★★★ Directed by: Philip Brocklehurst Written by: Philip Brocklehurst Starring: P.M. Thomas Film Review by: Jason Knight A cigarette is a thin cylinder of finely cut tobacco that has been rolled in paper and used for smoking. Despite the fact that they are hazardous to one's health, people all over the world smoke in order to feel relaxed. Brocklehurst's short film The Cigarette depicts an act that is seen everywhere, everyday: a person casually smoking a cigarette. A man walks towards a brick wall and leans against it. He takes out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and places one between his teeth. He then uses a lighter to light it up and proceeds to smoke. When he finishes he throws the cigarette on the pavement, steps on it and walks away. But there's a catch: there is no pack of cigarettes, no cigarette and no lighter. Thomas's character pretends that he is engaging in the act of smoking by miming all the relevant actions. And he does it very convincingly. For instance when he takes out his ''pack of cigarettes'', his hand acts like its holding the pack and his other acts like its taking one out, while Thomas even looks down at them, as if they are dealing with cigarettes for real. And when he ''smokes'', he inhales and exhales like he is actually smoking. The film was shot in black and white, apart from the last shot which shows a closeup of a used cigarette (that one is seen) on the pavement. The black and white sequence could be interpreted as fantasy and the colour sequence could be reality. The fact that the man is ''smoking'' without the relevant items is of course awkward and surreal. When the film cuts to the cigarette on the pavement, it gives the impression that it has jumped into the real world, because now the cigarette is visible and there is the presence of colour. The fantasy section could also be the way things should be: people not smoking and damaging their health. And the reality section could be depicting the sad truth: people do smoke and often dump the cigarettes on the pavements, also damaging the environment. Throughout the film the camera is stationary. Praise should go to the sound effects, particularly when the protagonist is using his ''lighter''. The sounds of the invisible lighter being used id heard and are heard at exactly the right moments. The Cigarette has a duration of approximately one minute and fifteen seconds and no spoken words. It is rather short but clearly had a great deal of work put into it. A piece of work worthy of attention. #JasonKnight

HIGH PEAK INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL | OCT 26 – NOV 1 2020 Films selected for Festival as it moves online A fantastic collection of 54 films have been selected to be showcased at the 2020 High Peak Independent Film Festival taking place this autumn. The high quality of work in this year’s programme include feature films, shorts, music videos and short shorts by filmmakers from across the UK, Ireland, USA and Australia as well as Iran, Israel, Turkey, Spain and France. Festival Director Nicole Pott said: “We were blown away by the high standard of the entries that came from all over the world and it was a tough task to select those to be screened. “The films we have chosen to feature are thought-provoking and innovative showcasing the very best in filmmaking and I am delighted that we are able to turn the spotlight on some of the young filmmakers starting to make their mark on our industry.” Running from October 26th to November 1st the festival will have films and industry events screened via a secure online platform and will be free to watch. “Theatres have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19 and it is not clear when they will be able to fully reopen. “After receiving so much support and attracting over 400 entries we took the decision to make sure the event still goes ahead so we are moving it online.” A jury made up of industry experts including film reviewers, producers and writers will have the difficult job of selecting the award winners in the various categories that will be announced at the online awards ceremony being held on the final night of the festival. The latest information about the festival including details of the full programme of films to be screened is available at www.highpeakindie.com. You can also keep up to date with the latest news about the Festival on social media.

