The Cinematologists Podcast

The Doors & Val Kilmer (w/filmmaker Mark Jenkin)

In late March 2025 we screened Oliver Stone's 1991 epic myth of 1960s America, The Doors, at Newlyn Filmhouse at the invitation of regular Cinematologist, filmmaker Mark Jenkin. The conversation following the screening covered Jim Morrison and the band, 1960s America, Vietnam, film form and the longstanding influence of the film on Mark's work, up to and including his new film, Rose of Nevada, due for release later this year. 
A few days after the screening news came of Val Kilmer's death and that prompted a rejigging of the release schedule for the podcast, so that Neil and Dario could talk in person about the film and Kilmer as an actor, on Neil's planned trip to London to do some taping. 
The result of that visit, and the live screening, can be found in this episode. It's part examination and celebration of Stone's under-discussed film and part celebration and analysis of Kilmer's work as Morrison and across his varied career.
Neil and Dario talk about the actor's individual style and approach and legacy, while also using Dario's recent viewing of the documentary Val (2021) as a guide for understanding Kilmer's work in The Doors. If one of the aims of the screening for the podcast was to get more people engaged with Stone's work and Kilmer's performance, the latter's death means that is sadly more likely now and we hope this discussion adds to that ongoing conversation. 
Thanks to Mark for his commitment to and excitement in doing these screenings, as well as his generosity of thought and collaboration. As well, thanks to Newyln Filmhouse (Kernow) and the Garden Cinema (Covent Garden) for support at either end of the process to make this episode a reality.
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Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/cinematologists
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we’ll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.

Polish Filmmaker Wojciech Has w/Michael Brooke

As part of this year's Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, currently running in London, Michael Brooke has curated a complete retrospective of the criminally under-known Polish director Wojciech Has. The retrospective, starting from the 1st April 2025 and featuring screenings at the BFI and the ICA, contains Has's short and feature film work in gorgeous restorations. There are talks and events around the films, and the ICA has an exhibition of Polish film posters which is unmissable if you're in the vicinity.
For this episode, Neil talks to curator Michael Brooke about Has's life and work, and legacy both within Poland and to a certain extent more widely. They also discuss the limitations of legacy due to decisions made by Has to stay in Poland. The conversation also covers Has's work as a film educator, Polish cinema more broadly and Michael's route to becoming an expert in the field, shedding light on how sometimes, things just happen that way. 
Elsewhere in the episode Neil and Dario discuss the impact of Has's work on them, at a time when both are particularly invested in the idea of the cinematic, where it can be found contemporarily and the need to engage with form intentionally as audiences, critics and filmmakers and not get drawn into the anodyne world of content that dominates screen culture generally. They discuss Has's work as a formal master, his approach to adaptation and the idea of filmmakers being in dialogue with each other despite the limitations of visibility of work, physical and political borders.
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Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/cinematologists
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we’ll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.
 

Rod Stoneman on Artistic Forms of Thought

For the latest episode we are honoured to share a recent talk at Falmouth University's School of Film & Television by Rod Stoneman titled 'Amongst Artistic Forms of Thought'. Rod's talk discussed different and often radical uses of film form to move the art form and audience thinking into different, not literal, not factual, non information-driven places. To illustrate his talk he drew on a number of filmic examples including two different engagements with Hitchcock's work.
To close the talk Rod discussed the work of his late friend Malcolm Le Grice, who had a deep association with the UK South West, as does Rod, and shared some examples of Malcolm's work to illustrate how radical, experimental and artistic (and prolific) he was, right up until his death late 2024. Here is a list of clips used, with links to more information and where possible, links to see the works - 
The Phoenix Tapes (1999) dir. Matthias Muller, Christoph Girardet.
Section 4, Why Don’t You Love Me? (25 mins, 50 secs)
It Felt Like A Kiss (2009) dir. Adam Curtis
Opening 5 minutes, and the section on Enos the Chimp (from 19 mins, 25 secs)
The Edge of Dreaming (2009) dir. Amy Hardie
Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Berlin Horse (1970) dir. Malcolm Le Grice
Catch The Sun (2000)
Abstract Cinema (1993) dir. Keith Griffiths
Intro, with Stan Brakhage and then Malcolm Le Grice interview (34mins in)
Finiti (2010) dir. Malcolm Le Grice
Dark Trees (2019) dir. Malcolm Le Grice
Elsewhere in the episode Dario and Neil discuss the role and place of radical forms of cinema in film culture and reflect on Rod's talk and his thinking around different ways of engaging as audiences and filmmakers with thought, form and subjectivities. 
 
