From 50s migrant to 80s Thatcher critic, the cultural theorist has long led the debate on race and politics. A new film charts his life and his decades-long influence on the culture of modern Britain
As the Labour party prepares for another round of soul-searching next month about the left's place in modern Britain, it could do worse than organise a pre-conference screening of John Akomfrah's wonderful documentary The Stuart Hall Project.
It would be perverse to suggest that Professor Stuart Hall, 81, has been a neglected figure in British cultural life over the last six decades. He was a founding editor of the hugely influential New Left Review in 1958 and the co-creator of the first cultural studies programme (at Birmingham University in 1964). He has been the most prominent of black British intellectuals since the 1960s, a prominent figure of the Open University and among the most trenchant critics of Thatcherism.
As the Labour party prepares for another round of soul-searching next month about the left's place in modern Britain, it could do worse than organise a pre-conference screening of John Akomfrah's wonderful documentary The Stuart Hall Project.
It would be perverse to suggest that Professor Stuart Hall, 81, has been a neglected figure in British cultural life over the last six decades. He was a founding editor of the hugely influential New Left Review in 1958 and the co-creator of the first cultural studies programme (at Birmingham University in 1964). He has been the most prominent of black British intellectuals since the 1960s, a prominent figure of the Open University and among the most trenchant critics of Thatcherism.
- 8/17/2013
- by Tim Adams
- The Guardian - Film News
Three addicts reveal the reasons they keep at it
To look like George Clooney. By Jon Ronson
I started running because I found myself in the same room as George Clooney, saw how fantastically thin he was, looked down at myself and noticed – and I really had no idea – that I was fat.
"How did that happen?" I thought, startled. "I was definitely thin until recently, yet I haven't changed anything about my lifestyle except I've been eating a lot more puddings. Maybe that's it."
And so I did something I'd never done before. I went for a run.
This was in Puerto Rico. I was there because they were turning one of my books into a film and, assuming everyone was, in my absence, having unimaginable fun, I asked if I could visit the set. They weren't having unimaginable fun. Everyone was busy and stressed and filled with anxieties.
To look like George Clooney. By Jon Ronson
I started running because I found myself in the same room as George Clooney, saw how fantastically thin he was, looked down at myself and noticed – and I really had no idea – that I was fat.
"How did that happen?" I thought, startled. "I was definitely thin until recently, yet I haven't changed anything about my lifestyle except I've been eating a lot more puddings. Maybe that's it."
And so I did something I'd never done before. I went for a run.
This was in Puerto Rico. I was there because they were turning one of my books into a film and, assuming everyone was, in my absence, having unimaginable fun, I asked if I could visit the set. They weren't having unimaginable fun. Everyone was busy and stressed and filled with anxieties.
- 7/1/2011
- by Jon Ronson, Catherine Bennett, Simon Hattenstone
- The Guardian - Film News
"The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a Us request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl," report Bradley S Klapper and Frank Jordans of the AP. "The Swiss mostly blamed Us authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978. The Justice Ministry also said that national interests were taken into consideration in the stunning decision."
Let the summertime media frenzy begin.
Updates: The full statement to the press from the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (Fdjp).
Waiting for @vrizov and @paperlung to wake up and let me know how Big Hollywood and their readers are taking today's big news. Mon Jul 12 13:39:41 via TweetDeck Filmbrain (Andrew G)
Filmbrain
More commentary: Patrick Goldstein (Los Angeles Times), David Poland, St VanAirsdale (Movieline) and Jeffrey Wells. And via the Atlantic Wire: Ann Althouse,...
Let the summertime media frenzy begin.
Updates: The full statement to the press from the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (Fdjp).
Waiting for @vrizov and @paperlung to wake up and let me know how Big Hollywood and their readers are taking today's big news. Mon Jul 12 13:39:41 via TweetDeck Filmbrain (Andrew G)
Filmbrain
More commentary: Patrick Goldstein (Los Angeles Times), David Poland, St VanAirsdale (Movieline) and Jeffrey Wells. And via the Atlantic Wire: Ann Althouse,...
- 7/18/2010
- MUBI
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