Here's looking at you. » podcast

In this podcast Dr Ellen Wright talks with Dr Adrian Smith of the university of Sussex.

Adrian is an expert on exploitation cinema. ‘But what is exploitation cinema?’ I hear you ask. Well, as Roche observes, in his article, ‘Exploiting Exploitation Cinema: an Introduction‘ it is not a genre of films but:

‘an industry with a specific mode of production. Exploitation films are made cheap for easy profit. “Easy” because they are almost always genre films relying on time-tried formulas (horror, thillers, biker movies, surfer movies, women-in-prison films, martial arts, subgenres like gore, rape-revenge, slashers, nazisploitation, etc.). “Easy” because they offer audiences what they can’t get elsewhere: sex, violence and taboo topics. “Easy” because they have long targetted what has since become the largest demographic group of moviegoers: the 15-25 age group.’ –  Roche (2015)

Here Drs Wright and Smith discuss exploitation cinema and the exploitation of film , in its truest sense – from the perspective of media marketing.

Adrian has been studying and working in film and media education for more than two decades now. He has an eclectic range of interests and has contributed to journals and books, presented at conferences, written for specialist magazines and websites, interviewed key figures in exploitation and contributed to several exras on blu ray releases of cult and classic films. Hes a really witty and engaging conversationalist working on some really fascinating cinematic materials.

In the interview, Adrian discusses collecting cinema memorabillia, how you study cinema publicity, the benefits and drawbacks of undertaking archival research, the Compton film company, the 1966 film Secrets of a Windmill Girl and mentions the work of several key figures in the British movie industry. These include producer and distributor Tony Tenser (Guardian obituary here) and the English film director Norman J Warren. To learn more about him, see this BFI article

If you wanted to learn more about Secrets of a Windmill Girl, I’d heartily recommend the superb episode of the Soho Bites podcast on this film.

If you are interested in finding out more about Adrian Smith’s work, I’d recomend his  superb (2018) essay ‘The language of love: Swedish sex education in 1970s London.‘ In the journal Film Studies.

Feel free to comment below on the podcast or the subjects it covers, ask questions, raise points or make suggestions for further podcasts and blogs. You can sign up to receive email notifications when subsequent podcasts and posts become available. Simply enter your email at the ‘Follow Blog’ notices at the foot or sidebar of the page. You can also access previous podcasts by clicking here or the ‘Podcast’ toggle at the top any page.

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The full version of the song Trouble can be found along with its video here, and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album also called Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and do not reflect the opinions of the De Montfort University or any other employee thereof. Nor is De Montfort University responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied within this blog.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

In this podcast Dr Lucy Neville of University of Leicester talks with me about sexual desire and pornography

Lucy is a Lecturer in Criminology with an interest in understanding women’s engagement with sex, sex work, and pornography. Her PhD thesis in Forensic Psychology involved investigating violence perpetuated against sex workers by both clients and intimate partners across seven metropolitan areas from 1980-2006, and since then she has worked on a number of projects focused around women involved in sex work.

Prior to working in academia she worked for several years at BBC Media Action, the BBC’s international development charity where she worked on projects as diverse as HIV/AIDs awareness in Cambodia, learning English as a second language in Bangladesh, gender-based violence in refugee camps in South Sudan, and a large-scale piece of research investigating the public perception of climate change across Africa.

In this episode we discuss some of the key ideas explored in Lucy’s fantastic book, Girls Who like Boys Who Like Boys. The book unpicks what it might be that some women enjoy about consuming, and in some cases producing, gay male pornography.

Not surprisingly then, we discuss some explicit topics and use some explicit language during this conversation, so if you are easily offended, this may not be the podcast episode for you. Then again, maybe you’ll learn something!

Feel free to comment below on the podcast or the subjects it covers, ask questions, raise points or make suggestions for further podcasts and blogs. You can sign up to receive email notifications when subsequent podcasts and posts become available. Simply enter your email at the ‘Follow Blog’ notices at the foot or sidebar of the page. You can also access previous podcasts by clicking here or the ‘Podcast’ toggle at the top any page.

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The full version of the song Trouble can be found along with its video here, and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album also called Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and do not reflect the opinions of the De Montfort University or any other employee thereof. Nor is De Montfort University responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied within this blog.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

This podcast is intended to sit alongside the Midlands Four Cities-funded Dialogue Days event I co organised with my De Montfort University colleague, Prof Justin Smith and Prof James Chapman and Dr Claire Jenkins at University of Leicester. The event, ‘Delving into the Archives: A Screen History Workshop,’ took place online, on Tuesday 10th of November 2020 and was a half-day event aimed at aspiring and existing postgraduate students whose research interests in Media History involve using archival sources. From leaders in the field to current PhDs, our expert presenters explored a range of skills and approaches to archival screen history, offered opportunities to engage with different kinds of material, and advised on research design and dissemination.

You’ll see how Desirae’s kind participation in this podcast, where she discusses, in detail, her rich archival research experience, fits beautifully into this remit as she offers some excellent advice for aspiring archival researchers.

