur films with strong festival presence and high circulation on prestigious exhibition circuits, which, in turn, allows them to occupy spaces in the global media spotlight. Producers can associate themselves with local projects and benefit from this same privileged circulation.” – Sérgio Rizzo

In this current high-momentum period, Brazilian cinema can accommodate both veteran and emerging talents. Names like Academy Award-winning Melissa Leo, charismatic 80s leading man Philip Michael Thomas, and New Queer Cinema mainstay Guinevere Turner come to my mind as they can offer much on and off-screen. While actors that deserve greater leading status include Ireland’s Mark Ryder (Borgia) and local Alexandre Rodrigues, who brought ‘City of God’s Rocket to life. Although the future is uncertain, the Brazilian cinema community, alongside local and foreign talents and fans, should savour moments like the one unfolding in this unique, sun-bathed corner of the globe.

The Secret Agent is in cinemas now

The post ‘The Secret Agent’ Unveils Authoritarian Trauma and New Narratives For World-Cinema appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Based on true events, Rock, Paper, Scissors follows Ivan, a 17-year-old Ukrainian boy, and his father as they run a makeshift hospital from inside a bunker while fighting rages above them. When an approaching platoon threatens their fragile sanctuary, the pair are forced into a decision that no one — let alone a child — should ever have to make.

The film recently won Best British Short Film at the 2025 BAFTA Awards and has since been shortlisted for the Academy Awards® Live Action Short Film, marking it as one of the most significant short films of the year. We spoke with writer-director Franz Böhm about the origins of the story, his approach to scale and restraint, and what these milestones mean to him.

Presh Williams: Rock, Paper, Scissors is based on actual events. How did you come across the story?

Franz Bohm: I’ve met Ivan, who became the main source of inspiration for this project, in England when he was a teenager. As we spent more time together, Ivan began to share what he had experienced back home. It was raw, personal, and deeply human. What started as a friendship soon became a creative collaboration. Together, we wrote the screenplay for what would become Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Working with Ivan remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. His clarity, courage, and sense of purpose shaped every part of this project. Even after he returned to Ukraine, his spirit stayed with us. It guided the team, the performances, and the tone. He gave the story its soul.

PW: RPS could be equally as powerful as a 10-minute film or as a 30-minute film. How did you decide on what aspects of Ivan’s story you would include in the short film?

FB: It’s something we discussed a lot during the writing and editing process. From the very beginning, we knew that Rock, Paper, Scissors had to feel like a complete experience, not just a snapshot. The film had to carry the emotional weight of Ivan’s story. The claustrophobia of the bunker, the fragility of youth in wartime, and the impossible choices he faces. All within a limited timeframe.

We experimented with longer and shorter versions, but ultimately landed on 20 minutes because it allowed us to stay close to Ivan’s emotional arc without diluting the intensity. Too short, and we risked losing the buildup of dread and responsibility that weighs on him. Too long, and we might have drifted away from the urgency and focus that the story demands.

At its core, this film is about a boy who has to grow up in a single day. Every scene we kept had to serve that arc, not just narratively, but emotionally. It wasn’t about showing everything that happened, but showing enough for the audience to feel what it meant.

PW: Have people who knew Ivan seen the film? How has support been from the Ukrainian community?

FB: Ivan himself saw multiple versions of our cut, and it was wonderful to collaborate with him. It became a shared creative journey, and I learned so much from his honesty and clarity.

Since his passing, I’ve been incredibly moved by the response from the Ukrainian community. People who knew him, or who recognise their own experiences in the film, have reached out. I’m grateful for the many messages of support. What’s meant a great deal to me are the community-led screenings that have taken place in Ukraine. People have organised gatherings in basements, schools, and cultural centres, often in difficult conditions, to share the film with others. That kind of grassroots response is incredibly powerful.

Their support has been so generous, and I carry that with me every time we show the film.

PW: From your work in Dear Future Children (to now), a key aspect of your work seems to be profiling how people in extreme adversity overcome their circumstances. Would you say that is a fair characterisation of your work?

FB: Yes, I think that’s a fair characterisation but I’d maybe frame it slightly differently.

What drives me as a filmmaker is a deep fascination with the human capacity for dignity and resilience, especially when people are pushed to the edge. From Dear Future Children to Rock, Paper, Scissors, I’ve been drawn to stories where individuals are forced to make impossible choices under extreme pressure.

I don’t approach these stories as case studies of suffering. I approach them as portraits of courage, resistance, and moral complexity. What interests me is not just the hardship itself, but how people retain their sense of self, how they connect to others, and how they keep going even when the world seems to fall apart around them.

PW: You won the Best Short Film at the 2025 BAFTAs and are now shortlisted for the Oscars. What do these incredible milestones mean for you?

FB: It’s been incredibly humbling. Winning the BAFTA was a moment I’ll never forget — not just because of the recognition itself, but because of what it represents: that this story, born from a very real and painful place, resonated with people on a wider scale. Being shortlisted for the Oscars now is another overwhelming moment. It means that the hard work, the risks we took, and the trust of our Ukrainian cast and collaborators have led to something that really travels beyond borders.

But more than personal pride, these milestones are a reminder that stories like Ivan’s matter. That cinema still has the power to give voice to people in impossible situations. It encourages me, and hopefully others, to keep pushing for stories that are urgent, impactful, and grounded in human experience.

Rock, Paper, Scissors is currently shortlisted for the Academy Award® for Live Action Short Film, with the 98th Academy Awards taking place on 15 March 2026 — a moment that could see this urgent, human story recognised on cinema’s biggest stage.

The post Rock, Paper, Scissors: Franz Böhm on Frontline Humanity, Impossible Choices, and Cinema as Witness appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Commissioned by WePresent (WeTransfer) and produced via 3.16 Productions, the film is Oscar® and BAFTA-qualified, selected for the BFI London Film Festival, and nominated for Best Sci-Fi at HollyShorts.

Rooted in the aftermath of youth violence and inspired by a real tragedy close to the filmmaker, Highway To The Moon channels personal pain into a lyrical meditation on memory, resilience and community.

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel to hear Letitia Wright, Kenyah Sandy and Lamar Waves break down the film’s imagery, influences and emotional stakes.

The post Letitia Wright on ‘Highway To The Moon’: Directorial Debut, Ethereal Vision and Brotherhood appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Some examples of these combos can be seen in the series ‘Hannibal’ (2013 – 2015) following the eating habits of cannibal Renaissance man Hannibal Lecter played by Mads Mikkelsen; in ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974), a display on how independent horror movies can become a cultural influence that transcends the silver screen, and Spain’s c with its social commentary covered in gore and apprehension.

To discuss the relationship between gastronomy and horror, the Big Picture Film Club interviewed Sarah Stubbs, a film critic and online content creator known for her passion for various aspects of pop culture and her in-depth knowledge of food and horror.

Stubbs’ passion for cooking blossomed in her early childhood when learning how to cook from her mom, who also introduced Sarah to horror pictures like ‘House on Haunted Hill’ (1959) and all the Universal Monster films before the tender age of 10, laying the ground for the merger of these subjects in the younger Stubbs’ brain.

In our interview, Stubbs discusses the different roles food can play in horror films, ranging from being the killer itself to social allegories that emerge as the fatalities pile up in the score counting. Stubbs revels in how eye-appealing food can be another storytelling resource, the meaning of dinner time in American society, and how it is subverted, or even perverted, in the classic series starring Leatherface and his feared chainsaw.

Gabriel Leão: How is gastronomy used in horror movies and series?

Sarah Stubbs: Gastro horror is kind of like this big, all-encompassing thing. Thus, when I talk about gastro horror, I break it down a little bit. Because we have gastro horror, where the food is the killer. Think of movies like ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,’ ‘The Stuff,’ ‘Ginger Dead Man,’ where you literally have killer food.
I did an article where, literally, the food is the killer. I broke down just about everyone you can find. For some reason, bread is a popular food used, producers like to make stuff about killer bread.
I think it’s because “bread” and “dead” rhyme, so people like to play with titles like ‘Evil Bread,’ or ‘Night of the Living Bread’. Then you have instances of horror using gastro elements, like dinner scenes, feast scenes, death by food, Et cetera. For example, in ‘Sleepwalkers,’ someone is stabbed to death with an ear of corn.
Therefore, elements of food, like in the movie ‘Thinner,’ in which there’s a cursed pie, enter the discussion. But food isn’t necessarily the main feature. And then you have things that have cannibalism. So, literally, people are eating people.

I think gastro horror is kind of an all-encompassing thing, because human nature is eating. We have to eat to survive; there’s no way around it, and what’s scarier than something we have to do, being the source of danger? I find that particularly fascinating, and there’s a lot of subversions of dinner and meals, because it is something that is a part of our lives. It’s how we connect to people. We talk to people over dinner, when you go out for dinner on a date, hence subverting all of these things that we do daily, and making them horrific is always scary.

