Reviews
Umnia El-Neil
Umnia El-Neil is a British-Sudanese culture opinion writer and Shonda Rhimes TGIT Graduate.
Reviews
OBSCURAE’s Favourite Shorts of 2024
Opinion
‘Women and Minorities’ make better films. Fight me. (An End-of-Year Film Industry Analysis)
When a film was well received this year, it was usually because it was channelling the anger and frustrations of those who have been left behind. This wasn’t your usual raft of ‘Diversity Hires’ or “The value of Diverse Storytelling”-ass movies. These films were specific, working things out
SOPHISTICULTURE
KNEECAP Producer Trevor Birney talks history, authenticity and truth | SOPHISTICULTURE S02E06
Umnia sits down with producer Trevor Birney to discuss his most recent film, festival favorite KNEECAP; the commitment that went into making such a daring piece of cinema; and the political, historical, and sociocultural conditions in Northern (or the North of) Ireland that necessitated its creation. Tiocfaidh ár lá!
2024 Awards ‘Hots’
Reviews
2024 Awards Underdogs
The films that deserve flowers, that we’re scared may go unrecognised.
2024 Awards ‘not’s (WARNING: Controversial!)
the only four acclaimed films we did not enjoy this year.
Rumours: Up in Smoke
I will not deny, it’s a funny movie - it plays with irony and political cynisicm, and has a lot of jabs to send toward the neoliberal insitutions we are soon to witness crumble into the sea. The ineffectual and fluffy words of our World ‘Leaders’, and the metaphor
All We Imagine as Light
Two nurses, seemingly two generations of thought and approach, making it work in Mumbai. In what I can only describe as the most lusciously romantic film in a long while, ‘All We Imagine As Light’ is at once both patient and quick, diving us headfirst into the interior worlds of
EAT/SLEEP/CHEER/REPEAT
As they make their way to the Olympics of Cheer, the Irish Cheerleading Team (and their coaches) let themselves be known to the camera - their personal lives and their fight to get it right. This is a fascinating slice of life, which gives you a unique look into the
Reviews
Prospect House: Fragile Fiction
In a whirlwind blurring fact and fiction, Prospect House grapples with the very concept of History and Storytelling. What can we know, what can we guess - and who gets to guess? Through the lens of a House on the brink of demolition, a team of re-enacters seek to save
Festivals
Mrs. Robinson: The Blueprint of Leadership
For our times as we currently experience them, a documentary screeening at the Irish Film Festival London was nore relevant than ever - the story of a boundary-breaking woman who, as much as she can, has lived and is living her truest progressive values. A lawyer, a human rights activist,