Desirae is an extremely impressive scholar and researcher whose work I encountered for the first time, some time ago in the eminent journal Feminist Media Histories. Technically still an early career researcher herself, who (as she discusses in the podcast) is currently putting the finishing touches to her PhD, her experience is already considerable and her interventions in the fields of pornography/sexuality studies, social history, women’s/gender studies and archival studies are timely and extremely valuable.

I very much enjoyed talking with her about her work.

Feel free to comment below on the podcast or the subjects it covers, ask questions, raise points or make suggestions for further podcasts and blogs. You can sign up to receive email notifications when subsequent podcasts and posts become available. Simply enter your email at the ‘Follow Blog’ notices at the foot or sidebar of the page. You can also access previous podcasts by clicking here or the ‘Podcast’ toggle at the top any page.

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The full version of the song Trouble can be found along with its video here, and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album also called Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and do not reflect the opinions of the De Montfort University or any other employee thereof. Nor is De Montfort University responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied within this blog

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

In this podcast I talk with Dr Claire Jenkins about her work on ‘100 Million Dollar Women’ – the women directors who are currently working and thriving in hollywood.

Claire is a lecturer in Film and Television Studies at of University of Leicester and I first came across her brilliant work at the one day conference I coordinated on Women in Hollywood, back in 2018.

During the course of our chat we consider these women and their work, the taste politics at play in the common and often derogatory judgement of ‘women’s’ films and ‘womens’ genres, the representation of the American family in Hollywood cinema and how women are frequently overlooked in the film industry and in film academia.

Feel free to comment below on the podcast or the subjects it covers, ask questions, raise points or make suggestions for further podcasts and blogs. You can sign up to receive email notifications when subsequent podcasts and posts become available. Simply enter your email at the ‘Follow Blog’ notices at the foot or sidebar of the page. You can also access previous podcasts by clicking here or the ‘Podcast’ toggle at the top any page.

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The full version of the song Trouble can be found along with its video here, and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album also called Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and do not reflect the opinions of the De Montfort University or any other employee thereof. Nor is De Montfort University responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied within this blog.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

In the latest Here’s Looking at You podcast Dr Ellen Wright talks with Jane Giles, programmer between 1988 and 1992 at the former doyenne of British repertory cinemas, The Scala cinema.

Located initially on the site of an old concert hall in Tottenham Street, Fitzrovia, it moved later to its legendary second home in the heart of Kings Cross but very much retained its carnivalesque roots.

https://archive.org/download/HeresLookingAtYourPodcast18/whos%20looking%20at%20jane%20giles.mp3

For those who are not familiar with this unique, anti-establishment institution, the Scala was THE British repertory cinema, specialising in midnight movie marathons and showing an eclectic range of classic and cult films during its all too brief existence, from high art to pure trash and all in between.

We talk about the cinema space itself, about the turbulent times through which this distinctive cinema existed and much more.

An excellent article in The Guardian, by former owner, Stephen Woolley, about the iconic cinema can be found here and further details about Jane’s book SCALA CINEMA 1978-1993 can be found here

*NOTE* Jane has asked me to point out that I made an error as to the names of the Scala cats. They were in fact called Huston and Roy NOT Huston and Lee! Thanks Jane and apologies!

Feel free to comment below on the podcast or the subjects it covers, ask questions, raise points or make suggestions for further podcasts and blogs. You can sign up to receive email notifications when subsequent podcasts and posts become available. Simply enter your email at the ‘Follow Blog’ notices at the foot or sidebar of the page. You can also access previous podcasts by clicking here or the ‘Podcast’ toggle at the top any page.

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The full version of the song Trouble can be found along with its video here, and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album also called Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and do not reflect the opinions of the De Montfort University or any other employee thereof. Nor is De Montfort University responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied within this blog.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

In the latest HLAY podcast Dr Ellen Wright (and her friend Bobbie) talks with triple-threat burlesque powerhouse Cece Sinclair. Cece has been on the British burlesque seen for a few years now and has a reputation for her professionalism, her polished performances and her sheer likeability.

They grabbed the chance to chat at this year’s Hebden Bridge Burlesque Festival, back in May, and they discuss a broad range of topics including burlesque birthdays, choreography, the politics of public nakedness and the horror cult of Cece Sinclair. If you want to see more of Cece she is on both Facebook and Instagram. The ‘45 minutes of loveliness’ mentioned in the podcast’s title is how the HLAY podcast editor, John Ashbrook, described this interview and he’s absolutely right. It is a joy.

This podcast can also be downloaded via iTunes, thanks to the technical wizardry of Phyll Smith. Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The song Trouble can be found, along with its video, via this link and can purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album Trouble. The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures. Feel free to comment below on the podcast or the subjects it covers, ask questions, raise points or make suggestions for further podcasts and blogs. You can sign up to receive email notifications when subsequent podcasts and posts become available. Simply enter your email at the ‘Follow Blog’ notices at the foot or sidebar of the page. You can also access previous podcasts by clicking here or the ‘Podcast’ toggle at the top any page. The opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and do not reflect the opinions of De Montfort University or any other employee thereof. Nor is De Montfort University responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied within this blog.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

The 16th Here’s Looking At You podcast is a conversation with senior Lecturer in Film Studies at University of Exeter, Dr Lisa Stead.

