AI and Gender Inclusion with Women in Film and TV UK

Raindance talk and discussion at The Canon Venue Piccadilly. Raindance Film Festival continues up to and including June 26 2026 at The Vue Cinema Lower Regent Street. “AI and Gender Inclusion with Women in Film and TV UK,” Panel – Katie Bailiff, Viviane D’Avilla, Katharina Gellein Viken and Georgina Cammalleri AI has been around for a lot longer than people realize and now it has filtered gradually into the mass public sphere and is actively employed more than ever especially in film making and any visual communication including of course, material featured on social media. The title of this well networked and informed … Continue reading AI and Gender Inclusion with Women in Film and TV UK

How secrets come out in a dark story with purple passages and spooky scenes

Jackalope(2026) Raindance Film Festival, The Vue Cinema, Lower Regent Street, London.Until and including June 26 , 2026. World Premiere. Bryce Hirschberg – Writer and Director. Independent horror/thriller. Stars Catherine Corcoran, Alex Mandel, and Bryce Hirschberg. The name Jackalope is a fictional beast – it combines a jackrabbit with the antlers of antelope or deer, rooted in American frontier tall tales and is a good choice of name for this dark film full of episodes to take our breath away. Jackalope indicates myth and mayhem and so the saga unfolds. It’s often fun to be watching a film which starts with … Continue reading How secrets come out in a dark story with purple passages and spooky scenes

Pescador gets two Raindance Nominations

Harry Domenico Rossi’s debut feature film Pescador,  will be making its European premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 18th June, 2026. Pescador is described as fantastic and meditative after receiving two Raindance nominations Best Director of a Debut Feature for Rossi and Best Performance in a Debut Feature for Alex Wanebo. Pescador  appears in London following its World Premiere at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI Goa). Rossi also received the Peter Brunette Award for the Best Director at RiverRun International Film Festival where the jury statement announced “every step was a creative risk that pays off in poetry.” Pescador features a … Continue reading Pescador gets two Raindance Nominations

34th RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVALRaindance Film Festival: 17 – R26 June at host cinema Vue Piccadillyhttps://raindance.org/festival/nominees-2026/To celebrate the outstanding films screening at the 34th Raindance Film Festival (17 – 26 June), jury awards are presented to features and shorts. Raindance’s awards system honours features in 11 categories: Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Discovery Award for Debut Feature, Best Debut Director, Best Performance in a Debut Feature, Best UK Feature, Best Director of a UK Feature, Best Performance in a UK Feature, Best UK Cinematographthe Spirit of Raindance Award and new for 2026 is Best Horror Feature. Raindance is BIFA-qualifying for British features. An Oscar® qualifying festival, Raindance honours the work of short filmmakers with 4 awards. The recipient of Best Live Action Short, … Continue reading 34th RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

Asha Bhosle, Bollywood playback singer dies at 92

Popular Bollywood playback singer, music icon, and film industry’s last Mughal passed away at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai today leaving behind her works. a body of work. “Her voice carried timeless brilliance” PM Modi said.  “ I like doing extraordinary things, Music has been my life. It has given me so much. I decided to do a spectacular concert on my 90th birthday. I doubt if anyone in the world has achieved this feat” Said the legend, who remained defiant of age and expectation. “I was around 10 when I started my singing career in 1943,Over the decades, I have … Continue reading Asha Bhosle, Bollywood playback singer dies at 92

The Chemistry that made the iconic movies with an empire of their own

The Last Kings of Hollywood is the untold, intimate story of how three young visionaries – Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg – revolutionised American cinema, creating the most iconic films in history while risking everything, redefining friendship, and shaping Hollywood as we know it.  In the summer of 1967, as the old Hollywood studio system was dying an intense, uncompromising young film school graduate named George Lucas walked onto the Warner Bros backlot for his first day working as an assistant to another up-and-coming, largely-unknown filmmaker, a boisterous father of two called Francis Ford Coppola. At the … Continue reading The Chemistry that made the iconic movies with an empire of their own

One Battle after Another

“One Battle After Another” – how to tease people intoreluctant laughter at a very real ongoing situation.Directed, written and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, this story isadapted from the novel “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon. Stars and actors include Leo Di Caprio, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti and Benicio del Toro. The story is inspired by true events and real-life groups such as The Weathermen – a far left militant organisation active from 1969 to the mid 70s who wanted to eradicate racism and imperialism in the USA. Other reviews do remark on the left wing and socialistic curve of … Continue reading One Battle after Another

Moving towards a prize? Well let’s wait and see!

KESHAV SHREE:- FILMMAKER AND QUALIFIED LONDONDOCTOR EDUCATED IN LONDON ITSELF.Aside from doing a degree in Medicine in London, Keshav has also done a one year film course and now he is a mover and a shaker in the fringe genre of making shorts (short films) for competitions! His appealing countenance is evident as he has acted in some of his films. Film is a passion and a hobby.Read on……Of his latest two shorts Keshav told me “They’re both realistic comedies and I like making films on things that affect me as a first generation immigrant.” He has been in England since he … Continue reading Moving towards a prize? Well let’s wait and see!

Do You want to be a filmmaker

BECOMING A FILMMAKER – THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT MAKING ITIN LONDON By Krish Pinto – London BA Film Graduate. Book available to order on Amazon.It is rare to find a writer with the talent of chronicling a guide andcommentary so successfully and imaginatively as Krish Pinto. Thatknown, I have suggested to him that he might be good writing novelsand maybe a screenplay to go with each one. Krish reacted bystating that AI is ahead of us writers – and can be programmed towrite novels and screenplays for us! However, I thought of this overtwenty five years ago regarding a novelist … Continue reading Do You want to be a filmmaker

“DOWNTON ABBEY – THE GRAND FINALE”

“DOWNTON ABBEY – THE GRAND FINALE” IN A CINEMA NEAR YOU – NOW!! 124 minutes, PG Director Richard Curtis Characterisation and careful storytelling spins us another enchanting  yarn in The latest Downton Saga! Plots, plot twists and sub plots feature in this movie, enchanting in the opulent lifestyles portrayed, and the banter and relationships between those above stairs and those below who all seem to get on famously, symbiotic  as their roles are in life in the 30s. It is now 15 years since Downton hit our screens with lots of spin offs and as it is so well loved, I hesitate … Continue reading “DOWNTON ABBEY – THE GRAND FINALE”