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Adam, Author at The Open College of the Arts - Page 4 of 6

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Adam


Masters of their universe thumb

Masters of their universe

Weekends are special. Forget the sports pages, the first I read are film-reviews. Sunday delivered a serendipitous piece by Patrick Kingsley in the Guardian who interviewed Gianfranco Rosi about his latest masterful film Fire at Sea. It was Rosi’s mention of Michael Moore and the difference in their approach to film-making that determined my cinema-going this week as I was able to see both films at the same venue in a self-select double bill.

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Double bills can be revealing

Travelling to the movies can be expensive, so any opportunity to maximise viewing and minimise cost is to be encouraged. Today, with most cinemas being multi-plex it is often possible to watch two films one after the other at the same venue.

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Can one film change the language of cinema? thumb

Can one film change the language of cinema?

Sebastian Schipper is a German director with a lot of nerve, if not verve. Barred from entry to this year’s Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film because there was too much English in it – I shall return to this later, his genre-busting one-shot movie Victoria, demands of the student of Film Culture some serious reflection.

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Are we in a golden age for documentary? thumb

Are we in a golden age for documentary?

In my last post I focused on fiction. But in film culture that is only part of the story. Documentary has, from the very start of cinema and the moving image, been at the heart of film culture and a large part of the module is devoted to exploring the importance and influence of documentary in many of its forms.

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Genres Re-Visited

It’s that time of year for me when every day I watch at least two movies ahead of voting in the various BAFTA categories.  I am fortunate to be in the Foreign Film Chapter and there have been some very interesting examples in 2015 of films that should be seen as part of any work […]

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A True Cinematic Experience

It is easy to forget that cinema is barely 130 years old. Yet in the frenetic first decades of the new form some of the greatest works of cinematic art were produced.

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A Vintage Year?

The viewing year is definitely ramping up. Suddenly my inbox is full of links to movies, invitations to screenings and the promise of DVD’s of this year’s hopefuls for gongs. At the same time I am continually reminded of how our relationship with the moving image is discussed and explored endlessly in the media.

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I Vote For More Movies By Women thumb

I Vote For More Movies By Women

With the release this month of Suffragette, directed by Sarah Gavron, I was reminded of a very interesting book, Celluloid Ceiling – Women Film Directors Breaking Through. For a budding student of film culture a very worthwhile read. The book is a collection of essays about the realities for female directors around the world. It may seem surprising but it can be easier for a woman to make her film in Saudi Arabia than in Hollywood.

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Short Is Beautiful thumb

Short Is Beautiful

The super-short film is a very democratic artform, especially now, when anyone with a smartphone can download the apps they need to edit and broadcast their work. Give it a try if you haven’t already.

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Family and the American Documentary thumb

Family and the American Documentary

I have been in love with the American documentary from my very first days at film school. The tradition of narrative without commentary is something most auteur documentarists in America take as their mantra. However, one of the genres within the genre is the film about families and domestic life.

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