Podcasts, radio shows, writing and more by Alex Fitch
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Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Michael Apted and Cory McAbee – From cradle to…
November 30, 2012
DVD cover for 7-49Up, posters for 56Up, The world is not enough, Crazy and Thief, The American Astronaut
From cradle to…: Alex Fitch talks to two directors about their projects which capture visions of childhood and how that progresses into adulthood. In a Q and A recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST, Alex chats to Cory McAbee, creator of SF musicals The American Astronaut and Stingray Sam, about his latest film Crazy and Thief – a semi improvised drama which documents the director’s children as they journey across New York looking for stars, again scored by his band, “The Billy Nayer Show”. Cory discusses his change in direction for this project, the difficulties of directing children and performs a song from the soundtrack. Also, Alex discusses 56Up with Michael Apted, the latest instalment of his 7Up series which has charted the lives of 14 children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds since the age of 7; Alex and Michael also discuss the latter’s involvement with another serial that’s reached its 50th anniversary as the director recalls his experience of directing the Bond movie, The World is not Enough.
Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download. (more…)
I’m ready for my close-up special: London Film Festival 2012 review part 2
October 18, 2012
Poster for The Bounty, Argo (film within a film + actual), The Wedding Party, The Sessions
London Film Festival 2012 review part 2: In the second of two special hour long editions of I’m ready for my close-up, celebrating the 56th BFI London Film Festival, Alex Fitch talks to film critic Sarah Cronin about films they’ve seen at this year’s LFF. Films reviewed include: German silent The Loves of Pharaoh, sex therapy drama The Sessions, Italian Big Brother satire Reality, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt, restored Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western The Big Gundown, François Ozon’s In the House and Korean crime dramas Nameless Gangsters and Helpless. Also, Alex talks to retired film editor Ian Rakoff about hostage drama Argo and comedy SF film Robot and Frank.
Director Chi Keung Fung, best known for co-writing Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer, discusses his directorial debut The Bounty, with translation by Wan Yee Wong, Australian director Amanda Jane talks about her family comedy drama The Wedding Party, and actor / director Ben Affleck discusses his new film Argo. (Originally broadcast in an edited version 18/10/12 on Resonance FM) (more…)
Today’s show: London Film Festival 2012 review part 2
October 18, 2012
Today at 11am on Resonance 104.4 FM… I’m ready for my close-up special: London Film Festival 2012 review part 2
Posters for The Bounty, Argo (film within the film), The Wedding Party, The Sessions
In the second of two special hour long editions of I’m ready for my close-up, celebrating the 56th BFI London Film Festival, Alex Fitch talks to film critic Sarah Cronin about films they’ve seen at this year’s LFF. Films reviewed include: restored German silent movie The Loves of Pharaoh, sex therapy drama The Sessions, Italian Big Brother satire Reality, new Thomas Vinterberg film The Hunt, restored Lee Van Cleef spaghetti western The Big Gundown, François Ozon’s In the House, Korean crime drama Nameless Gangsters and Helpless, an adaptation of Miyabe Miyuki’s novel Burning Train to Korea. Alex talks to retired film editor Ian Rakoff about hostage drama Argo and comedy SF film Robot and Frank. Also, director Chi Keung Fung, best known for co-writing Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer, discusses his directorial debut The Bounty, with translation by Wan Yee Wong, Australian director Amanda Jane talks about her family comedy drama The Wedding Party, and actor / director Ben Affleck discusses his new film Argo.
11am, Thursday 18th October 2012, Resonance 104.4FM (more…)
I’m ready for my close-up special: London Film Festival 2012 review part 1
October 16, 2012
Posters for Beasts of the Southern Wild, Excision, Antiviral
London Film Festival 2012 review part 1: In the first of two special hour long editions of I’m ready for my close-up, celebrating the 56th BFI London Film Festival, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonist and film critic Mark Stafford about films they’ve seen at this year’s LFF. Films reviewed include: the new Ralph Steadman documentary: For no good reason, Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral, The Shining documentary Room 237, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa, Hyde Park on Hudson, Good Vibrations, West of Memphis, Beware of Mr. Baker, Animated Monty Python reunion: A Liar’s Autobiography, French cartoon Ernest and Celestine, and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie…
Also, Alex talks to director Richard Bates Jr. about his excellent new teen body horror movie Excision, which stars Traci Lords, Malcolm McDowell and John Waters and is best described as a cross between We need to talk about Kevin and I was a teenage Frankenstein! (Originally broadcast in an edited version 16/10/12 on Resonance FM) (more…)
Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Philosophy and Murder
August 31, 2012
— 1 Comment
Still from the opening credits of The Edgar Wallace Mysteries / Poster for The Kingdom of Survival
Philosophy and Murder: Alex Fitch talks to film critic and historian Kim Newman about The Edgar Wallace Mysteries, a series of British B movies made in the 1960s and subsequently rebranded as a TV series, based on novels by the co-creator of King Kong. Plus: in a Q and A recorded at the Raindance Film Festival, Alex talks to director M.A. Littler about his documentary The Kingdom of Survival, a road movie that explores the current state of scepticism and philosophy in modern America and features interviews with Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Kanaan and Joe Bageant.
Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download. (more…)
Electric Sheep Podcast: Unreliable images
July 31, 2012
— 2 Comments
Stills from Sense of Scale and Radio Free Albemuth
Unreliable images: In a pair of Q and As recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, the London International Science-Fiction and Fantastic Film Festival, Alex Fitch talks to director John Simon about his adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Radio Free Albemuth and to director Berton Pierce and special effects expert Greg Aronowitz about the film Sense of Scale, a documentary on model making in the cinema.
Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.
Links: Radio Free Albemuth website
Listen to Alex’s previous interview with John Simon
Watch the trailer for Sense of scale on youtube.com
More info about Greg Aronowitz work at barnyardfx.blogspot.co.uk (more…)
Electric Sheep podcast: Modern Hauntings
June 28, 2012
Posters for Memory Lane and Lovely Molly
Modern Hauntings: Alex Fitch talks to a pair of directors who made their first films on very low budgets and deal with subjects of hauntings that are to do as much with memory as anything supernatural. Eduardo Sánchez discusses his debut film The Blair Witch Project and his latest movie, Lovely Molly which follows a young woman’s mental breakdown while being tormented by the ghosts of her past. Also, in an interview recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, Shawn Holmes talks about his micro-budget feature Memory Lane (more…)
Electric Sheep Podcast: Comics and film
April 30, 2012
— 1 Comment
Poster for The Gospel of Us, directed by Dave McKean / Panel from Demons 3 by Stefan Hutchinson and Jeff Zornow
Comics and film: In a pair of interviews looking at the crossover between comics and film, Alex Fitch talks to Stefan Hutchinson about his comic book ‘Demons 3′ – a sequel to Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava’s classic 1980s horror films – and to comic book artist Dave McKean about his film of the Port Talbot Passion play, The Gospel of Us. Alex And Stefan discuss the writer’s Haloween comics ‘Nightdance’ and ‘First Death of Laurie Strode’ plus his documentary, Halloween: 25 Years Of Terror. Alex and Dave also talk about the artist’s collaborations with Richard Dawkins and Michael Sheen, plus his earlier film MirrorMask. Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.
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Electric Sheep Podcast: Exploring The Lair of the White Worm
March 22, 2012
Still from The Lair of the White Worm by Ken Russell
Exploring The Lair of the White Worm: In a panel discussion recorded at The Horse Hospital arts club after a screening of Ken Russell’s lurid Bram Stoker adaptation, Mark Pilkington discusses The Lair of the White Worm with BFI Flipside programmers Vic Pratt and Will Fowler (more…)
Electric Sheep Podcast: Making films interactive
February 27, 2012
— 1 Comment
Repo Man film poster and Blu-Ray cover, Repo Chick and Madame Butterfly 3D posters
Making films interactive: In a pair of interviews about innovations in film-making, Alex Fitch talks to two directors who have embraced new technology. Alex talks to Alex Cox about Repo Man, computer generated backgrounds its sequel Repo Chic(k), interactive cinema and using CGI in the rerelease of his western Straight to Hell. Alex also talks to Julian Napier, director of Madame Butterfly 3D, a new film of the Royal Opera House’s production of Puccini’s classic tale, how filming the opera using 3D cameras makes the cinema presentation a more immersive experience. Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download. (more…)
Electric Sheep Podcast: Cult animation
January 10, 2012
Alex Fitch interviews Shaun Tan / Weebl and Bob re-enact Raiders of the Lost Ark
Cult animation: Alex Fitch talks to a pair of directors of innovative short animated films; to Oscar winner (2011 co-director Short Animated film) Shaun Tan about the adaptation of his acclaimed picture book The Lost Thing and to web animator Jonti Picking about his cult animated series Weebl and Bob as well as his adverts for Cadbury’s Creme Eggs (is it that time of year already?) and Anchor Butter.
Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download. (Broadcast 10/01/12 on Resonance 104.4 FM)
Watch an extract of the Shaun Tan interview / Listen to Alex’s 2009 interview with Tan (more…)
Electric Sheep Podcast – Pulp Fiction: Low budget British genre films
December 2, 2011
Electric Sheep podcast:
Pulp Fiction: Low budget British genre films
Partially broadcast 02/12/11 on Resonance FM as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up
Simon Burbage, John Thomson and Gavin Molloy in Pulp / Tom Guerrier helps Mark Gatiss get into character for Cleaning Up
Alex Fitch talks to director Tom Guerrier about his short film Clearing Up, written by his brother Simon and featuring Doctor Who stars Mark Gatiss and Louise Jameson as a hitman and his landlady; and to Adam Hamdy, co-director, and actors Jay Sutherland, Gavin Molloy, Simon Burbage and Lee Ravitz, about Pulp, a caper movie set in the small press comic community. Both films are starting to tour festivals and Alex talks about to their creators about the making of each project and their ambitions to get the films to larger audiences.
