This year it’s all about Virtual LFF and LFF In Cinemas. And as a one-off for this edition, audiences will take the place of the Festival’s official jury. The full line-up will be announced online on 8 September – the festival runs rom 7 to 18 October. The first ever edition of the Festival to… BFI London Film Festival’s 2020 format announced: virtual premieres, regional cinema screenings – and you, the jury Read More
Death Row drama Clemency gets UK release date at last
Featuring a powerhouse performance from Alfre Woodard, Clemency is out on 17 July. The film screened at last year’s London Film Festival then seemed to disappear, though it pops up on many people’s “who should have been nominated for an Oscar but wasn’t” lists. Woodard plays Bernadine Williams, a prison warden who has become ground… Death Row drama Clemency gets UK release date at last Read More
We Are One: A Global Film Festival launches with films from festivals around the world
The online festival, produced and organised by YouTube and Tribeca Enterprises, will run exclusively on YouTube from 29 May to 7 June at YouTube.com/WeAreOne. We Are One will feature programming from 21 festivals and 35 countries, including Berlin International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, London Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. Talks, VR content and… We Are One: A Global Film Festival launches with films from festivals around the world Read More
Vivarium (London Film Festival 2019) 4 stars
A young couple looking for the perfect home find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical houses. *** Read my interview with Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan *** Everyone has their own line in the sand which they will not cross when it comes to settling down. Mine is those massive white canvasses with… Vivarium (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
INTERVIEW: “Peanut Butter Falcon” writer-directors Tyler Nilson & Michael Schwartz
Peanut Butter Falcon, the hit indie comedy about Zak, a young man with Down syndrome who breaks out of his restrictive care home for adventures on the road (and rivers) of the American South, has been winning over audiences and earning plaudits since its world premiere at this year’s SXSW film festival. Zak, played by Zack Gottsagen, is a huge wresting… INTERVIEW: “Peanut Butter Falcon” writer-directors Tyler Nilson & Michael Schwartz Read More
JoJo Rabbit (London Film Festival 2019) 4 stars
JoJo Rabbit works nearly all of the time, which for a comedy about the friendship between a small boy in the Hitler Youth and a Jewish girl, and with a buffoonish Hitler as an imaginary father figure, is pretty good going. Writer-director Taika Waititi runs a tight ship when it comes to tonal changes, the switches… JoJo Rabbit (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Little Monsters (London Film Festival 2019) 3 stars
Little Monsters is a great advert for teacher excellence, if not much of a recruiting tool – as multi-talented kindergarten teacher Miss Caroline has to save her class of small charges as they face down an attempted zombie apocalypse. I say attempted; it does feel a little half-hearted, as the world’s slowest undead hordes stagger round… Little Monsters (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Nest – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 4.5 stars
There’s a big bird with pink feathers that wants to be friends with a little bird and its friends. It chases the little bird to make the little bird like him but the little bird gets scared. Then the big bird makes a lovely nest on the ground and the little bird and its friends… Nest – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Good Heart – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 4.5 stars
At the start I didn’t understand what was happening but then I realised. The pictures look like they’ve been drawn with crayons. It’s from Russia but it doesn’t matter because the family in it just grunt. There is a family of Stone Age people and when the boy goes to collect apples he comes back… Good Heart – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Jerich0 – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 5 stars
This is my favourite of all the short films I’ve watched this week. It’s about a robot lizard and it’s only one minute long. When I heard “Jericho” I thought that sounds like a lovely name and I think the lizard might be called Jericho. It starts off not much sad. The robot lizard crawls… Jerich0 – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
The Penguin Who Couldn’t Swim – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 4 stars
This film is five and a half minutes long. There’s a penguin who can’t swim because he has a short wing. Nobody speaks but that doesn’t matter. There isn’t much detail in their faces. Sometimes you can only see their eyes but you can still tell how they are feeling. He watches his friends swimming… The Penguin Who Couldn’t Swim – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Peanut Butter Falcon (London Film Festival 2019) 5 stars
The Peanut Butter Falcon infuses its message of autonomy and risk-taking with a sense of magic – as Zak, a young man with Down Syndrome who escapes his dreary, constricting care home for freedom and adventure, drifts on a raft through the stultifyingly hot river-ways of the American South with new friend Tyler and old friend… Peanut Butter Falcon (London Film Festival 2019) Read More