3 d. ago Short films created by Sean Connery Talent Lab to premiere at EIFF

The films were hailed as an ‘exciting new generation of Scottish and Scotland-based talent’.

Politics

9 d. ago Stormzy takes on Hollywood with Merky films and teams with Oscar winner

South London rapper launches #Merky films to champion new talent and lands his lead role debut in a short film by an Oscar winning director. The film is shot entirely on an Apple Iphone.

Events

1 week ago Theo James covered in rotting fish guts as Stephen Fry sends important message

Netflix and The White Lotus favourite Theo James has teamed up with Stephen Fry for a grim short film which aims to highlight just how destructive bottom trawling is

Politics

2 w. ago ‘I must have done something right!’: dance master Jiří Kylián on his festival, fierce critics and the Ministry of Silly Walks

At 78, the great choreographer is enjoying a career-spanning celebration in Oslo. He reflects on his leap from dance to visual art and why he feels snubbed by BritainA gang of young dancers, their black costumes offset by colourful hats, cascade down the sloping roof of Oslo’s opera house for a jubilant routine to a Prince song by the waterfront. The building’s huge glass facade has become an unlikely stage for sculptures, digitally scanned from dancers’ bodies, positioned as if they are plunging into the building like the nearby bathers in the fjord. Inside, there’s an eclectic bill of ballets including one inspired by a painting from the Edvard Munch museum next door. In the wings of the theatre is an installation drawing on the Buddhist Zen symbol ensō. The studio space is screening short films veering from slapstick to the profound.But this sprawling festival, spanning more than two weeks and then partially touring, has a singular focus. These are all works by Jiří Kylián, the C...

Culture

2 w. ago 'Sinners' puts 'truth on screen' for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

The blockbuster horror film “Sinners” features the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in a short, but impactful scene

Events

2 w. ago Philadelphia public art project highlights how immigrants make US cities better

The Philadelphians features video portraits of immigrants, in response to the Trump administration’s negative rhetoricDozens of people milled about in Philadelphia’s Love Park as a series of short film portraits played on the facade of the park’s visitor center on a recent Friday evening. The ambient sounds of the city served as a soundtrack for the silent films. Several videos played simultaneously on different sections of the 360-degree projection wrapped around the building’s exterior. Titled the Philadelphians, the 10 portraits recognize the contributions of the city’s immigrant communities.One film profiled an Afghan immigrant named Rezwan and followed him as he shopped at a halal Middle Eastern food market. His words were displayed on the screen: “I had a lot of mixed feelings but I had no other option than to leave Afghanistan. I was thinking about my parents who stayed behind, and on the other hand, I was happy that my kids would get to live the life they deserve. At least t...

Events

2 w. ago ‘A vehicle for love’: the public art project highlighting immigrants’ contributions to US cities

The Philadelphians features video portraits of immigrants, in response to the Trump administration’s negative rhetoricDozens of people milled about in Philadelphia’s Love Park as a series of short film portraits played on the facade of the park’s visitor center on a recent Friday evening. The ambient sounds of the city served as a soundtrack for the silent films. Several videos played simultaneously on different sections of the 360-degree projection wrapped around the building’s exterior. Titled the Philadelphians, the 10 portraits recognize the contributions of the city’s immigrant communities.One film profiled an Afghan immigrant named Rezwan Natiq and followed him as he shopped at a halal Middle Eastern food market. His words were displayed on the screen: “I had a lot of mixed feelings but I had no other option than to leave Afghanistan. I was thinking about my parents who stayed behind, and on the other hand, I was happy that my kids would get to live the life they deserve. At l...

Events

2 w. ago Falling Into Place review – earnest romantic drama aims to nail the thirtysomething dilemma

A magical encounter on Skye leads to real life back in London in Aylin Tezel’s honest but difficult-to-care love storyGerman actor Aylin Tezel writes, directs and stars in this strident, fervent, oddly unreal romantic drama set in London and Skye; it is like the world’s longest TV banking ad without the humour that something like this needs. Yet for all its faults it’s an honest, flawed attempt to show how complicated it is to meet someone in your 30s who may be The One when both of you already have entanglements or relationships or ex-relationships.It looks like a very personal work from Tezel, with moments that could be taken from real life. Chris Fulton plays Ian, a guy who has come back to his home town in Skye for difficult family reasons, and in the pub he meets-cute, or meets-intense, with German set-designer Kira, played by Tezel. They have a magical night where they stay up all night talking, but then have to part, both back to London where they pursue their separate imperf...

Events

3 w. ago Bogancloch review – the further adventures of a Scottish hermit in Ben River’s beguiling essay

Rivers returns to document a past subject, Jake Williams, whose reclusive Scottish forest existence is fascinating but defies explanationFilm-maker Ben Rivers, one of the doyens of Britain’s small but stubborn-as-bindweed experimental film scene, catches up with Scottish recluse Jake Williams, the subject of his 2011 film Two Years at Sea and, before that, his 2006 short This Is My Land. All three films never deign to tell viewers much at all about Williams, who spends great chunks of the film doing almost nothing, like sleeping by a tree, taking a bath, or just pottering about at his home, Bogancloch in Aberdeenshire.However, there are oblique hints in plain sight if you look closely. In the bric-a-brac of Williams’ digs and the closeup shots Rivers inserts of some of Williams’ scratched and smudged photographs of places around the world he’s once visited, one of which shows the subject as a young man with a resplendent head of red hair. These days, his scalpline has much receded a...

Politics