https://alexandriaslater.journoportfolio.comRSS Feed for PortfolioenTue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://alexandriaslater.medium.com/faya-dayi-review-cce4788fb789Mexican Ethiopian filmmaker Jessica Beshir provides the audience with an ethereal viewing experience as high and entrancing as the effects of chewing khat — a plant with stimulant properties sacred to Ethiopian culture. Her debut Faya Dayi screened at London Film Festival in October 2021 and since then has been nominated for best documentary at last year’s Oscars — and it isn’t without reason. The docufilm is a poetic and spiritual portrait of a day in the life of Harar’s khat trade. Set in thTue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://alexandriaslater.medium.com/faya-dayi-review-cce4788fb789https://lwlies.com/reviews/love-according-to-dalva/Speaks to a problem that sadly exists beyond the walls of the cinema. Heavy subject matter treated with a light touch. Who knows which way this could go? Belgian filmmaker Emmanuelle Nicot approaches the subject of child sexual abuse with great sensitivity in her debut feature. “I’m not a girl, I’m a woman,” are the stabbing words spoken by Dalva (Zelda Samson), a 12-year-old who wears heavy makeup, scrapes her hair into a bun and dresses in middle-aged women’s clothes. The film opens with ofWed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://lwlies.com/reviews/love-according-to-dalva/https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23415960.new-lancashire-thriller-dark-knight-actor-summer/Ryan J Smith, 24, of Blackpool, is a MetFilm School graduate and filmmaker who has just released his debut film, Lottery. As a passionate filmmaker, Ryan shared his love for a variety of different genres, from stop-motion animation filmmaking to classic musicals, and says he’s eager to stray away from being pigeon-holed to one genre as a director. His second film, Talking to Ghosts which costs even less to make than his £7,000 debut film, is currently in post-production and is set to release tWed, 29 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23415960.new-lancashire-thriller-dark-knight-actor-summer/https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23355500.fewer-1-30-rape-reports-lancashire-led-conviction/Figures obtained from Lancashire Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service show that between 2020 and 2022, 4,214 reports of rape were made to Lancashire Police. The highest number of rape reports made were made in 2022, with 1,527 reports but, according to data from the CPS, only 50 of these led to a conviction, giving Lancashire a conviction rate of just 3.3 per cent. Of these, 82 per cent of the rape reports are female, 10 per cent are male, and the remaining victims’ genders are unknoFri, 03 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23355500.fewer-1-30-rape-reports-lancashire-led-conviction/https://lwlies.com/articles/why-corsage-deserves-the-best-make-up-hairstyling-academy-award/In a new series, we’re celebrating the films we loved that aren’t likely to dominate the awards race. Over the new few weeks, our writers make passionate arguments for the performances and craft that stood out to them, from blockbusters to arthouse and everything in between. There is something beautifully ironic about Empress ‘Sissi’ Elisabeth of Austria’s (Vicky Krieps) refusal to wear makeup that has led Corsage to be the winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in my heartSat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://lwlies.com/articles/why-corsage-deserves-the-best-make-up-hairstyling-academy-award/https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/leisure/23305735.review-lost-world-langdale-stories-mark-ward/His second release is just as nostalgic and sentimental but with a firm focus on collectivism. The Lost World of Langdale and Other Stories is an eclectically compiled literary scrapbook that flicks through the landscapes and lives of people across the South Lakes and East Lancashire. The book is absent of a narrative underpinned by identity politics that armours people in culture war debates. Ward provides the reader with refreshingly open-minded portrayals of the country’s social and politiWed, 08 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/leisure/23305735.review-lost-world-langdale-stories-mark-ward/https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23265039.private-company-ssp-set-take-withnell-gp-contract/Around 1,300 patients at Withnell Health Centre lodged letters of objection to the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board in an attempt to prevent SSP Health taking over the contract from Dr Ann Robinson, who has been there for a decade. Staff and patients at WHC rallied outside the practice in Railway Road, Chorley, on Thursday (January 19) to demand the patient voices are heard and to urge the ICB to reverse its decision to award SSP the contract. SSP has said its primary focus iSat, 21 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23265039.private-company-ssp-set-take-withnell-gp-contract/https://girlsontopstees.com/blogs/read-me/beauty-pain-choice-feminism-in-corsagePeriod dramas has often tried to deconstruct antiquated definitions of feminism, but few manage to mirror our modern-day predicament with choice feminism and individualist downfall quite like Corsage – Alexandria Slater digs into the instant classic. In a world where women’s emancipation hasn’t altered sky-high expectations of women, only shifting the goalposts for those in a higher class, a comparison of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the Kardashian family reveals that self-indulgent actThu, 08 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://girlsontopstees.com/blogs/read-me/beauty-pain-choice-feminism-in-corsagehttps://www.indiependent.co.uk/interview-with-tori-and-lokita-directors-the-dardenne-brothers/The Indiependent sits down for a chat with the double Palme d’Or winning directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, whose latest refugee drama Tori and Lokita, is arguably their most urgent and heart-shattering glare into reality yet. The Belgian director duo discuss the behind the scenes of their filmmaking and why they “didn’t want to fall into the trap of a good plot.” The Dardenne brothers’ Cannes prize-winner – about the plight of Tori (Pablo Schils), who has his residence papers, anSun, 20 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://www.indiependent.co.uk/interview-with-tori-and-lokita-directors-the-dardenne-brothers/https://aah-magazine.co.uk/2022/stressed-depressed-but-well-dressed-avoiding-the-trap-of-buy-now-pay-later/Call for Online Submissions: Creative Writing and Featured Artwork – THE GENERATIONAL GAP Featured Illustration: Snehal Rajendra Dhanwate As we progress through life, it’s not uncommon to find a disconnect between those older and younger than us. Especially during politically charged times the gaps between generations start to show, whether at a family dinner table, or in conversations between friends. Not only can these differences show through political opinions,…Mon, 26 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://aah-magazine.co.uk/2022/stressed-depressed-but-well-dressed-avoiding-the-trap-of-buy-now-pay-later/https://lwlies.com/festivals/prisoners-daughter-first-look-review/Brian Cox plays a dying convict trying to free himself from the prison of his past through forgiveness of his daughter in Catherine Hardwicke’s formulaic family drama. From the get-go, everything we see around single-mother Maxine (Kate Beckinsale) is broken. She grafts multiple day and night jobs to pay off a mortgage on a house plastered with cracks of bad memories. Cigarette burns on the carpet mark the night she had to peel her alcoholic mother off the floor, and fist-shaped dents in the waFri, 23 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://lwlies.com/festivals/prisoners-daughter-first-look-review/https://lwlies.com/festivals/bruiser-first-look-review/Miles Warren explores the dichotomy of nature vs nurture through a lost teenager’s longing for paternal guidance. With the digital era breeding countless cases of impressionable boys falling down the rabbit hole of radicalisation at the hands of the Joe Rogans, Jordan Petersons, and Andrew Tates of the online world, filmmaker Miles Warren approaches the poisonous outlook that influences young minds with a sensitivity and understanding that toxic masculinity inherently lacks. Bruiser pinpoints Fri, 23 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://lwlies.com/festivals/bruiser-first-look-review/https://www.screendaily.com/news/hollywood-is-less-diverse-than-the-oil-and-gas-sectors-and-even-donald-trumps-cabinet-suggests-tiff-panel/5174446.articleHollywood is the least diverse business sector in the US, said Franklin Leonard, CEO and founder of The Black List, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this week. “It’s less diverse than oil and gas, less diverse than finance, less diverse than Donald Trump’s cabinet was,” Leonard said. He suggested the the hegemony reflected in the film industry results in “tragic” consequences for political ideology. “Why is it easy for people to chant ‘build the wall’? Why is it easy for peopTue, 13 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/news/hollywood-is-less-diverse-than-the-oil-and-gas-sectors-and-even-donald-trumps-cabinet-suggests-tiff-panel/5174446.articlehttps://www.screendaily.com/features/harry-styles-on-tiff-entry-my-policeman-wasted-time-is-the-most-devastating-thing/5174579.articleHarry Styles has said TIFF Special Presentations selection My Policeman, Michael Grandage’s tale of forbidden romance in 1950s Britain, is about “wasted time”. The film, based on Ron Nyswaner’s adaptation of the 2012 novel by Bethan Roberts, follows three people – Tom, a closeted gay policeman played by Styles; Marion portrayed by Emma Corrin who is an earnest schoolteacher and wife to Tom; and Patrick, a well-travelled and cultured museum curator played by David Dawson who sparks a fiery andSun, 11 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/features/harry-styles-on-tiff-entry-my-policeman-wasted-time-is-the-most-devastating-thing/5174579.articlehttps://www.screendaily.com/news/steven-spielberg-on-tiff-premiere-the-fabelmans-i-set-out-to-tell-the-story-of-my-mum-and-dads-divorce/5174358.articleSteven Spielberg and Tony Kushner used a TIFF press conference on Sunday (September 11) to discuss co-writing The Fabelmans on Zoom in the pandemic, the joys of pre-digital filmmaking, and the emotional depth of Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical story. The coming-of-age tale received a rapturous reception at its world premiere on Saturday night in Toronto and chronicles fictitious Sammy Fabelman’s childhood passion for filmmaking growing up in Arizona and California in the 1960’s against the baSun, 11 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/news/steven-spielberg-on-tiff-premiere-the-fabelmans-i-set-out-to-tell-the-story-of-my-mum-and-dads-divorce/5174358.articlehttps://www.screendaily.com/news/the-woman-king-duo-viola-davis-gina-prince-bythewood-on-fighting-prejudice/5174345.articleViola Davis and director Gina Prince-Bythewood, the formidable forces behind TIFF world premiere The Woman King, have opened up in an on-stage festival discussion about their personal battles for success as Black artists. The audience at Saturday’s (September 10) In Conversation With… session at TIFF Bell Lightbox heard how despite Davis’s talent, the Juilliard School graduate and eventual first African-American to achieve the “triple crown of acting” – Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards – wasn’t immuSat, 10 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/news/the-woman-king-duo-viola-davis-gina-prince-bythewood-on-fighting-prejudice/5174345.articlehttps://manchestermill.co.uk/p/manchester-homeless-crisis-special-investigationBy Joshi Herrmann, Olivia Davidson, Jack Dulhanty and Alexandria Slater. Data analysis by Shivaji Ray Chaudhuri, Maoxuan Fan and Sumit Patel There’s a story that’s been told a hundred times about Manchester. Told so often you barely register it as a narrative anymore — it’s just something your brain knows, like left and right. Manchester used to be affordable and it isn’t anymore. Developers have prioritised building luxury accommodation over homes which ordinary people can afford, pushing up Sat, 13 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://manchestermill.co.uk/p/manchester-homeless-crisis-special-investigationhttps://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/leisure/20612197.review-night-bus-monte-carlo-blackburn-poet-mark-ward/Blackburn born and bred poet Mark Ward has travelled the corners of the world, from Nambia to New Zealand to Alaska as well as the well loved and hidden gems within the heart of Lancashire – marking each discovery and encounter on the pages of Night Bus to Monte Carlo. Following his two previous collections, Thunder Alley and The Visitor’s Book, Mark captures the heritage and cultural segregation of Blackburn, from its past to present day. Taking inspiration from 18-year-old Mark’s venture to Wed, 10 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/leisure/20612197.review-night-bus-monte-carlo-blackburn-poet-mark-ward/https://www.indiependent.co.uk/tori-and-lokita-cannes-review/Tori and Lokita forces viewers to confront contemporary injustices through a heart-shattering refugee drama centred on a beautiful and intense friendship. Cannes’ favourite brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, have returned to the competition with a brutally honest tale about the trafficking of young migrants. Coinciding with the UK’s decision to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, the film highlights the absurdity of stringent border rules through the story of two best friends, one with a piecSun, 12 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.indiependent.co.uk/tori-and-lokita-cannes-review/https://www.indiependent.co.uk/crimes-of-the-future-dissects-technology-and-human-evolution-cannes-review/Two decades after his last body horror, David Cronenberg resurrects his 1998 script, promising audiences a sexy, squirmish delight with his latest sci-fi horror. In March a revolutionary discovery was made, finding that microplastics had been identified in the human bloodstream. This presented to the public the ugly truth that human evolution inescapably follows the tide of our negligent mistakes. Screening at Cannes just a few months later, Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future — which the directoThu, 09 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.indiependent.co.uk/crimes-of-the-future-dissects-technology-and-human-evolution-cannes-review/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhiAdTIKXno&list=PLINQuAfvtgNF5iIyXNjLfAbh2COnt3BS5&index=16Critics' Lab | Alexandria Slater reviews Annie Ernaux & David Ernaux-Briot's "The Super 8 Years" at Cannes 2022! -- The Critics’ Lab is an action developed by Unifrance during Cannes Film Festival to encourage the emergence of tomorrow’s critics. Four emerging journalists (Juan Barquin, Ryan Coleman, Alexandria Slater, and Aramide Tinubu) were selected by four eminent American and British film journalists (Richard Lawson – Chief Critic at Vanity Fair; Eric Kohn – Executive Editor & Chief Critic at IndieWire; Justin Chang – Chief Critic at the LA Times; Finn Halligan – Chief Critic & Reviews Editor at Screen International). These young journalists from the US and the UK, represent the diversity of our society, and are invited by Unifrance to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival to cover new-generation French cinema. More info: https://en.unifrance.org/news/16322/unifrance-at-the-75th-cannes-film-festivalTue, 07 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhiAdTIKXno&list=PLINQuAfvtgNF5iIyXNjLfAbh2COnt3BS5&index=16https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/cannes-2022-the-stand-out-short-films/5171312.articleLike the rest of Cannes, short films were back in full force this year. Delayed to October in 2020, the year of the Cannes label, and playing to smaller audiences in 2021, a typically-eclectic and far-flung selection of short films screened May 21-28 across Official Selection, Quinzaine and Critics Week, not to mention Cinefondation. This year’s Short Palm and Cinefondation jury was headed by Egypt’s Yousry Nasrallah, comprising actor and directors Monia Chokri and Félix Moati, writer and direcWed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/cannes-2022-the-stand-out-short-films/5171312.articlehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrhD-BjDyC4&list=PLINQuAfvtgNF5iIyXNjLfAbh2COnt3BS5&index=10Critics' Lab | Alexandria Slater & Ryan Coleman review The Dardenne Brothers' "Tori and Lokita" at Cannes 2022! -- The Critics’ Lab is an action developed by Unifrance during Cannes Film Festival to encourage the emergence of tomorrow’s critics. Four emerging journalists (Juan Barquin, Ryan Coleman, Alexandria Slater, and Aramide Tinubu) were selected by four eminent American and British film journalists (Richard Lawson – Chief Critic at Vanity Fair; Eric Kohn – Executive Editor & Chief Critic at IndieWire; Justin Chang – Chief Critic at the LA Times; Finn Halligan – Chief Critic & Reviews Editor at Screen International). These young journalists from the US and the UK, represent the diversity of our society, and are invited by Unifrance to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival to cover new-generation French cinema. More info: https://en.unifrance.org/news/16322/unifrance-at-the-75th-cannes-film-festivalFri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrhD-BjDyC4&list=PLINQuAfvtgNF5iIyXNjLfAbh2COnt3BS5&index=10https://www.indiependent.co.uk/decision-to-leave-cannes-review/This neo-noir from Park Chan-wook is a masterly crafted tale of infidelity, romance, and morality. Decision to Leave is a tantalising love story of a detective and suspect absent from the generous portion of sex provided in The Handmaiden and a crime thriller with only a grain of the violence laced throughout Oldboy. Park hones in on the convolution of human emotion and intimacy, where tension grows between suspiciously non-grieving widow Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei) and obsessive detective Chang HFri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.indiependent.co.uk/decision-to-leave-cannes-review/https://www.screendaily.com/features/directing-duo-of-cannes-title-feminist-riposte-on-the-activists-firing-up-french-feminism/5171241.article”We are feminist, riposte feminist!” This was the audience’s echo of the activists’ cheers and chants in the standing ovation that greeted the premiere of Feminst Riposte, the feature documentary of French filmmakers Marie Perennès and Simon Depardon. The film is showcased in the Special Screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival this week. The documentary sees first-time director Perennès and Depardon, for whom this is his second film, shine a light on the nocturnal campaigners attemptingFri, 27 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/features/directing-duo-of-cannes-title-feminist-riposte-on-the-activists-firing-up-french-feminism/5171241.articlehttps://www.screendaily.com/news/taking-part-in-the-cannes-unifrance-critics-lab/5171269.articleUnifrance Critics Lab participant Alexandra Slater and Screen International’s reviews editor and chief critic Fionnuala Halligan discuss this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which wraps tomorrow (May 28), and the state of French cinema. Slater was one of four up-and-coming UK and US film journalists selected for the inaugural Unifrance Critics Lab, devised to strengthen the ties between English-speaking film critics and French industry, as well as give festival access to up-and-coming freelance fiThu, 26 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.screendaily.com/news/taking-part-in-the-cannes-unifrance-critics-lab/5171269.articlehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXH6pi1GpaQ&list=PLINQuAfvtgNF5iIyXNjLfAbh2COnt3BS5&index=12Critics' Lab | Alexandria Slater reviews Marusya Syroechkovskaya's "How to Save a Dead Friend" at Cannes 2022! -- The Critics’ Lab is an action developed by Unifrance during Cannes Film Festival to encourage the emergence of tomorrow’s critics. Four emerging journalists (Juan Barquin, Ryan Coleman, Alexandria Slater, and Aramide Tinubu) were selected by four eminent American and British film journalists (Richard Lawson – Chief Critic at Vanity Fair; Eric Kohn – Executive Editor & Chief Critic at IndieWire; Justin Chang – Chief Critic at the LA Times; Finn Halligan – Chief Critic & Reviews Editor at Screen International). These young journalists from the US and the UK, represent the diversity of our society, and are invited by Unifrance to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival to cover new-generation French cinema. More info: https://en.unifrance.org/news/16322/unifrance-at-the-75th-cannes-film-festivalWed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXH6pi1GpaQ&list=PLINQuAfvtgNF5iIyXNjLfAbh2COnt3BS5&index=12https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgzzSx9XSECritics' Lab | Alexandria Slater reviews Marie Perennès & Simon Depardon's "Feminist Riposte" at Cannes 2022! -- The Critics’ Lab is an action developed by Unifrance during Cannes Film Festival to encourage the emergence of tomorrow’s critics. Four emerging journalists (Juan Barquin, Ryan Coleman, Alexandria Slater, and Aramide Tinubu) were selected by four eminent American and British film journalists (Richard Lawson – Chief Critic at Vanity Fair; Eric Kohn – Executive Editor & Chief Critic at IndieWire; Justin Chang – Chief Critic at the LA Times; Finn Halligan – Chief Critic & Reviews Editor at Screen International). These young journalists from the US and the UK, represent the diversity of our society, and are invited by Unifrance to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival to cover new-generation French cinema. More info: https://en.unifrance.org/news/16322/unifrance-at-the-75th-cannes-film-festivalWed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgzzSx9XSEhttps://lwlies.com/festivals/love-according-to-dalva-first-look-review/Emmanuelle Nicot paints an achingly beautiful portrait of friendship, recovery and identity through a young girl’s sexual abuse story. Less gratuitous but similar to the psychology of Jamie Godard’s Toys Are Not for Children, Love According to Dalva explores the ways tenderness, sexuality, and paternal love intersect within a child. “I’m not a girl, I’m a woman,” are the stabbing words spoken by Dalva (Zelda Samson), a 12-year-old girl who wears heavy makeup, scrapes her hair into a bun and dreWed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://lwlies.com/festivals/love-according-to-dalva-first-look-review/https://www.indiependent.co.uk/triangle-of-sadness-ostlunds-latest-satire-flips-social-hierarchy-on-its-head-cannes-review/Triangle of Sadness picks out the holes in our society with references to Marxism, influencer culture and a shit “load of shit”. The opening of Swedish auteur Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness grabs your attention with a gaze into the superficial world of high fashion during a male model casting. A caricature-like documentary interviewer speaks to the models, revelling in a mockery of the shallow elitism of the industry. This is where we meet Carl (Harris Dickinson), a charming, slightly immWed, 25 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100https://www.indiependent.co.uk/triangle-of-sadness-ostlunds-latest-satire-flips-social-hierarchy-on-its-head-cannes-review/