Shows
Celebrating CinemaWhy Does Hollywood Love Remaking Foreign Films?Hollywood loves a remake. But why take a film that already works and make it all over again? Host Laura Gommans sits down with LAB111’s Head of Cinema, Tom Ooms, to dig into Hollywood’s habit of reworking films from around the world and what happens when it gets its hands on someone else’s story.From Masayuki Suô’s Shall We Dance? and its Richard Gere-starring remake to Funny Games, The Vanishing and Force Majeure, they look at the changes that can turn a film into something completely different. There are American happy endings, cultural misunders...
2026-10-2240 minCelebrating CinemaRodrigo Sorogoyen on The Beloved: Can Cinema Heal Us?What can cinema really fix? In The Beloved, Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen (The Beasts, Mother) explores the complicated relationship between a powerful film director and his estranged daughter, using the filmmaking process itself to examine questions of identity, domination and abandonment.In conversation with film critic Hugo Emmerzael, Sorogoyen discusses turning the camera on cinema itself, experimenting with different visual languages, and creating a film within a film inspired by the work of Terrence Malick. He also reflects on his recurring interest in toxic masculinity, his collaboration with screenwriter Isabel Peña, and the personal experiences of f...
2026-10-2031 minCelebrating CinemaCine Of The Times | Walk Hard Should Have Killed The Musical BiopicIn 2007, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story tore the music biopic apart so thoroughly that Hollywood should never have been able to make one with a straight face again. It flopped. Since then, we’ve had Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Elvis and, this year, Michael. So what went wrong?For the latest Cine of the Times, film critic Hugo Emmerzael and media scholar Dan Hassler-Forest revisit Jake Kasdan’s merciless parody to figure out why the music biopic refuses to die. They get into how much of the supposedly "true" story never actually happened, the difference between inhabiting a st...
2026-10-1547 minCelebrating CinemaDigger: Can Tom Cruise Ever Stop Being Tom Cruise?For forty years, Tom Cruise has sold us one thing: a man who will not stop running. In Digger (2026), Alejandro G. Iñárritu casts him as an oil tycoon in prosthetics, only for the trailer to remind us of every Tom Cruise who came before. What happens when the ultimate movie star tries to disappear into a role?Laura Gommans and producer Elliot Bloom take Digger as a starting point to ask whether a movie star can ever truly play against type, or whether the persona is always visible beneath the performance. From Henry Fonda turning killer in...
2026-10-0839 minCelebrating CinemaManufacturing Consent: How 9/11 Changed HollywoodHow did 9/11 change Hollywood and when does entertainment become propaganda?Marking 25 years since 9/11 and coinciding with LAB111’s Manufacturing Consent programme, Elliot Bloom and film critic Hugo Emmerzael trace cinema’s long relationship with propaganda and political power. From revolutionary montage and The Battle of Algiers to Black Hawk Down, Zero Dark Thirty and Iron Man, they look at how wars are sold, enemies invented and ideology turned into entertainment.At the centre of the conversation is the profound shift in American cinema after 9/11, when the War on Terror became embedded in Hollywood storytelling and spec...
2026-09-1054 minCelebrating CinemaDid Terminator 2 Ruin How We Imagine The End Of The World?Thirty-five years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, cinema is still imagining the end of the world through killer machines, nuclear war, viruses and alien invasions. But did one of the greatest blockbusters ever made teach us to imagine the apocalypse all wrong?With Terminator 2 returning to our screens in 4K, producer Elliot Bloom and filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus ask why cinema is so obsessed with watching the world end and why Hollywood tends to make collapse so spectacular. Through Children of Men, Idiocracy and Brazil, they look beyond the big cinematic apocalypse to the dystopias where life simply carries...
2026-09-0446 minCelebrating CinemaWhy Is Cinema Just Like My Mother?“My mother and cinema are my two teachers in life, each in their own peculiar ways.”Filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus and producer Elliot Bloom explore the parallels between these two teachers: the women who raise us, and the films that show us how to live, love and understand the world.Coinciding with the 50th anniversary and re-release of Cría Cuervos, they look at a series of films from the 1970s — including Carrie, The Exorcist and Grey Gardens — in which the relationship between mothers and daughters becomes a way of thinking about changing ideas of womanhood, motherhoo...
2026-08-2051 minCelebrating CinemaCine Of The Times: Did No Country For Old Men Predict Trump’s America?In 2007, the Coen Brothers made a thriller set in 1980 that somehow captured an American dread that hadn't fully arrived yet. Critic Hugo Emmerzael and academic Dan Hassler-Forest return to No Country for Old Men — the coin toss, the deaths that happen offscreen, the sheriff who solves nothing — to ask how a film everybody already loves quietly called the next twenty years.Hugo and Dan get into the film's nihilism, its collapse of the Western hero and detective who restores order, and the strange afterlife of Javier Bardem's iconic Anton Chigurh: from Oscar winner to right-wing meme. JD Vanc...
2026-08-1346 minCelebrating CinemaCan Cinema Teach Us How to Pay Attention? — What Playtime, Ikiru & After Hours Asks Of UsWe’re constantly told to slow down and be present, but what does it actually mean to pay attention when so much of modern life is designed to scatter it?This summer, French auteur Jacques Tati returns to LAB111 in six newly restored 4K classics, including his magnum opus PlayTime. Few filmmakers have looked at modern life with Tati’s comic precision: traffic becomes choreography, bureaucracy becomes absurd theatre and the city itself becomes a machine for distraction.Producer Elliot Bloom and filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus explore attention, bureaucracy and urban life through Tati’s PlayTime, Kurosa...
2026-08-0747 minCelebrating CinemaWhen Does A Film Become Camp?What makes a film camp? Is it something filmmakers create, or something audiences discover?To celebrate Pride Month and LAB111's Camp, Cult & Queer programme, filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus is joined by film programmer Alicia Bergamelli to unpack one of cinema's most elusive ideas. Drawing on Susan Sontag's famous essay Notes on "Camp", they explore where camp came from, why it has become inseparable from queer culture, and how audiences can completely reshape a film's meaning over time.Through films including Bound, Cruising, Pink Flamingos, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and What Ever Happened to Baby...
2026-07-3049 minCelebrating CinemaWhy Black Girl Still Matters 60 Years Later w/ Djeneba SaccohWho gets to tell a story? And who gets to see themselves reflected on screen?Sixty years after its release, Ousmane Sembène's Black Girl (La Noire de..., 1966) remains one of the defining works of African cinema. Restored in 4K and re-released by Odyssey Classics for its anniversary, Sembène's groundbreaking debut follows Diouana, a young Senegalese woman who travels to France believing she's beginning a new life, only to find herself trapped within the lingering structures of colonial power.Filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus is joined by filmmaker and archivist Djeneba Saccoh to discuss why Black Gi...
2026-07-2342 minCelebrating CinemaWho Really Was the Father Of African Cinema? — Ousmane Sembène, By His Son AlainSome filmmakers don't just make great films, they change who cinema is for.60 years ago, Ousmane Sembène's Black Girl (La Noire de...) announced a new cinematic voice to the world. Through the story of a young Senegalese woman working for a French family, Sembène exposed the brutal realities of colonialism while proving that African stories could—and should—be told on their own terms.To mark the film's 60th anniversary, producer Elliot Bloom speaks with Alain Sembène, the filmmaker's son, about the remarkable life and philosophy behind one of cinema's true pioneers.To...
