CANCELLED: The Sentimental Bloke in Scotland!

March 5, 2020

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UPDATE 12/05/2020: For obvious reasons, this year’s Hippodrome Silent Film Festival was postponed to October. Sadly, this has also been cancelled, but I hope to be able to organise a belated centenary screening of the film in London at some point in the future.

On Friday March 20, I will be introducing a very special screening of Australia’s finest silent film, The Sentimental Bloke (1919), at the brilliant Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (HippFest) in Bo’ness, Scotland. Based on CJ Dennis’ vivid, colloquial verse about the lives and loves of working class folk, the film is the product of a brief but fruitful partnership between Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell.

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Any Questions?

February 27, 2020

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In conversation with Martin Thomas and Béatrice Bijon, co-directors of Etched in Bone

In the midst of a very busy last six months or so (including spending last term teaching five modules across three institutions, AND working a part time job!), I had the distinct pleasure of hosting Q&As after a couple of brilliant documentary screenings.

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Interview with Al Araby Television

August 19, 2019

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During the London Australian Film Festival at the end of June, I gave an interview for Tales of Cinema, a series of half-hour programmes on different aspects of the cinema, produced for London-based Al Araby Television. The episode in which I featured was broadcast to audiences across North Africa and the Middle East on August 6, and is now available to stream.

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Slam: Screening Round-up

August 15, 2019

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Last Saturday, it was my distinct privilege to host the UK premiere of Slam (Partho Sen-Gupta, 2018) in my capacity as Co-Programmer for the London Australian Film Society.

Slam is undoubtedly a confronting film, but it is also a very important one in the contemporary climate, and one that I was admittedly a little nervous about screening. Thankfully, audience reactions, both to the film, and to the interesting and illuminating panel discussion that followed, were overwhelmingly positive.

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SLAM (2018) – UK Premiere – Aug 10 at Regent St Cinema

July 20, 2019

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I’m really excited to be hosting the UK premiere of Partho Sen-Gupta’s stunning SLAM (2018) with the London Australian Film Society. The screening – at Regent Street Cinema on the afternoon of August 10 – is presented in collaboration with The Riz Test, and with the support of the Menzies Australia Institute.

The feature will be preceded by a screening of short poetry film Borders (Shagufta K Iqbal / Elizabeth Mizon, 2017, and will include a post-screening panel discussion involving media commentators, scholars, and activists discussing a range of issues, from screen representation to the broader contexts of Islamophobia in Australia and Britain.

I will be chairing the panel, with guests including Shaf Choudry (The Riz Test), Dr Aurelien Mondon (University of Bath), and Shagufta K Iqbal (The Yoniverse).

More info can be found on the LAFS website, and tickets can be booked directly via Regent Street Cinema.

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Screening Australia: Book Announcement

April 7, 2019

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As mentioned on Twitter a little while back, I am pleased to confirm that the book I am co-editing with Dr Peter Kilroy – Screening Australia: Culture, Media, Context – will be published in 2020 by Peter Lang, as part of their Australian Studies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives series.

The details are obviously still under wraps, but the edited collection stems from a seminar series held at the Menzies Australia Institute a few years ago, and should include chapters on topics including early television, screenwriting, documentary re-enactment, artists’ moving image, Indigenous comedy, the Australian gothic, geology and cinema, and much more.

Watch this space!