GL: How do you evaluate the role of gastronomy in the series ‘Hannibal’ (2013 – 2015)?

SS: Admittedly, I am not a big TV watcher. Nevertheless, I am very familiar with Hannibal. That said, I think what draws people to Hannibal is that there’s something so charismatic about him, you’re drawn to this cannibal, you want to see what this cannibal is going to do. When it comes to the show, not only that, but you have beautiful-looking food. It’s not grotesque in the visuals of it. When you look at this plate of food, what’s terrifying about it is that it’s absolutely something you would see at a fancy restaurant.

(The characters) may not know, but as the viewer of the show, you know this is human. This is what makes it so terrifying. My husband and I have this phrase we call things that are kind of attractive but scary. We call it “sexy dangerous.” And I feel like this is that, especially with the TV show’s star, Mads Mikkelsen.
There’s something so charismatic about Mikkelsen. You just can’t take your eyes off him. You want to keep watching what he’s going to do. You want to see what Hannibal’s going to do, and how he’s going to do it.
This brings us back to how it is not like ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ or ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ where the cannibalism is primal, ghastly, or grotesque; it’s not a ‘Wrong Turn’ movie, where you’re just seeing someone get their limbs hacked off and barbecued. It’s presented beautifully. We eat with our eyes.
It’s hard to look away when it’s something so beautiful. You see this in movies like ‘The Menu’ or ‘House of Spoils,’ where it’s not cannibalism, but there are these horrific scenes and moments that use beautiful food to, for a moment, pull you out of that scariness and that horror, because it’s just so gorgeous.

GL: How influential is the dinner scene in ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ (1974)?

SS: The dinner scene in the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ is great for so many reasons, and it’s important to gastro horror, in my opinion. It is not the first time we have seen a dinner scene in horror. It’s not even nearly the first time. But what’s interesting about the dinner scene in ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ is that aside from it just being this awful moment, it has a history. That scene was filmed at night; they filmed it for hours and hours and hours. The scent of rotting meat was everywhere. Everybody was sweaty.

In every book about ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ they talk about this scene, and its history just being such an awful night of filming, the actors’ stress and grunge, and everything is real, and so it feels so visceral.
But also, in the 1970s and in the United States, we’re seeing this kind of push away from, the nuclear family ideal, whereas in the 1950s, we had family dinner, and they were really trying to push this notion of everybody at the dinner table, dressing nicely and having a fancy dinner where children should be seen and not heard, mother and father talk about their day, it’s this cookie-cutter image and ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ absolutely turns that on its head.

You have this horrific meal, people are being tortured, people are tied to the chair, they’re poking fun at modernity in a way that subverts it so much, because it’s so far from the family dinner that we would expect and that we see in Hollywood, since family dinner is supposed to be this place of comfort and joy, you think about the Sunday dinner where you get together with your family, you catch up, and it’s nice, meanwhile this scene is not like that at all. This is horror. This is Sally trying to escape this dinner with every fibre of her being and her life. She literally jumps out a window to escape it.

This dinner scene is shown in various ways throughout the ‘Texas Chainsaw’ franchise, with the exception of the more modern remakes. Even ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation’ kind of removes it. There’s a dinner scene, but dinner isn’t the point anymore, and effectively, we see how family dinner throughout history in the United States changes through how it’s depicted in the ‘Texas Chainsaw’ franchise, which is really fascinating.

GL: The Spaniard horror film ‘The Platform’ (2019) touches on some social issues through allegories. How do you see the subjects of luxury food and cannibalism playing out in the product?

SS: In the ‘Platform,’ there’s not as much cannibalism (as in the others we previously discussed), if I recall correctly. It’s been a minute since I’ve watched it, but they do touch a lot on the social commentary, and you do see this in cannibalism movies. There is a lot of, eat the rich, or going the opposite way where the rich are taking advantage of marginalized people and communities, and, in essence, they are the ones doing the eating. There is a Norwegian film called ‘Kadaver,’ and the premise is rich people who are inviting people who aren’t rich and they deem to be below them to dinner, then the people they’ve invited are, in fact, the meal, and these people are trying to escape, similarly to the ‘Platform’. There is the social commentary of those “above” having more than those “below”. And I think that it’s a really fascinating look and way to examine society. Food is obviously something that, again, everybody needs, but not everybody has access to and so to use starvation and/or the removal of food as the means of horror is another way that we can give focus to these issues without necessarily making a movie that’s directly about those topics.

Sarah Stubbs

Interested in more Gastro Horror? Check out Sarah Stubbs’ official website.

Visit sarahstubbssays.com

The post Gastro Horror Explained: Sarah Stubbs on Hannibal, Texas Chain Saw’s Dinner Scene & The Platform appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

From her challenging early years to her rise as a defining figure in the UK ska scene, Pauline recounts the struggles against racism and the barriers of identity that fueled her creative and activist spirit. Her journey—from overcoming a difficult upbringing marked by prejudice to becoming an emblem of musical rebellion—resonates with anyone passionate about social change and cultural evolution.

This conversation not only explores the historical impact of 2-Tone music but also highlights its relevance today in conversations about gender, politics, and race. Whether you’re a documentary buff, a fan of the vibrant ska era, or simply curious about an inspiring life story, this interview is a must-watch.

Watch the full interview below, hosted on our YouTube channel.

The post Enter The Selecter: Pauline Black Reveals the Untold Story of 2-Tone Music appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

The series, helmed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker and former St. Edward Eagles wrestler Ben Hatta, goes beyond mat results, portraying a side of American society that humanizes its characters and helps to understand the values that compose Americana at its core, considering how big amateur wrestling is in the nation.

Before ‘Clash of Dynasties,’ Hatta worked on the acclaimed documentaries ‘Team Foxcatcher’ (2016) and ‘Angle’ (2023). The former focused on the controversial Foxcatcher training camp, which had among its luminaries the Olympic champion Dave Schultz, and the latter on Olympic wrestling gold medallist and pro-wrestling champion Kurt Angle.

Hatta didn’t only wrestle in his youth but hails from a family with deep roots in the sport. His father, Tadaaki Hatta, coached the Olympic teams of the USA, Japan, and Mexico, and his grandfather, Ichiro Hatta, was a secretary to judo founder Jigoro Kano and introduced amateur and pro wrestling to Japan in the early 1930s and also competed as a wrestler at the Los Angeles 1932 Olympics. Now, the country is a powerhouse at the Olympics and has a vibrant pro-wrestling culture.

Ben Hatta draws from his experiences at home and on the mat to thrive in his cinematic career. In an interview with The Big Picture Film Club, the documentarist speaks about his creative process, working on a story and keeping it real while he was a character and the role that wrestling plays in American society.

Gabriel Leão (GL): You worked on the acclaimed wrestling documentaries ‘Team Foxcatcher’ and ‘Angle.’ How do you believe those two prepared you for ‘Clash of Dynasties’?
Ben Hatta (BH): Both Team Foxcatcher and Angle were wrestling-based stories that took place during the 1990s and so was ‘Clash,’ so all 3 dealt with the same time period and I actually lived through all 3 stories and experienced them personally. I was able to actually tie all 3 films together with Clash of Dynasties with some throwback footage to those other moments. But I think what I found the most educational with the 2 previous films was really looking for those storylines or those elements that didn’t have to do with wrestling or sports at all really and find more of those universal stories that could help enhance the overall film and appeal to a broader audience with ‘Clash of Dynasties.’ Plus, all the work finding the archives and digging through footage from 30 years ago was pretty much the same… (Breaths) Intense.

GL: You were part of the St. Edward team. How did you work with that background in the docuseries? Does it influence your decisions, considering you tell the story from both sides?
BH: Yes, I wrestled for St. Eds from 1990 to 1994, so I knew of this moment in time in American high school wrestling quite well but since I only started on the varsity team for just my senior year, I was also a spectator for some of it. And since I was from one of the schools, I had to make a conscious effort to tell a fair and even-sided story. In order to help do that, I employed the services of 3 wrestlers from the other school, Walsh Jesuit, to help me make this project. None of them were filmmakers but they helped produce the project in several ways; especially keeping me on track and honest to their side of the story. I never looked at this as my story to tell, it was all of our stories and at some points, it was even bigger than us.

GL: You hail from a wrestling family with your father and grandfather, the legendary Tadaaki Hatta and Ichiro Hatta, respectively. How is this personal biography part of not only ‘Clash of Dynasties’ but also your creative process?
BH: Well, my father is a cast member in the film series, as he was one of the coaches at St. Edward during this time. My brother is in the series as well, and so am I, so we’re all in this series together. My dad is also an artist (painting and sculpture) and I’ve taken on some of those traits but I’m trying to use television and film as my art form and canvas. I think both of us are trying to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps by trying to grow the sport of wrestling as much as we can through art, storytelling, international diplomacy, etc. whatever we can do to broaden the audience and showcase the great passion, emotion, and efforts of the oldest sport in the world.