★★★★ Directed by: Junayed Alavi Starring: Sayan Mondal Short Film Review by: Rachel Pullen Dreamodox Film Review Remember that film with Bill Murray, where he does the same thing over and over and you think it’s gonna be a good movie but actually it sucked?...Oh yeah, Groundhog Day, anyway, I think director Junayed Alavi didn't think that movie sucked and decided that the concept could be the perfect inspiration for his own works, and so welcome to the stage his short film called Dreamodox. Our leading man leads us into his world, a dream-like state where he is questioned by a faceless man; he holds a picture, two silhouetted people looking at an image also, he is barraged by questions about the image, but he cannot really remember, yet the faceless man continues, on and on. Is it a dream? a memory? a drug-induced hallucination? He does not know, he clearly displays confusion, anxiety and fear within his inability to answer these basic questions. His face is all cut up, his appearance displays the fear and anxiety we hear in his voice, his appearance makes the audience aware of this man’s troubled past, it gives us a connection to his past, we are given the idea that he has suffered deeper trauma, but this also opens the doors of more questions: who did this to him? did he do it himself? did the man asking him questions do it? was it Bill Murray? We become caught up in his puzzle, and as they cycle continues, with every repetition of him seeing the same man asking him the same question, we notice new things, we start to piece together the small clues we are given, but all the while a ticking clock audio plays non-stop, causing more panic and anxiety, reminding us that time may be running out. Sayan Mondal produces a sterling performance, strong and direct, we are immersed in his spectrum of emotions that he had to face in this role, he carried Dreamodox alone and while that may seem a daunting task for some, his confidence in his acting abilities is shining through as he is believable and genuine throughout. And not unlike the hell that is Groundhog Day (I'm sorry, that's my opinion, don't come for me!) we are reminded that although it does not feel that way when we are in it, but everything comes to an end, even the worst nightmare. #RachelPullen

★★★★ Written & Directed by: #SimoneQuinn Short Film Review by: #ChrisBuick Syd, an older gentleman who has been waiting desperately for a new heart, finally receives the call with the news he has been waiting for. However, when what some might call chance and what others might call fate decides to step in, things are set dramatically off course. If one were feeling reductive, animated Australian #shortfilm To Have a Heart could simply be described as one man’s quest for a new heart. But such a description doesn’t really seem to do justice to a film that manages to not only tell a complete and concise story in such a short space of time, but also somehow makes room for a wealth of emotion and complexity that such a basic synopsis simply does not convey. In actuality, while Syd’s hopeful quest might in fact be the core which To Have a Heart is built around, where filmmaker Simone Quinn takes us is much deeper, sensitively touching upon themes such as gratitude, survivors' guilt and living life to the fullest. For a debut, it’s a tremendously executed short, not just in the story it tells but how it tells it. There is nary a facet of human emotion not explored, Quinn’s got them all covered; fear, hope, despair, joy and grief, all accentuating the highs and lows of this very focused, well-paced and impassioned piece. And it’s a passion that Quinn clearly looks to breathe into every aspect of her filmmaking. A sound expert by trade, Quinn clearly knows not just how to make the simplest score evoke big emotions, but how each note can fully emphasise the sentiment of the moment in a much more meaningful way than words ever could, the film therefore only needing to draw on its sparse spoken exposition when absolutely necessary. Finally, the quality of the animation might not be the cleanest or the most sophisticated one has witnessed, but it’s tremendously creative usage more than makes up for all that and is perfectly fit for purpose for what is actually important, which is telling this beautifully heartfelt story as effectively as it should be. The successes of To Have a Heart (and there are many) can all be traced back to the very hands-on powerhouse filmmaker that is Simone Quinn. Clearly confident in steering a project from all sides (writing, producing, composing, editing, animating...the list goes on), Quinn has proven that with time there can surely only be good things to come after this impressive debut. #ChrisBuick