2026-07-2131 minCelebrating CinemaIs Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Just 6 Great Scenes?Why are journeys one of cinema's defining storytelling forms? Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey brings one of literature's greatest journeys to the screen. Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms discuss whether the film succeeds as an epic, why Nolan's obsession with IMAX shapes the experience as much as the storytelling, and whether a cast this famous ever lets the world of the film feel fully inhabited. They also introduce LAB111's new season of quests, exiles and homecomings, from Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Beau Is Afraid to The Seventh Seal, asking what these films reveal...
2026-07-1730 minCelebrating CinemaHas Letterboxd Changed The Way We Watch Films?Do ratings help us discover great films or have they quietly changed the way we watch?Before you've even bought a ticket, you probably know the Letterboxd average, the IMDb score or the Rotten Tomatoes percentage. Somewhere between the opening scene and the closing credits, many of us are already deciding on a number of our own.Laura Gommans is joined by producer Elliot Bloom to discuss what ratings have done to film culture. From an IMDb Top 250 that barely changes to Rotten Tomatoes' aggregate scores, they explore how audience opinion shapes everything from blockbuster...
2026-07-0239 minCelebrating CinemaThe Watermelon Woman at 30: Cheryl Dunye's Queer Cinema LandmarkThe Watermelon Woman (1996) was Cheryl Dunye's debut and the first American feature directed by a Black lesbian. A film that slips between video-store romance and a forged archive, asking who gets recorded by cinema and who gets written out of it. Thirty years on, it has been restored, added to the Criterion Collection, and, for the very first time, released in Dutch cinemas.Filmmaker Kiriko Mechanicus is joined by Justine Knijn, distributor at Eye Filmmuseum and the person bringing the film to the Netherlands. They get into the film's faked documentary structure and its late reveal; the 1996...
2026-06-2538 minCelebrating CinemaDid Movies Invent Alien Encounters?Nobody has ever filmed a real alien, so why do they all look the same? The grey skin, the black almond eyes, sixty years running. This week Laura Gommans is joined by historian Alexander Bartels, who curated LAB111's We Are Not Alone season, for a conversation about the gap between the aliens cinema gives us and the things people actually report seeing. On screen: greys, flying saucers, humanoid visitors. From the real records that Bartels studies: declassified military footage, radar data, government files from around the world there are mostly orbs and lights, unspectacular and almost...
2026-06-1829 minCelebrating CinemaIs Disclosure Day Spielberg's Most Hopeful Film Or His Most Naive?Steven Spielberg spent fifty years teaching us to look up. When the Pentagon released its real alien files, nobody blinked. His new film Disclosure Day marks the day the truth finally lands — this time his aliens look back at us, but the question is whether anyone still believes him.Fresh from the Tuschinski premiere, Laura Gommans and producer Elliot Bloom get into late Spielberg — shortcuts, or message over quality — empathy as the ruling emotion of the universe, and whether cinema's great sentimentalist can still earn the tears. One of them cried twice. The other counted seventy FBI agents...
2026-06-1144 minCelebrating CinemaFast & Furious: How the Franchise Remade Hollywood (w/ Dan Hassler-Forest)The Fast and the Furious (Rob Cohen, 2001) was a small film about Los Angeles street racers, immigrant car culture, and a cop who didn't want to be one. Twenty-five years on it's a seven-billion-dollar franchise where cars get launched into space and "family" is a marketing strategy. From Echo Park to outer space — what does that arc tell us about Hollywood?This is the first part of Cine of the Times, a new monthly Celebrating Cinema strand. Each month, critic Hugo Emmerzael (Filmkrant, Locarno) and media studies scholar Dan Hassler-Forest (Utrecht University) take one film from the ce...
2026-06-0458 minCelebrating CinemaThe Backrooms, Explained: Kane Parsons & the A24 FeatureKane Parsons made the Backrooms on YouTube when he was only sixteen. Over 200 million views later, A24 has handed him his feature debut, making him the studio's youngest director ever at 20. But the yellow walls still don't end.This week Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom go into the maze and come back with an answer that has very little to do with what's actually inside. The Backrooms, they argue, is about us, stuck in our own feedback loop, drifting through vacant spaces. Online, half the internet thinks Kane Parsons couldn't have directed such a hit...
2026-05-2833 minCelebrating CinemaCannes 2026 Dispatch With Peter BradshawThe Guardian's Peter Bradshaw has been sending dispatches from Cannes since 1999. If you ask him what's changed in 27 years, he claims: nothing. He means it as a compliment.Hugo Emmerzael sits down with the legendary film critic on the Croisette mapping out Peter's journey through film, from his first memory of cinema through the strange, accidental route into one of the most-read critic chairs in the English-speaking press. They get into why only Cannes, among the major film festivals, still places film criticism at the heart of it all.Plus five films that caught Peter's...
2026-05-2644 minCelebrating CinemaCinema Obsession: Why Films Grip Us (Vertigo, Peeping Tom)Cinema's dirtiest little secret is that it's designed to make you want something you can never have.In this episode of Celebrating Cinema, host Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms — LAB111's Head of Cinema — talk about what cinema's fixations have done to them. Laura learned to write in Elvish because of The Lord of the Rings. Tom is still working out how much of his idea of relationships comes from Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). We have all spent more time thinking about actors and characters we will never meet than is probably reasonable. Parasocial attachment used to be the stra...
2026-05-1438 minCelebrating CinemaAmadeus: Is It Really About Mediocrity?Amadeus (1984, Miloš Forman) is not really about Mozart. It's a film about the rest of us — the ones who can recognise genius but will never possess it. Salieri is the true protagonist of this musical biopic. His tragedy isn't jealousy, it's clarity.Now back in cinemas in a new 4K restoration, Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms get into mediocrity, and what it means to be desperate to be a genius and know, quietly, that you won't be. Whether musical genius is even something we value anymore. And if TikTok — full of AI Slop, or a thousand strangers going...
2026-05-0736 minCelebrating CinemaThe Devil Wears Prada 2: Is Miranda Priestly A Feminist Icon Or A Toxic Boss?Miranda once told Andy she was the greatest disappointment of her career. Twenty years on, the question isn't whether she was right — it's what Andy did with it.Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom chat about The Devil Wears Prada and the new sequel and what they have to say about ambition, high fashion, and the specific cruelty of wanting things that cost more than you can reasonably pay. We discuss the consequences for Miranda who is now no longer untouchable — threatened by corporate money that sees a fashion magazine and thinks: overhead. Her methods belong to another era...
2026-04-3038 minCelebrating CinemaA-List Actors Gone Weird (Borgli's The Drama)What is the worst thing you've ever done?This week, hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom watched Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama — and neither of them could stop thinking about it. No spoilers, just their honest reaction to Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's wedding spiralling wonderfully out of control, and what it says about how quickly we judge other people's secrets while sitting on a few of our own.From there: why do the biggest stars on the planet — the ones who are Twilight, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games — keep choosing the strangest roles the moment nobody's watchi...
2026-04-0237 minCelebrating CinemaMees Peijnenburg On A Family, Dutch Cinema, And The Emotional Architecture of DivorceDivorce is rarely one story. It's four, or five — each told from a different room in the same house. In his new film A Family, Mees Peijnenburg's puts the camera with the children, and what he finds there is something most films about broken homes don't often reach: not blame, not sides, but the bewildered love of people too young to know they're supposed to pick one.Producer Elliot Bloom sits down with Mees to talk about the film, Dutch cinema, and the emotional instinct at the heart of all his work — this search for the places wher...