GL: For Americans, high school sports play an important role in shaping the individual and the community. How do you see ‘Clash of Dynasties’ registering this corner of American sports history?
BH: This is not just your classic “David vs Goliath” story, there are other themes running throughout this series as well, where teenagers were dealing with extreme losses (deaths of teammates, coaches, and family members) that took place “off the mat” that affected them deeply and how they overcame those moments. Hopefully, viewers will be inspired to be the best at what they set out to do and see that there is a formula to success, if you put in the work and never give up.

GL: What would attract British viewers and those from other countries to your docuseries?
BH: I feel any viewer will be able to connect with the human elements of this story: the struggle, overcoming loss, deaths, dealing with pain, dedication to helping others, and working hard to be good at something. This is more than just a wrestling story, or a sports story really, it’s a human story and I think everyone can relate to those moments more than the amazing athletic achievements of these teenagers. Coach Bill Barger’s pledge to God in Vietnam that he would help youth if he just got out of there, and what he ended up doing with his life is just one of the many amazing stories in this Series.

GL: Wrestling is part of American society and culture. How is it inserted into American life, and what values does it bring to the nation?
BH: Wrestling is a sport that possesses many values that are relatable to the American way of life, in such that a wrestler is the only one on the mat… Much like boxing or MMA, the only one in the ring or the octagon. There is no one else to blame but yourself for the work you put it is what you’ll get out in return. There’s also a respect for the competitor who has the strength and courage to step on the mat or in the ring or in the octagon and give it their all in an effort of competition. I actually think it’s a story that is probably needed today not only in America because it shows that those who were once enemies can come together out of mutual respect for the battles they shared. Rivalries and competition are what make the good into great, and the great into dynasties!

GL: There is a belief that American society has an image of “winner culture” and that those who didn’t make it aren’t worthy of it. The movie industry is also an unforgiven world. How does the sport of wrestling help in dealing with societal pressures?
BH: I think the lessons learned from the sport of wrestling, like many martial arts, is discipline and focus. Setting goals and the dedication to achieve them are part of the sport and realizing that you can’t really rely on anyone other than yourself – can help you block out those pressures and help keep you on the path you’re supposed to be on. And like the sport, life is never easy but if you’re a good person, you work hard and have a little luck, good things will come.

GL: Your documentary humanizes its subjects, going beyond training methods and wrestling moves. How did you achieve this approach?
BH: Again, I feel focusing on the stories that were much deeper than wrestling, things that were taking place off the mat- behind the scenes, that were affecting those teenagers was the most important. I say teenagers because you can forget that these were just kids- some as young as 14 years old- thrust into the national spotlight and in a very physical sport, in front of huge crowds, while dealing with deep emotional losses. I hope viewers can feel that. Our cast was very open and vulnerable in telling their stories and I feel it comes through in their interviews. I also put a focus on the 1990s and that time period that this story took place because that was a decade of change – in media, politics, sports, etc. – and many of the events that took place in the 90s were reflective of this story.

GL: What are your sweetest memories from your time as a St. Edward wrestler?
BH: I think the best times on most teams, were the times spent travelling together and competing together, being part of a team. Focusing on a common goal at the highest degree, training and pushing each other to be the best (or at least your best), taking on the toughest competition in the country, and trying to prove your worth was something that I value highly in my time spent at St. Eds. And the coaching staff and the amount of talent we had watching over us was just amazing. But my sweetest memory was winning my match against Walsh Jesuit during our dual meet in 1994 – when ESPN was there – in front of 2000 to 3000 fans.

The series became available to watch on www.clashofdynasties.com and by pressing the Watch The Series button.

The post How ‘Clash of Dynasties’ Captures America’s Greatest High School Wrestling Rivalry appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

In an interview with Big Picture Film Club, Doctor in Multimedia and advertising professional Thifani Postali (Sorocaba University – UNISO) points out that: “For some time Mattel has been attempting to modernize the idea of Barbie which has been criticized as a stereotype of the female body. The movie screenplay follows the current discussions about what it is ‘to be a woman,’ in particular in Western societies. The protagonist is a classic Barbie model but progressist, independent without pushing aside her aesthetical preferences.”

Postali sees in the figure of Ken a character that discovers a “sexist world dominated by patriarchy with imposed characteristics that the character brings to the fictional (doll) world, which can also be easily assimilated to the social structure of many Western countries. Ken’s character arc is an explicit critique of the patriarchal model, reinforcing the new position that the brand Mattel aims for with this movie. This situation divides the public, as a more progressive viewer will be more receptive; meanwhile, the conservative will criticize how the gender issues were approached. In the end, I see that the outcome was mostly positive, and Mattel’s intention to reposition the brand goes together with the modern discussions about the matter.”

Mattel released Barbie in the US in 1959, when America was experiencing the struggle of the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War, decades before the advent of video games and the Internet. For long, Barbie has been aligned with the values of a white and conservative America. Still, it has been trying to keep up with the times, including societal changes and the ever-growing presence of media in the daily lives of its consumers; with the movie being one such example.

A Barbie for the current era

“This production, in my opinion, must be understood in the logic of transmedia narratives,” explains Brazilian communicologist Mara Rovida (UNISO), for who the ‘Barbie’ appeal can be better understood under the prism of transmedia narrative which “is this narrative universe made up of different types of narratives that complement each other (they are not just versions of the same plot).”

Postali further explains transmedia narratives as “not the simple translation of content to another medium, but the expansion of the universe with new stories, news and curiosities about the topic. The entertainment market has often used this strategy to keep its products in the spotlight.”

For Rovida, the Barbie franchise’s set of media products generates a narrative universe, thus falling under transmedia. Rovida also believes that many product-based pictures supposedly aimed at a younger market like ‘ ‘Shazam’ (2019) or ‘Dragon Ball Evolution’ (2009) originate in comic books and anime. “Toys are usually elements that appear later,” exposes Rovida which can be seen as toy lines made after a successful movie. A vital moment in the relationship between the movie and toy industry was the creation of the ‘Star Wars’ toy line – with George Lucas retaining ancillary rights to the licensing of Star Wars toys.

Some of the transmedia assets when promoting ‘Barbie’ was social media, fast food, and public transport. For Postali, this shows the current state of blockbuster promotion because “there is no way not to involve digital media and electronic games in a film campaign, especially for a product that involves a culture that transcends cinema, as is the case with Barbie. Digital media, through algorithms, can better segment the public that is most interested in the subject. In contrast, electronic games, as they have become a fundamental medium in the 21st century, can reinforce dissemination and reach other audiences interested in the topic.“

Besides Barbie, other toys from the past have transitioned onto the silver screen, like ‘The Masters of the Universe’ (1987) starring Dolph Lundgren, the ‘G. I. Joe’s movies with Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, and Bruce Willis, and the upcoming Matchbox movie with John Cena behind the wheel.

“It is a translation or adaptation, and its failure or success will depend largely on the quality of the production – whether or not the toy had a previous story and how this story will be presented in new media” affirms Postali. The scholar thinks that new media enable different forms of content that can contribute to the permanence and success of a toy.
In Postali’s eyes, when these narratives are well planned and performed, they expand the universe, enabling the use of the transmedia technique. This technique is not the simple translation of content to another medium but the expansion of the universe with new stories, news, and curiosities about the topic. The entertainment market has often used this strategy to keep its products in the spotlight.

‘Barbie’ might be an isolated event inside the genre of “toy movies,” much like not every superhero movie is on par with ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008), still as Hollywood is ever reliant on IPs to satisfy its capitalist needs over art, ‘Barbie’ might serve as a template for those who dare to do a blockbuster that isn’t just a ‘Made for TV’ movie with a bigger budget, however, to know if the new endeavours will achieve the bar that Gerwig, Robbie, and Gosling have set is another issue.

Also Read: Beyond Superheroes: What Will Define Hollywood’s Next Era?

The post Mattel’s Modern Makeover: Why Movies Based On Toys Are Here To Stay appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Still, although known for her maverick writing style, in 2019 Turner wrote an essay for The New Yorker that told her ordeal about growing up as a member of the Lyman Family cult and by tail end of last season she published the memoir When the World Didn’t End (Crown Publishing, Penguin Random Books, 2023).

Turner is known for the creative partnership with veteran director Mary Harron which generated four movies, among them the horror satire ‘American Psycho’ which follows yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale). As an independent artist Turner broke through with Cheryl Dunye’s ‘The Watermelon Woman’ and Rose Troche’s ‘Go Fish,’ with the latter she would work together in ‘The L Word.’

