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Lifestyles of the rich and the famous have always been popular targets for satirists, but in 2022 the wealthy and elite were favorite punching bags for filmmakers. As billionaires continue to overstep and draw the ire of the rest of the 99 percent of the world’s population, our films reflected the rising “eat the rich” sentiment, and perhaps none more so than Mark Mylod’s satirical thriller The Menu.

Having directed many episodes of HBO’s Succession, Mylod is no stranger to the grotesqueries of the aristocracy, and his film presents pompous, vacuous, uncaring members of high society attending an upscale, private dining experience from renowned chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The hoity toity guests believe they’re in for a night of taste bud-altering conceptual cuisine, but Julian and his staff have something far more wicked up their sleeves. The great ensemble cast features performances by Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult,...

It was a great night for Charlotte Wells' father-daughter drama Aftersun at the British Independent Film Awards on Sunday evening, as the film—– already a favourite going into the evening after 16 nominations, won seven, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Other films scoring several awards included Blue Jean, and The Origin, about a nomadic tribe that faces a terrifying ancient threat that comes when night falls.

The BIFAs continued non-gender-specific main performances categories and added one, the Joint Lead Performance, awarded to Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright for their roles as extraordinary real-life siblings who communicated only with each other in The Silent Twins.

Here is the full list of winners…

Best British Independent Film

Aftersun – Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson – Winner

Blue Jean – Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande – Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski

Living – Oliver Hermanus,...

It has been a stellar year for British talent, as is evidenced by the amazing line up of films celebrated and championed by BIFA this evening. The British Independent Film Awards were handed out this evening in London and we were there to talk to the presenters and nominees on the red carpet.

A full list of winners follows the interviews. Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

The 2022 BIFAs Red Carpet Interviews

The full list of winners is below.

Best British Independent Film

Aftersun Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson (Winner)

Blue Jean Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski

Living Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen

The Wonder Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney

Best Director,...

It was an historic night for female filmmakers at the British Independent Film Awards, with 10 of the night’s biggest awards going to women or films directed by them. The biggest winner of the night was “Aftersun,” which won Best British Independent Film, as well as Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Debut Director for Charlotte Wells. The film also took home prizes for cinematography, editing, and music supervision.

Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean” also had a strong showing, with Rosy McEwen winning Best Lead Performance and Kerrie Hayes winning Best Supporting Performance and Oakley winning Best Debut Screenwriter. Shaheen Baig also won Best Casting for the film.

Despite facing stiff competition from the likes of “Decision to Leave” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” won Best International Independent Film.

Keep reading for the complete list of nominees from the 2022 British Independent Film Awards,...

Charlotte Wells’ directorial feature debut, “Aftersun,” took home the most awards of any nominated film at the 25th annual British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), nabbing seven victories out of 16 nominations.

The film spans a 20-year period, beginning with 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) on a father-daughter vacation to Turkey and culminating with her reflection on that experience in adulthood. Upon its premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, “Aftersun” was winner of the French Touch Jury Prize. Most recently, Wells received a breakthrough director prize at the Gotham Awards.

At the Sunday evening ceremony, “Normal People” actor Daisy Edgar-Jones presented the award for best British independent film to Wells. Also added to the feature’s list of accolades were awards for best director, best debut director, best screenplay, best cinematography, best editing and best music supervision.

Director Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean” saw a surge of recognition as well, with wins in...

Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells’s acclaimed debut feature Aftersun swept the board, snagging seven wins at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) in London this evening.

The film won Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director. This evening’s four wins were added to the film’s previously announced haul in the craft categories with three wins including Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Music Supervision.

Georgia Oakley’s 1980s Section 28 era set Blue Jean, which trailed only Aftersun for the most nominations, picked up three awards on the night: Best Lead Performance for Rosy McEwen, Best Supporting Performance for Kerrie Hayes, and Oakley took home the Best Debut Screenwriter award sponsored by Film4.

Elsewhere, Safia Oakley-Green won the Breakthrough Performance award for her role in Andrew Cumming’s debut feature The Origin and Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright picked...

Charlotte Wells’ debut scooped seven prizes, including best British independent film and best director.

Charlotte Wells’ directorial debut feature Aftersun was the big winner of the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), taking seven prizes at Sunday night’s (December 4) ceremony in London.