★★★★ Directed by #NinianDoff Written by #NinianDoff Starring #EddieIzzard #SamuelBottomley #VirajJuneja #RianGordon #LewisGribben Film Review by Hope Madden What does one homeschooled teen and three high school ne’er do wells in trouble for blowing up a lavatory have in common? Impending doom. The four boys are making the Duke of Edinburgh Award trek across the Scottish highlands. Dean (Rian Gordon), his daft mate Duncan (Lewis Gribben), and the future of hip hop DJ Beatroot (Viraj Juneja) have no choice after that lav incident, while Ian (Samuel Bottomley) just earnestly wants to complete the challenge and include the award on his college applications. But it’s a long hike and a lot could go wrong, especially now that Dean’s used the map to roll a joint. Will Ian ever be able to check off the requirements of teamwork, foraging and orienteering? Writer/director Ninian Doff showcases his background with music videos, infusing this often laugh-out-loud horror comedy with a remarkably catchy, high energy beat that fits no part of the surroundings, which is perfect. Toss in the always welcome Eddie Izzard as both the informational video voice over and the uptight, uppercust elitist with a shotgun and expect more laughs. More still from the hopelessly bumpkin police force (The Witch’s wonderful Kate Dickie and the grinningly hilarious Kevin Guthrie). They toss aside their ongoing investigation into the highland bread thief to look into suspicions of a Satan worshipping London gang of hip hop pedophiles. Doff’s good natured script sometimes echoes of the Cornetto Trilogy in the way its jabs at society land without feeling cynical or bitter. The film is emotionally generous with its juvenile delinquents. The four leads share a lovely chemistry, each actor effortlessly carving out a unique character while developing a level of authenticity in the emotional bonds between them. This is not the kind of thing you might expect from a comedy where characters routinely—sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose—chew on rabbit poo. The horror is light, the comedy raucous, the fun explosive. Get Duked may not change you, but it will brighten your mood. #HopeMadden

★★★★ Directed by: #TeresaMoorhead Written by: #BroganWallerParkinson Starring: #EbonyHiley, #GrahamAtkin, #SofieCoulson, #SamanthaHindman Short Film Review by Taryll Baker Set in the Netherlands during the second World War, Ilse is Jewish. She lives in fear of what the Nazi occupation will mean for her and her brother. A concentration camp survivor, she returns to her home to find out who betrayed her. I’ve seen many films/documentaries covering the Holocaust. The thing about it is, it was such a horrifying, evil period of time, that there’s so much to cover. The material is vile, but often history is. Shattered takes a look at four life-changing years for the lead character, Ilse (performed wonderfully by Ebony Hiley), and within its 11 minute runtime manages to achieve a lot. The black and white imagery immediately dates the film, but it’s the costumes, hair and performances that manage to sell the period fairly well. The film covers a pretty hefty amount of time, and due to the short film boundaries, it can be a little jarring. But thankfully each scene is skilfully constructed and the revenge story grips you pretty fast. One scene in particular was incredible; The train to Auschwitz. When they arrive, joyful guards begin to open fire and the sound work is perfect. It really puts you in that carriage with the people, and the horrors are present. The final scene is satisfying but could be refined to give off a slightly stronger punch, that said, it still works. Ebony Hiley carries the short well with attention to the small details, and again, her performance in that train carriage scene was great. Graham Atkin, Sofie Coulson, and Samantha Hindman add great support to her story and bar a few shaky lines, all are superb. The music score by Zeitgeist Zero is fittingly ambient and dreary. Moody piano melodies and gloomy strings add a spooky and eerie, even scary atmosphere to the film. The cinematography with the aforementioned black and white colouring really make Shattered, much like it did for Spielberg’s Schindler’s List way back in 1993. The camerawork is very intimate, keeping things handheld and up close and personal. Highlighting the carriage scene once more, as it really showcases all of the elements at work. Shattered would be an ideal short film to flesh out into a full feature. It certainly has the potential to be a great full story, with even more attention to dialogue and building that tension from the betrayal. Director Teresa Moorhead has shown her talents with this, so I hope to see more from her in the future. #TaryllBaker

