Filmmaker Rogue Rubin puts her own safety on the line to uncover the extent of the still legal trophy hunting of endangered lions in Africa. Available on all major digital platforms from 1st August.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Rogue Rubin is on a mission to save the lions in Africa from being hunted for sport as she goes deep undercover creating a fake social media account to promote herself as a photographer of big game trophy hunters. She manages to gain the trust of a trophy hunting organiser who allows her on his safari hunt enabling her to photograph the trophy hunters paying big bucks to come to Africa to shoot and kill lions.
With some disturbingly graphic images of lions and other big game wildlife being shot, this hard hitting conservation documentary gives a real sense of the lions’ struggle for survival. With telling statistics, their ever dwindling numbers (largely impacted by human encroachment on their habitat, the bush meat trade and lion bone trade) have decreased by 85% in the past twenty-one years. It is trophy hunting here that Rubin has picked out as the ‘smoke screen’ for all the other contributing factors, perhaps because it is the most visually startling to witness.
Watching the tourists come on these hunting expeditions reveals a peculiar mix of families with hunting in the blood to the pleasure seekers ‘bored with too much money.’ For most people it’s hard to understand this blood sport unless it’s part of your everyday life. America is singled out as the largest importer of trophy hunted lions, a country which recently made it illegal, only for it to be quickly re-introduced – underlining its political and economic influence that divides opinion.
Rogue is prepared to go into the wild, with men and guns, to get the footage that shows these adventure thrill seekers killing in the cold light of day where even the most blood thirsty of hunters has a mixed look of glee and horror when face to face with their prize – although not all.
It seems unfathomable that a tourist industry is allowed to continue the practice of killing these majestic creatures especially in today’s world of environmental activism. Anyone brave enough to enter the lion’s den and tell their story must surely have a just one and Rogue’s message is to enjoy the wildlife like most tourists do from the safety of a safari truck where the only shooting required is done by a camera – but, as she also shows, you’ve still got to be careful not to get your arse bitten.
King Knight is a new US comedy parodying religious cults. Good witch Thorn (Matthew Gray Guble) faces up to his high school past, which jeopardises his future in a witches coven and his relationship with his fellow witch partner Willow (Angela Sarafyan). Available on all major digital platforms from 8th August.
Set in modern day California the story begins like a fairytale, but is quickly turned on its head as it’s made clear that this is going to be a silly and absurd ride. Thorn and Willow are two lovers, as predicted by the tarot cards, symbols of the magical arts being drawn upon. They are the head witches of a couples coven in the Californian hills with a following of dysfunctional witch couples who come to them to have their relationship problems resolved.
Thorn receives an invitation to his old high school reunion, which Willow finds out about and consequently discovers something quite unforgivable from his high school past. Needless to say it’s silly and absurd but leaves the coven no option but to banish him. Left to walk alone with only a talking pine cone and a pebble for guidance he receives a visitation from a popular Wizard to help him on his journey of discovery.
Will Willow and the coven forgive Thorn his high school past (successes) and come to support him in his hour of need? Will Thorn have the strength to make it to his high school reunion on his own? The stakes don’t seem to get much higher than this.
Written and directed by Richard Bates, it’s a farcical story from start to finish. Matthew Gray Guble plays Thorn, heavily tattooed and dressed in black, he manages to pull off a cool witch like decorum. His onscreen partner, played by Angela Sarafyan, is Willow, who brings a young Morticia like seductive authority to the witches coven and pours out the spiritual nonsense that attracts the Californian misfits for relationship guidance.
This coven of disenfranchised yet all American witch couples try hard to deliver an edgy comedy script, working the spoof elements of a religious cult, and not without some successes, like when they leap over a small candle in the garden to celebrate a pagan festival. Some psychedelic animation is thrown in to help with the cosmic vibes, whilst the bad taste gags along with some taboo LGBTQ references test the censors but without ever being threatening enough to lose a mainstream audience.
The anarchic spoof fans will get some spiritual fulfilment from this in a film that celebrates the disenchanted outsiders of society in a witches coven that makes for a goofy gothic retreat.
Film: King Knight
Director: Richard Bates Jr.
Genre: Comedy
Stars: Matthew Gray Gubler, Angela Sarafyan, Barbara Crampton
Daniel Glenn-Barbour is the writer and director of a new UK independent crime film Yes Man available to download from 13th June on all major digital platforms.
Please introduce yourself and your film
Hi there. My name is Daniel Glenn-Barbour and my new feature film is called Yes Man.
How did the story come about?
