Cinéclub Podcast

Joe Tindall
  • 5.0 (1)
  • FILM INTERVIEWS

Film podcast based in Brighton, UK. cineclub.substack.com

  1. 12/08/2025

    Episode #20 - A Ghost Story for Christmas B-sides w/ Ray Newman

    The BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series ran from 1971 to 1978, and there are just eight episodes. But there is also a whole constellation of other films that have a similar strange, unsettling atmosphere. This episode explores three such examples. My guest is Ray Newman, and our conversation was prompted by a blog post he wrote, listing a series of these A Ghost Story for Christmas-esque films. From this post we chose three films: 1979’s Casting the Runes, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the main man behind the BBC series; Baby, an episode of Nigel Kneale’s 1976 series Beasts; and The Woman in Black from 1989, also written by Kneale and directed by Herbert Wise. Ray really knows his ghost stories, and recently published a second collection of his own, Intervals of Darkness, which we discuss at the end of the episode. Links to book, along with Ray’s original blog post and more can be found in the shownotes below. You can also find this podcast on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Shownotes * Buy issue 2 of the Cinéclub fanzine * 44 pages w/ articles on Conrad Rooks’ bizarre, star-studded countercultural artifact Chappaqua, some shorter pieces on punk and film, and an essay linking Bertrand Tavernier’s 1974 film The Watchmaker of St. Paul (also known as The Clockmaker of St. Paul) to Paul Vecchiali’s La Machine from 1977. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £2.50 plus postage. Shipping internationally. * Ray’s website * The infinite supply of BBC ghost stories for Christmas (also here as a list on Letterboxd) * Info on Intervals of Darkness * Derek Johnson’s book chapter The British Ghost Story at Christmas from his book Haunted Seasons: Television Ghost Stories for Christmas and Horror for Halloween - the source I used for background reading on the association between ghost stories and Christmas This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    51 min

  2. 11/21/2025

    Episode #19 - La Machine (Paul Vecchiali, 1977) w/ Nick Newman

    Cinéclub Podcast number 19 is a special episode because it’s a tie-in with the release of the second edition of the Cinéclub fanzine. This issue features an article on Conrad Rooks’ bizarre, star-studded countercultural artifact Chappaqua, with a focus on the long saga of its production, some shorter pieces on punk and film, and an essay linking Bertrand Tavernier’s 1974 film The Watchmaker of St. Paul (also known as The Clockmaker of St. Paul) to Paul Vecchiali’s La Machine from 1977. It’s £2.50 plus postage, shipping internationally, and you can buy a copy here. It’s the latter film we’ll be focusing on in today’s episode, and to do so I was joined by Nick Newman. Nick is Managing Editor at The Film Stage, a freelance programmer, and most recently he launched a podcast, Emulsion, which I heartily recommend. As Nick mentioned in our conversation, I knew he was a fan of La Machine because he Tweeted about it around the time of Paul Vecchiali’s death in 2023. His Tweet stuck with me because this film is so often overlooked, even amongst the filmography of a still neglected director like Vecchiali. In the past few years, a few of Vecchiali’s films have been restored and re-released: in this episode we mention L’Etrangleur from 1970 and Rosa la rose, fille publique from 1986, recently reissued in the UK on Blu-ray by Radiance Films, but La Machine remains difficult to see. If you would like to see it, see the show notes below. Nick and I start by discussing Vecchiali’s background and his production company, Diagonale. We then get into the film, exploring its approach to genre, its representation of mass media, what it has to say about the death penalty, the reasons why the film still resonates today, and much more. I started by asking Nick about the broader post-New Wave cinema landscape in France and how this generation of filmmakers differed from the nouvelle vague that preceded them. Chapters 00:02:39 - post-New Wave / post-1968 French cinema 00:11:18 - Paul Vecchiali 00:23:04 - Diagonale 00:27:43 - La Machine and the crime genre 00:37:55 - La Machine as commentary on the death penalty 00:46:48 - the courtroom sequence 00:51:14 - why La Machine still resonates today You can also find this podcast on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Shownotes * Buy issue 2 of the Cinéclub fanzine * 44 pages w/ articles on Conrad Rooks’ bizarre, star-studded countercultural artifact Chappaqua, some shorter pieces on punk and film, and an essay linking Bertrand Tavernier’s 1974 film The Watchmaker of St. Paul (also known as The Clockmaker of St. Paul) to Paul Vecchiali’s La Machine from 1977. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £2.50 plus postage. Shipping internationally. * Watch La Machine (I am sharing these links as, to the best of my knowledge, the film is not currently commercially available) * On YouTube (no English subtitles) * Via Google Drive * Nick’s writing, and episodes of his Emulsion podcast, at The Film Stage * Some useful articles on Paul Vecchiali * Essay on Rosa la rose, fille publique by Steve Macfarlane for Metrograph * Notebook Primer: Diagonale and Co. by Patrick Preziosi for Mubi Notebook * Diagonale and Us by Axelle Ropert for Screen Slate * Paul Vecchiali, a Cinematic Franc-Tireur by Daniel Fairfax for Senses of Cinema This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    57 min

