Film Review by Dr Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent Two films screening in the Sundance London Film Festival explore the emotionally charged time around a terminal illness and how to communicate and share such bad news between patients and their families. Some family members urge doctors not to tell their relatives the true nature […]
Category: Film and Media
Cinema of Hope and Humanity: Introducing the World of Malayalam Filmmaker Jayaraj
by Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent Medical Humanities will focus on ‘Global Humanities’ as a theme for 2019. Film can be a powerful medium for raising awareness about current global challenges as well as revisiting historical tragedies that befell humanity, as in the first and second World Wars. It gives me great pleasure to […]
A Drive Through the Heart of Darkness
Review of ‘The Trial of Ratko Mladic’, directed by Henry Singer, and Robert Miller, showing in ‘London Human Rights Watch Film Festival’ 13–22 March 2019, https://ff.hrw.org/london by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York The Trial of Ratko Mladic begins on 22 November 2017 in The Hague, just as the world is anticipating a […]
The Poetry of Addiction: Review of ‘Wherever you are-Ovunque Proteggemi’, Directed by Bonifacio Angius, Italy 2018
Showing in ‘Cinema made in Italy 2019’ London Saturday 2nd March, https://www.british-italian.org/cinema-made-in-italy-2019/ Written by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell Medicine ‘Wherever You Are’ is a new Italian film that portrays addiction along with its usual weight of bleak antecedents and consequences, including dependency, conflict, depression and the collateral suffering of family members. But this alternately […]
Let’s NOT Talk About Death: Review of ‘Euforia’, Directed by Valeria Golino, Italy 2018
Showing in ‘Cinema made in Italy 2019’, London, https://www.british-italian.org/cinema-made-in-italy-2019/. Review by Dr Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent ‘Euphoria’ is defined as ‘a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness’. The word originates from the 17th century when it described well-being produced in a sick person by the use of drugs. In her second […]
Cinema Bellissimo: Italian Cinema in London 2019
Review by Dr Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent Italian cinema has always had a special place in world cinema; the neo-realist wave of film-making led by directors Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Roberto Rossellini told stories of the Italian working-class facing poverty, social injustice and oppression. Classic films like ‘The bicycle thief’ (Vittorio De […]
Streaming Content and Psychoeducation: Analysing the Interactive Approach of Netflix’s Black Mirror; “Bandersnatch”
by Nadeem Akhtar, Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, McMaster University Over the last decade there has been a change in societal viewing habits. As a result of easy access to the internet, quicker download speeds and the advent of smart-devices capable of playing video content, there has been an increasing shift towards non-broadcast content, including the […]
“Life Can Only Be Understood Backwards; But It Must Be Lived Forwards”: Review of Mystic River
Review of Mystic River, USA 2003, directed by Clint Eastwood. Review by Franco Ferrarini, gastroenterologist and film reviewer. Review contains plot spoilers. Based on the eponymous 2001 novel by Dennis Lehane, “Mystic River” is one of the darkest and probably best of Clint Eastwood movies. The story might be well known to those who read […]
Medicine Meets Film: Dr Omneya Okasha Shares with Dr Khalid Ali Her Journey From Dentistry to Film Making
Today we are excited to present a new podcast as a “special extra” for January 2019. In this interview Medical Humanities film correspondent Khalid Ali speaks with Dr Omneya Okasha. Okasha is a dentist with a passion for film developed in early childhood. Bonding with characters on screen took her on a journey of self-discovery, personal […]
Suffering in “Fiennes” Style
By Dr Khalid Ali, film and Media correspondent Caution: review contains plot spoilers It is fair to call actor, producer and director Ralph Fiennes a ‘British National Treasure’. He first made his name playing several Shakespearean characters at the Royal National Theatre. After phenomenal success on stage, he took the role of ‘Amon Goth’, the […]