It is not everyday that you get to interview a documentary maker, in the backdrop of the Royal Academy, with the sound of a paint canister being sling-shot across a room and hitting a bare wall, every ten minutes – modern art, right? But even this oddity is probably mild for Ondi Timoner, director of [...]

Sight & Sound Special Screening
“Un Prophéte”
Saturday 24th October Vue 5
Monday 26th October Vue 5
UK Release 15th January 2010*
Limited US Release 12th February 2010*

It is very rare that I would get up on a Saturday before 12 in the afternoon, let alone trudge down to Central London for a screening at half-nine in the morning, but, although overcome with weariness [...]

World Cinema
“Wah Do Dem”
Friday 16th October NFT2
Saturday 17th October Studio
Sunday 18th October ICA

I’d spent nearly a week eagerly waiting to get the screener from the DVD library, and in that time I’d increased the expectation on this little micro-budget film’s wee shoulders. Why the frenzied expectation? I don’t know whether it was the glowing official festival synopsis, Norah [...]

Film on the Square
La Danse – The Paris Opera Ballet
La Danse – Le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris
Thursday 15th October Vue 6
Friday 16th October Vue 6
US release: 4th November*

No talking-heads, no archival footage, no title cards and no voice-over narration; for those unfamiliar with Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries, myself including, his simple, almost understated, approach to subjects’ in [...]

If you haven’t heard of Marc Webb, you’ve probably seen one of the music videos he has directed (Nelly feat Fergie ‘Party People’; Puffy Daddy with Keyshia Cole ‘Last Night’; My Chemical Romance ‘I don’t love you’; Pussy Cat Dolls with Timberland ‘Wait a minute’; The Used ‘All that I’ve got’; Regina Spektor ‘Better’ – [...]