IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
Latest editorial
Radical Film Network
Brett Gregory speaks to STEVE PRESENCE and MATTHIAS KISPERT, co-conveners of the RFN, the largest alternative film/media communication hub in the world
RFN
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
New releases from The Tenementals, Nik Bartsch’s Ronin, and Kuunatic
SCOTT ALSWORTH hears the call to burn down and rebuild the video game industry from the bottom up
The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a detailed history of Gaza that demonstrates its historic resilience and changing economy
THE RFN was originally established in London in 2013 by a group of film-makers, activists and academics as a collective to support the rapid growth in experimental and radical film culture at that time, primarily instigated by the rise of digital technology.
“Our inspiration was the Independent Filmmakers Association (IFA) which ran from 1974 to 1990,” says RFN co-founder, Steve Presence, who teaches film and TV studies at Bristol University. “The IFA was an amazing organisation that helped develop British independent film culture in the 1970s and 1980s and which was involved, to a significant degree, in the emergence of Channel 4 and the work it commissioned and broadcast in the 1980s and early ’90s.
“In 2013 you could see the need and potential to bring people together who were working in aesthetically innovative or experimental ways alongside more militant activist film-makers, as well as people interested in exhibiting this work via film clubs and festivals. This is a really lively and diverse film culture but remains overwhelmingly under-resourced, marginalised and fragmented.”
More from this author
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
