The Cinematologists Podcast

BFI Musicals Pt. 2 / Funny Girl

The second of instalment of our BFI Musicals two-parter sees Neil and Dario take a deep dive into the glorious world of Barbra Streisand. Neil was invited to Plymouth Arts Centre to take part in the Reclaim The Frame screening of Funny Girl (a film neither Neil nor Dario had seen), hosted by Mia Bays and the brilliant Birds Eye View organisation.
This episode sees Neil and Dario discuss the stardom and career of Streisand, alongside an interview between Neil and Mia, Mia’s introduction to the screening and the post-screening panel featuring Neil, director and music video legend Andrew ‘Wiz’ Whiston and Professor of Performance Studies at the University of Plymouth, Prof. Roberta Mock.
Thanks to Annabel Grundy and the team at BFI National Seasons for the opportunity and support.
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Ep94a BFI Musicals

The first of our episodes in partnership with the BFI’s Blockbuster season on Musicals finds us discussing our relationship to the genre and its descendants as well as responding to a series of interviews conducted by Neil over the last couple of months. Guests on this special episode are the critic/historian Pamela Hutchinson who gives a brilliant overview of the musical form and suggests some gems to look out for, writer Tom MacRae who talks about the process of adapting his own West End smash Everybody’s Talking About Jamie for the screen, and Justine Waddell from Kino Klassika, an amazing organisation bringing Russian and Soviet Cinema to the screen, talks about their stunning programme of Soviet Musicals touring cinemas from January 2020.
To really celebrate the Movie Musical, this episode features a plethora of musical delights. You will be hearing (in order) – Leonard Bernstein’s overture from West Side Story, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas sung by Judy Garland, from Meet Me In St. Louis, Elvis Presley singing Trouble, from King Creole, the official trailer for the West End musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the title song from Leto (Summer), Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga singing Shallow, from A Star Is Born, and Science Fiction Double Feature from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, sung by Richard O’Brien. 
Thanks to Annabel Grundy and the team at BFI National Seasons for the opportunity and support.
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-cinematologists-podcast/id981479854?mt=2
Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/series-2416725
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0RjNz8XDkLdbKZuj9Pktyh
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists

Filmstock12

Today's episode features a raft of interviews recorded a Filmstock12, the Luton film festival organised by Neil with his long-time collaborator Justin Doherty, which returned this year after a 10-year hiatus. Fiercely proud of his Luton roots, Neil talks to Dario about the origins of the festival, the programming ethos, why it came back this year, and what it represents as a cultural marker for Luton.
While Neil and Justin were organising and presenting the festival Dario acted as roving interviewer at large, speaking to 5 of the filmmakers who were screening films:
1. Dan Schneidkraut, a Minneapolis based filmmaker with a provocative and unique filmmaking sensibility who actually had 3 films playing at the festival: Wish You Were Here; Shooting at the O.K. Corral & Father's Day.
2: Christine Franz the Producer and director of Bunch of Kunst the documentary about British Punk duo The Sleaford Mods.
3: Toby Matthews won the youth jury award for his Tati inspired comedy Holiday!, set in Cornish coastal town of Mousehole.
4. Lutonian Gillian Harker the actor turned writer/director talks about her intimate debut short Cross.
5. Edwin Miles screened a poignant film about the relationship he has with his Grandma, the subject of his short Rose. 
 
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
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Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
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The Lobster (w/ Solem Quartet Live Score)

 
In another first for the Cinematologists, we are hugely excited to present The Lobster with a live score from the classical group the Solem Quartet and in association with Picturehouses cinemas. Live cinema events featuring musical accompaniments are becoming more prevalent as part of the auditorium experience; they echo cinema's past but also a look to the future as audiences seek out material experiences that go beyond or add onto traditional screenings, and perhaps look for a break from the digital. This event took place at the beautiful Gate Cinema in Notting Hill, to a packed house, with Dario introducing the event and discussing the production with the musicians in a post-screening Q&A.
Devised, arranged and performed by The Solem Quartet the screening included classic pieces including Beethoven op. 18/1, Shostakovich Quartet no. 8, Schnittke Quartet no. 2, Schnittke Quintet for Piano and Strings, Stravinsky 3 Pieces for String Quartet, Britten Quartet no. 1, Strauss Don Quixote. The music underscores beautifully the dark humour and surrealist milieu of Lanthimos' social satire. 
Winner of the 2014 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition, the Solem Quartet was formed in 2011 at the University of Manchester. The Quartet takes its name from the university's motto "arduus ad solem", meaning "striving towards the sun". The quartet enjoys a busy concert schedule performing at venues both across the UK – including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bridgewater Hall and Holywell Music Room – and internationally. In keeping with its name, the Solem Quartet’s first project was to play the Haydn Op. 20 “Sun” Quartets. Their repertoire is extensive, spanning the period from early Haydn to a broad spectrum of living composers including Larry Goves, Anna Meredith, John Luther Adams and Emily Howard, whose quartet ‘Afference’ they performed in a BBC Proms Extra broadcast, live on BBC Radio 3.
 There are still dates available for upcoming live scorings of The Lobster. Click here for details 
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
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Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0RjNz8XDkLdbKZuj9Pktyh
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists

At Filmstock with Mark Jenkin

 
In our first episode from Filmstock 12 - the Luton based film festival organised by Neil in collaboration with Justin Doherty - we are delighted to welcome back on the podcast director Mark Jenkin. In this live Q&A Mark talks to Dario about his incredible year and the success of Bait, which has been met with universal critical acclaim and considerable box office success. That a black and white hand-processed experimental film about Cornish fisherman has become the stories of the year in film, is a testament to a filmmaker who has never compromised on his politics and artistic sensibility. Mark also discusses his career including his first feature Golden Burn and his recent diary film Vertical Shapes on a Horizontal Landscape, along with inspirations such as Robert Bresson, Nick Darke and Andrew Kötting. It's great to have Mark back to his spiritual podcast home. 
Shownotes
Watch Golden Burn Here.
Peter Bradshaw's Review from Berlinale
Mark's interview with Philip Concannon in Sight and Sound
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-cinematologists-podcast/id981479854?mt=2
Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/series-2416725
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0RjNz8XDkLdbKZuj9Pktyh
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists
 
 

Speed

 
For episode 90 Dario and Neil go old school for the film and the format. In this classically structured episode the focus of attention is on the 1994 action classic Speed, screened for the Film at Falmouth 2019 Freshers audience at The Poly in Falmouth.
The discussion ranges across contemporary and classic action movies and stars including Harrison Ford, Arnie, The Stath, Cruise, Aliens, Dredd and much more, as well as the film as in service of pure spectacle, the uniqueness of Keanu and the special chemistry he shares in this film with co-star Sandra Bullock.
Thanks to The Poly, and Dr Verena Von Eicken for co-hosting the live event.
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Here's a link to Neil's piece on Doc 'n Roll Fest for the Quietus that he discusses early on this episode.
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
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Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
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Making Waves (w/ dir. Midge Costin)

When we heard that a documentary about the art of film sound was being released we simply had to check it out. Fortuitously, the film was playing at this year's London Film Festival and we were lucky enough to be able to interview the film's director Midge Costin. Midge has an unbelievable C.V. herself as a sound editor working on many of the big action movies of the 80s and 90s including The Rock, Armageddon, Days of Thunder and Crimson Tide. As a graduate of the University of Southern California, she shares the history of American film sound development with the likes of Walter Murch, Ben Burtt & Gary Rydstrom. Her film tracks the experimental developments of sound design and explores the importance of sound to the very DNA of cinema. Neil and Dario discuss some of the questions and examples that the film raises in terms of the symbiosis of sound and image and, in keeping with this subject matter, Dario has created an edit utilising the aural examples that are cited throughout. 
(Thanks to Debbie Murray of Aim Publicity)
Shownotes
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
Fuller at Fox Boxset (reviewed by Neil at the beginning)
Crimson Tide - I Do Not Concur
Terminator 2: Parents
Tomita - Snowflakes are Dancing
A Star is Born - Barbara Streisand
Punch Drunk Love - Crash
Punch Drunk Love - Harmonium
The Sounds of Clarie Denis
The Apartment - Champagne 
Throne of Blood - Arrows
Gravity - Explorer's been hit
The Conversation - First recordings
All the President's Men - Phonecalls
Under the Skin - First victim
The Outlaw Josey Wales - Pistols
Jaws - You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
You Were Never Really Here - Fight
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-cinematologists-podcast/id981479854?mt=2
Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/series-2416725
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London Film Festival 2019

 
While the London Film Festival is fresh in the mind, The Cinematologists bring you this round-up of some of the best films in this year's event. In order to help with this task, we have enlisted two smart and articulate young film critics to give their in-depth, considered opinions. Dario talks to Savina Petkova (MubiNotebook, Electric Ghost Magazine, Girls on Tops Tees) and James Maitre (Director's Notes, Albums in the Attic) about their festival highlights.
Before that Dario also talks to London Film Festival senior programmers Kate Taylor and Michael Blyth about the organisation, judging and the context of the festival (You can hear the full interview via our Patreon Page).
(Apologies for the somewhat echoey recording in certain parts of the show)
Shownotes
The Other Lamb (Malgorzata Szumowska)
Monos (Alejandro Landes)
The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers)
The Last Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot)
The Lodge (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma) 
Nocturnal (Nathalie Biancheri)
Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov)
Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)
Nimic (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The Report (Scott Z. Burns) 
Mr Jones (Agnieszka Holland) 
Rose Plays Julie (Joe Lawler & Christine Molloy)
James also mentions the Podcast The Evolution of Horror
You can also listen to The Cinematologists here:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-cinematologists-podcast/id981479854?mt=2
Our Website: www.cinematologists.com
PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/series-2416725
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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists