The Cinematologists Podcast

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
 
 
 
 

The Piano (w/ Ellen Cheshire)

The latest episode, and the first of the season from the Falmouth bureau, is a celebration and examination of the work of Jane Campion.
Neil is joined on stage by author Ellen Cheshire to introduce a 25th anniversary screening of The Piano, in front of a packed audience of film fans and (new) film students. What follows the screening is a lively debate about the film, problematic viewing, feminism and more. In the episode itself Dario gives his astute views on Campion’s work and her most widely known and regarded film.
The pair also talk about new BFI Blu-ray releases The Comfort of Strangers and Eye of the Needle, Josh Appiganesi’s surreal psycho-thriller meta-doc Female Human Animal - which is due for release in cinemas over the next few weeks, Bertrand Mandico's Boro In The Box and Andrew Haigh's Lean On Pete.
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How to watch The Piano (UK/US):
Rent/Buy on iTunes
25th Anniversary UK Cinema Tour
 
Episode Links -
Ellen Cheshire Website
Ellen Cheshire on Twitter
In The Scene: Jane Campion by Ellen Cheshire
 
The Comfort of Strangers
 
Eye of the Needle
 
Female Human Animal
Female Human Animal on Twitter
See it at DocHouse on Oct 7 with Josh and Chloe Q&A
 
 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-cinematologists-podcast/id981479854?mt=2
 
 

American Animals director Bart Layton

In the second in our early season doubleheader, we present a live Q&A from the Duke of York's Picturehouse in Brighton with Dario talking to the director of American Animals Bart Layton. The discussion touches on the amalgamations of fictional and documentary aesthetics (linked also to Bart's previous Bafta award-winning film The Imposter, the development of a script that changes over time, actors playing real-life characters who also appear in the film, and the current social and political climate as a backdrop for stories about white masculinity. 
 

Film-Philosophy Conference 2018

Season 8 of the podcast returns with an episode of discussion from the Philosophy-Conference in Gothenburg which Dario attended over the summer. The theme of the event was Feminist Film-Philosophy which was driven by the festival director Dr. Anna Backman Rogers who discusses her aims for the conference putting female filmmakers and philosophers front and centre, she also talks about her work with the MAI journal and discusses her own research particularly her analysis of Sofia Coppola as a feminist auteur.
Dario then speaks to Dr. Catherine Wheatley her keynote speech at the conference which looked at the Stanley Cavell's writings on gender and film, particularly in the light of criticisms he received from Tania Modleski who accused him of practicing a "feminism without women". Wheatley uses this dialogue as a starting point for discussions about who Film-Philosophy speaks for an to.
In the last conversation, Dario and Catherine are joined by Dr. David Sorfa for a wide-ranging discussion around the discipline of Film-Philosophy including its cross-over with film studies, how film-philosophy should be taught, and the gender questions around which filmmakers and philosophers should be studied.
Shownotes:
MAI Journal: Feminism and Visual Culture
Catherine Wheatley's obituary of Stanley Cavell - Sight and Sound
David Sorfa - What is Film-Philosophy?