Wells’ drama won the award for best British independent film, best director, the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director, and best screenplay, adding to the three craft awards already announced – best cinematography, best editing and best music supervision.

The Cannes premiere follows a daughter as she reflects on her relationship with her complicated father, through memories of a summer holiday in Turkey,...

The awards ceremony takes place today (December 4), starting at 8pm UK time.

The 2022 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) ceremony is taking place today (December 4) at London’s Old Billingsgate.

The show starts at 8pm UK time, finishing at approximately 10pm.

Screen will be posting all the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates).

Leading the pack for nominations is Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, with 16 mentions – the second-most ever for a film at the Bifas, behind only Saint Maud’s record 17 from 2020. The feature has already won three of those awards,...

Charlotte Wells’ indie breakout “Aftersun” continues to build momentum in the indie awards race.

After receiving four Gotham Award nods, “Aftersun” leads the 2022 British Independent Film Awards nominations in 16 categories, followed by 12 for “Blue Jean” and “The Wonder,” respectively. “Living” earned nine nominations and “Flux Gourmet,” “God’s Creatures,” “Men,” and “The Origin” each landed five nods.

The 25th annual BIFAs introduces new performance, first-time documentary feature, and music categories, with female filmmakers dominating the performance, writing, and directing categories for this year’s batch of nominees, recognizing 36 British features. The 2022 BIFA ceremony takes place December 4.

Hosts Sam Claflin and BIFA winner Kosar Ali announced the 2022 BIFA nominations, including former BIFA recipients Emma Thompson, Jessie Buckley, Florence Pugh, and Alice Birch among them. Two Paul Mescal films, “Aftersun” and “God’s Creatures,” are among the top-nominated films, with Mescal in the running for both Best Joint Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance for the respective films.

Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells’s debut feature Aftersun leads the nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards with a sweeping 16 nods, including Best Director and Best film.

The film’s impressive nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Debut Director (the Douglas Hickox Award) and Best Debut Screenwriter nods for Wells and a Best Joint Lead Performance nomination for stars Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio, who received a Breakthrough Performance nomination. The Barry Jenkins-produced pic is also up for Best British Independent Film and racked up a further nine craft nominations, including Best Casting and Cinematography.

Inspired by, but not based on, Wells’s experiences as the child of young parents, the poignant ’90s-set film explores a father and daughter’s complex relationship against the backdrop of a simmering holiday the pair have taken to a resort in Turkey.

Georgia Oakley’s debut film Blue Jean trails behind with 13 nominations.

Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean” led the nominations at the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) with 16 and 13 nods respectively.

Sebastián Lelio’s “The Wonder” followed with 12 nominations, Oliver Hermanus’ “Living” nine and Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet” seven.

From this year, the awards are permanently going gender neutral for acting categories with the traditional best and supporting actress and actor awards being replaced by best lead performance, best supporting performance, best joint lead performance — for performances that are the joint focus of the film — and best ensemble.

The nominations were revealed at London’s Everyman Broadgate cinema by hosts, actors Sam Clafin (“Peaky Blinders”) and Kosar Ali (double BIFA winner for “Rocks”).

BIFA Nominations 2022

The Richard Harris Award For Outstanding Contribution By An Actor To British Film

To Be Announced

Best British Independent Film

“Aftersun” – Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson

“Blue Jean” – Georgia Oakley,...

Aftersun and Blue Jean are leading the nominations for the 2022 British Independent Film Awards, unveiled on Friday.

Florence Pugh (The Wonder), Emma Mackey (Emily), Paul Mescal (who got nods in two categories: best joint lead performance for Aftersun and best supporting performance for God’s Creatures), Letitia Wright (The Silent Twins), Bill Nighy (Living), Emily Watson (God’s Creatures) and Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) are among the nominees in the now gender-neutral acting, or performance, categories.

Organizers highlighted that it was “a strong year for women filmmakers and performers,” adding: “Women dominate performance, writing and directing categories.”

Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’ debut feature about a father and daughter’s complex relationship, landed 16 nominations for this year’s BIFAs, including for best British independent film, best director, best debut director, best screenplay and best debut screenwriter, along with a best joint lead performance...

Women dominate the performance, writing and directing categories.

Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean and Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder lead the nominations for the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), with several major categories dominated by women including the new merged performance categories.

