There’s no escaping the fact that winter is upon us and as the forecasts get a little gloomier, the political forecasts even more so, we thought we’d see if we could find the light in the darkness. That’s right, we’re finding the fun in Dark Magic this issue. From occult objects and ghoulish goings on to seductive sorceresses and wonderful wizards.
We’ve got a mountain of great reviews for some great films out this month and beyond. Aside from our upcoming review of the hotly anticipated return to JK Rowling’s immensely popular wizarding world with Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, we’ve taken a look at the very deserving smash hit Doctor Strange and what makes it so magical for audiences. We then unravel the occult mystery of The Wailing and stay up all night with Nocturnal Animals. We also switch the lamp off to get in the mood for Lights Out before examining whether the supernatural horror prequel Ouija: Origin Of Evil is truly above board. Not to mention reviews for all the hits dominating conversation and the box office. We compare Jack Reacher: Never Go Back to the original, crunch the numbers for The Accountant, say hello to Bridget Jones’s Baby, join the debate in Indignation and open up a dialogue with Arrival.
We’ve been opening some more dialogues with some more earthbound members of the film community too. This month we’ve brought you some in-depth chats with highly accomplished production designers Sophie Becher (Alfie, Run Fatboy Run, Big Nothing) and Alice Normington (Their Finest, Suffragette, Nowhere Boy) to talk about their incredible careers. John Higgins sits down with legendary director Tony Palmer to talk about his incredible career directing stars as huge as the late Leonard Cohen. Then director David Chaudoir pays a visit to indie filmmaking icon Anna Biller to catch up with her since our last interview 2 years ago and talk about her new wickedly magical film The Love Witch.
In other Cinema Jam news we’re thrilled to let you know that the magnificent David Farr, screenwriter of Hanna and The Night Manager, will be our special guest at this month’s Jam Session taking place on the 21st of November (check out all the info here). This comes hot on the heels of Cinema Jam’s euro adventure to beautiful Berlin where we screened Desire Will Set You Free and spoke with acclaimed Berlin filmmakers Yony Leyser and Tatjana Turanskyj about the state of Berlin as a place for independent filmmaking today. On top of that we’ve been hard at work setting up our makeup and prosthetics masterclass with FX guru Dan Martin (read our interview with him here) and that will be coming your way on the 3rd and 4th of December.
From all of us at Cinema Jam we wish you a very joyful winter and a productive season despite the downbeat mood. Here’s hoping we can all find some slithers of happiness in some dark days. Stay strong, stay safe and stay warm this winter and we’ll be on hand to deliver the best in filmmaking to cheer you up whenever we can.