Rod Stoneman is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Galway. He was the Director of the Huston School of Film & Digital Media from 2003-15 and Chief Executive of Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board from 1993-2003. Previously a Deputy Commissioning Editor in the Independent Film and Video Department at Channel 4 Television from 1983-93. He has made a number of documentaries, including Ireland: The Silent Voices, Italy: the Image Business, Between Object and Image. He is the author of Chávez: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Seeing is Believing: The Politics of the Visual and Educating Filmmakers with Duncan Petrie. Following Malcolm Le Grice's death Rod wrote this obituary for The Guardian.
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Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/cinematologists
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we’ll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.

Mario and Mandela Van Peebles (Outlaw Posse and the African American Western)

It was an absolute joy to welcome actor, director, producer and writer Mario van Peebles to The Cinematologists Podcast. In London to show his new film Outlaw Posse as part of the Black Rodeo season at the BFI, I was able to talk with him and his son Mandela, who also stars in the film, about his lifelong interest in Westerns, particularly in the often cliched, often forgotten role of African American's in the Western mythos.
Outlaw Posse is more of a companion piece than a sequel to his 1993 film Posse; this new work mines similar territory with its generic rawness infused with social commentary but with a kinetic direction that embraces spectacle.The conversation also covers the van Peebles' legacy; Mario's father Melvin one of the true blaxploitation pioneers, director of the now recognised classic Sweet Sweetback's Baadass Song; Mario's own journey in the industry, from his big break in Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge to his own seminal work as director of New Jack City.Neil and I discuss how wonderfully open and insightful Mario and Mandela were in the interview and further explore his perhaps under-appreciated body of work. We discuss the influence of New Jack City thinking about how that film triggered the New Black Cinema movement and influenced the aesthetics of 80s and 90s filmmaking in its wake._________
For extra bonus content, including extended interviews, bonus podcast and our monthly newsletter consider joining our Patreon community: www.patreon.com/cinematoloigists
 
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing

BFI Chantal Akerman Retrospective

We are really excited to be collaborating with the BFI once again, particularly for an episode on Belgian auteur filmmaker Chantal Akerman as they begin an in-depth retrospective of her work.
In the autumn of 2022, Akerman's masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, was voted the greatest film of all time in Sight and Sound Magazine's once-a-decade poll. We covered that moment with a double episode - which would be a fantastic primer for this show if you haven't listened to it yet.
The episode features a conversation in which Dario speaks to Céline Brouwez, the co-ordinator of the Fondation Chantal Akerman at CINEMATEK, and season curator Isabel Stevens. The discourse surrounding the Sight and Sound poll result and its aftermath as a cultural moment frames the chat. Céline discusses the incredible impact of the poll result on her organisation, and Isabel relives the night of the big announcement and the immediate shockwaves that ran through not only cinephile circles but the broader media.
We talk about how the moment caused a something revaluation of what constitutes "great" cinema, not to mention great art, and provoked something of a minor crisis in cultural gatekeeping, particularly with regard to lists.
One of the things that this BFI retrospective - entitled Adventures in Perception - is keen to address is Akerman's body of work beyond Jeanne Dielman. We go into this in detail, talking through the elements of archiving, restoration and presentation. We think through the breadth of her oeuvre, which has few generic boundaries. And, of course, we explore Akerman herself: her formative experience, the influence of her mother, and her rigorous form borne of a commitment to artistic commitment and morality.
Neil and I then reflect further on the notion of a feminist/female cinematic perspective and the philosophical conundrum: can there be an objective definition of art?
As part of the collaboration, we have four copies of the Akerman Auteur series of Sight and Sound to give to 4 sign-ups for our popcorn-level membership (which is £6 per month). So, if you want to grab one of these, sign up or upgrade ASAP. As part of the popcorn tier you will also get a physical postcard from either myself or Neil.
Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/cinematologists
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing
 