At the Bifas 25th edition, Wells’ Aftersun has 16 nominations – the second-most ever for a film at the Bifas, behind only Saint Maud’s record 17 from 2020. Wells is nominated for best British independent film, director, screenplay, debut director and debut screenwriter; while Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal are nominated in the new best joint lead performance category.

Women dominate the performance, writing and directing categories.

Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun and Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean lead the nominations for the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), with several major categories dominated by women including the new merged performance categories.

At the Bifas 25th edition, Wells’ Aftersun has 16 nominations – the second-most ever for a film at the Bifas, behind only Saint Maud’s record 17 from 2020. Wells is nominated for best British independent film, director, screenplay, debut director and debut screenwriter; while Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal are nominated in the new best joint lead performance category.

Scroll down for the...

Conjuror of the bizarre Strickland outdoes himself with this tale of a sonic performance collective who stick microphones into food – and other places

British writer-director Peter Strickland, the distinctive film-maker behind such deliciously indefinable mysteries as Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy, says he hopes his latest cinematic chef-d’oeuvre “treats stomach problems responsibly while still pushing the boundaries of taste”. It’s a typically straight-faced statement from a wry artist whose habitually ritualised, fetishistic films have consistently straddled the boundary between the satirical and the serious, the playful and the profound. If Strickland’s last feature, In Fabric (2019), was an episode of Are You Being Served? as reimagined by David Lynch, then this “gastrointestinal drama” feels like an episode of The Galloping Gourmet being watched by a drunken doctor while performing a colonoscopy. It’s a bizarre exercise in culinary theatre, in which trapped wind becomes a...

You may have to go all the way back to Berlin when we first saw Flux Gourmet but it’s a film that lingers long in the memory – and has finally landed its UK release date this weekend. Back at the German capital at the start of this year, we spoke to some of those responsible for the movie, interviewing star Fatma Mohamed alongside her director Peter Strickland, as well as chatting to Greek actress Ariane Labed. Below you can watch both interviews in their entirety as we discuss the film in its all its glory, from working with Asa Butterfield, to balancing different genres and themes, to, well, indigestion. Enjoy!

Fatma Mohamed & Peter Strickland

Ariane Labed

Synopsis

Set at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective finds itself embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas and gastrointestinal disorders.

Flux Gourmet is released on September 30th

The post Peter Strickland,...

10 films were competing for the Powell and Pressburger award.

Scottish animators Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson’s 60-minutes documentary A Cat Called Dom has won the inaugural Powell and Pressburger Award for best film at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Anderson and Henderson star in and co-direct the inventive documentary, which had its world premiere at Eiff. The film explores how Will deals with his mother’s cancer diagnosis and also the frustrations of trying to make a film.

The jury, comprised of president Gaylene Gould (founder of creative lab The Space to Come), producer Rosie Crerar and author Sarah Winman,...

Peter Strickland serves up another gonzo confection with his stomach-churning haute cuisine satire “Flux Gourmet.” The film, which centers on members of a “sonic collective” of musicians who make performance art and music using foods and the sounds they make, also marks something of a homecoming for the British director in two ways. The film not only pulls from Strickland’s autobiography, as the filmmaker and his friends launched their own Sonic Catering Band in the mid-’90s, but “Flux Gourmet” is also an immersive auditory experience a la his 2012 giallo pastiche “Berberian Sound Studio.” Working with sound designer Tim Harrison and electronic recordings from his own band, Strickland has made a film that deserves a big-screen canvas thanks to its lush colors, but also plays just as well on headphones.

Strickland this time trades in giallo for gastronomy in following a collective of gourmands and the internal power struggles that unfold within their midst.

Arriving in select theaters and on VOD today is Flux Gourmet, the latest from writer/director Peter Strickland, courtesy of IFC Midnight. For Flux Gourmet, the world of artistic culinary endeavors clash with the real-world issues of gastrointestinal distress in an often hilarious fashion, resulting in a singular cinematic experience that could only be described as pure Strickland magic.

During the recent press day for Flux Gourmet, Daily Dead spoke with Peter about his latest film project and his approach to the story and the issues these characters are dealing with during their journey through the culinary world. Strickland also discussed the challenges he faced during production, reteaming with frequent collaborators like Fatma Mohamed and Gwendoline Christie, and why his next project may end up being a rom-com.

