Just got out of Sirât. Full of ironies. For instance, a lot said about its "unforgettable"/"unique" qualities. But nobody told me it managed to forget the people living in "the desert" of North Africa in a way that is sadly not very unique. A film that's all about sound - but it's tone deaf.

Feminist Media Studies colleagues, I was looking at the most read and most cited articles in Feminist Media Studies this week, and the patterns are striking. A short thread on what seems to be shaping the field right now:

My second feature Low Rider screens in BFI Flare 21/22 March. It stars Emma McDonald and Thishiwe Ziqubu. A dual heritage Londoner goes looking for her absent South African father, but a chance encounter forces her to deal with her own demons on the road. whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/Online...

Very excited to be participating in Cinema and Media Studies in Solidarity with Palestine Conference. What an amazing lineup of speakers they've put together! You can check out the full schedule below. Honored to be among them. sites.google.com/view/scmssp/...

Want to come work in my Film Studies department in Ottawa, Canada, for a year? Application deadline is March 6. All areas of specialization welcome. Please spread the word! @carleton.ca carleton.ca/deputyprovos... #filmstudies #jobopportunity

Watching Xmas films, it finally clicked who Selena Gomez's clipped voice quirk reminds me of. Mara Wilson didn't quit acting after all!

Yasujirô Ozu was born on this day in 1903 and died on this day in 1963.

Happy to share the introduction to a forthcoming special issue of Media Practice and Education. The issue explores discourses of decolonisation in film industries and pedagogies. The introduction is Open Access, so please do share widely! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Looking forward to talking to the MA programme in Film Studies and Curation at NFTS tomorrow. I'll be sharing new arguments on the coloniality of global film industries, which gives a long historical overview, before considering the Berlinale World Cinema Fund

A study conducted at University of Buckingham (one of the entirely private universities in the UK) is claiming to have found left-wing bias in @ukri.org funding. This is the university that offers a course on "wokeness". And now this study is being reported and shared by @timeshighered.bsky.social

Peter Watkins, 1935-2025 The maverick filmmaker and pioneer of the docudrama, whose anti-establishment works redefined political cinema and challenged the very language of mass media, has died aged 90 www.bfi.org.uk/features/pet...

So happy I caught Stan Douglas's Birth of a Nation before it's run at @victoriamiro.bsky.social ends next week. One of the most impressive things I've seen all year. Now, can he please reconstruct the whole of Griffith's film from 4 alternative perspectives?

Rose of Nevada is brilliant. Is there a more important British filmmaker than Mark Jenkin right now?

Just watched Ish. V moving. Imran Perretta is channelling Ratcatcher, even surpassing in its evocation of such a vulnerable time in male adolescence. Especially rare in the case of racialised children, who are under constant surveillance. Exciting to see this artist excel with his film debut.

JOB: lecturer/assistant professor in global film and media studies. 5yr contract, salary scale €64,753-€102,538, closes noon (Irish time) on October 20th. pls share and lmk if you have any questions! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOU194/l...

Thrilled to share the very open Call for Proposals for BAFTSS 2026 on 15-17 April in Bournemouth. Amid all the stress and uncertainty of HE, the annual conference is a great place to reconnect, reflect, think new thoughts and make new plans. Join us! @baftss.bsky.social www.baftss.org/cfp-2026.html

I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose??? This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.

Did anyone else think Highest 2 Lowest would have been so much better if it was just Denzel Washington watching new artists perform for 2 hours?

This is really Children of Men territory www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

📢 We're looking for a Lecturer in Cinematography at @royalholloway.bsky.social (0.5 FTE, Fixed Term for 12 months) Please apply by 23:59 on 11 September 2025. jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

I do love Jonathan Liew, but in response to his claim that 'the England flag can be a reclamation of agency, a reassertion of our unity, diversity and shared values, a champion of the vulnerable, a rejection rather than an embrace of intolerance': no, it cannot. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

My LFF list has 82 films on this year 😳

Revising work to fit US punctuation conventions always feels like self-sabotage

Someone on here compared AI produced material as "digital asbestos " which in a few decades' time we will have to work out how to eradicate from the fabric of research.

Twelve PhD positions (E13, 65%, 48 months) in our new interdisciplinary @dfg.de research training program "Aesthetics of Democracy" @goetheuni.bsky.social in Frankfurt. Application deadline November 14, 2025. Program start April 1, 2026. Drop me a note if you need further info.

The police (wrongly) inform a peaceful protestor that holding a Palestinian flag and signs deploring genocide is an offence under the Terrorism Act. This is the deranged policing environment the government has created.

Parents of young children: why did The Lion Guard have so many big tunes though?

No book in the history of the world has made a child gay or straight or trans or cis. But they have provided hope and a future for those that already are. But of course, under Reform, all hope must be crushed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Catherine O'Hara was the best one-off Curb guest star.

1 year ago today I was lucky enough to launch my John Akomfrah book at @iniva-arts.bsky.social Stuart Hall Library. Some of the talking can be heard here: youtu.be/PoHFLutICwc?... And you can get the book here: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/john-akom...

🚨New episode out now with Leon Moosavi discussing decoloniality, international students and what he terms 'the decolonial bandwagon'. Listen 👇🏼or wherever you get your podcasts. open.spotify.com/episode/4fqa...

business as usual: hostile environment (Alberta Whittle 2020)

Hearing about Starmer's new visa rules and thinking about Alberta Whittle's work. She is such an important artist right now elephant.art/what-dreams-...

Enjoying these attempts to define Millennial and Gen Z culture. But isn't this is all actually, seemingly unknowingly, just describing pre-middle-aged, middle-class whiteness? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

In an uneven global literary landscape, we believe the process of entering literary prizes should be as accessible as possible to all. That's why we're happy to offer subsidised entry fees. No need to apply and no questions asked! Find out more and enter here: wasafiri.org/writing-priz...

Well done to @baftss.bsky.social for taking two important stands this week. Proud to be a member and align myself with both of these.

Open City Doc Fest looks better than ever this year. A brilliant programme of the unknown, unseen and the brand new. Lots of (what appears to be) inventive, politically incisive film on offer. Just what is needed.

Off to #BAFTSS2025 to present new research on South Asian diaspora aesthetics and masculinity crises in recent British cinema

How long is reasonable to wait for a reply from your (published) book publisher regarding a very straightforward query and is it less than 6 weeks?

This photo is so transparently attempting to situate Britain as the diplomatic middle ground, using the teacup as an updated British equivalent of the Greek olive branch. A (keep) calm civility in the face of escalating aggression.

No! Angie Stone 😢 So sad

I am so sick of this shit. It’s a Sieg Heil. It’s a Nazi salute. Anyone who sees it knows. It’s ridiculous that legal departments presumably won’t let media call it what it is. Bannon made “a provocative gesture that resembled the salute Elon Musk gave at a post-inauguration rally”? Fuck off.

RIP Souleymane Cissé

Studies in Documentary Cinema Vol 19, No 1, includes my Open Access article, 'Archival Reenactments'. The article considers John Akomfrah's 'Peripeteia' in relation to the coloniality of both ethnographic film aesthetics and the reenactment form in documentary www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A third runway at #Heathrow in the midst of a climate emergency is a vile act of vandalism. Rachel Reeves is happy to burn the planet for a tiny (probably elusive) increment of GDP. How does this benefit us? Article coming later today.