Hunger for power: Limitless

By Rajko Radovic. I like films that tell me something about the world we live in. I like to see mechanics exposed, a provocative plot line that does not only connect the dots but also shows the ways in which cogs fit together inside the clockwork. And this is where […]

CFP: Short Film Studies (2.2)

Read below or download the PDF Aims & Scope: Short Film Studies is a peer-reviewed journal designed to stimulate ongoing research on individual short films as a basis for a better understanding of the art form as a whole. In each issue, two or three short films will be selected […]

Far East Film Festival, Udine, Italy

By Moira Sullivan. The Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy is an outstanding annual showcase of popular, mainstream films from Asia. For the 13th edition of the festival (April 29 – May 7) there were 50 films in the program. Several experts for the festival who live in or […]

Contemporary Cinematic Documentary and The Rebirth of Content

By Jez Owen. Abstract Documentary suggests ‘fullness and completion, knowledge and fact’ (Nichols, 1994:1). A documentary text can provide a representation of life that an audience will read as a truthful expression of an actuality. The last fifteen years of film production have witnessed an explosion in the number of […]

Pier Paolo Pasolini Museum, Casarsa della Delizia, Italy

By Moira Sullivan. In northeastern Italy lies the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.  “Friulan”, a romance dialect, is spoken in Friuli. Casarsa della Delizia is one of the towns of the area and is where the mother of Pier Paolo Pasolini was born. During the Second World War, the Italian poet […]

127 Hours (2010)

By Bryan Nixon. The opening credit sequence of 127 Hoursis a split screen triptych bursting with vibrant colors of modern society: crowds cheering, the running of the bulls, competitive swimmers racing, New Yorkers scurrying to work, an overpopulated California beach, and a fridge containing Gatorade and Coors. The fridge belongs […]

Saving The Cinema Museum

By Deirdre O’Neill. Tucked away in an unfashionable part of London, The Cinema Museum is a rather well kept secret even amongst cinema lovers. This museum houses a collection of artefacts and memorabilia that celebrate the cinema-going experience from the 1890s up until the present day; there are cinema seats, […]

THE ROBBER: Crime, Resistance, Rebellion

By Matthew Sorrento. Along with a direct title, this film has a high-concept premise: a long-distance runner who robs banks. Once we hear this log line, poster copy from old-time Hollywood appears in mind: He runs! He steals! He runs again! It’s the kind of idea that a studio could […]

Kung Fu Panda 2

By Jacob Mertens. Watching narrative films has always been a fleeting, ephemeral experience for me. After the initial flush of excitement, each viewing slowly diminishes in standing, it’s potency ebbing away from repetition. However, on occasion a film surprises me with its depth and I’ll notice underlying subtext that I […]

Films and Cities: The World (China, 2005)

By Hector Arkomanis. This column is the first in a series that discusses films in the context of specific cities, times and histories. Each time, we start with a close-up of a film which is then related to thoughts about the city drawn from a wide range of sources including […]