2026-03-3131 minCelebrating CinemaThe Skarsgårds' Year: Pillion, Dead Man's Wire & The History of SoundIs this the year of the Skarsgårds? Hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom kick things off with Pillion, Alexander Skarsgård's domcom about a BDSM relationship that keeps flipping the script on who's actually holding the power. Funnier and sharper than you'd expect, and a lot more honest about relationships.Then brother Bill Skarsgård shows up in Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire, an offbeat thriller based a true-life hostage-taker, Tony Kiritsis, wanting to get back what he was owed. Laura and Elliot discuss the possible message behind Van Sant making this film, right now, in...
2026-03-2727 minCelebrating CinemaIl Conformista: Why Bertolucci's Fascist Aesthetic Still MattersWhen the White House posts a montage of Hollywood blockbusters cut against US drone strikes on Iran, it raises a question Italian cinema has spent seventy years wrestling with: can cinema ever truly resist power — or does it always end up serving it?In this episode, hosts Hugo Emmerzael and Elliot Bloom take Bernardo Bertolucci's newly restored masterpiece Il Conformista (1970) as their guide. Moving through Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò, they trace how a generation of Italian filmmakers tried to dismantle the seduction of fascism by inhabiting its aesthetics — and ask what that...
2026-03-1935 minCelebrating CinemaFrankenstein's Monster: Why Is It Always Ugly? (Shelley to The Bride)Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at nineteen. Cinema has been retelling it ever since - and mainly getting it wrong.Hosts Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms dig into the big question: is Frankenstein the story of a misunderstood outcast, an abandoned child who never asked to exist, or a cautionary tale about scientists who should really know better? More importantly, why is Frankenstein always so ugly?They trace the monster on screen through James Whale's Universal original in 1931, Hammer Horror's gloriously excessive franchise — essentially the Marvel Universe before Marvel existed — and into modern Frankenstein-by-another-name films like Ex M...
2026-03-0543 minCelebrating CinemaWim Wenders Says Cinema Isn't Political. These Films Disagree.At this year's Berlinale Film Festival, Wim Wenders declared that cinema is not political — so hosts Elliot Bloom and Kiriko Mechanicus, both speaking from their own diasporic experiences, decided to put that to the test. Moving through Persepolis, Incendies, Bend It Like Beckham, Girlhood, and Chantal Akerman's News from Home, they explore how diaspora cinema transforms the politics of borders and belonging into something deeply, unavoidably human. Because for anyone who has ever lived between cultures, cinema isn't just art — it's a second home.This episode is part of Diaspora Diaries, LAB111's curated season running January thro...
2026-02-2746 minCelebrating CinemaAre Marty Supreme and Wuthering Heights Worth The Hype?With social media hype swirling around Marty Supreme and Wuthering Heights, hosts Laura Gommans and Hugo Emmerzael unpack the marketing machinery behind both releases—and whether the films can live up to the discourse they’ve generated.Hugo questions whether the outrage over Emerald Fennell’s reimagining of Heathcliff is worth our energy, suggesting we might be better off taking the film at face value instead of getting caught up in manufactured controversy. Meanwhile, Laura traces the evolution of movie marketin, from the event-cinema spectacle of Jaws and Jurassic Park to the viral mythmaking of The Blair Witch...
2026-02-1942 minCelebrating CinemaHow Brokeback Mountain Changed Queer Storytelling—and Should Straight Actors Still Play Queer Roles? w/ Esje SeigfriedHost Laura Gommans chats with cultural critic Esje Seigfried about the lasting impact of Brokeback Mountain 20 years on, and how queer cinema has expanded since. They dig into the genre’s history of tragedy and grief—and ask: can queer stories also be fun, messy and steamy, like Heated Rivalry and Heartstopper? From the melancholia of Happy Together to the risks queer filmmakers take today, they explore the queer stories we want to see more of, and whether it really matters if a straight actor plays a queer role.Get tickets to Brokeback Mountain @ LAB111Get...
2026-02-1230 minCelebrating CinemaFilms by Bad People: Can We Still Watch Them?The death of French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot has reignited a familiar and uncomfortable question: can we separate art from the artist? Long celebrated as a screen legend, Bardot’s legacy is also inseparable from her openly expressed far-right views—forcing a renewed reckoning with how we engage with culturally significant work made by morally compromised figures.In this episode of Celebrating Cinema, hosts Laura Gommans and Hugo Emmerzael reflect on their own responsibilities as viewers and critics. They discuss whether watching films by “bad people” can still offer insight into the art and the person behind it, and...
2026-01-2939 minCelebrating CinemaHamnet and Movies That Are Secret Shakespeare PlaysHosts Laura Gommans and Hugo Emmerzael explore Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet (yes, a movie about Shakespeare and his family), alongside a range of movies that are, in one way or another, really just adaptations of Shakespeare's plays.Laura and Hugo also discuss Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, a film that may have slipped under the radar this awards season, though Ethan Hawke’s magnetic performance is not to be missed, as well as the endearing documentary Tale of Sylian.Get tickets to Hamnet @ LAB111Get tickets to Diaspor...
2026-01-2240 minCelebrating Cinema2000 Metres To Andriivka And Why We Need Documentary Films2000 Metres to Andriivka is an extraordinary and deeply immersive war documentary. The latest film from Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov gets hosts Kiriko and Hugo thinking about why we watch documentaries in the first place and what makes them so powerful right now.They talk about how documentary cinema can respond to the urgency of the world around us, while also finding beauty in raw, unfiltered reality. As they unpack Chernov’s almost video game–like sense of movement and immersion, the conversation opens up into a bigger question: are documentaries showing us something that contemporary fiction films are...
2026-01-1548 minCelebrating CinemaChildren of Men: The Most Realistic Dystopian Film?This week, Laura and Hugo dive into films chosen by you. Drawing from our LAB Suggestions programme, where audiences select their favourite films to be shown on the big screen in Amsterdam, they share their standout picks. From the chilling plausibility of Children of Men to a friendly (but pointed) debate over whether Christopher Nolan’s Inception owes more than a little to Satoshi Kon’s Paprika.Along the way, they share tidbits from conversations with Colin Farrell and Alfonso Cuarón, plus a voice note from one of our listeners whose pick, The NeverEnding Story, is headi...
2026-01-0832 minCelebrating CinemaSentimental Value: Why It Should Win Big at the OscarsIn this final review roundup before the festive season, hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom take a look at some new releases that should be on your radar this winter. Joachim Trier returns with Sentimental Value, a film about filmmaking and a tender companion to his celebrated feature The Worst Person in the World. Harris Dickerson steps behind the camera for the first time with Urchin, a striking debut anchored by a magnetic performance from Frank Dillane. Rose Byrne offers one of the most moving turns of her career as she navigates the weight of single parenthood in Mary...
2025-12-1834 minCelebrating CinemaChristmas Movies: What Makes a Film Festive?Host Laura Gommans, an unabashed devotee of festive films, teams up with Kiriko, who prefers her Christmas viewing a little more Eyes Wide Shut than Love Actually. Together they unpack what truly makes a film “festive,” trade beloved classics and oddball alternatives, and dream up which directors should (or absolutely shouldn’t) make a holiday movie. As they share how cinema shapes their own festive traditions.Get tickets to Holiday Classics @ LAB111Get tickets to LAB111 9th Aniversary PartyGet tickets to Girly Pop: The Holiday @ LAB111
2025-12-1234 minCelebrating CinemaDie My Love, Splitsville, Nouvelle Vague + The World Of Schmutz CinemaIn this review roundup, hosts Laura Gommans and producer Elliot Bloom find themselves divided on Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, a fierce, unflinching portrait of postpartum collapse starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Laura and Elliot are also split on Splitsville, a buoyant physical comedy about the messiness of opening up a marriage. But both are fully won over by Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a playful reframing of the making of À Bout de Souffle told in the grammar of the French New Wave itself.Laura also speaks with Maxi Meissner, curator of Schmutz Cinema, about what...
2025-11-2734 minCelebrating CinemaJack Nicholson: How He Became a Cinema IconTo mark the 50th-anniversary rerelease of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, hosts Hugo Emmerzael and Tom Ooms revisit the career of the man at the center of its enduring power: Jack Nicholson. In this episode, they explore how Nicholson’s performances, volatile and mischievous yet remarkably controlled, forged a style of American screen acting entirely his own.From his countercultural rise in the late ’60s to the defining roles that secured his place as a cinema icon, Hugo and Tom examine the man behind the myth, the craft behind the charisma, and the legacy Nicholson leaves...
2025-11-2057 minCelebrating CinemaThe Smashing Machine, Back To The Future & It Was Just An AccidentThis week, hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom take on three standout releases. Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, a quirky biopic starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as MMA legend Mark Kerr, prompts the question: did it really deserve a fifteen-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival?To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Robert Zemeckis’s blockbuster classic Back to the Future returns, as Laura and Elliot debate whether Marty McFly’s story is truly as relatable as we think.Finally, they unpack Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, the Palme d’Or–winning film mad...
2025-11-1332 minCelebrating CinemaHow Rietland Put Dutch Cinema Back on the Map w/ Director Sven BresserSven Bresser’s debut feature Rietland marks a striking moment for Dutch cinema — the first film in nearly 30 years to be selected for Cannes. This eerie, quietly devastating story follows a reed cutter whose discovery of a murdered girl’s body sets off an introspective search for truth, asking where violence really comes from — the world outside or something buried within. Set against the haunting stillness of the Dutch countryside, the film transforms landscape into witness.Speaking with producer Elliot Bloom, Bresser reflects on why he wanted to tell a story rooted in the land he grew up in, h...
2025-10-0938 minCelebrating CinemaEddington, Rietland and Tilly NorwoodA lot can change in a week at the movies. One Battle After Another—the film we crowned as the year’s best—has stumbled at the box office, but does that tell the full story? Meanwhile, Dutch cinema is making international headlines, though for all the wrong reasons: AI actors. Alongside all this, new films demand our attention: Ari Aster returns with Eddington, a chaotic, unhinged attempt to wrestle with the Covid era, and Sven Bresser’s Rietland might just put The Netherlands back on the cinematic map. Hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom have plenty to unpac...
2025-10-0231 minCelebrating CinemaOne Battle After Another, Yi Yi and HimPaul Thomas Anderson’s $130 million blockbuster might just be the film of the year. In this episode, Laura and Elliot dive into the action-packed, satirical drama while lamenting Leonardo DiCaprio’s phenomenal performance—brilliant on screen, morally dubious off it. They also revel in the timeless elegance of Yi Yi, recently restored and returned to the big screen by Odyssey Classics, and ask why the thriller Him couldn’t live up to the hype, even with Jordan Peele’s name on it.Get tickets to CC Film Club: Challengers @ LAB111Get tickets to One Battle After Another...
2025-09-2536 minCelebrating CinemaChick Flicks: Can the Genre Come Back?What ever happened to the chick flick? At the turn of the millennium, this fizzy, unabashedly feminine genre ruled the box office and sleepovers alike, but somewhere along the way, it slipped out of fashion. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Clueless, now screening at LAB111, Kiriko Mechanicus and Tom Ooms revisit their favorite titles and try to define what a chick flick really is. From iconic gems to forgotten cult favorites, they explore the pleasures, pitfalls, and cultural baggage of the genre, asking whether we still need chick flicks today, or if they’re better left in...
2025-09-1844 minCelebrating CinemaAgnès Varda: Why She's a Cinema IconCoinciding with our Viva Varda retrospective now playing at LAB111 in Amsterdam, Elliot and Kiriko celebrate the life and cinema of French filmmaker and feminist icon Agnès Varda. They discuss why Varda is Kiriko’s ultimate cinematic hero and how her films mirror the warmth, curiosity, and humour of the woman herself. Varda's approach to filmmaking is more than craft, it’s a way of seeing the world, a playful blueprint for us all to live by. Together, they unpack some of her classics and imagine how they might spend a single unforgettable day with Agnès Vard...
2025-09-1046 minCelebrating CinemaThe Deadly Reality of Filming in Gaza: Fatima Hassouna’s Story w/ Sepideh FarsiSepideh Farsi’s Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is a film made in the urgency of the present. Composed through a series of video calls with Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, it documents a life confined in Gaza during the current phase of Israel’s genocide. Speaking with producer Elliot Bloom, Sepideh reflects on why the film is essential at a moment when Palestinian voices are being silenced and when the daily struggle to survive is kept at a distance from the world.This conversation honors the remarkable presence of Fatima, the necessity of bearing witn...
2025-09-0436 minCelebrating CinemaJaws: The Birth of the Summer Blockbuster & the History of Creature FeaturesIn honor of its 50th anniversary, Jaws emerges from the depths of the cinematic sea to remind us why it remains the archetype of the summer blockbuster, forever shaping our fear of the ocean and giving sharks a bad rep. Join Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms as they dissect Spielberg’s masterstroke, from its thrilling mechanics to the happy accidents that made it an instant classic.This episode also explores the evolution of creature features, tracing how this genre once thrived on tangible, terrifying creatures—and why such films are rarely made the same way today. Ge...
2025-08-2743 minCelebrating CinemaWeapons & Sorry, Baby: The Films Everyone's Talking AboutBack from a summer hiatus, Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom reunite to trade notes on the hot new releases. Zach Cregger’s hotly anticipated Weapons has horror fans buzzing—though for producer Elliot, he can only manage to watch it through his fingers. They also dive into Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor’s quietly devastating debut, a tender comedy-drama about how life insists on moving forward no matter what.Get your tickets to Weapons @ LAB111Get your tickets to Sorry, Baby @ LAB111
2025-08-1329 minCelebrating CinemaPlein Soleil and the Art of the Summer MovieThis week on Review Roundup, host Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom head south for the summer with a sun-drenched revisit of Plein Soleil—René Clément’s slow-burning 1960 thriller that introduced the world to a dangerously magnetic Alain Delon, as we dip our toes into the Mr. Ripley universe.Alongside Clément’s shimmering noir, they spotlight more scorchers from LAB111’s Heatwave program—including Aftersun, The Parent Trap, and Do the Right Thing—to explore what keeps us coming back to summer cinema: the heat, the heartbreak, and the haze of memory...or just a good old AC system.
2025-07-0926 minCelebrating CinemaDogme 95, The Phoenician Scheme, Twin Peaks: Why Wes Anderson Should Try Dogme-Style FilmmakingWith Dogme 95 turning 30 this year, hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom reflect on the radical movement that dared to strip cinema down to its bare bones—and what that legacy means today. Returning to last episode's ranking of Wes Anderson's films, the duo discuss The Phoenician Scheme, the American director's latest film that only seems to reinforce the “all style, no substance” label. Rounding out the episode is a look at David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks, soon to be screened at LAB111 on June 18. Laura and Elliot explore its haunting genius and why it still feels ahead of its t...