  3. 10/06/2025

    Episode #18 - Ed Wood with Will Sloan

    Cinéclub Podcast #18 is a conversation with Will Sloan. You may know Will from his own podcasts: The Important Cinema Club which he co-hosts with Justin Decloux and Michael and Us, which he does with Luke Savage, which is a broader politics and culture podcast. In this episode, though, we’re focusing on Will’s new book, a study of the notorious Ed Wood, which is called Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood, USA. If you’re not familiar at all with Ed Wood, it’s probably best to first acknowledge that he is mostly famous for being a bad director and known particular for Plan 9 from Outer Space which is a common contender for worst film ever made. However he also has a cult following of admirers and even his own Hollywood biopic, directed by Tim Burton in 1994. Will’s book makes the case for Wood as an auteur, a filmmaker with a strong and distinctive creative voice despite, or in some cases maybe because of, the limited resources with which he worked and his limited ability to follow the accepted conventions of Hollywood film. Will writes the following to summarise a typical Ed Wood film: it is “ a pastiche of narrative/stylistic elements from other films; attempts to tell a story at a scale far beyond what its production value can accoomondate; features a case comprised of noth veteran former stars and unknown, awkward newcomers; and attempts natrualisim, but misses the mark, achieving instead an uncanny or dreamlike ambience.” Will and I discussed the personal nature of Wood’s debut, Glen or Glenda; the otherworldly, dreamlike quality of Jail Bait, his attempt at a film noir; the distinctive authorial voice in The Beauty and the Beast, every bit an Ed Wood film despite being directed by somebody else; the uncanny, atmospheric nature of Plan 9 from Outer Space, the self-awareness of The Sinister Urge, the invented happy ending of Tim Burton’s affectionate biopic, and the unexpectedly fun and upbeat feel of his late-period sexploitation film Take It Out in Trade, and much more. Chapters * Glen or Glenda (1953) - 00:07:46 * Jail Bait (1954) - 00:15:07 * The Bride and the Beast (Adrian Weiss, 1958) - 00:19:33 * Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957) - 00:24:10 * The Sinister Urge (1970) - 00:27:26 * Later career: sexploitation, pornography, novels - 00:31:39 * Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994) - 00:35:12 * Take It Out in Trade (1970) - 00:40:20 You can also find this episode on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Shownotes * Will Sloan’s book, Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood, USA at OR Books * Will’s excellent Substack * The Important Cinema Club podcast * Michael and Us podcast * I’m linking to Pocket Casts, but of course, the podcasts are available on all the platforms you’d expect * The Ed Wood episode of Jonathan Ross’ The Incredibly Strange Film Show (1989) * Andrew Sarris’ Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962 * Embarassingly I say this essay is from 1960 in the podcast. The correct year of writing is in the very title of the essay… * Buy the Cinéclub fanzine * 52 pages w/ articles on cinematic representations of the German urban guerilla group The Red Army Faction, Claude Chabrol’s 1962 film The Third Lover’ and some pieces on punks in cinema. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £3.50 plus postage. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    1h 17m

