This month, in the wonderful little cinema in Cromarty:

Have spent so much time here over the years - Warrington Bank Quay

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

No country has welcomed me, moved me, excited me more than Iran. How, therefore, to react to the bombing? Joy that Khamenei is finally gone. But a Trump-Netanyahu co-authorship is a terrible story. Sending love to Iranian friends.

Thanks to Tom Hastings for sharing this great letter from John Steinbeck to Marilyn Monroe.

Totally agree www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Donald Trump doesn't understand Iran or care about its people.

Netanyahu Calls Iran Strikes Necessary To Prevent War He Just Started

Carb loading for Bela Tarr's Satantango @filmhouseedinburgh.bsky.social today.

I'd love to be friends with Ryan Coogler

Baz Luhrmann's EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert in IMAX (front row) is a quasi religious experience.

Why was Bela Tarr not in the In Memoriam sequence in the Baftas tonight?

Bliss

China? No Tillycoultry near Stirling. As the rain gets stronger, rocks are falling. No birds. I expect to see the Tardis

What a complex film. Leone at times, the Godfather at times, Coutinho at times, but so its own wide-screen, super saturated, slow burn delight. The Secret Agent.

If you know my work, you'll know that looking/visual thinking is central to it. So of course I loved the new French-Japanese film Little Amelie, about a 2-3 year old beginning to understand life through looking. Really innovative.

This book is so good.

Thought + felt a LOT through highs and lows of Emerald Fennell's #WutheringHeights Reminded me of Orson Welles' great, derided film Macbeth - his sketches for it below. Echoes too of Jacques Demy films. It's thin at times, but thinking visually rather than in terms of literature or psychology.

My last hours at the Berlin film fest. Thank you to everyone

Berlin world premiere of The Story of Documentary Film today.

My occasional reminder that assuming someone's ignorance is not a great look. Instead of saying "You might enjoy" or "Check this out", it's better to say "If you haven't..." Lost count of the times that people suggest I watch something that I saw decades ago + spent ages trying to get recognised.

In the past I've intercut films, or radically altered their sountrack. I'd like to show Melania with sound track of Pasolini's Salo, or intercut with: Murnau's NOSFERATU (same coat) or Marleen Gorris' A QUESTION OF SILENCE Klimov's COME AND SEE (the talk of children) or Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS

Is there proof that people and equipment were involved in the Melania film? Felt totally AI generated to me: the people, places, music, imagery and especially the script.

My screening of Melania right now

Heading back to Berlin on Thursday, for the film festival. Think I've only had one film premiere there before. This one - The Story of Documentary Film - is close to my heart. It's one of the better things I've done. Wish me luck.

Wow the new film My Father's Shadow is so much about looking and touch. Beautiful and cinematic.

This Sunday marks 100 years since #JohnGrierson coined the term "documentary" To celebrate, we'll be rolling out free programmes for freelancers, including CV surgeries, talent manager meetings, career clinics & masterclasses Register for updates🔗 griersontrust.typeform.com/100YearsDocs

Should be seen everywhere, all at once www.facebook.com/watch/?v=203...

In all these "dreadful weather" films its snowy or rainy. For me dreadful weather is when it's too hot. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...

A bit more on The Story of Documentary Film. Took 4 years to make this, so glad it's coming out. povmagazine.com/the-story-of...

This new book on documentary is very good

It's festival time! Join WFTV at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival to celebrate the talents of women working in film. 🔗 Accredited GFF delegates can just show their pass to enter. WFTV members, you can sign up now: https://ow.ly/EVTa50Y7zEL

Important! AHRC is looking for a new Executive Chair. A critical role for arts and humanities. £160k - £170k. Please share widely to help get the best possible field! fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

What do these corporations have in common? -Amazon -AT&T -Home Depot -Microsoft -Palantir They all reaped billions in tax breaks from Trump's Big Ugly Bill — and are actively collaborating with ICE's deportation machine. Always follow the money.

"Visitations from the unconscious". www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

The four new shows - Catalyst - @summerhallarts.bsky.social Edinburgh are great. Especially the Iranian one by Taraneh Dana. Just opened.

As I've just made a history of documentary cinema, I'm interested in this review of the Melania doc: www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ja...

Wow the new Hong Kong animation Another World is intense. The opposite of Western unity of time and place storytelling. So challenging, a visual riot. Not for kids! I loved it

First review of The Story of Documentary Film: theplaylist.net/the-story-of...

Thank you for a lovely writing weekend Cromarty

I run a film club at a school and I regularly attend a local cinema. The crowds that are there are increasingly demographically diverse. My students love talking cinema and they are eager to hear/read about cinema’s trailblazers. I am optimistic about cinema IF it stays diverse…

Yes www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

To one of my favourite places - Cromarty - for a working weekend

Re the Oscar noms: Is Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident in every category? Is Sinners love bombed? Kate Hudson made me swoon in Song Sung Blue. Is she in?