Interviews

By Anna Power Excited about upcoming US indie comedy smash The Big Sick coming to UK cinemas? You should be. It's feel-good, laugh out loud charm is a real treat for film lovers. Director Michael Showalter answered some questions on working with Kumail Nanjiani and race and its place in comedy. How did you come to work on Kumail and Emily's script for The Big Sick? ​Kumail and I have worked together in the past. He showed me the script...

By Linda Marric Considered by many as one of the most talented animators working in Europe at the moment, Michael Dudok de Wit hit the jackpot when he was approached out of the blue by Studio Ghibli to make a film with them. The result was one of the best received films at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and went on to win praise as well as prizes around the world. The Red Turtle came out of nowhere to steal...

By Linda Marric Last week I had the chance to meet with Billy Howle, star of a new film adapted from Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize winning novel The Sense of An Ending. The film is directed by the brilliant Ritesh Batra and stars Billy as the younger version of Tony, who also played by Jim Broadbent in later years. We spoke about the casting process Billy went through and a number of other things relating to his character in the...

By Linda Marric In A Quiet Passion, Terence Davies’ delivers one of the wittiest and most accomplished screenplays of his career. This semi-biographical account of American poet and famous recluse Emily Dickinson, features a wonderfully eclectic cast and stars Cynthia Nixon as Dickinson herself and the excellent Catherine Bailey as the outspoken Miss Vrylling Buffam. Also known as Miss VB, Buffam’s friendship with Dickinson is often credited for taking the usually introverted poet out of her sombre humdrum life, and...

By Linda Marric Seventy years after India’s partition, Gurinder Chadha delivers one of the most comprehensive looks at what went on during those tumultuous times. Her latest feature film Viceroy’s House is an ambitious undertaking which charters the last days of the British Raj and pays tribute to the millions of people uprooted from their homes or killed in the violent outbreaks that followed. Chadha’s own family was caught in what was to become one of the largest mass migrations...

By Anna Power I met Liam Neeson at a hotel in knightsbridge to discuss the release of his upcoming films Martin Scorsese’s Silence and J.A.Bayona’s A Monster Calls both out on New Year's Day. I asked him: Both A Monster Calls and Silence are in their own way about human suffering. What are your thoughts on faith and how it sustains us in suffering? Liam: It’s an extraordinary subject. At the moment I’m very fascinated with science and the inroads...

  Review and round table interview with director Mohammed Ben Attia by Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada   Hedi is 25 and about to get married. He works as a travelling car salesman, driving around his homeland Tunisia trying to get companies to buy Peugeots - in vain, the economy isn't good, but Hedi also isn't a good salesman. He shows no interest in his job, or his marriage, or anything for that matter. His mother arranges his life for him: Not...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Tragically Alan Rickman,one of Britain's if not the world's favourite actors, has sadly passed away aged 69 of cancer. He was known for many works including roles in Harry Potter, Die hard and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, however he was also known for "serious" acting and was well respected by the acting community as well. A family statement read: "The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69....

Pilou Asbæk & Tuva Novotny interviewed by Miranda Schiller/@mirandadadada War movies strive to obtain a sense of realism and immersion. Danish feature A War is no exception. With an exception of the leads, the cast is played by real danish soldiers who have been stationed in Afghanistan. Such a decision as not only helped provide its story a strong element of truth, but also helped establish the film with a certain amount of prestige. A War has been selected as the Danish...