I had the honour to be one of the jury members at this year Odyssey: A Chinese Cinema Season and watching the varied selection of films submitted to the festival. This year’s theme was Global Sustainability and the Jury’s Special Prize was awarded to Chih-Chieh YU’s thriller Contained from Taiwan. Hong Ning’s The New World: The Variation of Stay-Home Activities, Ran Li’s Till Love Do Us Part and Helai Lu’s Everything were the Special Mentions this year. All the films were incredibly different stylistically and thematically which meant we had a very interesting discussion with the jury members in regards to the favourites.
I also hosted the Q&A at the Opening of Odyssey after the premiere of “Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice” with Josie Ho and director Kim Chan at the Cinema in the Battersea Power Station. It was very exciting for me to welcome international filmmakers at the cinema which happens to be my local and be part of this cross cultural event celebrating film.
“Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice” is a documentary about a group of creatives from Hong Kong who travel to Iceland in pursuit of happiness. I was very inspired watching it and particularly enjoyed the original piece of music which was created at the end thanks to the cultural exchange and collaboration between Icelandic and Hong Kong musicians.
In the post show Q&A we spoke about the making of the film and what happiness means.
I felt the film was incredibly relatable and spoke to the struggles of many creatives living in big cities doing their best to live well whilst also surviving the storm of the everyday. It was refreshing reminder of the importance of play, surrendering to the present moment and connecting with others.
Thanks to UK-China Film Collab for organising and the photos
Incredible time at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It was a last minute decision to go and I am so glad I went.
Wonderful time catching up with my filmmaker friends from around the world and a chance to connect with so many new people who enjoy film and are passionate to bring their own projects to screens.
I made it to two premieres at the Lumiere: Idol by Sam Levinson and Rapito (Kidnapped) by Marco Bellocchio.
Rapito was my favourite film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It tells a story of Edgardo Mortara, a child who was born into a Jewish family before being kidnapped by the Church by the order of the Pope to be Christianised in the 19th century. Based on a true devastating story against a beautiful backdrop of Italian landscapes and architecture.
As per usual I managed to watch only a handful of films and left with a long list of films the releases of which I am eagerly awaiting.
I was happy to be part of “My Brilliant Divorce” at the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes voicing the characters of Meena and Leena. Production by OnBook Theatre directed by Jason Moore.
The show was listed as a highly recommended show by the FringeReview. You can read the review here:
https://fringereview.co.uk/review/fringereview-uk/2023/my-brilliant-divorce/
I also really enjoyed exploring Barnes, a beautiful area! 😍
In February I had the absolute privilege of going to the BAFTA Awards for the first time. It was an incredible night celebrating film. Many amazing films were nominated this year including “All Quiet on the Western Front” which won most awards and some of my personal favourites like “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” and “Corsage”. Also my list of films to watch has grown exponentially over night and I am still catching up on it.
Long time no posts, so I decided to catch up on some of the unposted content about the projects I have worked on this year.
I started the year right and worked on a little R&D at my local (ish) theatre - Omnibus. We worked on a two hander micro play Cars and Clouds written and directed by Jacob Wolstencroft.