2025-06-0531 minCelebrating CinemaWes Anderson: Every Movie RankedTo mark LAB111’s full Wes Anderson retrospective, hosts Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms rank every film in his colorful, quirky career. They dive into what makes his work so distinct—asking whether it’s all style and no substance, or if there’s real emotional depth beneath the surface. Along the way, they share which actors they’d love to see in the Wes Anderson universe, and Laura makes the surprising case that one of his films doesn’t have enough color. Producer Elliot, ever the skeptic, adds his own take on the Anderson mythos.Get tickets The...
2025-05-0853 minCelebrating CinemaPersepolis: Growing Up in a RevolutionIn this edition of Review Roundup, host Laura Gommans is joined by Elliot Bloom to dive into the re-release of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s searing, stylish memoir of growing up in Iran through revolution, repression, and rebellion—newly restored by Odyssey Classics. They also take on Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag, a spy thriller that trades action for dry wit and quiet unease . And with Showgirls back in sparkling form for its 30th anniversary, they ask: was Elizabeth Berkley in on the joke all along?Get tickets to Persepolis @ LAB111Get tickets to Showgirls @ LAB111
2025-04-3028 minCelebrating CinemaIs Alex Garland's Warfare an Anti-War Movie?Did audiences jump the gun on Alex Garland’s Warfare? Before it's release, the brutally realist portrait of America’s war in Iraq was deemed just another army recruitment movie, but Hugo Emmerzael and Laura Gommans definitely don't see it that way. Also: Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl gives Pamela Anderson a tender, neon-lit comeback, but did it warrant the awards hype it got? Plus, an interview with Carmen Chaplin on 'Chaplin: Spirit of the Tramp', her reframing of Charlie Chaplin’s legacy through his Roma heritage—an overdue look at the outsider beneath the bowler hat.Listen t...
2025-04-1650 minCelebrating CinemaThe Room: The Best Worst Movie Ever Made?Hailed as the Citizen Kane of bad movies, The Room (Tommy Wiseau, 2003) has transcended its origins as an enigmatic vanity project to become a bona fide cult phenomenon. But how did it achieve such status, and what, beneath its layers of unintentional surrealism, is it really about? Hosts Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms unravel the film’s bizarre legacy, offering an essential guide to its chaotic production, the rituals of its legendary interactive screenings, and its place in the pantheon of so-bad-it’s-good cinema.Get tickets to The Room @ LAB111Get tickets to CC Film Club...
2025-03-1934 minCelebrating CinemaBong Joon-ho's Bloody Brilliance and the Rise of Korean CinemaWhen Parasite won Best Picture, it put Korean cinema in the global spotlight, but it was the result of decades of bold filmmaking. With Mickey 17 now out, it’s the perfect time to dive into the bloody brilliance of the Korean New Wave. Hosts Laura Gommans and Kiriko Mechanicus explore Korea’s obsession with vengeance, shaped by its turbulent history and uncensored filmmaking. They also examine why Bong Joon-ho’s Hollywood work feels so different from his Korean films.Korean cinema captures vengeance like no other, blending brutal violence with raw emotion. While Bong mixes social...
2025-03-1255 minCelebrating CinemaMickey 17: Do Two Pattinsons Make It Twice the Fun?In our latest review round-up, Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 has Laura and Hugo at odds, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths steals their hearts, and Brazilian awards darling I’m Still Here sparks a heated debate between our two hosts—is it Oscar bait or a worthy contender? Tune in and have your say on this month’s biggest releases!Book tickets to Mickey 17 @ LAB111Book tickets to Hard Truths @ LAB111Book tickets to I'm Still Here @ LAB111Book tickets to CC Film Club: Old Boy @ LAB111
2025-03-0636 minCelebrating CinemaMusical Biopics: Can You Still Make a Good One?With a new wave of nostalgia-driven musical biopics—A Complete Unknown, Better Man, Maria—flooding theaters, hosts Laura Gommans and Hugo Emmerzael ask: what does it take to make a great musical biopic these days? A genre weighed down by formulaic storytelling and its own well-worn bingo card of narrative beats, the musical biopic too often settles for a greatest-hits retelling rather than embracing the radical possibilities of cinema. In this episode, we revisit the films that transcend mere homage, interrogate why audiences remain captivated by these glossy reenactments, and consider how the genre might break free from its own...
2025-02-1349 minCelebrating CinemaDoes AI in The Brutalist Even Matter?In our first edition of the Review Roundup, a new biweekly cinematic dispatch, Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom get into the latest films everyone's talking about. From the swirling controversies surrounding Brady Corbet’s Academy-nominated The Brutalist to the unexpected Marvel-like crossover in Pablo Larraín’s Maria, Laura and Elliot share their reactions. Also in focus: the enduring allure of Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour, a film as provocative and hypnotic now as it was upon its release, returning to the big screen in all its dreamlike splendour.Book tickets to The Brutalist @ LAB111Boo...
2025-02-0631 minCelebrating CinemaJeroen Houben on Torch Song (2025)Fresh off winning the Dutch Film Critics’ Choice Award at the Netherlands Film Festival, LAB111 resident filmmaker Jeroen Houben joins host Kiriko Mechanicus to discuss his bittersweet, offbeat drama Torch Song. The film tells the story of an eccentric former pop singer who reconnects with her estranged half-brother in the Netherlands, only to unravel his life when she discovers a muse in his girlfriend. Houben delves into his aim to craft a raw, nuanced portrayal of a struggling artist, sidestepping tired clichés, while offering a fresh perspective on Amsterdam through the eyes of an international community. He also ref...
2025-01-2428 minCelebrating CinemaWim Wenders: Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire & the Road MovieJoin us for a cinematic road trip through the films of visionary director Wim Wenders, whose work has redefined cinematic storytelling. In conjunction with the LAB111 program Drifters and Dreamers: The Films of Wim Wenders and the stunning 4K restoration of Paris, Texas (1984), Tom Ooms and Elliot Bloom explore the recurring themes of transience, memory, and the search for meaning that define Wenders' expansive body of work.Known for his haunting cinematography (often crafted by Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller) and his deeply humanistic perspective, Wenders’ films are both personal reflections and universal meditations on existence. We’ll examin...
2024-11-131h 10Celebrating CinemaTarsem Singh on The Fall (2006)Visionary director Tarsem Singh joins Kiriko to reflect on The Fall (2006), once dubbed by the filmmaker himself as “the most expensive passion project” until Megalopolis. A film nearly derailed by Harvey Weinstein, The Fall has since been reclaimed by a dedicated fanbase, championed by figures like Roger Ebert. Now with a stunning 4K restoration, this cult classic is ripe for rediscovery—an ode to the enduring power of storytelling. Seventeen years in the making, spanning 27 countries, the film captures breathtaking beauty—both human and natural—in a visual tapestry unlike any other. Tarsem shares the challenges of realizing such an ambitio...