Meanwhile When the World Didn’t End allows us to understand the places she comes from as she was raised in a secluded cult managed by Melvin “Mel” Lyman, a self-proclaimed saviour who defended their isolation from a world that “had lost its way.”
In a video interview with The Big Picture Film Club, Guinevere Turner, one of the brightest of her generation, speaks about the creative process, the Harron partnership, pioneering lesbian representativity in film and TV, ‘American Psycho’s cultural impact and coping with trauma while working on her memoir.

Gabriel Leão: You’ve been contacted by publishing houses to write about your early life experiences with the Lyman Family Cult for decades. What made you feel like writing it at this stage of your life?

Guinevere Turner: The reason I wrote the book is because I wrote the movie ‘Charlie Says’ which is about the women who killed for Charles Manson, and their time in prison.
It was then that I realized that I’ve been avoiding talking about my childhood in the press. Because often I had been asked; however, it wasn’t relevant to the movie I was promoting, and I know how it is relevant to talk about it now.

In 2019, I wrote a piece that was published at the New Yorker Magazine, and it was one of their top 25 most read stories of the year and people from all sorts of platforms reached out to me, regular people who had been in cults or raised in cults like me, and then also publishers and agents saying: “Are you going to write a book about this?”
For years people had been saying: “You should write a movie or a TV show about it.” Because that is what I do, and I thought: “I got to write a book first to control how I’m going to tell this story.” It is tough to work through all that with a crew, a cast, and opinions of people with money.

Therefore, it seemed like now was the time to write the book, I wasn’t ready before, but then the opportunity was here. Hence, I decided to tackle it and it was not easy.
I haven’t written a book before, I write screenplays. The publishing house said: “Here is your contract, and you have two years.” I thought: “I’m not going to need two years.” And two years later I was astonished and figured out that I need two years, so I had to use these two years better.

GL: One of your most known working partnerships in cinema is with film director Mary Harron. How do you both operate, and why does it work so well?

GT: It is funny, I was just talking with her on the phone, because we are in different places, we are just about to make our fourth film together that we wrote, and she is directing. It has been a while since we’ve written together and just because we’ve been doing other things, and I forgot how much we laughed, we exceptionally have a dark humour which really makes us laugh.

We try to be in the same place, but for years I’ve been living in LA, and she lives in New York, and now I’m in Syracuse, New York which is just five hours North from New York City. We’ve known each other so well at this point, it is our fourth film and we’ve written other scripts together. We like to be in the same room because it is the reason that it works, and it was almost immediately as we met in 1997 and started to write together.
We are not competitive, and there is no sort of ego, so I’ll say some really dumb ideas and she will say really dumb ideas too. We are not embarrassed about that; we are not also shy to say: “I don’t think that is a good idea but what about this.”
There is a lot of ego in collaboration and sometimes people want their ideas to be the one that gets used, and with us is just the opposite, it flows easier in that way, and I think that is important as we are not competitive or self-conscious, we just try to make the best thing.

We have the same sense of humour, and although not all of our movies are funny, we have a sensibility in common, we work really well together. What is crazy is that when I met her, she was single, no kids, and we were just starting on our first project, and now her daughters are on their 20s and giving me notes and they give really good notes. I remember when I was in the hospital room, and they were born.

GL: One of the reasons you wrote When the World Didn’t End was working with the script of ‘Charlie Says.’ Do you see any similarities between the Manson Family and the Lyman Family?

GT: (Breaths)… There are many similarities. But that said as a person who studies about, has been in a community of cult survivors, deprogrammers, counsellors, and is very up on cults. The similarities across countries and decades of cults are kind of shocking sometimes. It is all just patriarchy on steroids and in the rare case when there is a woman in charge it is still power dynamics on steroids in which women and children usually suffer. I have never met Mel Lyman. I know Manson better than I know Lyman because I did a lot of research on Manson and he spoke every time a camera was pointed at him, not so for Lyman, and Manson lived about 30 years longer.

I don’t think Lyman cared about being famous, he cared about getting his music out there, about whatever his philosophy was, bringing people to a different kind of consciousness and way of being, whereas Charles Manson really wanted to be famous.
In my research, and in the way that I crafted my film, I really started to understand the reason that Manson practically lost his mind and started encouraging his followers to prepare for “The War,” “The Apocalypse,” and eventually killing these people. What else made the Manson Family infamous is because he realized he wasn’t going to get famous; therefore, he needed to crank up the stakes to keep his followers.

Manson was like this because he wasn’t going to get a record deal, on which he crafted the whole family around like he was going to get this deal, his music was going to get out to the world, and that didn’t happen. Manson was a con man; Lyman was an acid-using deep-thinking musician who got a lot of people to follow him though, still not always to everyone’s benefit. There is a lot of that man that I don’t know.

GL: Is there any possibility of When the World Didn’t End becoming a picture?

GT: Yes, I hope that it begins this year, I have just finished the script. Absolutely (want it), it was hard to write the book, to go through all of the press and talk about it, but also in both cases great. Still, it is very personal, has lots of traumas, and people connect to it in a way as they share their trauma. So, it is a lot and now I’m going to put myself through all of that again: write the script, get the movie made, go to the screenings, talk to the movie people, and journalists. I’m really putting myself through this several times, but I feel wise and strong enough to handle it without it really getting to me in the way it would when I was younger.

Because it has to do with my writing and I’m working on an adaptation to turn it into a screenplay and a movie or perhaps a limited series. It is too much story to fit into in just a 100-minute movie, but my manager was blunt: “We want it to be a movie.”

I tried, though I just wrote her last week and said: “I’m at the page length that an average feature film would be but I’m only twelve (years-old).” (Laughs)… Which is about the middle of the book. And she was like: “Maybe it is a limited series.”
It is hard because it is a difficult book to adapt and adapting difficult books is what I do, but not the ones that I’ve written.

It has hit me: “Who wrote this? How are we supposed to make this a visual thing?” Because so much of my book happens in my head, so much of it is what I’m thinking and not being able to really tell anyone while in screenwriting terms you give the character a best friend, a guru that they can talk to, you have voice over, but none of those things are true or seem right for this. I’m really challenged about how to make it cinematic, how to separate myself from the actual story, and just look at it as a professional. I feel very challenged, and it might be the most challenging experience I ever had.

GL: Another work featuring a toxic male figure is ‘American Psycho,’ which features Patrick Bateman, who is adored by bros and is the face of the sigma male movement. What are your feelings about Bateman’s position in culture?

GT: It is strange, surprising, and hilarious when it is not so disturbing, which is to say that there is passionate fanbase for this movie as we are still talking about this movie 24 years later which is great. I hope that everything that I make gets talked about 24 years later.

A part of the huge passionate fanbase of this movie are just toxic men who just didn’t get a whole layer of the movie, that it is a satire on a set of men, on commodification and capitalism at its worst. They think he is a “cool dude.” (Laughs).

That to me is the sort of thing you couldn’t do on purpose. I just assume that those that watch this movie understand that Patrick Bateman although handsome, flawlessly worked out, donning very expensive clothes, is still a desperate man who is killing to get noticed and still can’t be noticed.

A loser with all the worse kinds of hyperbolic male traits: he wants all the things, and it is not enough; women are just like nice suits to him, maybe not even that important; he is an actual murderer of women for sport, and everyone (in the movie) is like: “What?” (We both laugh).

I find him very interesting because this movie was not very well-loved when it came out in 2000, wasn’t well-reviewed, and at the premiere screening at the Sundance Festival it received awkward applauses at the end. It was painful.

But it has just gained momentum. Once, I asked my students who weren’t even born when it was released: “Why do you care?” One of the girls goes: “Memes. There is just so many memes, you have to know what it is.” (We both burst into laughter).
We made a very ‘memeable’ movie before memes were a thing.

GL: You’ve been for long a champion of LGBTQIA+ representativity on the screen, in particular lesbians. How do you feel about newer generations catching up with your early works, such as ‘Go Fish’ and ‘The Watermelon Woman’?

GT: Amazed and very pleased, especially in the case of ‘Go Fish.’ It is so very analogue (laughs)… We used (tele)phones and everything about it just feels very much of its time which was early 1990s. They just showed it as an anniversary screening at the Sundance Film Festival a few weeks ago and a young Brazilian woman was crying and told me: “I come from a different culture and things are different for LGBTQIA+ people in my country, but this movie has moved me so much, I feel like it is about me.”

That makes me happy because you really don’t know that if you made something universal until a lot of time goes by, and in the case of this movie 30 years.
I feel continuously surprised and sat through with it at Sundance, we laughed at ourselves, and we were so young, I was 24 (years-old) in that movie. It is also so interesting to have a record of yourself at such an age, not only what I looked like, but I wrote it, thus what I thought, my perspective on the world.

‘The Watermelon Woman,’ is so interesting because (sadly) people didn’t pay attention to it for like 25 years. Now, every time I turn around there is a still from it in something either about queer cinema, Black women directors, or what they call the construction of auto-fiction with Cheryl (Dunye) playing a Cheryl who is kind of her with this sort of half documentary style.

