Film

In 1941 amateur inventor Hedy Lamarr worked with composer George Antheil to create and patent 'frequency hopping', which when applied in naval warfare could prevent enemy jamming of communications with torpedos and move the battle for the seas in the favour of the Allies. Although not put into use by the US Navy until the 1950s, 'frequency hopping' is now used as an integral element of everything from GPS to Wi-Fi. Lamarr's day job was performing as one of the...

In its first UK screening, award winning documentary Above The Drowning Sea will be shown at BAFTA by the Pureland Series in London on Thursday 8 March. Due to the bravery of one man, Vienna based Chinese Consul Ho Feng Shan, who defied his government and threats from the Gestapo in World War II, thousands of Jews were saved. Ho Feng Shan issued Jewish families open door visas to China. The film documents the harrowing and dramatic journey of these families. It is...

What remains long after the credits of Petra Volpe’s sophomore feature, The Divine Order, have finished rolling is the historical context in which the film is set. There will undoubtedly be a great number who see this film (writer included) who will be shocked by the revelation that the women of Switzerland did not possess the right to vote at a federal level until 1971. More astounding still is that the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden remained steadfast in its refusal...

John McNaughton couldn’t have made a more auspicious debut film than he did with 1986’s Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer. An unforgiving, punishingly hopeless insight into the mind and crimes of a serial murderer, the film was well received at festivals in 1986 but struggled to find a distributor, apparently being passed around by industry figures on VHS until it finally found a release in 1990. I hadn’t even heard of his follow up film, a sci-fi called The...

With contributions from: Christopher Marchant (CM), Jim Mackney (JMack), and Linda Marric (LM) Even for those of us who are fortunate enough to spend many-a-day indulging in our love of film, Awards Season is more a marathon than a sprint; an annual slog through the year’s most entitled set of cinematic releases. This year’s honours culminate this evening with the 90th Academy Awards, and one can’t help but be gripped by a cynical sense of celebration that I won’t have...

Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is a famous and respected dancer for the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) is a CIA agent in Russia who botches a meeting with a mole. After a horrific leg break, Dominika must retire, and is persuaded by her nefarious uncle in the SVR, Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts), to become a 'sparrow'; a highly trained sexual manipulator who can worm their way into the lonely lives of men like Nate. Lawrence really poured everything she...

While it is true that A Fantastic Woman is a trans drama, it's a description overlooks the many other compelling qualities that this Chilean film has. It is the type of simple categorisation that the title character Marina (Daniela Vega) faces and battles against. She may be a transgender woman, but there are many other sides to her personality and life. Her relationship with Orlando (Francisco Reyes), a kind older man with a gentle face, is loving and she lives...

Tarik Saleh’s Sundance winner, The Nile Hilton Incident, is a gritty, noir-thriller set in the days leading up to Egypt’s 2011 revolution. January 2011 and we’re landed in the dizzying hustle and bustle of Cairo’s amoral Kasr El-Nil police precinct where back-hand dealings and corruption run rife. The murder of a young singer at the Nile Hilton hotel and an (un)healthy handing of wasta have landed Police Commander Noredin (Fares Fares) the role of chief investigator on the case. His...

The ultimate blockbuster would also include two romantic moments, two villains and be exactly two hours long.