It took a long time. I’m not a writer to be fair. I’ve done cinematography and video editing much longer than I’ve written anything. It being my first feature film, I told myself to write what I knew and don’t try to write what I think the world wants to see. So, I took influences from the first 30 years of my life and put it in a film.
The film is focused on a young man’s struggle to find his identity amongst his friends mixed up in the local gangculture. How is it different from other UK crime films?
If you’ve ever felt you want to be part of a group, it can be considered a gang and I mean that to be any group. You can be a football fan, you can be a police officer, you can be in your group hanging out on the street. The word gang was a word before the urban streets took it on, it existed long before it. I regretted for a long time spending so much time trying to impress other people. I never saw the greatness in myself unless someone else saw it and a lot of us live like that and that’s why we’re on social media the way we are and we care about followers. It’s kind of the fabric of our society. Everyone belongs to a social group, but it can be seen as a gang and everyone is part of this social group that is oppressed. Everyone is now.
In the film, the lead, he’s not even from the hood, he lives in Braintree with his mum in the countryside. Going into the film, if you notice you never really see a knife. When you actually watch the film, you don’t actually see a knife at any time at all in this film. I knew if you did someone would call it a gang film and I had to get away from that.
Tell us about the title of the film Yes Man.
Why Yes Man? We’re all yes men. You got a wife, you got a husband, you’re going to do what they say sometimes just to make life a little easier for what you want in life. The term yes man is seen as a very extreme thing, just do whatever someone says, but I think there are levels to it. Someone said it to me after they watched the preview that the main guy is not the only yes man in the film. I know, I did that on purpose. When it’s easy to judge someone you actually realise that you identify with them in the film. We’re all yes people and I was a yes man for a very long time, a very long time. If the group’s not doing it, then I’m not doing it.
How did you do the casting for the film?
In my experience trying to get an actor to play a role that seems very different to theirs, method acting, completely transforming, it takes time to be able to do that. I’ve learnt that if I based the characters on their natural personality they won’t have to go too far in their performance. Not that Ryan sells drugs or anything, but I knew he couldn’t play Darrell. I spoke to everyone and I knew who could play certain roles. I knew when I created it who I had in mind. Ben, Kirk Smith and Keon Martial Phillip they were all cast to do it before I wrote it, so I already knew who their characters were going to be, so it was easy.
The script is full of authentic urban youth language. Were you worried people might not understand what was going on?
There is always a stigma when telling these types of stories, these street stories and what ends up happening is that they get watered down, so words get used that we would never naturally say and you can always tell when somebody outside of the community is telling this story. My thought process was not to water down the language and to keep it real and if it is a good film, and you don’t know the words, you are going to want to know the words.
Funny enough, in the premiere I had a list of words and translations for the audience and everyone laughed at the beginning of the film. I knew I had to be authentic but you can watch a good film and not necessarily understand everything. I could speak much deeper in my slang if I wanted to but I made sure not every character did that. So when you are watching the scenes with the parents, they don’t speak that way. When you are with the ladies, they don’t speak that way, when you are in the office they don’t speak that way. It’s only when you are amongst the fellas and even then I think you can understand, I think it can be translated.
There’s some interesting cinematography throughout. Where did you get the inspiration from?
Do you know what, going into this I didn’t think anyone would care, I didn’t think anybody would enjoy it. I thought everyone would stereotype it and dislike it. I kept thinking that. However, I never stopped thinking that I need to find every moment for this to standout. Every moment. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got my team Adrian Grant who is my 1st AD, Angelica who is the producer, I always seek advice from them if I’m not sure about something. But I went with how I felt, I think I’m lucky because some people are directors and writers but they are not cinematographers.
How important was the soundtrack to the film
I’m not going to lie, everything was a strategy. I thought if I put all these people in a bucket. 20 actors, 20 artists, all these different people the network would be massive, the promotion, even if half these people promote it to 10 people, it will be massive. We might not make any money but at least we will be a step further in people recognising us for what we are trying to do. I did have to enjoy the music to some extent but not every song is on my playlist on my phone. I knew a lot of people and I wanted to help a lot of people if they wanted a platform to produce their music.
What would you recommend to any filmmakers wanting to make a film?
I’d say, we all have stories that are very special. Every filmmaker has their own story. The easiest story to write is our own story. I had very little support trying to make this film but I had a lot of time and a lot of drive. I had a lot of dark days and a lot of tears making this film. It’s a little bit easier for me because I’m from this world, I do cinematography and I do video editing, direct and write, but I write because who was going to give me a script? You have to believe your story is worth being told, don’t be afraid and write it because no one else is going to do it for you.
Film: Yes Man
Director: Daniel Glenn-Barbour
Stars: Kieton Saunders-Browne, Keon Martial Phillip, Kirk Smith
Alex Liu is a science and health reporter, he’s 36 years old and grew up during the 90s in an average Asian-American family, receiving a good American education. But, having suffered with repressed sexual feelings since childhood, he wants to free himself from the inherent shame of the politics and religion impeding him, to get further in touch with his queer sexuality.
A Sexplanation screened at 32 film festivals on 4 continents, 8 countries, and 18 states, winning 9 festival awards.
Liu’s major hang up seems to be the lack of information and education he received as a child, that never satisfied his rampaging hormones. He sets out on a fact finding mission beginning with his parents. Unsurprisingly, all this conversation reveals is an even larger generational gap, with his parents receiving less information than him and his grandmother even less so. In contrast his friends are all confident speakers on the subject and, as presumably fellow sexual health workers, why wouldn’t they be? So if Alex wants more answers he’s going to have to look further afield.
Written and directed by Alex Liu, who as a sexual health educator has his own award-winning YouTube channel on sex and drug education, and as a molecular science graduate, he combines thorough research with an ordinary gay guy looking for answers approach to the subject. He finds lots of credible participants that try to give a rounded view on sex and sexuality and, whilst it’s an opportunity for Alex to find answers, it also seems an opportunity for him to push the boundaries on what he probably knows he should or shouldn’t say in public.
Driven by his oppressed emotional guilt, that almost made him commit suicide, caused mostly by his growing pains around his sexuality and coping with a society coming at him from all angles, he seeks out the sex therapists, scientists, porn sites and priests who all try to put Alex’s deviant mind at rest (although there is a long secondary glance at his fantasy references).
Contributors include Dr. William Yarber, a leading author on the subject of sexuality and a member of the famous Kinsey Institute, named after Alfred Kinsey, who did the 1st extensive research on sex in America during the 40s and 50s. The political viewpoint comes from a respectable state senator chatting about his happy marriage choice, who Alex genuinely says he could recommend some porn to, that would make the relationship even happier (this was prior to the UK’s recent Houses of Parliament tractor porn scandal!).
Overall, it makes for a fun educational ride, albeit one with a strong gay bias, which would unfortunately put off most heterosexual audiences. But mixed up with the adult LGBTQ tendencies, delivered with Alex’s high energy, sexually liberated attitude, there are a broad range of important educational sex topics covered – ones that will still remain taboo for most and a conversation best avoided.
A Sexplanation is a festival award winning documentary available on Digital Download in the UK from 6th June on iTunes, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube and Amazon.
Film: A Sexplanation
Director: Alex Liu
Genre: Documentary, Sex Education
Stars: Alex Liu
Run time: 1hr 21min
Rated: TBC
Rating: 3/5
Film reviews, interviews & language worksheets for film and language lovers
This is the definitive portrait of John Toshack. Welsh, Liverpool and Swansea legend, and one of football’s most inspirational figures. TOSH will have its UK Premiere on 13th May at Swansea Stadium, in UK Cinemas from 17th May and then available on Digital Download, DVD & Blu-ray from 6th June. More information here.
A documentary film directed by lifelong Swansea City fan Pete Jones who has put together a heartwarming tribute to John Toshack a footballer who playing for Liverpool FC won domestic and European honours, played for his country and would go on to manage Real Madrid and Wales but who will be most remembered, by Pete, for becoming Swansea City’s player-manager and taking them from the 4th Division to the 1st Division (the Premiership equivalent back then).
Pete has put together a nostalgic look back at Toshack’s playing and managerial career that captures this charismatic football figure’s imposing yet gentle personality and whose love and enthusiasm for the game made footballing dreams come true. Making his debut at his local club Cardiff City, Toshack was signed by Liverpool for a then club record and under the management of the great Bill Shankly he would win all the major honours. Unfortunately, injury would cut short his top level playing career but he was given an unexpected opportunity to become player-manager of lowly Fourth Division Swansea City (who had come close to dropping out of the football league) and he would take them on a triumphant journey, gaining 3 promotions, to play in the top division.
Whilst Toshack is the central star of the documentary it’s the stories of the supporting cast that make this an interesting football documentary to watch. Reflecting on a bygone era, a core of the old local Swansea players give their entertaining anecdotes about Tosh’s arrival from Liverpool as he began to install the vision and methods of what he’d learnt under Shankly.
But he had an up hill struggle on his hands. Describing the Vetch, Swansea’s ground, one reporter comments, “the pitch was bumpy and bear and the support likewise” – you don’t get sports reports like that anymore, not without an inquiry anyway. Showing experience beyond his years, he had to change a lot of things at the club bringing in new ideas like putting in washing machines so the players didn’t have to wash their own kit and driving the team to away games the day before a match (in a mini bus that looked like a Guinness World Record attempt).
