Watershed Podcast

Mark Cosgrove and guest co-host interview the curators behind this years Cinema Rediscovered festival, held across Bristol in July. With to interviews with Pamela Hutchinson and Mark Cosgrove on the strands they curated for this years Cinema Rediscovered.Cinema Rediscovered launched its first edition in July 2016, taking inspiration from the pioneering Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy with a distinctive Bristol twist. Featuring the finest digital restorations, contemporary classics and film print rarities, it’s a chance to see lesser known cinematic voices and dive deep into the legacy of revered filmmakers.For more information visit: watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered

Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, and Sean Wilson, Filmic Season Curator and writer, take a deep dive into film soundtracks throughout history.Filmic is a season of 5 films curated by Sean to illustrate the ever changing landscape of film scores, they discuss the upcoming season and Sean’s recently released book, The Sound of Cinema: Hollywood Film Music from the Silents to the Present.Mark and Sean delve into the work from Alex North on A Street Car Named Desire, Bernard Herrmann’s infamous strings for Psycho, music legend Bob Dylan starring and scoring Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Jerry Goldsmith’s chilling, Oscar winning score for The Omen and John Williams triumphant revival of the orchestral score for Superman.

This month Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, is joined by Steph Read, UWE MA Curation placement, as they look forward to the program of films at Watershed over the coming month.They discuss perspective in cinema and the presentation of childhood in Norwegian supernatural thriller The Innocents by Eskil Vogt. Also, with Doc’n Roll returning to Bristol this month they review the music documentaries screening for the festival including artists like; Karen Dalton, The Triffids and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

This month Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, considers how film-watching changes have accelerated with the advent of covid.He shares his thoughts on the prevalence of the blockbuster and its now predictable model of following success with repetition. And how independent cinema offers a real alternative, with Watershed championing film originality and diversity from across the world.

This month Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema curator, and Zoe Rasbash, Watershed's Environmental Emergencies Action Researcher look forward to Green Screen, coming to Watershed at the end of March.Green Screen is a day of free short films, plus a panel discussion and a family workshop – all of which celebrate filmmakers and their work to explore cutting edge climate research.Zoe shares her Lilith Archive film project and they discuss the importance of arts in making change and the role of culture in changing how we think and act, plus approaches to creating action. They also talk about how Green Screen might offer insight and positivity in what can often feel like an overwhelming disaster. And how through film and events there is the opportunity to come together and share creativity and thinking.

This month Dr Rayna Denison, Professor in Film and Digital Arts Bristol University, joins Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, to talk about Japanese Cinema.As they look forward to the upcoming Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme they share thoughts on the long time flourishing and prolific Japanese cinema industry, its funding and how the market for film works in Japan, plus current influences and genres.But most of all they discuss the highlights screening at Watershed this month; including psychological crime drama First Love, the absolutely gorgeous to look at Spaghetti Code Love and the pressures of daily life face young people and Shrieking in the Rain's journey into the dark underbelly of the Japanese film industry

A brief note from Mark Cosgrove, Cinema Curator, ahead of January 2022

For the last podcast of the year, Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, shares his own experience of cinema – both personal and professional.As part of a book of essays, Opening Up the Magic Box, Mark was asked to reflect on the role of cinema in his life. Mark's essay, A Life Cinematic – the Early Years, presents a 10-year-old from the fringes of Glasgow enamoured with Cagney, Bogart and Wayne to the student years, and a first taste of selecting a film for others to see.

November's Cinema Podcast celebrates a return of audiences to the cinema, renewed partnerships through the fantastic Afrika Eye film festival, and a season of films and discussions challenging Myth and Masculinity in the Western. Mark Cosgrove is joined by Annie Mentor, director Afrika Eye Festival and Lola McKinnon MA Curation Student.Annie shares what Afrika Eye Film Festival is and what impassions it to explore multi-faceted Africa through film, culture and collaboration. Plus all the highlights from a rich programme of stories; of lives lived and lives imagined, created by remarkable filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora. Coming to Watershed 12-14 November.As part of her placement Lola shares a little about life as an MA Curation Student, but more about her season exploring the new generation of female filmmakers from all over the world challenging the masculinist mythologies of the Western. And breathing new life into a genre synonymous with fistfights, gun-slingin’ and tough, white men.

In October's cinema podcast Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, is joined by Lisa Harewood and Jonathan Ali from The Twelve30 Collective who showcases classic and contemporary films from the Caribbean and its diaspora. They discuss the Caribbean film scene and the tensions between looking to Hollywood and foregrounding the territories' own identities, the lack of independent cinemas and the challenges of screening films across multiple countries.Twelve30 Collective are also distributors of this month's screening of long-lost Jamaican set film No Place Like Home. Lisa and Ali share the films amazing backstory of its devastating loss for more than two decades; and its powerful, lightly fictionalised window into rural Jamaica of 50 years ago.

