The Cinematologists Podcast

A New Leaf (w/ The Ballad of Shirley Collins filmmakers)

In the new episode, Number 53, Neil and Dario screen and discuss Elaine May’s hilarious and acerbic 1971 comedy masterpiece A New Leaf, co-starring Walter Matthau. Neil screened the film at Falmouth University’s School of Film & Television with his colleague Kingsley before a live audience of staff and students.Discussions in the episode cover writer/director/performers in Hollywood, the belatedly secured reputations of women in film, what comedy should be used for and when, and the genius of Walter Matthau.The second of those topics is pertinent to the interview for this episode, which Neil conducted with Rob Curry and Tim Plester, the filmmakers behind the new documentary The Ballad Of Shirley Collins. The film is a wonderfully lyrical film and it’s now on general release - http://www.shirleycollinsmovie.com/Key Moments:10Mins            A New Leaf Screening Intro34Mins            The Ballad of Shirley Collins (Interview & Chat)1hr 5Mins        A New Leaf Post-Film DiscussionLinks to articles on A New Leaf:BFIRogerEbert.comNY Times (Original Release)New Yorker (DVD Release) 

(Bonus) Blade Runner 2049

With the original Blade Runner being a formative film for both Dario and Neil, they take the time to discuss the 2017 sequel directed by Denis Villeneuve: Blade Runner 2049. A lot has been said and written about this new incarnation, directly about the aesthetics, philosophical themes and narrative, but also regarding the wider ideological readings related to gender, race and class. We hope you enjoy our contribution to the discourse around a film which, if nothing else, reminds us of cinema's ability to provoke thought and exercise passion.ReferencesAre audiences to Lazy to appreciate Blade Runner - WiredMale Stars Get to Age, While Women Live On in Digital Re-creations of Their Younger Selves - Nate Jones Vulture‘Blade Runner 2049’ is about learning that you’re not the main character in your own story - Alyssa Rosenburg - The Washington PostBlade Runner 2049 is an uneasy feminist parable about controlling the means of reproduction - Helen Lewis - The New Statesman 

Crossings 2017

Episode 52 finds Neil and Dario discussing the ICA and School of Film & Television season Crossings, a programme of films, talks and events focused on the theme of migration. The season took place from June to September and looked at how cinema represents the stories of those who seek to leave their homeland for a new land, through choice or through necessity. Full details of the project can be found here.Two films coming under the Cinematologists spotlight in this episode. The 2016 documentary Fire At Sea directed by Gianfranco Rosi and set on the Italian island of Lampedusa and John Akomfrah’s provocative and poetic essay doc The Nine Muses, from 2010. These films were screened at the Newlyn Filmhouse and The Poly in Falmouth respectively.The focus of the chat between Neil and Dario looks at the representation of migration and migrants and refugees in cinema and whether these films are ‘preaching to the converted’, amongst other topics.Thanks to Dr. Laura Canning (SoFT) and Nico Marzano (ICA) for inviting us to do this episode. Thanks also to Kingsley Marshall and Mark Jenkin for helping host the Newylyn event with Neil.Links:http://newlynfilmhouse.com/http://thepoly.org/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3652526/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706701/?ref_=nv_sr_1https://www.crossings2017.co.uk/https://www.ica.art/https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/school-of-film-televisionAUDIO NOTE: Please excuse some of the peaking issues in the inserts, and some of the low volume audio in the post film Q&A sections. Still on the learning curve as a recorder and editor. NF. 

(Bonus) Social Realism?

In the first of what will be a regular feature, free for now but soon to be exclusive to Patreon subscribers, Neil and Dario hold a discussion about something cinematic that sits outside the regular programming. In this instance the pair chat about British social realism and in particular the work of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh as the BFI releases some of their seminal titles on Blu-ray.The discussion covers Leigh's Life Is Sweet (1990) and Loach's Riff-Raff (1991), Raining Stones (1993) and Ladybird Ladybird (1994) - and the recent I, Daniel Blake (2016), which is not in the Loach set - asd well as getting into a more general chat about the spectre of social realism in British film history. Neil writes about Raining Stones in his chapter on Manchester Movies in the Directory of World Cinema: Britain 2. EDITOR'S NOTE: I know there's a lot of erms, you knows, stutters, and ands, but buts and what sounds like we are doing Hannibal Lecter liver bean impressions. I assure you in future Neil edited episodes this will be resolved and you'll be back to listening to the smooth sounds of the Cinematologists in no time. Thanks for your patience while I learn this new skill. NF.

(Reposting) Ep1 Repo Man

In honour of the passing of the great Harry Dean Stanton we are reposting our first ever Cinematologists episode which focused on Alex Cox' 1984 cult classic Repo Man.Andrew Pulver's obituary of Harry Dean Stanton 

Screenplay Film Festival (With Mark Kermode and Linda Ruth Williams)

Our first edition of the new season comes from the Shetland Arts Screenplay Film Festival. Dario speaks to a host of names including the festival curators Mark Kermode and Linda Ruth Williams who discuss their history with the festival and this years' programme; actor George Mackay discusses his career and we hear him introduce a sing-a-long screening of Sunshine on Leith, along with giving a poetry reading performed in the Shetland accent. Friend of the show Hope Dickson Leach talks about the family film strand of the festival programme and we have an excerpt from the Q&A with Bill Nighy who discusses his role in The Limehouse Golum. Also on the programme is Prof. Phil Scraton who wrote Hillsborough: The Truth and was the factual consultant to the Hillsborough Independent panel. His work underpinned the documentary Hillsborough which screened at the festival. Dario's cinematic highlight of the festival was Chico Pereira's Donkeyote, he speaks to the film's producer Sonja Henrici about the context of the project and contemporary documentary more broadly. Read Dario's blog on the film here. Finally, we were delighted to welcome the dulcet Shetland tones of poet, filmmaker and musician Roseanne Watt who discusses her festival highlights gives an impromptu poetry reading. Not to be missed.







George Mackay, Kathy Hubbard, Dario and Hope Dickson Leach







Show notesMark Kermode and Linda Ruth Williams - 10:55Hope Dickson Leach - 21:05George Mackay - 33:25Sunshine on Leith Sing-a-Long intro - 43:55Bill Nighy Q&A - 01:02:50Prof. Phil Scraton - 01:09:20Sonia Henrici - 01:20:47Roseanne Watt - 01:38:20

Season 6 Trailer

After an enjoyable summer hiatus, when Neil got married and Dario got tanned, we preview the new season episodes and bring news of bonus content, Merch and our new Patreon page.

Ask Us Anything

The podcast is 50 episodes old (kind of) and to celebrate, Neil and Dario invited questions from the podcast's loyal following. The episode is made up of a variety of questions from listeners new and old and cover a range of topics including opinions on specific films and filmmakers and ideas including 'separating the art from the artist', 'democratization and digital technology', 'the opportunities for actresses afforded by contemporary sci-fi' and 'directors who've made debuts in the last decade that are destined for the canon'.It was really fun and humbling to record and we hope you like this mammoth dose of N&D before the podcast takes an extended summer break before returning in the autumn. As promised, below you can find scans of the (not very scientific or academic) research Neil did for Kieron Moore's question on debuts by filmmakers from the last ten years...