So great to speak with you today, Peter. I love the way that you explore the texture of life in the films...

At The Sonic Catering Institute, art collectives working with food and sound are given three-week residencies that, in the words of its monied, micromanaging patron Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie), involve “the artistic pursuit of alimentary and culinary salvation to be done as public performance.”

This is the pleasurably esoteric, densely atmospheric world of Peter Strickland’s latest venture into psychological-distress-as-ice-cold-comedy, “Flux Gourmet,” and it is by turns scatological, hilarious, art-referential and, ultimately, moving.

For the cleverly-named group leader Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed) and her collaborators Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield) and Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed), all of whom rise, walk and smoke in sync — at first, anyway, before the friction and infighting begins — the prospect of freedom to create their specialized brand of performance is a dream come true. Together they pantomime the process of grocery shopping, attach microphones, effects-generating equipment and amps to their prep stations, then chop and...

Peter Strickland wants to break taboos. The man behind films about giallo sound technicians (Berberian Sound Studio), Bdsm-practicing lepidopterists (The Duke of Burgundy), and haunted department store dresses (In Fabric) has returned with Flux Gourmet, in which a sonic collective take up residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance.

As the institute’s head Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie) enacts power manipulations to generate her desired result from the group, its performing trio have their own creative clashes. All the while on the sidelines is Stones (Makis Papadimitriou), the institutes ‘dossierge’ (press man), witnessing this strife while dealing with a plight himself—increasingly pervasive stomach issues of which he’s too embarrassed to speak. When the collective’s leader Elle (Mohamed) hears of Stones’ trips to the gastroenterologist, she begins to exploit his plight for their performances, leaving him crestfallen and further isolated from the world around him.

British director Peter Strickland evokes his chamber sonic horror Berberian Sound Studio in his latest work. Flux Gourmet pushes the envelope further into an absurdist direction, marking his most hilarious venture so far. After his Giallo homage in Berberian Sound Studio, Strickland cemented his savvy for expanding genre filmmaking further into the arthouse dimension with follow-up projects The Duke of Burgundy and In Fabric. Strickland's latest work makes the marriage of meta-horror, oddball comedy, and performance and conceptual art more seamless and spectacular. A leading trio of avant-garde auditory performance artists lands a coveted residency at the Sonic Catering Institute. The domineering Elle di Elle (Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed) leads the experimental gang of two technicians, Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed) and innocent-looking Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield). Their...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Travel past the edge of the woods, located on the periphery of some unnamed European country, and you’ll find a large house. Inside, an institute dedicated to sponsoring artists who deal in “culinary and alimentary performance” has set up shop. Its mission: giving a safe space to those who push the boundaries of good taste, literal and otherwise. The informal organization’s head, Jan Stevens (Game of Thrones‘ Gwendoline Christie), is currently offering a residency to a trio led by Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed), a woman dedicated to...

Peter Strickland has become the provocateur du jour for those into obscure cinema, and Flux Gourmet continues cementing his legacy. Where Berberian Sound Studio and In Fabric are gonzo commentaries on genre, Flux Gourmet is almost a self-parody about the fragile bond between artistic freedom, anxious backers, and receptive audiences. By acknowledging absurdism as a marketable commodity, Strickland falls into a performative rabbit hole that blends Velvet Buzzsaw, Wes Anderson, and Art School Confidential. It's fearless, flummoxing, and filled with inexplicable expressionism that will appeal to renegade creators who only trust themselves, not someone else's process. There's no spoon-feeding from Strickland — at least not narratively.

A plethora of auditory weirdness transpires within the walls of Jan Stevens' (Gwendoline Christie) premier institute. Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed), Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed), and Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield) are a "culinary and alimentary" collective invited by Jan as her latest residency. A flatulent...

The official poster for writer/director Peter Strickland’s new film, Flux Gourmet, has just been released, and you can check it out below! The film will be released on in select theaters and On Demand on June 24, 2022.

In the film, a sonic collective who can’t decide on a name takes up a residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance. The members Elle di Elle, Billy Rubin and Lamina Propria are caught up in their own power struggles, only their dysfunctional dynamic is furthermore exacerbated when they have to answer to the institute’s head, Jan Stevens. With the various rivalries unfolding, Stones, the Institute’s “dossierge” has to privately endure increasingly fraught stomach problems whilst documenting the collective’s activities.