2024-10-1945 minCelebrating CinemaFemale Stereotypes in Cinema We Love (Femme Fatale to Manic Pixie)There is nothing as hypnotizing than the larger-than-life women that we see on the screen—captivating, outrageous, and irresistibly seductive. Join us as we celebrate some of cinema’s most iconic female archetypes, from the bold ladies who are both excessive and exciting to the enigmatic witches who cast their spell through exaggerated feminine mannerisms. To coincide with the "Girls of Plenty" program now running at LAB111 and the release of her illuminating essay Liggend Naakt, film journalist and curator Basje Boer guides us through the magic of femininity in film. Together, we’ll delve into the performances of some o...
2024-10-031h 14Celebrating CinemaLaura Hermanides on Witte Flits (2024)Fresh off her feature debut opening the Netherlands Film Festival, one of LAB111's resident filmmakers Laura Hermanides joins Hugo to discuss Witte Flits—a project that began as a documentary but evolved into a striking fictional narrative. The film tackles the complex, timely debate surrounding euthanasia, particularly in cases of unbearable psychological sufferings. Inspired by a real-life story, Laura examines whether the theory survives the reality, focusing largely on the profound challenge parents face in overcoming their love to set their child free of pain. In this candid conversation, she reflects on the film's journey—from working with a 70...
2024-09-2654 minCelebrating CinemaOrson Welles: Truth, Trickery & The Third ManOrson Welles stands as a visionary filmmaker, a notorious showman, and an enigmatic storyteller who blurred the lines between fact and fiction. In this episode, Tom and Elliot dive deep into the life and legend of one of America's most celebrated yet elusive filmmakers, exploring the enduring allure of his work. As we celebrate the re-releases of The Third Man and F for Fake here at LAB111, we unravel the layers of myth Welles wove around himself—always performing, always crafting his narrative. Was he ever telling the truth, or was it all part of his grand act? Listen to...
2024-09-181h 04Celebrating CinemaDavid Hinton on Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger (2024)After his 1980s collaboration with legendary filmmaker Michael Powell on a documentary chronicling Powell’s career, director David Hinton knew the story was only half told. Now, Hinton returns with the complete portrait of The Archers, Britain’s visionary filmmaking duo, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. In this episode, Hinton sits down with host Elliot to reveal why only Martin Scorsese could narrate the intertwined lives of these cinematic icons, the enduring magic of Powell & Pressburger's films, and how their partnership—rooted in friendship and migration—redefined British cinema. This documentary isn’t just a tribute, it’s a celebration...
2024-09-0531 minCelebrating CinemaHenry Selick on Coraline (2009)To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the acclaimed stop-motion epic Coraline, Laura Gommans had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Henry Selick about his illustrious career and lifelong love for cinema. From scary tales at Aunt Lib's house to being terrified by the cyclops in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Henry reveals the origins of his eerie yet tender storytelling style. His obsession with stop-motion animation has not only pushed the boundaries of filmmaking but also reimagined what children's narratives can be. Henry passionately explains why it's crucial for children to experience a touch of fear in films, believing...
2024-08-1547 minCelebrating CinemaRomcoms: What Happened to Them? (with Laura Gommans)From screwball comedies to the golden age of 90s and early 00s romcoms, our love for romance remains strong. In this episode, entertainment journalist Laura Gommans joins us to discuss our favorite romantic comedies and what makes them so special. What appears to be a straightforward genre leads us to question whether the familiar clichés define a romcom or if there's more to it. As our values of love and romance have evolved, it seems the essence of romcoms has stagnated. Could the decline of mid-budget movies be a factor? Despite shifts in the industry, the audience's appetite f...
2024-07-251h 00Celebrating CinemaLukas Moodysson on Fucking Åmål (1998)Lukas Moodysson shares with Hugo his experiences of making Fucking Åmål, how a story close to his heart has taken on a life of its own and evolved into a queer classic. Reflecting on his journey as a filmmaker, the Swedish director discusses his career and the recurring themes at the core of his films: rebellion, loneliness, sincerity, and humor.
Get your tickets for Fucking Åmål @ LAB111.
2024-07-1130 minCelebrating CinemaDutch Cinema: The Directors Worth Celebrating (Verhoeven, Sluizer)For a country known for wholeheartedly consuming cinema from abroad, the Netherlands has never been great at celebrating their own Dutch filmmakers and their films. With the re-release of George Sluizer's Spoorloos, one of the greatest Dutch films ever made, we explore what holds us back from recognizing the great directors of our small nation. Could the prevalence of lousy vacation romcoms in our cinemas indicate a sense of cultural insecurity? And how are the next wave of Dutch filmmakers responding to the cringe we feel about our language? Find out why it's about time we celebrated films from...
2024-06-2852 minCelebrating CinemaSean Price Williams and Talia Ryder on The Sweet East (2023)Sean Price Williams, a stalwart in American indie cinematography, has boldly embarked on his directorial debut with The Sweet East. This exhilarating journey, starring the captivating Talia Ryder, serves as a critical love letter to the fractured landscape of America's East Coast. In a candid discussion for our Celebrating Cinema podcast , both Sean and Talia share, with our host Sophie, their collaborative experience on this wild road trip. Find out how Sean's eclectic cinematic influences enrich his storytelling, while Talia's insights breathe authenticity into the character of Lillian. By the end you might just be left wondering if Sean...
2024-05-1632 minCelebrating CinemaBaloji on Augure (2023)Baloji is a prolific francophone rapper, known for his visually striking and poetic style. So his turn to filmmaking only seemed like a natural evolution of his talents. Speaking with the Belgian-Congolese director, Elliot discusses Baloji's feature debut Augure, unpacking this incantatory drama about identity and grief.
Inspired by the weight of his own name, which took on the loaded meaning of “evil sorcerer” in colonial times, Baloji explains the clashes of culture, mixing Western & African folklore. Raised by the do-it-yourself mentality of hip-hop, Elliot explores with Baloji his role in not only writing and directing but also...
2024-04-2541 minCelebrating CinemaNicolas Cage: The Actor Behind the MemesAmidst the abundance of parodies, memes, and impersonations, there exists an undeniable uniqueness to the American actor Nicolas Cage. It’s easy to dismiss him as an over-the-top actor, yet beneath the surface lies a talent that positions him among the greatest actors of our time. With an unconventional, almost avant-garde approach to acting that defies the conventions of naturalism prevalent in most mainstream cinema, Cage's body of work invites a deeper exploration.On this episode of Celebrating Cinema we open the Cage and analyze the eclectic performances, the larger than life persona, and how in recent ye...
2024-03-071h 08Celebrating CinemaSex in Cinema: Where Did It Go? (with Laura Gommans)After a steamy winter featuring Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, the internet was sent into a frenzy over - a fairly mediocre - erotic murder drama, that had copious amounts of sex. Naturally, Laura Gommans, friend of the podcast, was left questioning what happened to all the sex scenes in cinema today.The 90s marked an era of iconic scenes of intimacy in films like Wild Things, Cruel Intentions, Eyes Wide Shut, Indecent Proposal, Risky Business, Basic Instinct, it was a horny time. In contrast, studios like A24 are currently showcasing some truly jarring sex scenes. How did we...
2024-02-0852 minCelebrating CinemaSofia Coppola: Her Films, From Virgin Suicides to Priscilla"Obviously Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl." (Cecilia, Virgin Suicides)Affectionately known as cinema's favorite 'Nepo Baby', Sofia Coppola has come a long way from her initial appearance in her father's iconic trilogy, The Godfather. Now standing as a unique auteur truly shaping the narrative of the 'girl era.'With pitch-perfect precision, Coppola translates the fabric of girlhood, revealing the heartaches and struggles of her characters as they journey into adulthood. These dreamy personas are stuck in a patriarchal society, always yearning for something more, a taste of authenticity and freedom beyond their...