★★★★ Directed by #IsabelSandoval Written by #IsabelSandoval Starring #IsabelSandoval #EamonFarren #LynnCohen Film Review by Hope Madden Lingua franca is literally a language used between two people who don’t share a native tongue. But what goes unsaid in Lingua Franca carries far more weight than anything we’re actually told. Writer/director/producer/star Isabel Sandoval has mastered cinematic understatement. Her approach, as filmmaker and performer, is never showy. Her third and most confident feature is a slice of life drama that meditates quietly on need, agency, love and capital in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Olga (a perceptive Lynn Cohen) sometimes forgets where she is. She gets a little agitated and a little weary. Olivia (Sandoval) calms her, keeps her safe, keeps her well, but has worries of her own. Alex (Aemon Farren) just needs to catch a break, so he’s staying with his grandmother and helping out Olivia when he can. But we can’t all help each other, even when we mean to. Sandoval’s film says so much with so few words, it’s remarkable. By way of Olga’s apartment we enter an entirely lived-in world, one that is likely to be utterly unfamiliar and yet feels as authentic as any you’ve seen. The ordinariness of extraordinary circumstances, unusual measures and extreme tensions emerges by way of Olivia’s resigned, world-wearied gaze. There is a cultural currency to the story, one in which Olivia’s position as a transgender woman of color is actually less dangerous than her situation as an illegal immigrant in the age of ICE. That anxiety plays as a backdrop to a desperate romance between Olga’s two needy houseguests. As Olivia’s sketchy love interest, Farren offers a nuanced and authentic turn. Alex is a man of squandered potential, dim prospects, and a fleeting if recurring notion that he can be something of value. There’s a lonesome transience to the story, a feeling of impermanence that’s frightening, sad and just slightly freeing. Lingua Franca tells a lovely, sad story that’s very much worth hearing. #HopeMadden

★★ Directed by: Siddharth Chauhan Written by: Melissa L. White, Siddharth Chauhan Starring: Shefali Chauhan, Richa Rathore and Anil Walia Film Review by: Robert Stayte This is a short film done by a prolific director. Siddharth Chauhan has gotten a lot of attention for his various shorts that have all explored Indian/Asian culture, such as The Infinite Space and Boys Don’t Wear Nailpolish! Catch the Light is his latest, but it does not entirely manage to catch greatness. The plot revolves around a woman named Kanika (Shefali Chauhan) in an Indian family who must deal with Sanjay (Anil Walia), her strict grandfather, and her growing romantic relationship with another woman named Sameera (Richa Rathore). Story-wise, this film can be split up into two halves of differing quality. The first 10 minutes feel all over the place and hard to pinpoint, as they show scenes that certainly establish various story elements but do not flow together well. There is also a story element that feels ultimately unnecessary and does not get a good payoff, that being Kanika’s slowly growing blindness. It gets established at the beginning but afterwards barely comes up again. But the last 10 minutes are coherent and flow together much better, culminating in a very emotional ending. This second half is more effective, making one see the first half in a better light, though it does make you wish that it had been more compelling to begin with. The short overall would have been stronger if it were extended to 30 minutes, just to give more time to the growing relationship between Kanika and Sameera, which feels like it goes from a simple friendship to a romance too fast. The same can be said for the consequences of this relationship, which is also dealt with too quickly. Technically, the biggest issue by far is the sound mixing. The camera quality and cinematography are both decent, with a good look and good camerawork that is understated yet notable, but the sound quality is terrible. Whilst not hard to hear, the dialogue sounds untouched and like camera audio that was recorded on the day. It serves as a constant distraction from the solid performances that the actors are giving, with Shefali Chauhan being pretty good, especially at the end. Catch the Light contains a flawed if still decent story that comes together well by the end, but the weak sound mixing brings it down. It is just about saved by the good acting and emotional ending, making it an effective film but still not a successful one.

