The talented UNIT Film & TV team deliver the full picture post and colour grade on the brand new BBC1 Drama series This Town, which premiered last week with all episodes available to watch now.  The new series from Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes creator Steven Knight, stars an exciting cast of rising talent: Michelle Dockery, Nicholas Pinnock, David Dawson and more.  It is directed by Paul Whittington and produced by Charlotte Surtees and Tim Whitby. Executive Producers are Karen Wilson, Martin Haines and Katie McAleese for Kudos, and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Laura Conway ..read more

The Royal African Society announce that Film Africa, one of the most anticipated and celebrated showcases of African cinema in Europe, will return for its 2024 edition from 25 October to 3 November. This year’s festival promises an exhilarating array of films, virtual events, director Q&As, panel discussions, professional workshops, master classes, school screenings, and family activities.   The grand Opening Night of the festival will feature the award-winning documentary “Dahomey,” directed by award-winning Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, who won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin ..read more

The Festival de Cannes is honouring a cinema legend, awarding its Honorary Palme d’or for the first time to a group: Studio Ghibli. Alongside the Hollywood greats, the Japanese studio embodied by two superb storytellers, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and a host of cult characters, has unleashed a fresh wind on animated film over the past four decades. “I am truly honored and delighted that the studio is awarded the Honorary Palme d’or,” declares Toshio Suzuki, co-founder of the Studio Ghibli. “I would like to thank the Festival de Cannes from the bottom of my heart. Forty years ago, Haya ..read more

BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY A passion project many years in the making, Maestro immerses the audience in the life of composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein and his complex yet deep love for wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Following their success with another musically focused film – A Star is Born – director, co-writer and star, Bradley Cooper reunites with Matthew Libatique ASC to lens the extraordinary life story.  Much like the soaring symphonies Leonard Bernstein is renowned for composing and conducting, the themes in Maestro are instruments working in harmony to tell the captivating ..read more

GIRL GANG Cinematographers Oliver Curtis BSC, Laura Bellingham and Matt Wicks on meshing contemporary and period in Apple TV+’s youthful ensemble drama The Buccaneers.  Oliver Curtis BSC hadn’t shot a period drama since he filmed BBC’s Vanity Fair in 1998 (for which he earned a BAFTA nomination). So, when the opportunity came for Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers, his interest was piqued.  Inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel of the same name, the eight-episode series follows a fun-loving gang of young American women who come to shake up the ‘Lond ..read more

TROUBLE IN PARADISE A party holiday with pals is a British teenager’s rite of passage, but Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature as director shows a darker side to the traditional trip abroad.    Ever since How To Have Sex bowed at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023, where it became the must-see movie of the official selection, it’s been showered with critical acclaim. A story that grapples head-on with issues of sexual consent, it claimed the Un Certain Regard award from Cannes, announcing its British-born debut writer-director Molly Manning Walker as a huge talent to watch. A ..read more

RULING THE ROOST Over 20 years since the original Chicken Run clucked up a fuss on the stop motion scene, its long-awaited sequel – in production for three years – highlights the magic of this time-consuming filmmaking technique.   Some feature films shoot for three months. Charles Copping’s most recent project, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, was in production for a little over three years. That’s just one of the reasons that stop motion is a demanding discipline, but Copping’s experience includes enough of the greats – including perhaps the greatest stop motion feature – that it’s ..read more

SHINING PERFORMANCE Award-winning cinematographer Sam Nicholson ASC says the right lighting is essential to convincingly combine computer-generated worlds with real subjects. He and his team at visual effects production company Stargate Studios extensively use Nanlux LED lights – here he discusses their performance and gives his thoughts on the newest addition to the range, the Nanlux Evoke 2400B.  Games are big business and it’s no secret that cinematographers have been getting into the action for several years now. Sam Nicholson ASC was one of the first to do so, having collaborated in ..read more

BEHIND THE LENS, ABOVE THE CLOUDS In the world of aerial cinematography, creating captivating shots is no simple task – it’s a delicate blend of expertise, technology, constant risk assessment and creativity. The Aerial Film Company aims to provide an all-encompassing aerial filming solution for the film and television industry.   What makes The Aerial Film Company unique is its commitment to a comprehensive and integrated approach. As a truly end-to-end aerial filming supplier in the United Kingdom, they bring together seasoned crews, cutting-edge gyro-stabilised camera systems, and ..read more

Find out more about the evolving role of drones in cinematography with the Helicopter Girls, and how the team lent their aerial expertise to The Boys in the Boat.  With many different types of drones available, each with unique flight characteristics and capabilities, it’s more important than ever to know the right aerial toolkit for the shot.  Emma Boswell is the founder of The Helicopter Girls, the drone company behind projects such as The Boys in the Boat, Wonka, Saltburn, Fast X, and the upcoming Wicked feature. She explains: “We run a diverse fleet of over 35 drones which means ..read more