2024-01-1157 minCelebrating CinemaStudio Ghibli & Miyazaki: Why the Magic Feels So Real“I would like to make a film to tell children "it's good to be alive".”― Hayao MiyazakiIt's hard to find someone who doesn't love Hayao Miyazaki's films. Regardless of age, there is something profound to be gained from watching any of this Japanese animator's masterpieces. In this celebration of Miyazaki and the wonders he has created, we delve deep into the nostalgic yet fictional universe of Studio Ghibli. For many of us, our earliest film memories are of the Totoro, Kiki the Witch, Princess Mononoke, or Spirited Away. But how have his films shaped our worldvi...
2023-12-2957 minCelebrating CinemaPassages (2023): A Conversation with Ira SachsPassages (2023) by Ira Sachs sets the tone for the cold change in seasons - a people’s favourite that has got us all up in our feels.
In conversation with Sophie, writer-director Ira Sachs candidly shares how his personal experiences of living in Paris & the mesmerising Franz Rogowski helped shape such a poignant film. From obsessively watching 3 films a day to falling in love with the works of Japanese icon Yasujirō Ozu - Ira reveals the ecstasy & risk in filmmaking.
If you missed the chance to watch it in cinema, it's available still on https://mubi...
2023-11-1431 minCelebrating CinemaDavid Fincher: His Films & Curious Obsessions"What's the first rule of Fight Club?" -- "We do not talk about Mank."Refusing to be called an auteur, David Fincher has certainly crafted his own style to become the master of the psychological thriller. But what exactly makes a Fincher classic? From his deftly choreographed camera movements, to his relentless number of takes and a fixation of grim colour schemes - we dive deep into world of the American director.Much like his protagonists, Fincher is an obsessive perfectionist driven by the search for the truth. As if they're carrying the burden of...
2023-11-071h 41Celebrating CinemaMartin Scorsese: His Films, Faith & RedemptionWidely regarded as one of the most influential directors of our time, Martin Scorsese has made some of the most exciting cinema classics of the past 50 years. Moving through Scorsese's filmography, we reflect on how his own existential inquiries on faith, redemption, obsession and cinema itself lie at the heart of his kinetic films. Why does he return time and time again to the same narrative of the self-absorbed, Jesus-complex man come from? A true lover film film, championing cinema’s rich history, and a tireless supporter of film preservation, we also discuss how his th...
2023-10-0557 minCelebrating CinemaWerner Herzog: The Ecstatic Truth & His FilmsWith an oeuvre-spanning exhibition in Eye Filmmuseum, and multiple classics like Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Aguirre, Wrath Of God (1972) returning to the big screens of LAB111, we sit down to discuss the ‘ecstatic truths’ and brilliant fictions of German film auteur par excellence: Werner Herzog.Show Notes & Films Mentioned
2023-06-2856 minCelebrating CinemaWitches in Cinema: Recasting a Feminist Icon (with Helena Castro)With the multidisciplinary film program Witch Way Now: Recasting A Feminist Icon heading into its second month of film screenings, talks, workshops, and performances at LAB111 and Paradiso, we invite Witch Way Now co-curator Helena Castro to discuss in-depth the depiction of the witch and witchcraft in cinema. Is the witch a feminist icon? How has the image and interpretation of the witch changed over the decades? And what can we learn about representation through these cinematic perspectives? This and more on this very open-hearted and therefore hour-long episode of Celebrating Cinema. The Witch...
2023-05-301h 09Celebrating CinemaAlejandro Jodorowsky: The Alchemy of His CinemaCelebrating the 50th anniversary of Alejandro Jodorowsky's mystical magnum opus The Holy Mountain, three classics by the controversial Chilean surrealist return to cinemas in the Netherlands nationwide. With Sophie replacing producer Elliot, who will be traveling the world for a while, our hosts Tom, Kiriko, and Hugo discuss the impact of 60s and 70s transgressive cinema, the heritage of the counter-culture, where the provoking works of Jodorowsky fit in, and if the spirit of those times and their cultural expressions live on in our current cinematic culture.You can find tickets for our Jodorowsky scr...
2023-02-231h 04Celebrating CinemaFilm Noir: Tales From Nightmare AlleyTake a trip down the dark alleys of Film Noir, filled with unscrupulous men, state corruption and crimes waiting to be solve. Listen to our hosts' favourite urban thrillers, as they try to figure out what Film Noir even is. A genre? A style? Or a mode of production that dominated Hollywood post World-War II. Inspired by our current program Tales From Nightmare Alley, we dive deep into this infamous moment of American cinema that forever marked the cinematic landscape.
With our partners Mubi, you can enjoy 30 days free of handpicked cinema at mubi...
2022-12-0857 minCelebrating CinemaEl Planeta (2021): A Conversation with Amalia UlmanAs part of our new partnership with Mubi, we had the exclusive chance to speak with Artist-turned-filmmaker Amalia Ulman about her feature debut El Planeta. This dark comedy, set in Amalia's childhood town Gijon, is a fresh twist on the precarious economic conditions the working-class can find themselves in. In this candid interview Amalia shares what it was like to make her first film, co-starring with her mother, and why her work across different mediums is so narrative driven.
You can enjoy 30 days free of handpicked cinema at mubi.com/lab111, including Amalia Ulman's E...
2022-11-2418 minCelebrating CinemaJean-Luc Godard & the Nouvelle Vague: A TributeHave you ever wondered what made French director Jean-Luc Godard so great? Or did you never quite understand what exactly the 'French Nouvelle Vague' was? Well in true Godard-fashion, this is a real jump-cut style episode that untangles the life of a film genius. From his greatness to some ugly truths, this is a true ode to both a director and period of film that forever changed cinema. With our partners Mubi, you can enjoy 30 days free of handpicked cinema at mubi.com/lab111.
2022-11-1047 min
Celebrating CinemaHorror Films: Nightmares & Nostalgia Pt.2 (Imagine Festival)Joined by the programmers of Imagine Film Festival, the largest celebration for fantastic film in the Netherlands, showcasing the best in fantasy, horror and science fiction. Lauren & Stan along with Tom & Hugo reminisce their first turn down spooky lane. Along this nostalgic path of agreeable scarring, they question what really is a horror in today’s film landscape.With our partners Mubi, you can enjoy 30 days free of handpicked cinema at mubi.com/lab111, and discover some of the Flick or Treats mentioned in this episode.
2022-10-2155 min
Celebrating CinemaGuilty Pleasure Movies (with Basje Boer)It’s about time we absolve ourselves of the guilt we feel when enjoying our personal favourites! Writer Basje Boer joins us again to discuss why we should be liberated from the stigma of loving overtly shlocky action films, non-sensical comedies, and schmaltzy teen dramas and romcoms. We question what exactly we are suppose to feel guilty of and how this can limit your own unique love of cinema.-We want to know what your supposed “guilty pleasures”! Send them in to celebratingcinema@lab111.nl with a brief description of why you love your select...
2021-12-0249 min
Celebrating CinemaJapanese Cinema, Expanded (with Julian Ross)In conjunction with the upcoming Camera Japan Festival at LAB111, a celebration of upcoming and contemporary Japanese films, we explore our own personal relationship to what Japanese cinema offers. The wealth of Japanese films are too rich to ever justly cover in a single episode, so instead we are joined by programmer and researcher of Japanese cinema Julian Ross, to explore an overlooked genre of Japanese film - Expanded Cinema, a radical form that subverts our understanding of what cinema can be and the audience's relationship to the screen.