★★★ Directed by #BrendanWalsh Written by #DaleyNixon #BrendanWalsh Starring #VincentPiazza #GenesisRodriguez Film Review by George Wolf Been sweating out these dog days of summer? Ready for a cool down? Well then bundle up, buttercup, because from its opening minutes, Centigrade traps you in bitter elements with the temps falling fast. Naomi (Genesis Rodriguez) is an America novelist on a book tour in Norway with her husband Matt (Vincent Piazza). They were driving in darkness when freezing rain kicked in, and Matt suggested they pull over to wait out the storm. Director and co-writer Brendan Walsh fades in when the couple wakes up to find they are buried under snow, and frozen inside their car. Also, Naomi’s pregnant. Very pregnant. In his feature debut, Walsh has the challenge of staging a tense survival thriller from the interior of a sedan. Though the leads are effective enough in communicating a growing desperation, there just isn’t enough here to keep you totally invested in it. Casting Rodriguez and Piazza – a real life couple – was an understandable move that does pay off. Naomi and Matt’s relationship feels lived-in and comfortable from the moment they awake, which in turn makes the ways their frayed psyches affect each other seem more authentic. But even in the age of a global pandemic that has re-set the bar on unrealistic stupidity, not all of what Centigrade is selling quite adds up. Through onscreen text that is oddly specific, we’re told the film is “inspired” by actual events, while a closer look reveals Walsh’s admission that the inspiration was “culled together” from several different stories. And that pregnancy hangs over everything, just as it’s been in the back of your mind since I mentioned it four paragraphs ago. Is it true life or a convenient MacGuffin? Or, as we learn more about Naomi and Matt’s relationship, will it be a literal example of a baby saving them? As the length of the ordeal moves from days to weeks, Walsh always seems to pull up just when it seems he’s getting the loose ends nailed down. Even at 89 minutes, too much of Centigrade is uninteresting filler. The payoff, when it comes, feels like an unsatisfying layup, and though the stakes and the characters are both well-defined, somehow that primal question of survival is never truly palpable. #GeorgeWolf

★★★ EROTIC - Chapter One: Desire & sensuality Written and Directed by: #Alexandre David Lejuez Starring: #Alexandre David Lejuez and #Eva Langlet Film Review by: #Andrew Stooke Appearing ten minutes in, and scrolling unusually slowly, the opening credits set a gentle pace for this epic cinematic poem. It is an auteur work. Alexandre David Lejuez arranges some of the music on the soundtrack as well as acting and directing. Imagine the acid trip sequence from Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider (1969) decelerated from four grainy minutes to an operatic duration. The action concerns an unnamed flaneur or drifter, played by Lejuez. He encounters an anonymous woman, his long-term dramatic collaborator Eva Langlet, and they hookup. The movie smooths out the teasing anticipation, panting haste, and accelerating rhythm of the sex scene. It renders it a protracted grope, like the mating of tortoises. Then, as in a road-movie, when the sex is done, it's bye baby—this guy is a rolling stone. It is not an easy film to place. Despite having sex as its main subject it has nothing in common with the flatly lit athletic performances of pornography. Equally, it eschews the tradition of erotic art cinema, such as Nagisa Oshima’s intensely intimate Ai no korīda (In the realm of the Senses 1976), Tinto Brass's boudoir romps, or Catherine Breillat's testing of limits. The film's aesthetic rolls back to La Nouvelle Vague and 16mm experimental movies of the 1960s. The blanket use of dust and scratch filters disturbs, and sometimes annoys, what is already dark and murky. Several scenes pick up on Andy Warhol's Blow Job (1964). In a single 35-minute take Warhol's film shows a headshot. An actor who, from the implication of the title, is receiving fellatio from someone out of the frame. Several moments in ‘Erotic’ use the same device. Headshots, sometimes with the man and woman framed side by side, impugn the couple's amorous unity. It is never convincing. The woman's voice-over affirms her belief