Cleaning Up will be screening next on 10/01/12 at the London Short Film Festival at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith.
Pulp receives its UK premiere on 02/02/12 at SFX Weekender Sci-Fi convention, Prestatyn Sands, Wales.
For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
In association with 
Links: Tom and Simon Guerrier’s website, featuring info on Cleaning Up
Pulp movie website
SFX Weekender site
London Short Film Festival site
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Electric Sheep Podcast: Wicker Man / Buried Land
October 28, 2011
— 3 Comments
Electric Sheep podcast:
Wicker Man / Buried Land
Partially broadcast 28/10/11 on Resonance FM as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up
Figures in a landscape: The Wicker Tree, The Last Winter, Buried Land
In this special Halloween themed episode of the Electric Sheep Podcast, Alex Fitch talks to three directors who have made films about man’s relationship with the land.
At this year’s Frightfest, Robyn Hardy discusses his classic horror film The Wicker Man and its new, belated thematic sequel The Wicker Tree, a pair of films about fertility and terrifying pagan rites, while Larry Fessenden talks about his eco-themed monster movies No Telling, Wendigo and The Last Winter. Also, in a Q and A recorded at the East End Film Festival, Alex interviews Steven Eastwood, co-director of Buried Land, a ‘mockumentary’ / docudrama about the real-life discovery in a small town in Bosnia of an ancient, buried pyramid which may reinvent mankind’s knowledge of pre-Christian architecture and empire building, but in the short term has changed the fortunes of people in the area.
For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
In association with
Links: Official Buried land, The Last Winter and The Wicker Tree websites
Electric Sheep Magazine reviews of The Last Winter, The Wicker Tree and the songs of The Wicker Man
Info about the Buried Land screening at the East End Film Festival
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Electric Sheep Podcast: Infiltrating Secret Societies
September 5, 2011
— 1 Comment
Electric Sheep podcast:
Infiltrating Secret Societies
Christopher Plummer and James Mason investigate Murder by Decree / the interior of the Masonic Lodge, Andaz Hotel, London / Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee in The Wicker Man
A companion piece to our May podcast on Secret Societies, a we have panel discussion on the subject recorded in the atmospheric confines of a Masonic Lodge on Liverpool Street in London as part of the East End Film Festival, including talks on Jack the Ripper, witches’ covens and religious cults in film. Speakers include Electric Sheep editor Virginie Selavy, assistant editor Alex Fitch, Nollywood scholar Nicola Woodham, filmmaker and horror specialist Jennifer Eiss, and Jim Harper, author of Flowers From Hell: The Modern Japanese Horror Film. Includes clips from Murder by Decree, Season of the Witch, The Wicker Man and Rosemary’s Baby.
For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
In association with
Info about the original event, in the East End Film Festival
If you’d like to buy a copy of the most recent dramatisation of Sherlock Holmes vs. the Ripper and the Masons, head to www.bigfinish.com
Summer 2011 in print
September 1, 2011
Reviews…
Akira
Release date: 27/05/11 (Blu-Ray)
Musashi – Dream of the last Samurai
Release date: 04/07/11 (DVD)
Batman Live
Release date: 24/08/11 (Theatre)
The Skin I live in
Release date: 26/08/11 (Cinema)
Electric Sheep comics…
Hardware
Release date: 22/06/09 (DVD)
Review by Douglas Noble
The Twilight Zone, season one
Release date: 02/05/11 (Blu-Ray)
Review by John Spelling
The Silent House
Release date: 01/08/11 (Blu-Ray)
Review by Andrew Cheverton
Articles…
Rescored: Night of the Living Dead
June 30, 2011
Rescored:
Night of the Living Dead DJ set
Originally performed live 4th June 2011 at The Horse Hospital
Robin the Fog rescores Night of the Living dead (Reanimated) at The Horse Hospital, June 2011
As part of the launch of ‘The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology‘, DJ Robin the Fog performed a live rescore of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (1968 / 2009), adding a new experimental electronic soundtrack to the animated version of George Romero’s classic and ground breaking zombie film. If you would like to listen to the score while watching the film, it will synch with either the original version of Night of the Living Dead or the :reanimated version.
