When we say ‘I’m fine’, we usually mean the exact opposite, but we say it anyway because we want to protect ourselves from revisiting the pain or from transferring it to another person. The internalisation […]
Carnival Messiah: Proof that We Need Art
Following her summer of research, investigating why this explosion of culture and vision is so important, Anna May tells us more about Carnival Messiah preceeding its showing tomorrow at West Yorkshire Playhouse. When I applied to do […]
LIFF30 Review: Stop Making Sense – a victory lap for an under-appreciated band
Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film, begins with frontman David Byrne on an empty, undressed stage with a guitar and a boombox performing Psycho Killer, the first song he wrote. The stage is […]
LIFF30 Review: Blue Velvet – not for the faint-hearted
Idyllic suburbia, with its white picket fences, rose gardens and tree-lined streets has its drapes pulled down in Blue Velvet (1986) by David Lynch, a heavily surreal mystery thriller. Kyle Machlachlan plays Jeffrey who, home […]
LIFF30 Review: Chi-raq – a feast for the eyes
Chi-raq (2015) is a triumph of no-holds-barred filmmaking. It is a feast for the eyes and the cinematic imagination, saturated with director Spike Lee’s biting political satire. The film is a hip-hop adaptation and incisive twist […]
LIFF30 Review: Lady Macbeth – leaves us cold
Lady Macbeth follows the young recently married Catherine as she is adopted into the cold, patriarchal and violent environment of her husband’s home. He is often absent and his new wife begins an affair with […]
LIFF30: Zulawski – A Retrospective on some of the director‘s best works
While it has become something of a cultural in-joke that 2016 has seen a swathe of artists and celebrities pass away, one less talked about, but no less essential, filmic artist of the 21st century […]
Leeds International Film Festival: our picks
With the renowned Leeds International Film Festival reaching its landmark 30th birthday, In the Middle gives you a quick preview of this year‘s most exciting offerings… Paterson The new film from indie scene titan Jim […]
LIFF: The French Connections
This year’s Leeds International Film Festival screened a series of seven short films by French directors entitled French Connections. Encapsulating the quirky French cinematic style, the short films are at once witty and soulful, commenting […]
British Short Film Competition
On Sunday 15th November, I attended a screening of eight films that had been entered into the British Short Film competition. All the films were under 15 minutes and each one surprised and entertained the […]
Review: The Tipple Taxi
Incongruously placed in the centre of Leeds Trinity shopping centre sits the Tipple Taxi, a London-black-cab-come-miniature-cinema, showing 5 short films on a half-hour loop, as part of the 29th Leeds International Film Festival. The interior […]
Tangerine – More than just the world's first iPhone film
Set against the sun-stained skies of Los Angeles, Sean Baker’s latest offering continues his taste for challenging yet unavoidable plot lines. In Tangerine, we’re on the streets with Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya […]