Full length features on YouTube

Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios, better known as MGM, will be the first major movie studio to post full-length feature films on YouTube.

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Festival showcases African cinema in London

Here's a chance to see African cinema right in London. The London African Film Festival brings together 40 great and ground-breaking films as well as ten of the continents’ most exciting filmmakers to discuss their work and the future of African film. Spanning decades and genres, and including rare archival cinema and experimental film, the London African Film Festival introduces new talent emerging from the continent and its diaspora, and celebrates classics by some of Africa’s most renowned filmmakers. All events are supported by screenings at various venues across London. Unmissable.

New on Kamera: Taboo Breakers

Our regular contributor Calum Waddell has just released a book about films that have broken taboos. Taboo Breaker is out now on Telos Publishing and we have a review right here. A signing do took place in Los Angeles on Saturday 15 and was attended by grindhouse names such as Don Edmonds, Matt Cimber and Jack Hill. Congratulations Calum!

New on Kamera: Samurai films

Kamera Books is back with yet another gem for film lovers. Roland Thorne's Samurai Films is a complete guide to all things samurai on the big screen and Thorne has told Kamera what to expect from his book. Enjoy it!

A taster of Samurai film: Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961)

New on Kamera: Roger Corman

Roger Corman epitomises everything that us Kameradas love: an unrelenting independent spirit, humour and amazing visual flair. Optimum recently released a DVD boxset with some previously unpublished Corman fare. Our dynamic duo Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc give us the lowdown on the box. En-joy it!

Roger Corman's 1967 The Trip

New on Kamera: Monster Movies

Monsters are one of the great cinematic motifs, heavy in symbolism and packed with fun. Australian author and journalist, a self-proclaimed monster expert, tells us all about monsters on the big screen. And we couldn't help but dig some Roger Corman stuff out of YouTube to go with this blog. Corman, besides making some of the most memorable monster movies ever, and one of Ms Westwood's interviewees, is also an icon of independent cinema. And what a voice!

New on Kamera: Hunger and Caos Calmo

Plenty of good stuff on Kamera this week, namely reviews of Hunger (about an IRA terrorist on hunger strike) and the Nanni Moretti-starred Caos Calmo (Quiet Chaos). Trailers below.

Hunger


Caos Calmo

Trailer: Of Time and the City

A trailer of Terence Davies' new film, Of Time and the City is available here. Davies' homage to his native city of Liverpool is redolent of the city film genre epitomised by Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) and, to a certain degree, Dziga Vertov's The Man With a Movie Camera (1929). The blurb describes the film as a "meditation on time, memory and mortality" (heard that one before?) and it opens in the UK on Friday, 31 October 2008.

New on Kamera: The Animals Film

Those who doubt the power of influence that cinema can exert should look no further than The Animals Film. The groundbreaking exposé of the cruelty involved in animal farming and other forms of humanity's tyrannical domination over most species on the planet is credited with turning thousands of people to vegetarianism when it first aired on Channel Four in November 1982. It celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and now the film has received a BFI release.
Kamera received kind permission from the BFI to reproduce an excerpt from the DVD booklet, written by Philip Windeatt, in which the researcher describes his visits to America's bleak factory farms.

Acclaim for The Animals Film is unanimous, including this glowing piece written by Ken Russell for the Times. And here, Julie Christie, the film's narrator, remembers the impact of this seminal documentary.

Trailer: The Animals Film

Free outdoor screenings in London

New on Kamera: Filming on a Microbudget

There's no better way to become a filmmaker than making a short film. That's how most directors get started and, with low-cost digital technology, it's never been easier from a tecnnical point of view to make a film on a shoestring budget.

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New on Kamera: London Film Festival preview

The London Film Festival kicks off tomorrow. John Atkinson gives us the lowdown on the 2008 programme, which, although not a vintage year, offers a few delights. Speaking of which, I found this cute video starring Wim Wenders and a digitally-inserted Antonioni, philosophising about the future of cinema in a Brazilian southern city.

Back to Room 666 from Think Tank on Vimeo.

New on Kamera: Out At The Movies

One of Kamera Books' latest releases is an insightful book about gay cinema called Out At The Movies: A History of Gay Cinema, penned by Steven Paul Davies, who kindly agreed to do a Q&A with us. And guess what? YouTube has a great little number that includes excerpts from many of the films mentioned in the book. Enjoy it ...

All hail Cinéphilia, London's new film book store

Film lovers in London have noticed that the number of shops that specialise in their favourite subject matter have been dwindling over time. So it's fantastic news to hear that our mates at Wallflower Press have opened a shop to fill in the gap. Cinéphilia starts trading today and we wish them the best of luck. Located at 97 Sclater St, just off the centre of the universe, that is, Brick Lane, it sounds very promising indeed. Pop around and get your film culture fix.

New on Kamera: Twenty Puccini

Film artists Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin have written a piece for Kamera with an account of their collaboration to the Twenty Puccini omnibus film project fostered by the Lucca Film Festival in Italy due to start next Thursday.

New on Kamera: calls for entry

We've just posted a few very interesting screening opportunities currently open for submission, including the instigating Teaserland initiative that specializes in fake trailers. The home page highlights an entertaining teaser for The Exorcist. You' ve been warned!

Image of the Day: Burn After Reading

Still from the Coen brothers' new picture, Burn After Reading, currently playing across the globe.

Anjelica Huston speaks up for animals

It's been a long time since I'd heard anything about Anjelica Huston so it was a pleasant surprise to see her hosting a recent Peta video exposing the cruelty against animals within the entertainment industry. If you thought child actors met a grim fate when their careers are over, you ain't seen nothing yet ...

R.I.P.: Paul Newman

Legendary actor and philanthropist Paul Newman yesterday passed away at his home in Westport, Connecticut. Paul was 83. We all remember him from some great films, my favourite being Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, alongside Liz Taylor, but in the last decades of his life he channeled his energies into his Newman's Own foundation.

The organisation has released a statement in homage to the actor that reads as follows:

For 25 years, we at Newman's Own have had a front row seat to watch Paul's entrepreneurial brilliance, humor, and compassion at work helping those in need. Our company motto, "Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good," was Paul's vision for Newman's Own and it is a philosophy we are proud to continue.

Paul occasionally referred to Newman's Own as the "joke that got out of control" and would express astonishment at its success. Despite this humorous approach, Paul was committed to the company's business and to providing top-notch quality – he brought all-natural food products to a wide audience long before it was fashionable. And he was one of the greatest recyclers, giving back to charity all the money he earned from the sale of Newman's Own products.

We wish the Newman family all the best in this difficult time.

New on Kamera: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The latest addition to the list of films that deal with the Jewish Holocaust, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, receives praise from Kamera's reviewers, Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell. The full review is here.

Trailer