Category Archives: Film

Ferris Bueller and Me

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

John Hughes died four years ago and I wrote this post that day August 6th 2009 before I had a blog of my own. Just found it again thanks to the interwebs. Four years on things aren’t quite the same … Continue reading →

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Hero or love rat? Jane Austen and procrastination

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

I made a Something Understood about Procrastination, focused on heroes. From the world of statecraft we have JFK’s use of delay to avert World War III in the Cuban Missile  Crisis, and in contrast Dr Martin Luther King challenging the … Continue reading →

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Billy Liar, Bradford and the birth of the dollybird

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

“A lazy, irresponsible young clerk in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.” Everyone loves Billy Liar. Apart from whoever wrote imdb’s current bizarrely censorious plot summary … Continue reading →

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How The West Was Fun: When Britain loved cowboys

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

The Unforgiven (1961) – The Searchers in reverse This is about the back ground to the April 6th documentary I made for Radio 4 about the Western in British culture. You can listen again here: Archive on Four documentary Riding … Continue reading →

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Alan Bennett: Why spilling all is not the art of the monologue

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

I was lucky enough to be asked to chair an In Conversation with the playwright, diarist and screenwriter Alan Bennett at the British Film Institute last night. It was focussed on his skills with the monologue, as part of a season of TV monologues. … Continue reading →

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Mr Lincoln’s Wild Ride

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

I spent a night in the pub playing skittles recently with The Lawmen of Bristol for a radio documentary. They are Wild West enthusiasts, who transport around their home-made saloon town and re-enact historical gunfights for charity. Each has a … Continue reading →

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Poor Cows and Angry Young Men: 50 years of Kitchen Sink Drama

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

The director Ken Loach and the theatre critic Michael Billington remember the dawn of the 60s well. “The 50s weren’t bleak and depressing,” spluttered Loach, listening to art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston explain the grim postwar era that spawned the new … Continue reading →

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Mocha in the Family Latte: Race on American screens

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Samira Ahmed

“He should not be here, ” said the fish in the pot. ” he should not be here when your mother is not.” – The Cat In the Hat Dr Seuss (1957) It is a conundrum worthy of the massive … Continue reading →

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Martin Landau and the Art of Darkness

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

I was lucky enough to interview Martin Landau when he was in London for the Film Festival premiere of Frankenweenie. Like a lot of 70s kids I first discovered him as Space:1999′s haunted looking Commander Koenig. When discussing his career … Continue reading →

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Hacks on Film: Essential viewing and reading

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Samira Ahmed

This is an updated version of an article I first wrote for The Spectator blog, that formed the basis of a lecture to journalism students at Kingston University in October. It has links to scripts, films and articles about all … Continue reading →

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