The Love Of Cinema

The Opera House with Peter Gelb | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam talks is joined by Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Met Opera House, to discuss the brand new documentary The Opera House and the history of live cinema broadcast as pioneered by the Met. Peter offers up some hot tips for must-sees in the next Met season.

The Opera House, a new film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Susan Froemke, surveys a remarkable period of the Metropolitan Opera’s rich history and a time of great change for New York. Featuring rarely seen archival footage, stills, recent interviews, and a soundtrack of extraordinary Met performances, the film chronicles the creation of the Met’s storied home of the last 50 years, against the backdrop of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the ’50s and ’60s. 

Among the notable figures in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the new Met in 1966 in Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met’s imperious General Manager, who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural glory was never fully realized.

Adrift with Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin and Baltasar Kormákur | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam is joined by a wealth of special guests (during a recent England World Cup game) to talk about their new film Adrift, in cinemas now. 

Based on the true story of two sailors who waved goodbye to civilisation and took to the vast ocean, Adrift is a remarkable voyage turned epic survival tale.

Two free-spirited lovers, a starry-eyed Tami Oldham (Woodley) and her fiancé Richard Sharp (Claflin), take on unpredictable waters with nothing but a small sailing boat to call home. But their idyllic trip quickly takes a terrible turn as they sail into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history.

The storm passes and Tami wakes to find the boat in pieces and Richard in a life-threatening condition. Their only hope of survival rests on Tami’s shoulders, and she must summon strength and resilience she never knew she had to save them both.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdon with Colin Trevorrow | Picturehouse Podcast

Writer and producer Colin Trevorrow stops by the Picturehouse Podbooth to talk about his new film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, in cinemas now. 

Director: J.A. Bayona 
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum 
Duration: 128 min 

It's been four years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles. When the island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who's still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.

The Breadwinner with Nora Twomey and Saara Chaudry | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam is joined by writer-director Nora Twomey and voice actor Saara Chaudry to talk about The Breadwinner. In cinemas now. 

The third feature length film to come out of Kilkenny-based animation studio Cartoon Saloon, after The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2015), Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner revolves around the daily struggles facing 11-year-old Parvana in Taliban-controlled Kabul, Afghanistan. Executive produced by Angelina Jolie and based on Deborah Ellis’ best-selling novel of the same name published in 2000, The Breadwinner is an inspiring and ultimately uplifting tale of familial love and loyalty in the face of oppression

After her father is unjustly arrested by the Taliban, Parvana’s family are left without a man of the house, and the young girl is forced to dress and pass herself off as a boy. This allows Parvana to move around the city and work to provide the money the family need to survive. In a culture where females are forbidden from travelling anywhere alone, this places Parvana in constant danger, but desperate times call for desperate solutions.

On Chesil Beach with Dominic Cooke and Billy Howle | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam talks to director Dominic Cooke and actor Billy Howle about their new film On Chesil Beach. 

It’s 1962, and two young newlyweds from very different backgrounds (Billy Howle and Saoirse Ronan) have chosen to spend their honeymoon on the windswept beaches of Dorset. They’re inexperienced and new to love; a nervous energy fills the air at their first dinner as a married couple. But these aren’t just wedding-night jitters: as the evening progresses it becomes clear that something else is creating the divide. Awkwardly grasping for the connection they know they share, the pair recall moments from their lives, both together and apart, as the inevitability of physical intimacy hangs over them.

Directed with great skill by four-time Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke, this is Ian McEwan’s heartfelt and sensitive adaptation of his bestselling novel of the same name.

Revenge with Coralie Fargeat and Matilda Lutz | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam talks to writer-director Coralie Fargeat and actor Matilda Lutz about their new film Revenge, in cinemas now. 

Nothing will prepare you for this bold and bloody revenge film from French newcomer Coralie Fargeat – who demonstrates that the female gaze comes in all ways.

Jen (fearlessly embodied by Matilda Lutz) is enjoying a supposed romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend which is suddenly disrupted when his sleazy friends arrive for an unannounced hunting trip. Tension mounts in the house until the situation abruptly — and viciously — intensifies; culminating in a shocking act that leaves Jen left for dead. Unfortunately for her assailants, Jen survives and reemerges with a relentless, wrathful intent: revenge.

A white-knuckle tale of transgression and transformation, Revenge gloriously blurs the lines of vengeance and survival while simultaneously delivering a ferocious dissection of gender and genre.

Mary and The Witch's Flower with Ruby Barnhill | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam talks to Ruby Barnhill who stars as the voice of Mary in Mary and The Witch's Flower, the debut feature animation from Studio Ponoc. 

While spending the last weeks of summer with her Great-Aunt Charlotte in the countryside, Mary follows a mysterious cat into the nearby woods. There she stumbles upon a flower that has magical powers and transforms a little broomstick into one that flies. Mary is whisked away, high above the clouds, and transported to Endor College – a school of magic!

Mary is warmly welcomed by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. Believing her to be a “once-in-a-century” magical talent, they give Mary a guided tour of the dazzling school and invite her to join. But Mary discovers that all is not as it seems in this fantastical world, and soon must confront great danger and call on her courage if she is to save the day.

Even When I Fall | Picturehouse Podcast

Corrina Antrobus interviews directors of the intimate new documentary Even When I Fall - Sky Neal and Kate McLarnon alongside powerhouse producer Elhum Shakerifar.

Using the performance skills developed when sold as slaves in Indian circuses, Sheetal and Saraswoti have now reclaimed their life to form Nepal's first circus. A beautiful film of sisterhood and self-discovery alongside a unique perspective on human trafficking.

A Quiet Place with John Krasinski | Picturehouse Podcast

John Krasinski, the writer, director and star of A Quiet Place, pops into the Picturehouse Podbooth for a very quiet chat about his new film. 

A family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you.

Wonderstruck with Todd Haynes | Picturehouse Podcast

Sam is joined by director Todd Haynes to discuss his new movie, Wonderstruck.

Based on Brian Selznick’s novel of the same name, Wonderstruck is about two children, both with hearing impairments, who live in eras 50 years apart and set off in search of the bright lights of New York City. Todd Haynes masterfully flits between a black-and-white 1927, where 12-year-old urchin Rose (Millicent Simmonds) lives a cosseted life in New Jersey, and 1977, where an unkempt Ben (Pete’s Dragon star Fegley) lives in a quiet, rural town in Minnesota. While Rose dreams of crossing paths with film star idol Lillian Mayhew (Moore), Ben longs for his deceased mother (Williams) and his father whom he never knew. In a whimsical mirroring of one another, both children trade in their lonely lives for the hustle and bustle of the big city in a quest to find themselves.