The Cinematologists Podcast

Berlinale 2019 Part 1

We are really excited to put out the first of three special episodes cover the 2019 Berlin Film Festival which both Dario and Neil attended in a kind of tag team configuration. Having applied for a press pass for the Cinematologists, and was taking 40 his students to the festival, Neil had organised a whole raft of interviews with directors and critics which form parts 2&3 of our Berlinale coverage. Dario made a last minute decision to go for the opening weekend. So this first episode consists of 3 mini reports of each day's and then a rather bleary-eyed catch-up with Neil after he arrived after midnight on Sunday. The films discussed in this episode are:
Rebels of the Neon God (1992, Tsai Ming-Liang)
Shooting The Mafia (Kim Longionotto)
Serendipity (Prune Nourry)
Out Stealing Horses (Hans Petter Moland)
Light of My Life (Casey Affleck)
Systèm K (Renaud Barret)
Der Boden Unter den Füben [The Ground Beneath my Feet] (Marie Kreutzer)

Clueless w/Ryan Gilbey (in association with the BFI Comedy Genius Season)

The first episode of Season 9 sees Dario and Neil duke it out over the merits and problems of comedy, finding themselves on opposite sides for the first time in a while. They are put in this position by guest programmer Ryan Gilbey whose choice of Amy Heckerling’s 1995 comedy Clueless. New Statesman film critic Ryan joined Neil onstage at The Poly in Falmouth to introduce the film and discuss it with the audience. Prior to the event Ryan also wrote a blog over at the New Statesman about the film.
Around the live discussion Neil and Dario talk about the function and role of comedy, subjectivity and form and whether it’s a genre that is more prone to becoming dated than others. They also bond over Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace and Ozu’s love of fart jokes.
The episode is the second of three being produced in association with the BFI for their Comedy Genius season and the live event was also made possible thanks to Film at Falmouth, Falmouth University.
Let us know which side of the debate you come down on!
You can rent or buy Clueless globally from a number of different sites including Amazon, iTunes, Google, Rakuten. You can stream it in the UK on NowTV or SkyGO.

2018 review

In our final episode of 2018, we look back over the cinematic year and discuss the movies that have impressed, affected and stayed with us. We came up with the list independently but there are specific films and themes that emerge, particularly the fact that we both chose Lynne Ramsey's You Were Never Really Here as our film of the year. We hope you enjoy this look back and a big thank you to our audience for the continued support. We look forward to discussing more cinematic delights in 2019.
 
Dario's top 5
1. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsey)
2. Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski) 
3. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda) 
4. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
5. Lean on Pete (Andrew Haigh)
 
Neil's top 5
1. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsey)
2. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)
4. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
5. The Dreamed Path (Angela Schanelec)
 
Other Recommendations
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The Guardians (Xavier Beauvois) 
Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
The Old Man and the Gun (David Lowery)
Lek and the Dogs (Andrew Kotting)
American Animals (Bart Layton)
Milford Graves Full Mantis (Jake Meginsky)
Outside In (Lynn Shelton)
The Image You Missed (Donal Foreman)
Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)

Duck Soup (in association with the BFI Comedy Genius Season)

For the last regular episode of 2018 we are teaming up with the BFI and the UK wide comedy genius season for a deep dive into a Marx Brothers classic and a discussion about the craft, calibre and character of comedy.
As the official podcast of the BFI Fan Network supported season we are presenting several episodes on film comedy and we kicked proceedings off with a screening at The Poly in Falmouth of Groucho and Co’s classic 1933 satire Duck Soup.
The episode also includes Neil in conversation with a variety of figures from across the UK talking about the Comedy Genius season. They are season coordinator Annabel Grundy, artistic director of film at HOME in Manchester, Jason Wood, and Come The Revolution’s Edson Burton. Come The Revolution are a film collective based out of Bristol. Annabel talks about the aims of the season and BFI national programmes like it, and Jason and Edson discuss the themes and approaches they have taken and share some of their programming highlights.
For more info on the amazing work being done by these amazing programmers and for more info on what’s going on around the country for this season, click the links above.