With screenings at Watershed now back up to 6 days a week a look ahead at September highlights coming up.Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, talks to Gary Thompson, founder of Cables & Cameras, about their Watershed takeover weekend at the end of September – Cables & Cameras Presents:INSPIRED. The weekend features a whole range of conversations, screenings and events that will exploreBlack/POC culture and talent both in front of and behind the camera.Mark is also joined by Adam Murray from Bristol Black Horror Club. Adam talks about his positive experiences of working with Gary and Cables & Cameras, his upcoming illustrated talk on the history of Black representation in horror films and behind the camera and why he is looking forward to Cables & Cameras Presents:INSPIRED.

A quick and summery August podcast from Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator introducing the upcoming The World of Wong Kar Wai season.Mark introduces the seasons and shares how the films have been restored and reworked; and celebrates finally being able to re-introduce audiences to the lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism of Wong Kar Wai's contemporary cinema.

In this month's podcast Mark Cosgrove (Watershed Cinema Curator) and Adam Murray (film programmer, critic, writer and broadcaster) look forward to Watershed's Cinema Rediscovered festival at the end of July – a celebration and re-framing of cinema's rich 125 year history.They share the strands and films they can't wait to bring to the big screen – screening in some cases for the first time in decades, if not ever in the UK.Mark's highlights include 1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent, a programme of films exploring the essential contribution that women made to The New Hollywood era; when outsiders, independents and mavericks were welcomed into the mainstream. Plus the amazing background to The Story of a Three-Day Pass – a nouvelle vague infused film by young Black American Melvin Van Peebles made in Paris, never released in the UK and now restored to its former glory.Adam looks forward to Blue Collar, an uncompromising tale set in Detroit of three-working men; starring Yaphet Kotto as Smokey James alon

In June's podcast Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, chats with Ti Singh founder of Bristol Bad Film Club, author of Born To Be Bad: Talking to the greatest villains in action cinema and lead on the BFI Film Audience Network's New Release Strategy, based at Watershed.They talk about what makes a film so bad it's good, how baddies in films reveal so much about action cinema and Ti's work supporting independent films to reach a wider audience.And to finish they share their excitement for the great films coming up over June at Watershed, and look forward to an unexpectedly busy summer of independent cinema.

In May's podcast Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, is joined by Dave Taylor of legendary Bristol video shop 20th Century Flicks.They reflect on the year that forgot cinema, the autobiographical viewing habits of the shop's customers through lockdown, and a history of the shop – it opened in the same year as Watershed in 1982 – and how it has managed to endure.They also look forward to the return of cinema screenings in May at Watershed, and the shop's screening rooms, and the clutch of superb Oscar winning independent films arriving on the big screen very, very soon.

For April's podcast Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, is joined by film & music critic and broadcaster Adam Murray.They discuss Adam's love of horror and research for a season of horror films, hopefully screening at Watershed this Autumn, exploring identity and fitting-in – and their relationship to Black representation and the Black experience. Adam also shares the two films he is looking forward to seeing at Watershed when it re-opens in May.

This month Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, is joined by historian, writer and curator Edson Burton and Matchbox Cine producer Megan Mitchell.They share how their cultural consumption has changed and adapted over the last several months, and some of the things they have been enjoying and found themselves unexpectedly watching – New York Independent cinema, Tom Cruise films, TickTock Film and the Small Axe series.

With the Watershed building and cinemas still closed, Mark Cosgrove (Watershed Cinema Curator) talks with Watershed friends to share their recent small screen highlights from film and TV series old and new.Malaika Kegode – writer, performer, producer and Roger Griffith MBE – writer, producer, educator, social activist, consultant and CEO of Creative Connex – join Mark to share their recent film and television watching highlights from lockdown.Between them they discuss their recommendations for essential lockdown viewing, and reflect on the cultural resonances and rediscoveries they encounter along the way.

In January's short podcast Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, leaves 2020 behind and hopes that this coming year we can look forward to more regular screenings in the cinema and a return to the unique social experience that is at the heart of cinema. He shares films to look forward that would have screened in 2020 and a hint of plans and optimism in the air for 2021.

While the halcyon days of films being released into the cinema seem a distant memory and Watershed Cinemas were more closed than open, this month's podcast still finds a rich array of fantastic films to remember from 2020.This month Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, Tara Judah, Watershed Cinema Producer and Thea Berry, film programmer and producer, share their highlights of the year. Albeit some were only available through Watershed online and lacking in the convivial community of the shared viewing experience, they conclude there was still plenty to enjoy in film in 2020.