Other influential characters included Harry Griffths, the Swansea manager at the time, a Swansea man through and through, who had to step aside when Tosh arrived, Dolly who did the catering but sounded more like the general manager and the chairman Malcolm Struel who would match Toshack for his vision and ambition to elevate the club.
Whilst it is only football, what a difference he made for the town and the community. The stadium gates more than doubled in Toshack’s first game with over 15,000 turning out and who else could call upon his old playing pals from Liverpool, Ian Callaghan and Tommy Smith, to help the team win a successive promotion. His success in getting Swansea to the First Division had Liverpool manager Bill Shankly describing him as the “manager of the century”.
Produced by Daniel J. Harris, its gentle low key narrative slowly builds as the expectation and belief grows around the team and the club. The emotions are enhanced by a low key sound design that ramps up with the roaring crowd after each thumping result. The media coverage is sadly as bear as a lower league’s pitch, but this doesn’t detract from the storytelling and laconic banter, in fact it adds to this magical moment in time for a club and a city galvanised by a man on a mission to the top.
Tosh is a wonderful reminder of the olden days of professional football and every player’s, manager’s and supporter’s dream to rise to the top of the tiered football league.
Joe Corré, son of punk visionaries Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, burns an estimated £5M worth of punk memorabilia protesting the commodification of punk. WAKE UP PUNK takes this incendiary act of ‘cultural terrorism’ and the questions it raised to explore the lifespan and true worth of punk – the 20th century’s most volatile movement.Available On Demand from 9th May 2022.
The initial interviews take place around a table with Joe Corré and his brother Ben Westwood talking with their very famous fashion designer mother Vivienne Westwood, the once upon a time punk pioneer. Who better than Vivienne to give her opinion about the punk generation? Married to Malcolm McLaren, together they famously opened the shop ‘Sex’ on London’s Kings Road in the 70s, that became a hangout for punks and was where one of the most notorious of all punk bands, the Sex Pistols, assembled under McLaren’s management.
As they go through some original punk memorabilia, Vivienne reminisces about the early days of punk and the punk look – the clothes, the hairstyles, the music and the attitude – but also how punk has been appropriated over the years by corporations, cashing in on its name, even though punk’s anti-establishment beginnings were in complete opposition to corporate values with their rather rebellious outlook on life.
Joe makes the point his famous punk parents weren’t considered the great iconic British figures they are today but were actually vilified by the establishment. This ironic change in circumstances isn’t lost on Joe who, as literally the son of punk, feels an unerring duty to keep flying the flag for punk.
These memories of punk history are enjoyable to hear first-hand from the people that were there but the gentle, defiant, nostalgic tone changes when Joe reveals he’s going to burn his priceless collection of irreplaceable punk memorabilia, estimated to be worth £5 million, in a rallying punk message against the establishment and the associated problems causing climate change. This of course brings to the debate a fervent questioning of the rights and wrongs of this destructive cultural terrorism from those around and not least by Joe himself, who has more reason than most to be upset by his own actions brought about by what he sees as the end of the true punk spirit.
A dramatic visual touch to the documentary is added to good effect with a theatrical re-enactment from a group of children playing the role of Dickensian street urchins (a nod to his father’s description of himself as a Fagin like father figure to the punk generation) who deliver their angry message about the economic inequality in society between the wealthy 1% and the poor.
Whatever your views on punk and Joe’s endeavour to make an artistic punk statement, it is a timely documentary, even though the burning of the punk memorabilia took place back in 2016. This release coincides with Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year and this special anniversary is coincidently shared with the Sex Pistols’ famous song “God Save the Queen” released in 1977 for Her then Silver Jubilee. Maybe this will help with the sale of more punk merchandise – if it hasn’t all been burnt – or could go towards helping save the planet?
GAZZA is an unflinching portrait of the ultimate tragic hero, whose love for the riches and limelight of fame proved to be his downfall. An unmissable documentary for any football fan, featuring interviews from friends, family, and former teammates and coaches including Alan Shearer, Bryan Robson, Paul Ince, Ian Wright and Terry Venables.
This ‘definitive true story’, traces Gazza’s past giving a flavour of his meteoric rise to footballing stardom from his humble roots in Newcastle making his 1st team debut at 17 years old, to breaking British football transfer history signing for Tottenham and then becoming the world’s richest player signing for Lazio. It follows all the well known major landmarks and turning points during his football career like Italia ’90, Spurs’ F.A. Cup victory, the Euro ’96 campaign and his final exclusion from the ’98 World Cup squad. What’s different about this documentary is that it zooms in on his off field distractions, looking at his moneymaking celebrity ambitions and the subsequent media frenzy he both courted and was a victim of that would have a major bearing on his career, alongside his battles with alcoholism, eating disorders and mental health.