Her (live from the University of Chichester)

 
For this episode, Dario was invited to the University of Chichester by Programme co-ordinator of Media and Communications Dr. Adam Locks to screen Spike Jonze's 2013 sci-fi drama Her. The discussion lived up to the reason for selecting the film, throwing up many points of analysis related directly to genre, performance and production design, but also provoking wider philosophical questions that linked to conversations we have been having on the podcast recently. The film taps into concerns around the influence of technology on our everyday experience and Jonze creates a world that is unerring familiar yet alienating. Imbued in the film are ethical questions about the potential influence of AI on how we perceive the self. Also at the heart of the discussion is the materiality of the voice which is a particularly interesting subject from a podcasting perspective. Neil and Dario expand the discussion to talk about the film in the context of Spike Jonze's previous work and the perpetual crisis of masculinity.
 
Shownotes
Susan Schneider in the New York Times on Her
Alan Watts: Reborn in Her - by Philip Goldberg in Huffpost
An episode of The Waking Up Podcast discussion the ethics of AI and film/tv representation
Dr Adam Locks teaches in the Department of Creative & Digital Technologies at the University of Chichester. He is co-editor of the book Critical Readings in Bodybuilding (Routledge, 2011) and co-author of The Basics: The Body (Routledge, 2014), both of which examine the body through aspects of the media. He will be launching an interview based podcast early in 2019.  

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (w/ director Julien Temple)

On the latest installment of the podcast, Neil shares the stage with one of his filmmaking heroes, director Julien Temple, before and after a screening of Temple’s 2007 film Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. It’s a film with significant personal meaning for Neil as the episode explains. The film was screened on 35mm at Truro’s WTW Plaza Cinema and was made possible by the support of Kingsley Marshall at the School of Film & Television, Falmouth University.
The episode also sees Dario discuss how the film made him think differently about punk and the pair get into the politics of music documentary regarding issues such as the representation of female artists and global music cultures. There’s also talk about the latest film culture developments surrounding the demise of Filmstruck and the dominance of Netflix and how, sadly, all this stuff may not be anything new at all.
This episode also features the song ‘Afro Cuban Be Bop’ by (Joe Strummer &) The Astro-Physicians. Taken from the film I Hired A Contract Killer (dir. Kaurismaki, 1990). Available officially for the first time on the recent release Joe Strummer: 001.
The film is available to rent or buy on Amazon and iTunes and is available on UK/US DVD and Blu-ray.

A Ghost Story

 
For this episode, Neil and Dario were in the room together for the first time in a while and what an occasion it was. David Lowery's modern masterpiece A Ghost Story is one of Dario's favourite films of recent years and Neil was experiencing it for the first time. 
The result was an overwhelmingly emotional evening for the hosts (particularly Neil who struggled to hold it together) and the majority of the large audience - the beauty of the shared experience feels palpable on the tape, and we hope it transmits to listeners.
It was one of the greatest nights of the podcast to date, a really special communal experience where the uniqueness of the shared experience that is Cinema felt more alive than it has in a long time. It reminded many present of what makes Cinema so special, and it doesn't hurt that the film is incredible. Hear everyone wax lyrical.
Special thanks to Kingsley Marshall at Film at Falmouth for making Dario's visit happen. Please enjoy the first full episode in a long time where Neil and Dario are in the same room and on the same stage for the entire, emotional duration.
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London Film Festival 2018 w/Filmmaker and Critic Marbelle

The London Film Festival always falls at a tricky time for the Cinematologists, coinciding with the start of the academic year. So in Episode 70 we were delighted that Dario was able to speak to the Editor-in-Chief of Directors Notes Marbelle. Covering the festival every year Marbelle searches out the films and filmmakers who might be slightly below the radar and puts together best of the festival piece for his now long-running website, which is always worth checking out along with the regular interviews both written and podcasted. Along with his festival picks Dario discusses with Marbelle the difference between written and audio interviews, film festivals in contemporary film culture and being disappointed by over-hyped films. 
Neil and Dario pick up on these themes at the end of the interview and discussing some further films that Dario has seen and Neil history of being a festival organiser.
Twitter: @MarBelle @WeAreDN
Director's Notes online Magazine: https://directorsnotes.com/
*Apologies for the variable sound quality on this episode - we hope it doesn't spoil your enjoyment too much