The narrative feature Tenzing charts the emotional background to the historic ascent of Mount Everest by Nepalese-Indian Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on 29th May, 1953. Standing beside him on the summit – New Zealander Edmund Hillary. Based on true events, aspects have been dramatised and amalgam characters created. The film positions Norgay (Genden Phuntsok as an…
When does television cross the line? That is the central question raised in the hallucinogenic first narrative feature for acclaimed documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheimer. The focus is on the real life “gotcha” NBC TV reality program To Catch A Predator, which ran from November 2004 to December 2007. Its host was ambitious Chris Hansen, a…
The weather. We talk about it frequently. “Gorgeous day.” “Isn’t it blowy.” “It’s raining cats and dogs.” And on it goes. In movie terms, we often associate it with Hollywood blockbusters – think Titanic (1997), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Twister (1996) and the like. But now, along comes a tense, dramatic war film in which…
A feel good, comedic, period drama, Just an Illusion concerns the trials and tribulations of a French family of four. The year is 1985 and we are in suburban Paris Navigating first love can be challenging, especially when you are 12 years old and part of a family that rarely agrees on anything. That is…
You may well have heard that shooting the movie Jaws (1975) was hardly a walk in the park. In fact, then 26-year-old director Steven Spielberg ran into all sorts of problems. He insisted it be shot in the ocean – the first picture filmed in that environment, rather than in a tank – making it…
Nearly two decades ago, an incident shattered a family and now the patriarch – a feted, but ailing author – is intent on making good before he drops off the mortal coil. Forever sickly, stumbling about, popping pills and turning to the bottle, his name is Andrew Dyer (Bill Nighy). He lives a reclusive life…
Inspired by fact, a significant moral dilemma confronts actors in a small amateur theatre company five days before opening night. While the performers must decide whether to proceed with the show, they are not the only ones with a difficult choice to make. In a juicy twist, we, the audience, too, become heavily invested in…
The massive impact of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983 – 2009) on one family is brought into sharp focus in the incendiary play The Jungle and the Sea. It is a moving follow up to S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack’s highly acclaimed Counting and Cracking, which played at Union Theatre in June 2024. It…
Displacement, cultural identity, colonisation and shifty adoption practices are in the firing line in Chenturan Aran’s compelling dramatic comedy Cut Chilli. The writer himself was culturally displaced with his parents by the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009) and subsequent research and interviews informed the script. Cut Chilli was inspired by pervasive adoption fraud in Sri…
Protests in the heart of Paris are rife. We are talking 2018. Society is on the precipice and people are struggling, so they pour their anger and dissatisfaction into verbal and violent demonstrations. Many are from the regions – first time protestors, families even, some who haven’t had cause to come to Paris before. Police…