A documentary made by acclaimed sports doc makers director Sampson Collins, an established sports journalist and maker of cricket corruption doc ‘Death of a Gentleman’, alongside producer Vaughan Swell who produced and directed ‘Pistorius’ about the self titled Paralympian and convicted murderer. This documentary uses only archive footage assembling together Gazza’s story using the clips and interviews from a range of football professionals, sports pundits and family that are uncannily prophetic but most notably here is the childhood tragedy that no doubt had a major impact on his mental health and also there is a mini serialisation of the tabloid media at that time. In particular, it was the Sun and the Mirror, who, through some surprising personnel, would forge a revelatory partnership with Gazza and his then wife Sheryl Gascoigne that became devastatingly toxic. As Gazza’s life unravels in the glare of the media spotlight he is centre stage during the celebrity lad culture of the 90s, something he epitomised with his outlandish style of play, drinking antics and practical jokes, but would ultimately lead to his self combustion.
There is no doubting Gazza’s place in football history, a unique player who finally broke the mould of English playmakers to shine on the world’s biggest footballing stage. Greater than all the hyperbole, sadly both on and off the field, this documentary pieces together the post match analysis with surgical precision (of which there is some uncomfortable viewing) in this ultimate case study on the pitfalls of becoming a world class football player living in the public eye.
Available on the BBC iPlayer and digital download from 2nd May and available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from 9th May.
From the creator of Smoking Guns, Original Gangster and Red Rage comes Savvas D. Michael’s latest instalment of UK gangster films, a tale about a man called Plato who runs a Greek-Cypriot North London social club, the Bezonians, and when an evening’s poker game gets out of hand he finds himself dangerously caught up with a femme fatale, Lola. Available from Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download from 2nd May.
The film adopts the narrative speaker format successfully established in gangster films like ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Lock Stock’ and is confidently delivered here by Andreas Karras, who plays Plato, but this story has Savvas’ own signature style in provocative storytelling, which this time specialises in some overtly racist, misogynistic and ableist dialogue and action.
Like in Savvas’ previous films, it has a lot of the right ingredients to make a successful gangster genre film. Set in North London at a shady Greek-Cypriot hang out we are introduced to the edgy characters who frequent the seedy looking drinking den like Taz (Jason Duff) the young wild-eyed Irishman with a mohawk hairstyle and Mike Hagler (Chris Tummings) the alleged Jamaican yardie drug dealer.
There is a strong Greek influence from the music to mythological stories. Some of the characters are named after famous ancient Greeks and there are also some unapologetic Greek educational lessons from Plato to his children, which are done with a North London twist. Plato’s wife is played by Marina Sirtis from Star Trek fame, who also continues the children’s Greek education by telling them the story of Orpheus and Eurydice but in a much less macho manner thankfully.
Savvas redresses the balance of some of the openly sexist and misogynistic views by empowering a female boss, Lola (Lois Brabin-Platt), in a leading role, albeit one where she sells counterfeit handbags and runs her own personal sadomasochistic business with her delightfully common sounding North London girl diction. She has a brief flirtation with Achilles the club’s most revered regular, the alpha gangster, played by Savvas himself, who is psychopathically ice cool in all situations but turns into a love sick puppy in Lola’s presence.
Achilles is idolised by Anthony (Jamie Crew) another social club regular who suffers with mental health issues and has a speech impediment that is difficult to watch in its humorous attempts of portrayal. The film’s major coup is getting ex-professional footballer turned Hollywood actor Vinnie Jones to play Willard Greb, the most heinous of gangland mercenaries, something he does with great ease with such lines as, “I’ll see you Saturday”, which he delivers in his instantly recognisable and uncompromising cadence but who looks slightly less comfortable sending himself up as Lola’s doting hitman boyfriend.
There are plenty of bits to enjoy in this London Greek gangster epic by Savvas D. Michael if you don’t mind being offended with his typically un-P.C. style. There are lots of different characters, lots of violence, some comedy skits, a standout wardrobe, stylised set design and music score but somehow the whole does not quite equal the sum of all its parts.
Film: The Bezonians
Director: Savvas D. Michael
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Stars: Vinnie Jones, Marina Sirtis, Lois Brabin-Platt, Savvas D. Michael, Andreas Karras
The Language of Film 