Lisa is currently working on a very exciting AHRC-funded project entitled Reframing Vivien Leigh: Stardom, Archives and Access. This project examines for the first time how the legacies of screen star Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) are archived and curated by a range of public institutions in the South West of England.

For those who don’t recognise the name straight away, leigh was a stage and screen actress and two-time academy award winner and the female lead in the 1939 cinematic epic Gone With the Wind

https://archive.org/download/HeresLookingAtYouPodcast16/lisa%20stead%20mixdown%20v2.mp3

I talk to Lisa about this project and, as I was in the process of putting the finishing touches to a one-day postgraduate archives event when we spoke, we also about the rewards of archival research.

To find out more about Lisa’s Reframing Vivien Leigh project, visit: the Stardom and the Archive blog at www.blogs.exeter.ac.uk

Or follow the project on Twitter at @ReframingVL

To check out the call for papers for her Stardom and the Archives conference on the 8th and 9th of February 2020 see: www.blogs.exeter.ac.uk

This podcast can also be downloaded via iTunes, thanks to the technical wizardry of Phyll Smith

Music is  by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The song Trouble can be found, along with its video, via this link and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

image by permission of Nick Kilby

The 15th instalment of the Here’s Looking at You podcast is a frank conversation with body-based performance artist, Nick Kilby.

Nick’s work examines often very challenging, broader political and philosophical ideas, such as cults, blood sports and toxic masculinity and in particular, during this conversation, we discuss a recent piece of work that I was lucky enough to see at last summer’s Borderlines conference at De Montfort University. The piece was entitled ‘Buckle Up: The Filth.’ It was 11 hours long but I only witnessed the climatic final 20 minutes. It left me literally speechless and was a very powerful, visceral immersive performance made in response to the rape revenge and pulp narratives and the #MeToo moment.

https://archive.org/download/HeresLookingAtYouPodcast/nick%20kilby_mixdown.mp3

Nick is a very complex and companionable personality. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and as always, I came away feeling like I’d been intellectually stretched. I suspect you’ll find the topics covered as compelling as I did.

To listen to Nick’s mesmeric 24 hour soundscape, which I heartily recommend as the soundtrack to help you drift to sleep, its called The Biggest Sleep: A Hardboiled Dream Transmission and its on YouTube, just follow this link

Nick’s next project is The Arias of Elizabeth Short. This is an ensemble action that utilises found and devised text, sound, video and food to speak to an alternative reality of the murder of Elizabeth Short (pictured above); whose body was discovered in the Leimert Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles in 1947. Her infamy as victim became cemented within the press by the moniker that was given to her friends, The Black Dahlia.

The purpose of the action is to question and dispel this fascination; giving Short an origin story rather than an ending. What if Short was a hero rather than a victim? What if her career aspirations as a Hollywood actress could be actualised? What if she became the saviour rather than the saved? Can the actual reality of society’s fascination with dead girls be turned into a fascination for living women?

Nick is grateful to work and collaborate with artists Sophie Swoffer and Cat Boettcher, mask maker Anais Lalange and chef Llewyn [pronounced Clue-En] McCobb as part of the creative and action process.

If you are interested in the annual Borderlines conferences, the next of which is on June 21st 2019, the Facebook page can be accessed here The theme is ‘Performing Through the Unknown’ and the call for papers closes on April 18th

This podcast can also be downloaded via iTunes, thanks to the technical wizardry of Phyll Smith

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The song Trouble can be found, along with its video, via this link and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

image with kind permission of Miz Cracker

Yaaas Queen! After a short break Here’s looking at you returns and in this sickening podcast, Dr Ellen Wright has a discussion with thin, white and salty New York comedy queen and Ru Paul’s Drag Race alumni Miz Cracker.

Having met on the afternoon of Cracker’s last date on her sell-out UK It’s Time tour, Cracker wowed Ellen with her charisma, uniqueness, never and talent, not to mention just how sweet and frank she was.

https://archive.org/download/MizCrackerHeresLookingAtYouPodcast14/miz%20cracker%20heres%20looking%20at%20you%20podcast%2014.mp3

The pair discuss safe spaces and providing a platform, privilege, understanding the unwritten rules about hanging out with men, giving your fans what they want, as well as how Cracker came to drag, and the personal politics that have informed her upcoming one-woman show American Woman.

As Cracker herself said at the end of her interview, ‘She loves to talk!’

You may want to check out Miz Cracker’s regular YouTube programme Review With a Jew or follow her on Twitter at @Miz_Cracker.

Music is by kind permission of The Shannon Reilly Trio. The full version of the song Trouble can be found along with its video here, and purchased on the Shannon Reilly Trio album also called Trouble.

The podcast was produced thanks to the post-production expertise of John Ashbrook of Radio Pictures.

Ellen meets a drag icon. Image with permission of Miz Cracker.

Here's looking at you. » podcast is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/