in 'passionate love and happiness,' but there is little evidence of passionate abandon in scenes where the couple cling together on a bouncy and creaky bed. Their clothes get rucked up, but they keep them on, even their shoes. As in Warhol's movie, sex is inferred. The film opens with stills, fine-art images of sexualised women, highlighting Renoir and Corbet's penchant for the buxom, bawdy 18th-century cartoons, as well as explicit traditional Japanese "Shunga" wood-cut prints. These are saturated with a rose-coloured filter, intimating red-light districts, brothels, and prostitutes. The allusion to contracted sex work, combined with sequences tying male masturbation to voyeuristic pleasure, presents men’s desire as enacted irrespective of emotional affinity. Orgasm, when it comes, is the discharge of the real woman in favour of a fantasy image. A dizzying psychedelic vortex seems to represent a hypnotic cleansing. It is accompanied by the man's soliloquy in a Baudelairian voice-over, 'I'm alone. Alone with the brave melodies of love.' The man is indeed next encountered alone. He is on a beach where black waves break in a yawning rhythm. He stumbles forward as if sleepwalking. Was the sex just his dream? His private erotic imaginings sublimate desire for the messy complexity of real sex, coupling, and sensual intimacy. This theme reverberates in the soundtrack, where discrete analogue electronics play classical compositions without the symbiotic relation of ensemble instrumentalists. In the end, the woman too is isolated, separated, presumably wondering where her desire fits in. This is only chapter one. Perhaps chapter two will depict sex as a more collaborative arrangement. 'Chapter One' is a philosophical reflection, a movie for people who have watched hearts and bodies lost to carnal impulses, but wish to think, as well as to feel pleasure. EROTIC - Chapter One: Desire & Sensuality' is available on the UK Film Channel. #AndyWarhol #erotica #warhol #TinoBrass #LaNouvelleVague #Shunga #CatherineBreillat #EasyRider #Nagisa Oshima #intherelmofthesenses

Grimmfest 2020, The Online Edition, announces the short film programmes for this year's festival, along with details of more confirmed guests, and a last-minute addition to the feature film line-up. The Grimmfest team is delighted to be present our final feature film selection. The International Premiere of Bruce Wemple's genre-bending creature-feature MONSTROUS. An offbeat, expectation-challenging take on the Bigfoot legend, with a sharp and subtle script by lead actress Anna Shields, it's as much a tentative, suspicion-blighted romance, as it is a marauding monster movie. The film replaces Brando Lee's THE MEDIUM, which is now not available due to technical issues. Grimmfest is also now able to announce some of the guests for this year's exclusive panel on Iconic Women in Horror. Thus far confirmed are: Adrienne Barbeau, Pollyanna McIntosh, Caroline Williams, and Brea Grant. The feminine theme continues into Grimmfest's Short Film Programmes, with the first of this year's programmes devoted to women filmmakers. An online intruder unleashes unexpected emotions in the UK premiere of Jessica Fostekew's chilling SHARED DOCUMENT. An alienated young woman is haunted by a spectral presence in the International premiere of Megan Mead's unsettling EVERY CORNER. A homeless woman discovers that you should never go home in the UK premiere of Yinghui Fu's haunting HONOUR THY MOTHER. A shy young woman is offered a mysterious cosmetic treatment with a terrible cost in the UK premiere of darkly comic BEAUTY JUICE, from former Troma Scream Queen Natasha Halevi. There's a chilling vision of personal negation in the UK premiere of Mónica Mateo's YOU WILL NEVER BE BACK and a hot Summer day brings back more than nostalgic memories in the Northern UK premiere of Nat Luurtsema's OUZO AND BLACKCURRANT. The risks of AirBnB become all too uncomfortably apparent in Lisa J Dooley's darkly comic THE LONELY HOST and a neglected teenager makes a dangerous friendship, in Kristina Manzhula's eerie I LOVE EVE. The Second Shorts Programme offers glimpses of the forbidden and the frightful with some nasty twists in the tale. Childhood terrors with a Dr Seuss twist in the World Premiere of Nikki Born's creepy WITCHES IN THE WINDOW. Animated gothic-expressionist