I was in my first semester here at Syracuse University, my students didn’t know, they hadn’t seen my name, they had just to take my class, and so it came up that I was talking, and I mentioned ‘American Psycho,’ then one of the kids checks his mobile and comebacks: “Excuse me, you wrote ‘American Psycho’?” And I was like: “Yeah, don’t you guys google your professors?”; “We didn’t know who you were. We didn’t have your name.”

And them everybody is googling it, and another student goes even more excited: “You were in ‘The Watermelon Woman’.” And I was like: “How these 19 years-old people knows this movie?!”
Apparently, it was a required class for freshman in this college, 90s queer cinema, and they show ‘The Watermelon Woman.’

GL: You also played an essential part in the writing of ‘The L Word,’ which you also named, and later, the series would have a sequel for a whole new generation. How do you feel about being part of and living through those days?

GT: It was my first and only time working in and writing for television. It is different from movies, it’s a room full of people, deadlines are strict, and it is fun; writing for film is so solitary, it is just Mary and me.

Before it had come out there is an excitement: “Is this going to work?”
It is the first television show that is specifically about lesbians ever, at least in North America. So, there is an energy about it: “How can we make this a fun show while also maintaining its politics?”, “How can we make it speak to lesbians, obviously our audience, but also to people outside of the community?” In the end, it has to be a good show, regardless of who it is about.

It was exciting, to write something in May and it is on TV on December. In film, something in May is like three years later (laughs) in May.
The TV show ‘Broad City,’ is about two millennials who are best friends, in one episode they mention both ‘American Psycho’ and ‘The L Word,’ and I was like: “I’m so famous.” (Laughs).

I worked with Rose (Troche) in ‘The L Word’ and ‘Go Fish,’ and it is interesting because a generation of lesbians grew up with the series; if we were told in our early 20s that there was going to be six seasons of a TV show that then would be turned into another TV show, and there would be a reality TV show that was just focused on lesbians, we probably would burst into tears of joy and say: “So many changes.” But I mean not that many changes.

What really happened was that networks and corporations realized that LGBTQIA+ people have buying power, and if you build it, we will watch it, especially lesbians as we were also starved for representation. They probably thought “fools” (of themselves) because they didn’t do it sooner. The show was well-received, it was on the cover of New York Magazine before it even came out. It is thrilling that the concept of ‘The L Word’ has become a shorthand for “lesbians,” a cultural mark, and a way of talking about a community, including making jokes that are not homophobic.

GL: How do you process having fans ranging from your queer stories and ‘American Psycho’?

GT: Hilarious. There is this small group of people who just love independent film who have seen both, but I think most of the fans of ‘Go Fish’ have never seen ‘American Psycho’ because, I, myself, would have never see ‘American Psycho,’ I probably would have eventually, but I would have been scared and I don’t like scary movies. And the idea of making those bros sit and go through ‘Go Fish’ and make those lesbians of my generation sit through ‘American Psycho’ (We both laugh), I’d love it. You know, we have many sides (gestures over her head), at least two, the one who can write satires about serial killers and the other who can write romantic comedies about lesbians.

Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for reading purposes.

Also Read: Iconic Scenes: American Psycho – Business Card Scene

The post ‘American Psycho’ to ‘The L Word’: Guinevere Turner Details Her Transformative Storytelling appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

We spoke to both Déborah Lukumuena and Le’Shanty Bonsu about their time working on Girl.

Enter Déborah Lukumuena

Presh Williams: What do you hope the audience can take away from GIRL?

Déborah Lukumuena: I hope that people see that trauma and unconditional love can share the same space and if the one isn’t treated or faced properly, the other one explodes and creates more trauma. When Grace finally chooses herself, it means she acknowledges this.

Presh Williams: How was it like working with the director, Adura Onashile?

Déborah Lukumuena: I’m so glad I met and worked with Adura. She’s the first black female I worked with and this means a lot to me. The plotline is inspired by the relationship she has with her own mother and she was able to share it with me as well as the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, being a mother herself. I felt safe with her honesty and the personal view and telling she added. I haven’t birthed yet but I was able to feel the dreadful pain of a mother having to separate from her own child in order to protect her and to heal.

Introducing Le’Shanty Bonsu

Presh Williams: How was it like auditioning for the role?

Le’Shanty Bonsu: Auditioning for Girl was quite intense but also simultaneously exciting for me as when I got the opportunity to audition it was very early on in my acting career.

Presh Williams: When did you first realise you wanted to get into acting?

Le’Shanty Bonsu: I realised that I wanted to get into acting at around the age of 9. When I was in primary school we used to do a certain activity called ‘Improvise Drama’ where we would be given a scene to improvise and from that time I just knew acting was a part of me.

GIRL will be screening on Wednesday 18th October across UK cinemas as part of Big Picture Film Club’s Diverse Cinema partnership with Odeon Cinemas.

Also Read: Review: The After

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Liselotte Vanophem (Big Picture Film Club): Congratulations on the amazing documentary. How did you guys meet?

Frédéric Tcheng (Invisible Beauty): We met because we made a short movie together for the CFDA in New York. They needed a 3-minute film to introduce her on stage, and I was approached to make that 3-minute film, and that’s how we met. I didn’t know who Bethann was because I’m not much of a fashion guy, even though I’ve made a lot of fashion movies. We sat down to interview for that short film. For a 3-minute film, I interviewed Bethann for like 5 hours.

FT: There’s much to discuss, and I said, “Well, this is a very special person.” And we kept in touch. Bethann told me about the feature film that was more about the industry. And then, over the years, we started talking about making a new film that was more about her, the people in her life and her influence. Three and a half years ago, four years ago, we started working on that.

LV: You mentioned that you interviewed her for five hours for the three-minute video. How long did you film to make this movie?

FT: We wanted to make a documentary representing her life. A great woman like her deserves a great documentary. The first cut we had was a documentary of around 7 hours.

Bethann Hardison (Invisible Beauty): I like that first cut of 7 hours. That’s when he had to get into it and cut it to something he could present to me.

FT: After that, we got it down to four hours.

BH: Four hours was so good!

FT: Sadly, we had to cut even more. The result may be a bit longer than most, but that’s because people sit there watching this movie and want to see more. It was just a lot—a lot of stories to tell. We had to make choices about what thread we were following. The thread in the film would differ from the one in the book. It was the thread of advocacy. And you know, that’s how we saw it. It shaped the art of the story. All the collaborators and fashion people in this movie did something interesting and amazing.

LV: Because you had all the footage, were there any ideas of turning it into a limited series?

FT: Well, we did talk about making a series. But we got shut down by our producer, Lisa Cortez, who said that our investors had signed up for a feature film. So we had to deliver a movie. It’s good to have that constraint. We have to make choices about how we tell the story. It was a long path. But I was already very happy that Bethann was proud of what we had made. She always tells the truth, and if she was not going to like it, I would have felt like I had let her down. I didn’t want that. And so when she saw the four hours and said, “You made me a believer in my own story”, that was like a huge relief.

 LV: Did the writing of the book influence the film and vice versa?

BH: No, not really. They’re both about two different things. The book had nothing to do with the film. Because I have so many relationships, it helped me to tell my story in the movie.

FT: There were so many stories about, for example, the relationships with Jean-Michel Basque, but we couldn’t fit that in the film. That’s because we had to stick to Bethan’s story. It was important.

BH: But those stories could be included in the book. I need to finish my book because everyone is now seeing the film.

LV: Does that put more pressure on you?

BH: Yes, there was no pressure when they started to film, but because of the documentary, the audience wanted to see more, and I can feel the pressure. Not sure if the book will be as good as Invisible Beauty, though.

FT: It will be. I’ve read some pages. I can’t wait for everyone else to read the book. I told Bethann that I like her writing. She’s a writer. She didn’t need a ghostwriter. I told her not to get one. She has a voice of her own.

LV: This documentary highlights the beauty industry and the lack of diversity. Do you think the revolutionary things you did are also the perfect way to see even more inclusivity? Let’s say seeing models with a disability or models that look more like the women we see in the street.

BH: That’s where I have a problem. I give so much more credit to the outside world than to the little island of fashion. On one side, you have the world, and on the other, this stupid little island of fashion. That little island represented how a model looked in my day. People have so much style and personality, and it’s nonsense to want to become like the model you see. I believe the fashion model should be something we don’t want to be. That island is them. When I go around the world, I meet many young people who say they want to be a model. What a model is, is so broad these days. So many people can be a model.

LV: What can we do as consumers to show the fashion industry that we want more inclusivity and diversity?

BH: That change is already happening. The voices for change are here. You see mixed-race families. You see, same-sex marriages.

LV: Invisible Beauty was screened during the Sundance Film Festival London. Are there any other festivals the documentary is going to?

