From pandemic pastime to screen reality: my first animated film
animation / Film / Victoriana / Writing

From pandemic pastime to screen reality: my first animated film

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, I’m sure many of us spent some of our unexpected free time writing. I took the opportunty to dabble in creating some flash fiction stories – tiny snippets of fiction – just for my own amusement. As I played around with them, they took on some commonalities – set in … Continue reading

Epic new film tells the story of America’s first saint
Film / Victoriana

Epic new film tells the story of America’s first saint

The remarkable story of the USA’s first saint, Francesca Cabrini, is told in a new feature film, being previewed in the UK this week (8 March 2024) for International Women’s Day and Mothering Sunday. This powerful epic movie comes from Alejandro Monteverde, award-winning director of ๐˜š๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ, following Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who … Continue reading

Comedy / Drama / Film / Horror / Science fiction / Television / Victoriana

Dr Frankenstein, I presume

Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus, creator of the ‘monster’, and inspiration for all those mad scientists, has been portrayed in countless movies since the original 1910 adaptation of the Mary Shelley story. Usually he’s Dr Victor Frankenstein (as in the book), but sometimes Henry, or Baron von Frankenstein, or one of his many descendants (check this … Continue reading

Cardiff / Design / Victoriana / Wales

Exploring pictures from the past

Faversham! Bicycle! False teeth! No, it’s not a strange word game, but some of the searches I randomly carried out at a major arts-meets-tech launch in Cardiff this week (March 31, 2015). The Illustration Archive is the worldโ€™s largest searchable archive of book illustrations, making more than a million old images from books freely available … Continue reading

Cardiff / Comedy / Fantasy / Film / Horror / Romance / Victoriana / Wales

A monster of a night in a spooky castle – with real bats

The Monster carries his victim into a spooky cave, and a fake bat on a string flaps in front of him, just as real bats flit more convincingly in front the screen. Special effects? Nature can provide something much more special, when films are shown in unusual locations. In this case, it was the 1935 … Continue reading

Crime / Drama / Horror / Serials / Television / Victoriana / Writing

Farewell to the Rozzers of Ripper Street and their daily dealings with dippers and dollymops

Ripper Street, BBCโ€™s intelligent crime drama set in late 19th century Whitechapel, has been cancelled after two series. We asked the lead character, Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, for his thoughts. I have been surprised and gratified to learn that reports of our work in H Division have spread beyond London to the Provinces, and โ€“ … Continue reading