  4. 09/01/2025

    Episode #17 - Marleen Gorris with Sue Thornham

    Cinéclub Podcast #17 is a conversation with Sue Thornham on the Dutch feminist filmmaker Marleen Gorris. Gorris made her debut with A Question of Silence in 1982. A provocative feminist film which uses and subverts popular genre conventions, as you’ll hear, it stirred up controversy amongst critics, particularly here in the UK. It was the first in what she envisaged as a series of four films, and was followed by Broken Mirrors, The Last Island and Antonia’s Line. The latter brought Gorris more commercial attention, attracting positive press, widespread distribution and even winning the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1996. She went on to adapt Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, the first of a string of English-langiage films, but her later work was poorly distributed and fell into obscurity. Until recently, her early work, too, has been largely unavailable. Thankfully, her first three were lovingly restored and reissued by Cult Epics in 2023, and are now available again on DVD and Blu-Ray. Gorris herself has now retired from filmmaking. Sue Thornham is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sussex in Brighton, where she taught for many years and was, in fact, one of my tutors when I studied for my Master there. I mention that because it was in Sue’s Feminism and Film class that I first saw Broken Mirrors, when I was doing my Masters there, so I have her to thank for introducing me to Gorris’ work. In July this year Sue released an excellent book on Gorris. It’s called Marleen Gorris: Practices of Resistance and is published by Edinburgh University Press. Sue and I talked through Gorris’ career, including her tendency to play with genre, why her films rattled critics, themes of communities amongst women and the possibility of resisting patriarchy, the success of Antonia’s Line and the impact it might have had on her increasingly obscure later films, and more. I should warn you that there may be plot spoilers, but I would also say that these are not really the sort of films that rely on conventional plot twists and I don’t think there’s anything in this podcast that could really spoil the films but, now you know. Chapters * A Question of Silence (1982) - 00:09:39 * Broken Mirrors (1984) - 00:16:49 * The Last Island (1990) - 00:25:06 * Antonia’s Line (1995) - 00:30:59 * Mrs. Dalloway (1997) and The Luzhin Defence (2000) - 00:37:39 * Carolina (2003) - 00:41:30 * Within the Whirlwind (2009) - 00:44:01 You can also find this episode on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Shownotes * Sue Thornham’s book Marleen Gorris: Practices of Resistance * The link has both print editions and the free Open Access PDF and ePub * The restored Marleen Gorris Triology at Cult Epics, including A Question of Silence, Broken Mirrors and The Last Island * Buy the Cinéclub fanzine * 52 pages w/ articles on cinematic representations of the German urban guerilla group The Red Army Faction, Claude Chabrol’s 1962 film The Third Lover’ and some pieces on punks in cinema. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £3.50 plus postage. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    48 min

  5. 05/06/2025

    Episode #16 - Greta Snider

    Cinéclub Podcast episode 16 is a conversation with the San Francisco-based experimental filmmaker Greta Snider. (In the podcast intro I say it’s episode 15 and I can’t find the time to go back and fix it!) Greta has been making films since the late 1980s, and around the same time, produced seven issues of a fanzine called Mudflap. For me, much of Greta’s work is characterised by a tactile, handmade feel and cut-up, collage-like effects that often drawn on recontextualised archive footage. We discuss the influence of punk and fanzine culture on Greta’s films, her experiences teaching experimental filmmaking, the role of politics in her work, her stereoscopic films, and much more. You can also find this episode on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Shownotes * Greta’s Vimeo page * Futility (1989) * Portland (1996) * The Magic of Radio (2001) * Greta’s bio at San Francisco State University * Info on That’s Rad: San Francisco Bay Area Zine Culture, the exhibition Greta mentions in the episode (at the San Francisco Public Library, running until 27th July 2025) * Buy the Cinéclub fanzine * 52 pages w/ articles on cinematic representations of the German urban guerilla group The Red Army Faction, Claude Chabrol’s 1962 film The Third Lover’ and some pieces on punks in cinema. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £3.50 plus postage. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    52 min

  6. 04/07/2025

    Episode #15 - Stag movies with Dan Erdman

    Cinéclub podcast episode #15 is a conversation with Dan Erdman. As Dan mentions in the episode, his background is in archiving and preservation, and he works for the Chicago-based not-for-profit film and media archive Media Burn. You can find out more about them at their newly relaunched website, mediaburn.org. He also does a zine called Head Clog and, most importantly for this episode, he is the author of Let’s Go Stag: A History of Pornographic Film from the Invention of Cinema to 1970, published by Bloomsbury in 2021, and its this topic we’ll be focusing in the episode. We discuss the challenges facing archivists and historians researching old stag films, the ‘variety’ context in which they were originally shown, the vital social component of a stag film screening, the factors that led to the decline of the stag film in the 1960s, and much more. It was great talking to Dan: as I’m sure you’ll agree, he’s very engaging and funny and really makes this topic come alive. Please enjoy. You can also find this episode on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Shownotes * Info on Dan’s book, Let’s Go Stag: A History of Pornographic Film from the Invention of Cinema to 1970 * Media Burn, the Chicago-based video archive Dan works for * Info on Dan’s zine, Head Clog * Linda Williams obituary in the New York Times * Buy the Cinéclub fanzine * 52 pages w/ articles on cinematic representations of the German urban guerilla group The Red Army Faction, Claude Chabrol’s 1962 film The Third Lover’ and some pieces on punks in cinema. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £3.50 plus postage. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    39 min