FT: We have had a nice festival run so far. We were in Toronto, Tribeca, Seattle, San Francisco; you name it. The film will be out in the US on the 15th of September. It’s very exciting for us to get a theatrical release.

Also Read: Review: Invisible Beauty

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Liselotte Vanophem (Big Picture Film Club): Congrats on the film!

Charlotte Regan (writer/director Scrapper): Thank you so much.

LV: It was just announced that the film is going to Edinburgh, to the Edinburgh Film Festival. How does it feel?

CR: It’s very cool! It’s very exciting. I love Edinburgh, so it would be nice to be a part of it, for sure.

LV: How did it feel when the Sundance Film Festival London said, “we want your film as the opening film”. Opening a festival must feel even more special than ‘only’ being selected.

CR: Being part of the Sundance Film Festival London and the Sundance community feels super cool. I try not to think about it too much, though. But it’s very cool. I feel very lucky, for sure.

LV: The casting of this movie is amazing, especially the children who are making their film debut. How did you find them?

CR: Oh, our casting director, Shaheen Baig, is incredible. She was a massive part of the search. And it was just a really long search. It took like two years because we were meant to shoot the year before, but because of COVID19, we had to push it back. We went to a lot of schools, and we’re being sent hundreds of tapes of young people. But from the moment we got Lola her tape, we knew that she was like magic. And then Alin came to an audition, and he’s the most charismatic 12-year-old you’ll ever meet in your life. So straight away, we knew we had two great kids on our hands.

LV: When and how did Harris Dickinson join the cast? The relationship between his character Jason and Lola’s Georgie is incredible.

CR: I’ve worked with Harris before when we worked on a short film a few years ago. I know him from that. I also love all the work that he’s done. All his films are incredible. He’s an amazing guy. He was cast the traditional way. We cast the young people first, or we intended to. Maybe we didn’t properly lock them in, but we looked for the kids first before looking for a Jason, just because I felt like the kids needed to come first and then Jason. Harris read for it and was just amazing, you know. He was also very selfless and knew how to support the kids whilst always giving a great performance.

LV: Where did the story for this film come from? Was it something that happened to you personally, something you have seen, etc.?

CR: I think a mix of everything for sure. There are people that I recognize within the film. People from the joyful working-class community that I grew up in. But beyond that, it’s not something that happened to me personally. The story evolved over time.

 LV: This is the first movie you wrote and directed by yourself instead of having co-directors/co-writers. How was that process?

CR: It was a lot of sitting on your own, writing, which I’m not a big fan of. I like to be with people to talk about things. I worked with my producer Theo on this, who is one of my best friends in the world, and we’ve worked together for a long time. There was that ‘family’ vibe. My production designer Elena was one of my best friends in school, and we’ve known each other since we were 12. My DP Molly is one of my best friends. It felt very much like a family-orientated shoot. They came on board very early and were always willing to talk creatively, which helped. Theo in particular, has sat with me for days and days, writing the script with me and saying the dialogue out loud. He was my partner through the whole process, for sure.

LV: There are a lot of emotional moments in this film. What was the most emotional one for you?

CR: I don’t know, really. I don’t feel that emotional on set, weirdly. I don’t know why. I probably try not to. However, when I watch it back, I love the bit where they are dancing together, and they finally connect just because she’s been so reluctant to let him in. So I love that moment. However, on the day of filming, I didn’t feel very emotional about it. I was probably blurring it out on purpose. I was probably tired and drinking too much coffee.

LV: And what do you hope that the audience will take away from this film?

CR: I hope it makes people laugh and smile. I suppose that is what I love about watching cinema. Movies are experiences that make you leave feeling lighter than when you went in. Something that makes you laugh or brings you a bit of joy. And then I hope that it captures how much joy and humour there is in working-class environments because I feel like it’s not something we get to see loads on screen.

LV: Is that experience also why you went into filmmaking?

CR: I don’t know. I think I got lucky with the film so I think it’s more luck. I don’t know if I would be good at anything else.

LV: Do you already have other projects you’re working on

CR: Yes, I’m writing films at the minute and just filmed an Apple show called The Buccaneers. It’s a period drama. One of the films I’m writing is a psychological horror about a gangster. It’s a totally different genre than this one.

LV: Scraper has a release at the end of August in the UK (25^th of August, to be exact). Are there any plans for releasing it in other countries?

CR: I think it releases on the same day in the U.S. I think I’ll be working on another shoot then, so might not be able to make it to promote it there.

LV: Well, good luck with Scrapper and your other projects!

CR: Thanks a lot!

Scrapper is screened on the 7th of July during the Sundance Film Festival London and has a nationwide release on the 25th of August.

Also Read: Review: Scrapper

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The post Inside the Heart of ‘Scrapper’: An Interview with Groundbreaking Director Charlotte Regan appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Watch the full interview below

Also Read: Is Hollywood Starting To Take Video Games Seriously?

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

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The gritty crime epic that garnered four Academy Awards nominations, is based on real life figures from the outskirts of once paradisiacal Rio de Janeiro and catapulted a cast composed of mostly community residents and Afro-Brazilian descendants into international acclaim. Some names like Alice Braga and Seu Jorge have international careers but the most impressive actors in the film are Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino (Li’l Zé) and Douglas Silva (Li’l Dice).

Now the 39 years-old Rodrigues is a respected actor having done it all, movies, telenovelas, series and stage plays, still as happens with many actors, in particular those of his background, in a country that doesn’t value culture his work is more lauded outside than inside the nation, City of God is considered one of the best 100 movies of this century while here he still faces the hardships of his craft.

In an interview with Big Picture Film Club, Rodrigues reminisces of his times as Rocket, realizing how much acclaimed the picture is, the hardships of being an actor in Brazil, the demands for diversity in the industry, the want of having his own international career and the directors he admires.

Gabriel Leão: What does City of God mean to the cinema world, To Brazilian cinema history and to your own career?

Alexandre Rodrigues: I believe that City of God was a window for the world to know that Brazil also makes prestige cinema, while for our country it was a watershed moment because we also understood that we can show quality, and I have to say that for my career it was also a great and important opportunity – a milestone.

GL: It is regarded as one of the most influential pictures of this century. How do you see this influence playing out in the current film landscape?

AR: The film had several techniques employed that were innovative for its era and, in a way, its context is timeless as it speaks to all types of audiences and in every known language ​​on the planet. I think it’s due to the storytelling and how it develops throughout the film, which is really incredible, but what I really believe to be its “magic touch” is the homogeneous and natural performance of the actors.

And quite contrary to what many people say, we are real actors. For example: “City of God was made by non-actors and so on”… In fact, all the cast was composed of committed professionals with up to ten years of theater experience like me! This speech comes with the following line: “Fernando Meirelles did not want familiar faces in his film, so he went looking for people who had little or no experience in the screens,” this is the case of Leandro Firmino (Zé Pequeno, Li’l Zé), still this was a rare example because all the others already had a long theatrical career, most of the cast hails from the group “Nois do Morro” (Us from the Hills, in free translation), A large NGO in Brazil that was acknowledged after City of God.

GL: When did you notice that your life had changed due to the movie?

AR: I’m not sure when I realized it, but it took me a while, like many others, to understand the relevance that the film took on. Even today, after more than twenty years, the film gains some new importance, the last one was that it is one of the most watched films (outside Hollywood) on the planet only behind a few others (Preply lists it as the second most popular foreign film after France’s ‘Untouchables’). I think there will still be good things out there (to be found about the movie), you never know!

GL: What are the hardships faced by actors coming from similar backgrounds of yours in Brazil?

AR: I can say that as a professional it’s not easy for anyone, because I’ve seen so many actors with so much talent being jobless to the point that I can’t even say that it’s just a question of my profile or skin colour, it is it and then some. I have an example right here at home, my wife has the profile that the film industry has used the most since its dawn because she has fair skin And European traits, and while she has been in the profession for more than twenty years, sadly she has landed few jobs.

GL: Abroad there are many movements questioning diversity in movies, and we see more diverse faces on the screen. Do you see something similar in our country?

AR: In the last 10 years I have seen diversity grow on screens, I feel more represented today, here in Brazil as the environment has been undergoing a revolution that follows the rest of the world, I think that City of God was very important in that sense too, because it was the first time that community residents saw themselves represented and in a beautiful display on the silver screen since then I’ve seen many acting groups and NGOs flourishing through the communities.  

GL: In our last interview, you told me that you were studying English and also about your dream of making it outside Brazil. How would you like that to play out?

AR: I’m doing my part by surrounding myself with experience and contact with the English language which I love so much. By the way, I’ve been making contacts with people who live in London, but I still long for my shot. I’m glad to be Brazilian and work in my own country but I do want to experience new challenges in my career.

GL: Who are the foreign actors and directors that you follow?

