London did not make USA Today’s “10 Great Places for City Cycling” list this July. But the city did earn a top-20 mention in a more European-focused Danish report on the best bicycle-friendly cities. Combined with local efforts to promote cycling in anticipation of the upcoming 2012 Olympics, some would argue that London’s cycling...
At the beginning of the 2000s, Rachel Millward and Pinny Gryllis were making low-budget short films in London, but had no peer network. In an effort to change this, they decided to buy out London’s Curzon Soho Cinema on a November night in 2002 to debut one of their films. That same night, they...
“Slackistan”, a debut feature from Hammad Khan, follows the uneventful lives of a group of aimless, privileged 20-somethings. They hang out, wear T-shirts, smoke, listen to music, get bored, drive around, and talk about stuff. The film’s story—it would be tough to call it a plot—could unfold in any number of places around the...
To commemorate the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Harry Shearer, an actor, author, director and part-time New Orleans resident, has created “The Big Uneasy”, an investigative documentary in which he also stars. The film screened recently at the Curzon Soho cinema in London, followed by a question and answer session with Shearer. Shearer is...
“No One Knows About Persian Cats” is a film directed by Bahman Ghobadi, an award-winning Kurdish-Iranian film-maker. Mr Ghobadi first came to prominence with “A Time For Drunken Horses,” a film about smuggling across the Iran-Iraq border. “Persian Cats”, which won the Special Jury Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” section at the 2009...
“These films produce knowledge and they form opinions often about the weakest and most vulnerable people in society,” said Patrick Hazard, festival director. “They comment on places and situations that their audience may never come across directly. So we like to unpick these messages, develop them and also critique them.” The full story, on...
Thet Sambath nurses hopes that the film will one day be shown in Cambodia. He could make the case that “Enemies of the People” could offer steps towards reconciliation. After a screening before Cambodian refugees in Utah recently, several women told Sambath that they had arrived filled with resentment, but that the film inspired...
As media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch and Walter Hussman fight to monetise internet content, others are wondering what it means to have their entire life available on the web free of charge. Josh Harris was once an important cog in the wheel of internet development. His heyday came in the 1990s, when he...
More entertaining than the film was watching the crowd listen to and engage with Grey afterwards. (One gushing audience member offered her band a gig at his London club. Another identified herself as a dominatrix and seemed to want to talk shop.) After Grey admitted that she was shocked that Soderberg asked her to...
I’ve seen “Do the Right Thing” many times, and have observed and participated in many debates about its value and meaning. But this particular London screening reminded me of just how well it captures the little things that not only set people off, but also calm them down and even make them laugh. There...