Art and Culture

Peter Snowdon's self-shot documentary 'The Uprising' is extremely powerful and focuses on the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. 'The Uprising' brings together a series of unimaginable images, shot by several activists on the threatening streets. The images are captured in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. The bigger picture is getting their voices heard on a larger scale, however after 30-years of oppression under a brutal dictator, the people are […]

With the centenary of the 1st World War upon us it seems there are plenty of productions (film and TV) trying to capture that wartime sprit and highlight wartime heroes, known and unknown. Scotsman, James Watson Watt is the focus of 'Castles In The Sky' the meteorologist who stumbled over the concept behind something now used every day and without which the outcome of the Battle Of Britain and possibly […]

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has connected people together from all over the world. While many use it for entertaining reasons, others use them in a much larger scale. Nineteen year-old Ala’a Basatneh is constantly checking her mobile for notifications. She’s online in lectures and even active on Facebook at home using her laptop. But she’s using it in a different way. Ala’a's attention is deeply […]

Finnish film ‘Korso’ follows Markus, with his dream to move to big-city New York to become a basketball star. Living in a dead end town of Korso, he spends his days practising his skills, trying to pickup girls and drinking in a rundown warehouse with his friends. Much like himself, they are unemployed, uneducated and are nothing but trouble to their community. But this doesn’t stop him from pursuing his […]

I've never been big on poetry, I'll admit that now before you read on and spot it for yourself. *Spoiler alert* (not really) 'Set Fire To The Stars' is about two poets. Shot in rather arty black and white the film follows John Malcolm Brinnin (Elijah Wood) as he try's to keep control of fellow poet Dylan Thomas (Celyn Jones) ahead of a massive US tour. Both of the central […]

This week I had the chance to meet America Ferrera & Ryan Piers Williams while they were in Edinburgh to premiere their new film X/Y. X/Y Follows a group of friends in New York as they try and build better relationships. To find out more visit the film festival website at www.edfilmfest.org.uk listen to ‘EIFF 2014: America Ferrera & Ryan Piers Williams Interview’ on Audioboo

This week I had the pleasure to chat with Noel Clarke, director and leading man in the brand new Sci Fi film 'The Anomaly' This was recorded the day after the world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014. You can read my review and watch the trailer HERE. listen to ‘EIFF 2014: Noel Clarke, Interview’ on Audioboo

This year Edinburgh International Film Festival have teamed up with Empire Magazine to bring a selection of 'Hero Hangouts' to the festival. Taking place throughout the festival film makers and actors will be defending on the Lyceum Theatre (a rather grand venue) to talk about their influences, past successes and of course flog you their latest movie. I popped along to the first Hangout on Friday night to see Noel […]

I'll warn James Bond fans that 'A Most Wanted Man' is not the kind of spy film you might be expecting. For a start it's set in Germany, not the usual US/UK city counter terrorism setting you would be expecting. In fact this film isn't based on a CIA team or MI6 it's all about a German intelligence unit, not headed by a Jack Bauer action hero but a slightly […]