AR: I have some… (breaths). Michel Gondry (L’écume Des Jours) and Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), both of who I wish to work with someday! And off course Fernando Meirelles!

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Ithaka is playing in the U.K at the Soho London Independent Film Festival. For tickets to this year’s festival, taking place between 17th November – 20th November, visit: www.soholiff.co.uk

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This year’s festival takes place between 17th November – 20th November both in Soho London and as an online festival.

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Dreamgirls is a film à clef, a work of fiction taking strong inspiration from the history of the Motown record label and one of its acts, The Supremes. The film adaptation stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles and Eddie Murphy, and also features Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson. The movie marked the acting debut of Jennifer Hudson, who won Best Supporting Actress at the 2007 Academy Awards (Oscars).

Watch the full interview below

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Presh: How would you describe your artistic style?

Mia: My artistic style definitely started off with poetic dialogue, a form I find really helps tell personal stories in a more creative and experimental way. However, I feel my style is now best described as “experimental naturalism”; the experimental aspect comes from the technical visual aspects, and the naturalism comes from the performance. For instance, in my film “Phone Calls”, which I created for the Northampton 48-hour film challenge, the experimental aspect is presented through a split-screen, with corresponding audio to each separate side; the naturalism coming from my cousin Luke Baker’s performance. The use of split-screen is something I have experimented with before in an unreleased film called ‘Exposé’, in which I filmed myself continuously for around 2 hours, and edited the split-screen together to have contrasting shots throughout. Due to the lack of acting in that piece it is undeniably naturalistic, but my style of naturalistic directing for fiction work is definitely inspired by the theatre practitioner Katie Mitchell, and her process of intentions, which consequently allows directing actors to have more natural and realistic performances, both on stage and on screen.

P: Name three films or TV shows that have shaped your filmmaking style?

Mia: Katie Mitchell is definitely a key inspiration for both my film and theatre work, but my films of poetic dialogue are most definitely inspired by American queer artist Sadie Benning, specifically her shorts ‘Me and Rubyfruit’, ‘If every girl had a diary’, ‘it wasn’t love’ and ‘Jollies’. It’s her combination of poetic-esque dialogue and personal homemade shots which I think make for really good personal story-telling, and as a queer transgender artist myself, her queer narratives are something that draws me closer to her shorts. I find it quite hard currently to be inspired by existing films or shows because when I’m in a period of writing, I tend to restrict myself from consuming that. Rather, I’m very inspired by what I see visually, the way which light reflects on certain objects, natural compositions, and having certain ‘vibes’ radiate from songs; that, along with my own personal experiences (to form personal narratives) is what seems to shape my work, rather than other existing projects.

Presh: What advice would you give to fellow filmmakers?

Mia: The main piece of advice I’d give to fellow filmmakers is actually, create art. Film itself is an art form but I see lots of people replicate the same things over and over again. Due to the obvious influences of my style, my work is by no means unique, it has been done before, but I do try to be as creative with it as I can. I think many people’s creativity gets lost in focusing on technical aspects, and I think you can be really creative with that focus, but I think that should come from your own exploration. Sometimes we see really cool shots and we want to re-create that, and that is a really good thing to do, no one should gate-keep in film, but I think just also do that and more. Like how can you make that even better? I think also wanting to be like specific successful directors may limit your potential, that’s not for all cases by any means but I’ve seen that happen. Of course, it’s great to aim to be as successful as them, but I personally would advise, have fun and try to be as creative as you can be, that’s my main message.

P: Where do you think the biggest changes are needed within the film industry?

Mia: I think the biggest change needed in the film industry is a more acceptance of diversity, in both representation and style. To talk about the lighter one first, I think the film industry needs to be a lot more accepting of artistic filmmakers, just because it isn’t following rigorous guides of film theory, does not mean it’s bad. Also, I’m not really a fan of the structural hierarchy that comes with professional film-making, of-course when working with larger budgets and more complex technology experience and training is necessary, that’s not what I’m on about. I’m more focused on the idea that just because a person is more artistic in their style, or even just a younger creative, that doesn’t mean they are limited in their potential. I think those dedicating their lives to making their way through the hierarchy of the industry, in my experience, seem to be less accepting that creativity and skill do not necessarily come with age. As a trans-gender creative, I think now is such a good time to be producing projects, as there seems to be a rise of appreciation for LGBTQ+ artists. Especially when race and gender come into play, I do however think it’s disgusting how many white cis-het males view appreciation of ‘diverse’ voices as a threat, leading to the horrific casualisation of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. I think the industry itself is becoming a lot more diverse, but now what needs to happen is that everybody within the industry accepts that and appreciates that, instead of being bitter of under-represented voices being ‘given the microphone’.

P: Where can people view your work?

Currently, my work is available to watch on YouTube and updates on film-making and theatre productions are available on my Instagram @ahgeewiz.

Also Read: How Film Changed Me: On BFI Flare

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On The Other Foot is now available to buy and rent across all major digital outlets

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Also Read: Uzo Oleh Discusses His Sci-Fi Thriller “Edicius” & Support From Idris Elba

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“Have you ever stood in front of a mirror, asking your reflection for answers? What if in your darkest moment, your reflection spoke back and stepped into the room? A version of you, claiming to be your intuition… Would you trust their voice over yours? Would you believe that they can save you?“

We sat down with the writer/director of Edicius, Uzo Oleh. You can read the full interview below

Presh: How did the concept of Edicius come about?

Uzo Oleh: For a while, I was thinking to myself, why do we have these thoughts? Where do they come from? What is the self? You know, all that kind of pondering. And then it seems as though this person listening to somebody who’s talking to you. Therefore, who the fuck is that person that you’re listening to, right? Sometimes that person is telling me to do something and I don’t necessarily agree, or I do agree, I somehow can’t do it. What would it be like if that person was personified, was an actual human being, who would tap you on the shoulder and be like ‘no no no go and do it now”? It’s like this voice in your head that’s telling you, these all your options, you should do this and for some reason you ignore them. What would happen if that person came to life and you know, you could meet them and argue with them and so on and so forth? And maybe even have a fight with them. It started super small. They were sitting across the table from each other and it looks exactly the same. and they were just trying to outwit each other, you know? And I remember in my head, there was a line, but isn’t in the film were he just looked at him and was like, did “you know you can’t actually lie to me”? That’s that raw truth that you have with that inner voice. Then I thought okay, cool, you could do it like that or you could put more layers to it. So the concept just basically grew and got deeper.

P: Particularly as Edicius is a short film, how do you construct the world and decide what rules govern this world? For example, you have the personification of Jason’s mirror image, were there other elements that you wanted to include or couldn’t include?

UO: The kings and queens back in the day, used to have these opulent mirrors like you can go through the mirrored hallway of Versailles. I had this idea that if you’re in touch with your intuition, you gain power. So this is why mirrors were so expensive. I went to the Palace of Versailles to get inspiration. So I had this idea in my head. How does this person come out of the mirror? Frustratingly, every time I’ve seen people coming out of mirrors, it looks a bit naff, in my opinion, right? It’s been done so many times before someone steps out of the mirror. So what if you had this repeating corridor? That if you have two mirrors lined up, it creates this infinity? Weirdly, and don’t get me too geeky on it, right? But weirdly, there’s a book called I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. It talks about, so brilliantly, “in order to know what the self is, you have to know what a self is”. So you have this weird, self-referential thing where it’s like, in order to know myself, I need to know what knowing is. And in order to know what knowing is I have to experience knowing, so it keeps going and going and it creates this weird feedback loop. And for the feedback loop, when you point a video camera at the image, it records the image, but it because the image recording the image, recording the image, so it keeps repeating like the corridor that we created. So it was a perfect visual metaphor for this and allowed us to create this wormhole, this portal, where if you were in standing in front of yourself, you can never see into infinity. But when Jason gets scared, and he hides in the corner, it opens up this portal, so it’s now a free place for you to move into the present world. So that’s, that’s where that came from. Then in establishing the rules, we have him open with a cabinet that doesn’t work properly. So when the intuition runs back into the bathroom to get into the portal, he’s like, where’s the portal gone? That’s why we have him open the door, take out some plasters and shut the door properly to keep the portal open.

P: You’re quite inspired by both physics and philosophy. What were the key touchpoints of philosophical thought and physics that were expressed in the making of the film?

UO: Yeah, Schrödinger’s Cat, the quantum physics concept. You can’t know what knowing is until you observe it, right? So you have a superposition. People ask the question if your mirror image copies you when you’re not looking at it – so when you look away, is it just waving his hands and acting crazy – you would never know because you need to look back. And in looking back, it mimics you. So that’s one of the things that just killed me. I love the idea that if your intuition came and met you, it was just like, hold on a second, I’m going to tell you what you’re going to do because these are the options. When we get to the end of Edicius, you ask yourself, did he know that was going to happen the whole time? In telling him this stuff, did he actually change the course of what he was going to do in the first place? And that’s the questions that I’m really into, along with, Greek tragedies, like the whole film, has all the same touchpoints of Greek tragic theatre. Jason has a Greek name, Anna has a Greek name, Anthony has a Greek name, the antagonist, and it’s called Edicius, which is suicide in reverse, but it sounds like Odysseus. So we have layers of Greek tragedy, lots of philosophy, and lots of quantum physics.

