The Cinematologists Podcast

Jodorowsky‘s Dune (w/ director Frank Pavich)

In our penultimate episode of 2021, Dario speaks to Frank Pavich the director of Jodorowsky's Dune and NYHC. With all the publicity and discussion around Denis Villeneuve's blockbuster interpretation of Frank Herbert's influential Sci-Fi novel, it was fantastic to go back to the first, incredibly imaginative but ultimately failed attempt to bring the book to the screen from one of cinema's singular visionaries: Alejandro Jodorowsky. Frank talks about his first contact with Jodorowsky, his uncompromising attitude to the production scope and casting, and his assembling of a team of designers and artists including Kurt Geiger, whose drawings Pavich uses to great effect in the documentary and which would go on to define mainstream sci-fi for decades to come. 
Frank also talks about NYHC (New York Hardcore) his directorial debut, putting the making of the film into the context of his fascinating idiosyncratic film education, and how the film was made in that liminal period between the analog and digital eras of filmmaking. You can watch it online for free here.
Also, Neil reviews serval blu-ray releases including Champion directed by Mark Robson and starring Kirk Douglas, Sergio Corbucci’s The Great Silence (both from Masters of Cinema), Jean Pierre Melville’s Enfant Terrible (BFI), Alistair Mcleland’s music film on Saint Etienne, I’ve Been Trying to Tell You. 
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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 $2.50.
We also 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.
Transition music is from the OST for Jodorowsky's Dune by Kurt Stenzel. 

Raising Films and Recent Films (w/So Mayer)

In the latest episode, Dario talks to poet and activist So Mayer about their work on the recent Raising Films survey ‘How We Work Now’ about the impact of Covid-19 on those working in the screen industries whose lives also involve caring responsibilities of various shades. So and Dario discuss how vital this work is on its own terms but also as part of a broader landscape of rethinking how the film industry operates and who gets to participate.
Elsewhere there’s a deep dive into Celine Sciamma’s new film Petite Maman. There was due to be a whole episode dedicated to her latest masterwork but there were technical difficulties at the live taping at Cornwall Film Festival and the audio is unusable. We hope Neil and Dario’s deep chat about the pandemic, parent and child feelings and anxieties, makes up for that somewhat.
Then stick around for the bonus where Neil and Dario sink their teeth into some key recent 2021 releases such as Dune, The Card Counter and First Cow, as well as a wonderfully guilty pleasure.
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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.
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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 $2.50.
We also 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.
 

Dr Alison Peirse - Women Make Horror

A Tale of Two Sisters, 2003, Editor Lee Hyeon-mi
In this episode, Neil talks to one of Horror Cinema’s leading scholars and all-round creative force of nature, Dr. Alison Peirse. Alison teaches film at Leeds (and is an old colleague of Dario’s!) where she is an associate professor. She writes a brilliant newsletter called The Losers Club and is finding success on the film festival circuit with her debut video essay Three Ways to Dine Well.
Alongside monographs on 1930s and Korean horror, Alison is the editor of the recent publication Women Make Horror which is a groundbreaking piece of scholarship in form and focus, and she contributes an intellectually provocative and exhilarating piece that explodes the previous limits of not only Horror scholarship but cinema scholarship more broadly. It’s a great book.
It was a pleasure to welcome Alison to the podcast and you can learn more about her work (and sign up for her newsletter) on her terrific website here.
Elsewhere on the show Neil and Dario discuss their evolving and crystallised thoughts on academic practice growing out of the conversation with Alison and also extol the virtues of Alexandre Rockwell’s new film Sweet Thing (Neil) and the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune (Dario).
 
It’s also worth hanging around and signing up for the bonus episode where Neil and Dario get deeper into questions about film academia and purge some negative feelings that have built up over time.
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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.
 
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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 $2.50.
We also 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.