  7. 03/03/2025

    Episode #14 - Dogma 95 at 30 with Richard T. Kelly

    In March 1995, the Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier stood on stage in the Odeon cinema in Paris, then holding a conference celebrating cinema’s first century, and read the Dogma 95 manifesto. Signed by von Trier and fellow Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, the Manifesto makes many references to the perceived failure of the French nouvelle vague movement of the 50s and 60s, and calls for the use of a raging “technological storm” to strip films of their cosmetics and their reliance on illusion. The reading ended with von Trier showering his audience in copies of the manifesto printed on distinctive red paper. Perhaps more famous than the manifesto itself is the accompanying ‘Vows of Chastity’ that Dogma filmmakers would commit to. The Vows are a series of creative restrictions: cameras must be handheld; locations and props must be real; only available light can be used, and genre films are prohibited. The first Dogma film was Vinterberg’s Festen in 1998, shortly followed by Von Trier’s The Idiots. Fellow Danes Sore Kragh-Jacobsen Kristian Levring joined the Dogma ‘brotherhood’, making Mifune (1999) and The King is Alive (2000) respectively. The project also travelled outside Scandinavia, with Jean-Marc Barr’s Lovers shot in France in 1999, and the American Harmony Korine’s Julien Donkey-Boy released the same year. I’m conscious that we don’t describe the plots of these films in much detail on the podcast. If you’re unfamiliar, here are some trailers that introduce the tone and style of Dogma 95 reasonably well, although they do use un-Dogma elements such as superimposed graphics and non-diegetic music. * Festen * The Idiots * Mifune * The King is Alive * Julien Donkey-Boy We are now 30 years on from the initial disruption of the Dogma 95 project, and so it seems an apt moment to take stock of the movement and its relevance in 2025. So I spoke with Richard T. Kelly, of the aforementioned Dogme documentary and book. Richard and I discuss Lars von Trier’s work before Dogma 95, the distinctively Scandinavian flavour of the initial films, the common dismissal of Dogme as a brand or marketing exercise, the legacy of the movement, and more. Please enjoy. You can also listen to this podcast on… * Spotify * Apple Podcasts (I will update with the Apple link as soon as I can. There is a lag between publishing the podcast and it appearing there.) Shownotes * The text of the Dogma 95 manifesto * The ‘Vow of Chastity’ * The Name of This Film is Dogme95 * Extract demonstrating the rules as mentioned by Richard in the podcast * The Name of This Book is Dogme95 * The book is now out of print, but available from libraries or from second-hand booksellers such as Abe Books * It is also available in a Kindle edition * Richard’s website * Order The Black Eden, Richard’s latest novel * Aksel Sandemose’s ‘Law of Jante’ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    35 min

  8. 02/03/2025

    Episode #13 - James Williamson

    When the French film historian George Sadoul coined the term ‘The Brighton School’ in 1945, he was primarily referring to two important filmmakers who began working in the late 1800s: James Williamson, and his friend George Albert Smith, though both lived and worked (to cite a well-worn local phrase) in “Hove, actually.” This podcast has covered G.A. Smith before, in the very first episode from January 2024. Back then, I spoke to Dr. Frank Gray, author of The Brighton School and the Birth of British Film, and I’m very happy to have Frank back for this episode to talk about James Williamson. Frank and I discuss Williamson’s encounters with Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope; his background as a chemist; his relationship with George Albert Smith; the innovation of his films Attack on a China Mission and Fire!, and more. You can also find this episode on… * Apple Podcasts * Pocket Casts * I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine. Show notes * Buy the Cinéclub fanzine * 52 pages w/ articles on cinematic representations of the German urban guerilla group The Red Army Faction, Claude Chabrol’s 1962 film The Third Lover’ and some pieces on punks in cinema. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £3.50 plus postage. * James Williamson films * Devil’s Dyke Fun Fair (estimated 1896) * Attack on a China Mission (1900) * Stop Thief! (1901) * Fire! (1901) * More on BFI Player * The Cinéclub podcast on George Albert Smith, also featuring Frank Gray * Casting Shadows, a Radio 4 drama about early filmmaking in Brighton and Hove, including Williamson and Smith. Narrated by Frank Gray * Edwin S. Porter’s The Life of an American Fireman (1903) * Original version * Porter’s later re-cut version * Info on Hove Museum’s film collection, which includes James Williamson-related artefacts Bibliography * David Fisher, Cinema By Sea: Film and Cinema in Brighton & Hove Since 1896 (Brighton: Terra, 2012) * Frank Gray, The Brighton School and the Birth of British Film (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) * Martin Sopocy, James Williamson: Studied and Documents of a Pioneer of the Film Narrative (London: Associated University Presses, 1998) * Martin Sopocy, Postscripts to James Williamson in Film History, Vol. 22 No. 3 (2010) p.313-328 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com

    39 min
See All (30)

Ratings & Reviews

About

Film podcast based in Brighton, UK. cineclub.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Joe Tindall
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joe Tindall
  • Show Website
    Cinéclub Podcast

You Might Also Like