Night of the Living Dead / Reanimated
You can also stream the soundtrack in two parts as a higher quality recording from mixcloud, where there is additional information about the tracks featured in the mix – part 1 / part 2
Additionally, for your listening pleasure, Zoe Baxter has also uploaded the DJ session she performed at the ‘The End’ launch party to mixcloud, which includes tracks by Augustus Pablo, Josephine Siao, The Jellybeans and Ella Fitzgerald…
Links: Download / stream the film Night of the Living Dead (1968) from archive.org
Buy Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated [2009]
Robin the Fog’s website and pages on Sound Cloud and Mix Cloud
Zoe Baxter’s blog http://luckykitty.blogspot.com
Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Kim Newman’s Nightmare Movies
June 5, 2011
— 1 Comment
Electric Sheep podcast:
Kim Newman’s Nightmare Movies
Nightmare Movies by Kim Newman, 2011 edition, published by Bloomsbury
Horror maestro Kim Newman discusses the new, updated edition of his essential book Nightmare Movies: Horror on the Screen since the 1960s with Electric Sheep editor Virginie Sélavy; Kim and Virginie discuss seminal modern horror movies such as Night of the Living Dead. (Previously broadcast 20/05/11 as an episode of “I’m ready for my close-up” on Resonance 104.4 FM)
For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
In association with
Info about the broadcast of this show
Visit the page at bloomsbury.cm about Nightmare Movies
Kim Newman’s website: www.johnnyalucard.com
Listen to Alex Fitch’s interview with Kim Newman about Doctor Who
Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: An introduction to Secret Societies
May 11, 2011
— 4 Comments
Electric Sheep podcast:
An introduction to Secret Societies
Johnny Depp on the set of From Hell
Virginie Sélavy hosts a discussion on secret societies to tie in with the East End Film Festival’s themed day of screenings on May 2. With her guests, Strange Attractor Press editor Mark Pilkington and horror film expert Richard Bancroft, they discuss the links between crime and the occult, looking at Jack the Ripper and the Masons theory and other filmed examples of the arcane and conspiratorial. (Previously broadcast 22/04/11 as an episode of “I’m ready for my close-up” on Resonance 104.4 FM)
For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
In association with
Info about the broadcast of this show
Read other articles on Secret Societies in Electric Sheep Magazine
Listen to Alex Fitch’s interview with Alan Moore about From Hell
The End: an Electric Sheep Anthology
April 8, 2011
The first Electric Sheep book is now available, a 260 page anthology of the latest cutting edge writing and illustration about film, themed around the concept of ‘the end’.
Cover of The End: an Electric Sheep Anthology
From the gutter to the avant-garde, The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology (Strange Attractor Press, £13.99) brings together a mind-bendingly eclectic programme of films, authors, artists and directors to create a unique new vision of cinema past, present and future.
Follow Electric Sheep into the darkness and you’ll find Bill Morrison’s chemical ghosts, the bad girls of 50s exploitation films, apocalyptic evangelical cinema, the human centipede, Spanish zombies, Japanese nihilists, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s lost masterpiece Inferno, Ingmar Bergman’s visions of the end and David Lynch’s soundtracks of decay.
Contributors include Jack Sargeant, author of Deathtrippping: The Extreme Underground; Jason Wood, author of The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema; James Rose, author of Beyond Hammer: Contemporary British Horror Cinema; Greg Klymkiw, producer of Guy Maddin’s Careful; Frances Morgan, former editor of Plan B Magazine; Jim Harper, author of Flowers From Hell: The Modern Japanese Horror Film; as well as the Brothers Quay, Vincenzo Natali and Peter Whitehead among many others.
Like the website and magazine formerly published by Wallflower Press, The End is edited by Virginie Sélavy and as with Electric Sheep’s other incarnations, 4% of the book is written by Alex Fitch (an article on zombie movies, see below, and interviews with Vincenzo Natali and Michael Almereyda) who commissioned the comic strip (by Pearlyn Quan and Simon Guerrier) and most of the illustrations.
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Electric Sheep podcast: Bloody Women – Female Horror Directors
March 14, 2011
— 2 Comments
Electric Sheep podcast:
Bloody Women – Female Horror Directors
Also broadcast 08/03/11 on Resonance FM
Still from Switch by Melanie Light
In the third Electric Sheep Podcast of 2011, to coincide with the Birds Eye View Film Festival’s focus on women in horror, Electric Sheep editor Virginie Sélavy leads a discussion with three women filmmakers working in this traditionally male-dominated genre. Her guests are: Melanie Light, director of Switch, Kate Shenton, director of Bon Appetit, and Jennifer Eiss, co-director of Short Lease. All three shorts screened as part of the Horror Shorts programme of B.E.V. on Saturday 12 March at the ICA.
More info: www.birds-eye-view.co.uk
Read Eleanor McKeown’s Article about new female horror directors.
For more information and a variety of formats you can stream / download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
In association with