London Film Festival 2021: Part 2

The second episode in our coverage of the London Film Festival is a bumper one with Dario and Neil discussing a ton of new movies from all over the world. They are joined by regular visitor to the pod Savina Petkova, who Dario talked to at the festival itself as it wound down, who added discussions about new films by Joanna Hogg, Terence Davies and Julia Ducournau to the mix. Neil waxes lyrical about the Japanese masterpiece Drive My Car by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Hit The Road, the debut feature by Panah Panahi. Dario meanwhile loves Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God unapologetically and reserves special, high praise for Joel Coen’s first solo outing, The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Other films discussed are:
Flee (dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
Compartment No. 6 (dir. Juho Kuosmanen)
Benedetta (dir. Paul Verhoeven)
Boiling Point (dir. Philip Barantini)
You can follow Savina on Twitter here where she posts links to all the wonderful pieces she writes across the year.
(Apologies for the constant banging under my audio. 6 years in and still making silly mistakes like that. NF)
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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.
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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 $2.50.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write about the show (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.

London Film Festival 2021: Part 1

The first episode in our coverage of the London Film Festival. Dario and Neil discuss the blended format of the festival and the context by which one comes to watch specific films at certain moments because of festival serendipity. Under the spotlight for this mid-festival check-in are:
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas (Mark Cousins, 2021)
Memory Box (Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige, 2021)
Luzzu (Alex Camilleri, 2021)
Azor (Andreas Fontana, 2021)
Leave No Traces (Jan P. Matuszyński, 2021)
Citizen Ashe. (Rex Miller & Sam Pollard)
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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 $2.50.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write about the show (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.
 

Independent Magazines

In this slightly longer than normal episode, Neil indulges his love of magazines by having conversations with editors of print magazines with a varying focus on film about setting up print enterprises in the digital age. He talks to Maria J Pérez Cuervo about her folk horror magazine Hellebore, Gabriel Solomons about illustrated film magazine Beneficial Shock and Cathy Lomax & Lucy Bolton about a special British film edition of art and culture periodical Garageland. All the conversations revolve around a love of magazines and we are grateful to all the contributors for their time.
Around these conversations Neil and Dario discuss collecting, objects and mortality, the physical v the digital and what they want from cultural experiences and how magazines can play into that. They also talk about Dario’s visit to the ICA to see Annette and a Leos Carax Q&A and Neil recommends the new BFI Blu-ray of Powell & Pressburger’s 1942 propaganda classic One of our Aircraft is Missing.
To buy Hellebore click here.
To buy Beneficial Shock (who have a new issue imminent) click here.
To buy Garageland click here.
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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.
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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 $2.50.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write about the show (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.

Rose Plays Julie (w/Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor)

For the season 14 premiere Neil and Dario discuss one of 2021’s best releases, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s dark and magnetic psychodrama Rose Plays Julie starring Ann Skelly, Orla Brady and Aidan Gillen.
Neil talks to the filmmakers about their unique, exploratory process, growing as filmmakers, working with actors and timing. Elsewhere Neil and Dario catch up about some recent watches and what they’ve been up to over the summer, before heading off to the bonus episode for Patreon subscribers to discuss Jean-Paul Belmondo and Michael K. Williams.
It’s good to be back.
Thank you to Nicki at Premier PR and Claire At Eclipse Pictures for their help in setting up the conversation and for advance access to the film.
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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.
———
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 $2.50.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write about the show (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.

Season 13 Finale

To close out an epic season this final episode just finds Neil and Dario talking to each other, and responding to listener questions. This special episode, and the Patreon bonus episode, runs the gamut from the future of cinema, the death of horror cinema (or not?), lockdown viewing strategies, platonic male relationships, Strictly Ballroom, the BBC film Together, facial hair, celebrity lookalikes, Pedro Costa, ASMR and papyrus.
Thanks to Chloe, Dan, Brian, Andrew, Lee, Jason, Si, Guy, Mark, MarBelle and Chris for their input on this episode.
Thanks for another great season. See (& Hear) you all in the autumn.
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Show Notes:
Link to Mark Hancock’s piece on Supernova, mentioned in the show.
The song featured in the show is Baloo My Boy by Jim Williams, from Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England.
The interview clip with Christian Petzold can be found on YouTube here.
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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.
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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 $2.50.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write about the show (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.