P: Idris Elba is an executive producer of the film. How did he come on board the project?

UO: I said, to a few friends I’m making a film and it’s for us. And what I mean by that is the type of films that we would send each other and go, “oh my god you need to see this”. Movies are so expensive movies are hard to make, particularly at the moment, because they’re big risks. In a risk-averse industry, people will give you money, and they need to make sure that it’s okay, you know, so let’s get more people to digest it. Unfortunately, you can kind of make something that is kind of okay for everyone, but it isn’t incredible for a few – or even hated by a few. So, when I sent Idris the film, it just resonated with him, you know, and I knew would love it is like, he’s one of the people I have so much respect for his taste, that I think he would love and be inspired by this particular story. So he just was like, I will do anything to support it – he’s that guy. A proper champion. I describe him as my silent partner from day one. What he’s been doing, has allowed people to see versions of themselves all over the world and know that okay, well, that’s possible. This month, Jeymes Samuel’s film came out, Reggie Yates’ film came out, Aml Ameen’s film came out – wild! Yeah. My godson because he’s gonna think that’s gonna be normal.

P: What happens next with the film? Are you writing a feature-length version of the film? Surely can’t be the end.

UO: I want to try and get distribution for it to go as far as possible, I would love as many people as possible to see it. So fingers crossed, we get it onto a platform that will really represent it well and give people access. And then I’m writing that feature, which is essentially based on the same characters. The world will be expanded, but I still want it to be the love story between himself and his intuition. So I would like it to be bigger, in scale, but to kind of have the same spirit.

P: You say, a love story between himself in his intuition. However, in the film, Jason has a partner, Anna. In a weird way, is that a love triangle? How would you describe it?

UO: Oh yeah, check this out. You are always at least in a threesome. At least, right? If you’re in love with someone. You’re in love with that person, right? So let’s say I’m in love with Daniel, right? I’m in love with him. I’m also in love with myself. I’m in love with the way that he makes me feel. I’m in love with the identity of our relationship, the fact that I now have a partner, right? It’s so layered that when you break up with somebody, in theory, it’s a part of yourself that you’re losing, right? A lot of people will only want to be in a relationship because they want to not not be in a relationship. They can literally swap out the person, they will literally meet another person. And what’s really frustrating is that my wife will also be in a threesome with me. So her version of our relationship is in her head. So there’s like at least six people involved in relationships – rather six identities involved. The reason it’s Jason’s love story, as opposed to Anna and his unborn kid. So if you watch the film, you look how late he gets to the point where it’s like, Wait, hold on a second, what about Anna? Jason is a narcissist. In Greek tragedies, If you ask what is his fatal flaw, it is narcissism.

Also Read: 10 Great Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix

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The short film has been blazing through the festival circuit taking home two Oscar-qualifying awards, one at the prestigious Hollyshorts in Los Angeles – as well as winning Best Short at the British Independent Film Awards and the Cannes Lion. Its impact has reached far beyond screens – it was mentioned in British Parliament as “required viewing” shortly after its release.

We sat down with the director, Aneil Karia to discuss The Long Goodbye and working with Riz Ahmed.

Presh: How did the idea of the long goodbye, come about?

Aneil Karia: Riz and I were introduced to one another by a mutual friend of ours, who’s also a director called Yann Demange. We just got talking and he wanted to make a short film, we just had this series of conversations about the kind of themes, topics and feelings that were kind of driving us creatively and also emotionally at that time. The ethos was let’s try and make a film that’s very personal and born from instinct, rather than being too methodical or intellectual about how we approach it. We wanted it to be more kind of gut-based. It was very clear to us that this common ground that we were finding, about the theme of feeling unwelcome in one’s own country and the latent dread that lives inside you when you hear anything really concerning the insidious political shift to the right, why this seems to be endlessly happening and the kind of anxiety that provokes. We talked about how we repressed that a lot of time and, I think it’s easy to gaslight yourself a bit and think you’re kind of overly, overthinking things, but actually, they’re really legitimate kinds of anxieties that the world puts on you right now. Basically, it was just born from some conversations between us and this desire to make something kind of felt personal.

P: Following on from that, how would you describe your working relationship with Riz Ahmed and how has it evolved?

AK: Now I look back and think about it, it was a great dynamic. We’re quite lucky because we were essentially two people who were only just getting to know each other, you know, we weren’t longtime friends or collaborators. I look back now and think, actually, it was quite a just natural, effortless dynamic, we found between ourselves, you know, which could easily have not been the case. I think sometimes when you’re working with brand new people, it can be a bit stilted, and you’re trying to figure each other out and there’s that kind of dance of trying to not shut down ideas, but also be transparent and open about what you like and don’t like and actually, with Riz it was really enjoyable. He’s an incredibly intelligent person, almost dauntingly so, he’s got like this ferociously pacey mind that can kind of view an idea from multiple angles or simultaneously. We were quite a good pairing in that he’d be able to put quite abstract sensations I was talking about into words. We would throw everything out the wall, and some stuff would stick some stuff I’d say no, I don’t think that’s right Riz it would say that. It was quite an open, transparent, dialogue we managed to get into. Following our first discussion where we just roamed through various themes and topics and spoke about ourselves and our lives. I went away and came up with a kind of handful of like, back in the fag packet style ideas, you know, just a few sentences. Eventually, I worked it up into a one or two-page prose document, essentially, almost a scriptment describing what’s happening. We were very clear that it wanted to feel effortless, lived in and real – not like we tried desperately to crank every frame up to the max.

P: The film’s been available on YouTube for a little over a year. How have you found the reception to the film and where they’re sort of things that you didn’t expect from like the audience sort of reaction,?

AK: We made it at such a ferocious pace that we didn’t have too much time to stop and kind of consider how we thought it might be received or even what we wanted from it. It was also a very intensive experience. I don’t think this is unusual for people making films, but I find that by the end of the edit, you’ve been so saturated with it, seen so many different incarnations of it and spent so long fretting about it, that you are left kind of completely flummoxed whether you made something strong or completely, you know, useless. I always get to this point where I’m like, Okay, well, I’m blind to it, it just needs to kind of get out there and live now. Of course, we hoped it would have some impact, but I don’t think we had any sense of the kind of impact and life it would eventually have. It seems to have such a visceral impact on people and pack a punch, which I didn’t really even appreciate and that’s an amazing feeling. We were both – Riz and I – very moved by the response of the South Asian community in the UK, for whom it seemed to be this important piece of film, and a piece of catharsis really, for them watching it. I think what was surprising was that we imagined that the second half, would kind of pack a punch in how extreme and distressing a picture we were kind of painting there. What was interesting, and perhaps surprising, and really nice, I thought was that the front half were, essentially, it’s just a very naturalistic and quite understated portrait of a British Asian family just going about their business. What was surprising and kind of wonderful was how moving people found just that because I think a lot of people were saying, they’re not used to seeing these kinds of culturally specific British family like that. Just doing their thing on-screen, in a way that isn’t kind of tropey, or lazy, or kind of crank up. So that was surprising in a really nice way.

P: As a director, do you find there’s a particular sort of connective tissue running through your films and or particular themes that are becoming your trademark?

AK: Not not kind of super consciously. But, you know, in hindsight, you look back and maybe see some connectivity, like you’re saying. I think there’s probably a common thread of very ordinary people who we can identify with, to some extent, going through something extraordinary and challenging. And then, perhaps another thing that connects them is that they end with some kind of defiant act, pushing back against that. So whatever is happening to them, whatever the world is putting them through they begin to push back and try and find their way of transcending that. A lot of the films I do, thinking about Work, the short film I made back in the day; thinking about Surge; even thinking about the film trouble I made with Kano, where it ends with a celebration of sorts, despite this tragedy. There is this kind of consistent rhythm, I suppose where there is this immense pain that was someone goes through, but then seems to try and overcome it with you know, whether it’s love or something more transcendent or poetic.

The Long Goodbye is available to watch on YouTube

Also Read: How Film Changed Me: On Anti-Escapism

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Synopsis: A mute young woman, Patience, from an isolated community in rural England in 1555, struggles with her controlling brother-in-law and leader, David, who is gradually unraveling after the failure of his idyllic community. The Egyptian Act has been passed, stipulating that all ‘gypsies’ must vacate England immediately and anyone found aiding them could be executed. In exchange for a fee, David agrees to help an Egyptian family who must stay a month on their land until a ship comes to take them away.

Watch the full interview with Laura Turner below

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