2021-09-2350 min
Celebrating CinemaThe Summer Blockbuster: A HistoryIt's the big bang of both our 10th episode and the origins of the summer blockbuster, although this episode is not quite like the high-end production of your usual Hollywood films! With Hugo at Venice film festival, Kiriko & Tom attempt to determine the definition of a (summer) blockbuster, is it more than just a "box-office hit"? In conjunction with the upcoming Suspicious Minds program, a retrospective of Denis Villeneuve's work, we also explore what is a so-called "intelligent blockbuster", skeptical of Christopher Nolan and his apparent pioneering of this heightened term. By exploring the history of the summer blockbuster, w...
2021-09-0948 min
Celebrating CinemaDispatch: Cannes Film Festival 2021Before our Celebrating Cinema podcast takes a summer hiatus, we had the chance to check in with our film critic Hugo, for a special episode on Cannes Film Festival! Hugo, part of a jury in Cannes and chatting to us from the French Riviera, joins LAB111 programmer Tom, who wrestles with his fomo, as Hugo considers this the greatest edition of the renowned festival. With his love for lists Tom runs us through his own picks and potential inspirations for future programs at LAB111, mixed with Hugo’s anecdotes of socialising with Adèle Haenel.
2021-07-2247 min
Celebrating CinemaFood in Film: Framing Foods & Tomatophilia (Joost Broeren-Huitenga)A director is much like a chef, and it is no surprise that directors often use cooking analogies when describing their own process. However, what is perhaps unclear is how a tomato actually symbolises the very essence of cinema, and why eating a blood sausage or a strawberry risotto could correlate to watching a Quentin Tarantino or Sofia Coppola film. Joining us in this celebration of food and cinema is film critic Joost Broeren-Huitenga, who together with his wife, Nienke Huitenga, also explores this unique relationship on their website Een Bord Vol Cinema. Tell us your own stories of...
2021-07-1545 min
Celebrating CinemaCinemas Reopen: Back in Business (Summer 2021)We are back in business! Cinemas have finally reopened and we are here to celebrate. 4 proclaimed cinephiles and yet only one of us has enjoyed the grand reopening. We have our first casualty already caught up in the summer blockbuster heatwave. Join us as we revel in all the glories cinemas have to offer now they are finally open again! Tell us what has made cinemas reopening so special to you - celebratingcinema@lab111.nl
2021-06-2440 min
Celebrating CinemaThe Male Gaze & Female Desire in Cinema (with Basje Boer)Eroticism should be found in balance! Now isn’t it about time that women in cinema got to look back, shifting the gaze back on to the male, or at least express what it is like to be looked at through the male gaze that has dominated cinema. Basje Boer, film critic and author, joins us in celebrating female desire in cinema and exploring the complex gender dynamics within cinema and the effect it has on us as an audience. Our film club choice The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, 2017) kickstarts our discussion, a hot take on what happens when you eq...
2021-06-1758 min
Celebrating CinemaWong Kar-Wai & Representation in Cinema (with Pete Wu)Western cinema has mostly defined our movie crushes to be predominantly white, often leaving non-white characters to be reduced to caricatures, particularly East-Asian characters. To celebrate the 4K restoration release of some Wong Kar-Wai classics, we are joined by author, filmmaker and activist Pete Wu to dissect the representation of East-Asian characters in Western cinema and how WKW directly opposes such limited portrayals. We even have an exclusive from Wong Kar-Wai himself who adds his own voice to this insightful discussion. As always, if you have any questions you would like us to discuss or stories about cinema you...
2021-06-0349 min
Celebrating CinemaWWII in Cinema: Global Perspectives (with Kim Kokosky Deforchaux)The month of May is always a period of remembrance, commemorating all those who lost their lives during the Second World War both as victims of genocide and those fighting for their freedom. With screenwriter, director, and fellow list-lover Kim Kokosky Deforchaux, we take a look at how different countries through cinema and film deal with trauma and this particular period of history. As always, if you have any questions you’d like us to discuss or stories about cinema you would like to share then email us at celebratingcinema@lab111.nl.
2021-05-2050 min
Celebrating CinemaHorror Films: Nightmares & NostalgiaWhat should be a light-hearted reflection on the films of nightmares & nostalgia, which helped form our presenters and their viewing habits, quickly reveals itself to be a psychoanalysis of the 3 different approaches to parenting and movie-watching. If that is not enough drama for you, Tom returns with even more lists, reflecting on the best and worse rehashing in cinema as well as considering what the future may entail. If you have more questions you’d like us to discuss, or stories worth sharing then send us an email at celebratingcinema@lab111.nl
2021-05-0647 min
Celebrating CinemaThe Oscars: Our XL Awards SpecialThat’s right people, it’s Oscars time! We’ve certainly got that Oscar fever, but more a fever of chaotic distress. Instead of the usual baseless predictions, we try to make sense of the Academy Awards and this American institution that seems to dominate the industry. Our equally chaotic film choice for this episode, The Congress (Folman, 2013), certainly helps us dissect the flaws within the current institution. All the while, Tom tries grappling with the power of lists, and his picks of Oscar Award moments; Kiriko provides a perfect rendition of her favourite acceptance speech, despite her indifference to the...
2021-04-221h 02
Celebrating CinemaDocumentary Ethics (with Miriam Guttmann)We are delighted to welcome Miriam Guttmann, director of the recent VPRO documentary Seeds of Deceit (Het Zaat Van Karbaat), who joins us for a discussion on the ethics of documentary-making. Miriam provides a very candid insight into the large web of complexities she found herself navigating through, during the filming of her Sundance selected film. In this episode we explore the purpose of a documentary maker, a director’s relationship to the characters of the story they’re directing and where their duty lies. We unpack these more abstract questions through the lens of Miriam’s brilliant short docuse...
2021-04-0838 min
Celebrating CinemaReality, Fiction, and The Truman Show (1998)After celebrating our love for cinema, we turn to the question of whether cinema is actually all a lie. Do the fictions we consume shape our own realities? Can our lived experiences ever be wholly original and unique? In this episode our 3 hosts unpack these big questions and discuss why Brittany Spears is the modern day Truman, if we are happy living in our own matrix, as well as our most lived cinematic moments. Get in touch (celebratingcinema@lab111.nl) and let us know your thoughts!
2021-03-2546 min
Celebrating CinemaWhy Should We Celebrate Cinema?To kick off this new podcast series we thought it would only be right to reflect upon the very thing that has brought us together - our love for cinema! Join us and hear from 3 very different perspectives as they pull back the curtain from the screen and even themselves. We also get to hear from some of you who have shared your own love for the big screen. DISCLAIMER: Do not worry this is not a Clint Eastwood podcast despite Hugo's best efforts (listen to find out). Keep writing in to celebratingcinema@lab111.nl we always love hearing...
2021-03-1147 min
Celebrating CinemaWelcome to Celebrating Cinema: A Film PodcastAn introduction to the podcast series produced by LAB111, outlining our vision and intentions for all future episodes. Meet our hosts: Tom Ooms (Film Programmer), Hugo Emmerzael (Film Critic) and Kiriko Mechanicus (Journalist and Filmmaker), as well as our producer Elliot Bloom.
2021-03-0203 min