Small Things Like These (w/director Tim Mielants)

We kick off season 21 and the tenth year of The Cinematologists with a special conversation with Belgian filmmaker Tim Mielants about his work on recent release, Small Things Like These, written by Enda Walsh (Hunger) and starring and produced by Cillian Murphy.
In the conversation, Neil and Tim discuss film form and style, particularly the use of close-up, space and the Gothic, masculinity, grief and how being an outsider can provide a unique take on the material and experiences of people from a place that is not one's own.
Elsewhere, Neil and Dario dig down into this idea of who gets to tell whose stories, the role of audience and character perception in understanding a film's perspective, and they discuss the upcoming season, which marks a decade since the podcast started and features the usual broad range of topics, guests and points of entry, with a big name surprise early on!
Thanks to Alex Morris from Alternate Current PR for setting this up.
Small Things Like These is on digital platforms now and Blu-ray and DVD 3 February
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £3 per month.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we’ll mention it), and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
—
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.
 

2024 Review - Dario and Neil's top five films of the year.

This is part 2 of our end of year review show in which we countdown from 5 to 1. As requested from our Patreon members and several other long time listeners, we've gone back to a top ten countdown, which was great fun to compile. Although Neil and I did not agree on our top choice, we did share several films that made both our lists. There was also one major disagreement, and it was fascinating to spend some time hashing that out.
We also give some honourable mentions of which there were a few in a year where there was a lot to like, if not vintage, particularly in mainstream cinema. Interestingly, I feel like Neil and I have been somewhat outside the general critical consensus with our picks and, as always, throughout the episode we ruminate on where cinema is culturally.
If you haven't already, I recommend listening to part 1 of the 2024 countdown first (this is for patreon members). We give some context to the entire list offering potential themes that define our lists, and discuss the cinematic year as a whole.
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £3 per month.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it), and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.

Club Zero (w/ Jessica Hausner) & Rumours (w/ Guy Maddin, Evan & Galen Johnson)

In a bumper episode, the penultimate one of the year, Dario interviews Jessica Hausner about her new film Club Zero and Guy Maddin, Evan, and Galen Johnson about Rumours. Both films have limited UK releases this week (Friday, December 6th), and, interestingly, though they are very different films, they have thematic connections, particularly in relation to contemporary crises, social critique, and satirical modes.
Club Zero stars a very well-cast Mia Wasikowska as Ms. Novak, a girlish teacher whose radical ideas about diet lead a group of students down a dangerous path. Dario's conversation with Jessica and composer Marcus Binder explores influence, seduction, and the complexities of societal expectations through the lens of her film. They discuss the dangers of eating disorders, the pressures of social responsibility placed on children, the alienating dynamics of the school environment, and how misinformation can so easily be spread.
Rumours boasts a stacked cast led by Cate Blanchett, who represents the leaders of the G7. Dario talked to director-writer team Guy Maddin, Galen Johnson, and Evan Johnson about the film at the London Film Festival. The conversation navigates the complexities of creative expression in film, touching on themes of self-perception, audience expectations, character development, and the balance between artistic freedom and commercial viability. They discuss the challenges of navigating genre conventions, the significance of casting choices, and the implications of stereotypes in representing national identities.
Neil and Dario then reflect on both the interviews and films, examining their artistic choices, character development, and how well the themes capture contemporary anxieties around authority, ideology, and ambivalence. They also discuss the aesthetics of symbolism and the emotional distance created through cinematography, as well as the broader implications of anxiety and manipulation in youth culture. This leads to a reflection on how artists address the current socio-political moment, how crisis is influencing many film works in an implicit way, and whether a political cinema is possible while maintaining a unique voice in an uncertain, changing cultural landscape.
Thanks to Tom Finney at Blue Dolphin Films
Thanks to Chris Lawrence at Film Publicity
Thanks to George Crostwait and the team at The Garden Cinema
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £3 per month.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it), and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
----
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.