romance, in Farnoosh Abedi's haunting MALAKOUT. Supernatural revenge in the World premiere of Mark Pluck's eerie PLATFORM. A relaxing bath turns deadly in the UK premiere of Morten Haslerud's chilling ANTIQUE. A terrifying prescient vision of a virus-blighted future, in the UK premiere of Bruno du Bois' ZEALANDIA. There's a monster on the road, in the World premiere of Jack Shillingford's laconic lycanthrope shocker DEAD END. Dementia isn't the only thing afflicting an elderly mother in the International premiere of Michael Squid's nightmarish THE CHRYSALIS. Youth comes at a price, in the UK premiere of Virat Pal's elegantly cruel FACELIFT, and there are far worse things than social embarrassment in store, in the UK premiere of Andrew Rutter's truly outrageous PETER THE PENGUIN. The Grimmfest programming team is also taking advantage of the newfound scheduling flexibility permitted by the online format to add a third programme of shorts, exclusively for Full Festival Pass Holders. There's a pointed examination of racism and good manners in the European premiere of Richard B. Pierre's AN UNINVITED GUEST, Vernon Wells takes on a giant grizzly bear in the UK premiere of Titus Paar's FEAR OF THE WOODS. Mary Shelley meets the suburban sitcom, as David Troughton and Roberta Taylor star in the Northern UK premiere of Paul Williams' darkly comic FRANK & MARY. There's romance on the open road in the Northern UK premiere of Aidan Brezonick and Addison Heimann's unsettling JEFF DRIVES YOU. Anxiety takes on all-too-physical form in the UK premiere of Spencer Ryerson's queasy body horror, COIL. And finally, a golem-like masked killer proves quite resilient in Alex Montilla's outrageous OVERKILL. Grimmfest 2020 full festival passes and individual film tickets are available now, from www.grimmfest.com

★★★★★ Director: #BenjaminTurner and #GabeTurner #DocumentaryFilmReview by: #BrianPenn For a vinyl junkie like me the label always stood out when I was flipping through a box of records. Ah, there it is; the navy blue panel topped with a map of Detroit and the red star just to remind us; this is quality: this is Motown. Yes I am a fan; understatement of the century doesn't begin to describe the depth of my obsession. But any hard taskmaster will be difficult to please; even in the plush surroundings of the Odeon Leicester Square. Hitsville: The Making of Motown tells the story of a cultural phenomenon founded on an $800 loan; and how a modest building at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit changed the face of music. Film documentaries need insight or something previously unseen to ensure quality. Hitsville delivered both by the shed load, as revealing interviews mingled with historic archive material. Motown founder Berry Gordy was on sparkling form and played tag with Smokey Robinson as they jockeyed for the best lines. On screen together it felt intimate as they talked over old times. It was like bearing witness to the keepers of a great civilisation, and we were in on the secret. Gordy’s early business failures contrast sharply with his gradual development as a songwriter. He eventually formed the company with a family loan. And we should all be grateful that Gordy’s father and sisters financed that start-up loan. Motown was famously modelled on the Ford's Motor company production line; a talented cast of writers, musicians and producers worked on a track as the artist was groomed at the label's finishing school. Recordings of the fabled quality control management meetings also featured. It was fascinating to listen into conversations as Gordy, Robinson and head of A & R Mickey Stephenson argue over single releases; songs that we now regard as classics. Excellent graphics describe the vocal techniques used by Marvin Gaye on What’s Going On. A rare clip of the Temptations harmonising on a rehearsal of My Girl is also a treat to watch. What raises this film above other documentaries is the wealth of new material shedding light on a well-worn subject. They cleverly avoid clichés as stills are enlivened by voice overs and hand written speech notes. A beautifully paced narrative allows personalities to breathe and speak for themselves. Motown has a unique place on the soundtrack to our lives. Their genius articulated our thoughts in a song for every occasion. Motown we salute you!