Upon hearing of Stones’s visits to the gastroenterologist, Dr. Glock, Elle coerces him into her performances in a desperate bid for authenticity. The reluctant...

Written and Directed by Peter Strickland Starring Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Richard Bremmer and Leo Bill Official Trailer Now Available In Select Theaters And On Digital / VOD June 24 Synopsis A sonic collective who can’t decide on a name takes up …

The post *Trailer Debut* Peter Strickland’s Intoxicating Gonzo Delicacy Flux Gourmet | Opens June 24th from IFC Midnight appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Flux Gourmet Trailers — Peter Strickland‘s Flux Gourmet (2022) movie trailers has been released by IFC Films. The Flux Gourmet trailers stars Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Leo Bill, and Richard Bremmer. Crew Peter Strickland wrote the screenplay for Flux Gourmet. Matyas Fekete conducted the film editing for the film. Tim [...]

Continue reading: Flux Gourmet (2022) Movie Trailers: Asa Butterfield & Gwendoline Christie star in Peter Strickland’s Food Horror Film...

Carving out quite a niche in stylistic psychological horror thrills with Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy, and In Fabric, Peter Strickland returned earlier this year with Flux Gourmet, a culinary-focused oddity that premiered to a great response at Berlinale. Now set for a June release via IFC, the new U.S. trailer has arrived for the film starring Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Richard Bremmer, and Leo Bill.

Here’s the synopsis: “A sonic collective who can’t decide on a name takes up a residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance. The members Elle di Elle, Billy Rubin and Lamina Propria are caught up in their own power struggles, only their dysfunctional dynamic is furthermore exacerbated when they have to answer to the institute’s head, Jan Stevens. With the various rivalries unfolding, Stones, the Institute’s ‘dossierge’ has...

From In Fabric and Berberian Sound Studio director / writer Peter Strickland, Flux Gourmet is headed to theaters and digital / VOD on June 24th and we have a look at the first trailer!

"A sonic collective who can’t decide on a name takes up a residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance. The members Elle di Elle, Billy Rubin and Lamina Propria are caught up in their own power struggles, only their dysfunctional dynamic is furthermore exacerbated when they have to answer to the institute’s head, Jan Stevens. With the various rivalries unfolding, Stones, the Institute’s ‘dossierge’ has to privately endure increasingly fraught stomach problems whilst documenting the collective’s activities.

Upon hearing of Stones's visits to the gastroenterologist, Dr Glock, Elle coerces him into her performances in a desperate bid for authenticity. The reluctant Stones puts up with the collective’s plans to use...

"Cooking and performing is a hazard." IFC Midnght has unveiled the main trailer for Flux Gourmet, a wacky indie horror dark comedy about a "food collective", made by the director of Berberian Sound Studio - Peter Strickland. This premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year to rather mixed reviews - you'll see why from this trailer. Set at an institute devoted to culinary + alimentary performance, an art collective finds themselves embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas and gastrointestinal disorders. It stars Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Leo Bill, Richard Bremmer. I appreciate the PR description for this one that calls it an "Intoxicating Gonzo Delicacy" - ha! That actually gets my attention. But the rest of this looks so dumb. Just not my cup of tea at all, it's literal artsy-fartsy cinema slop. However, if you like Strickland's films - you do not want to miss this.

“Berberian Sound Studio” and “The Duke of Burgundy” madman Peter Strickland returns with “Flux Gourmet,” another twisted ode to class horror, this time trading in giallo for gastronomy with the story of a collective of gourmands and the internal power struggles that unfold within their midst. Asa Butterfield and “Duke of Burgundy” star Gwendoline Christie lead a cast that also includes Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Leo Bill, and Richard Bremmer. IndieWire exclusively shares the official trailer for the film below.

The sonic collective at the film’s center takes up residency at an institute devoted to culinary perfection, its members going to war with the institute’s head over creative differences. In this universe, music is made with food and youngsters dream of culinary ambitions rather than becoming pop stars. With the various rivalries unfolding, Stones, the Institute’s “dossierge,” has to privately endure increasingly fraught stomach problems...

Flux Gourmet is arguably the first instance where Peter Strickland, the British genre specialist who’s always seemed inches away from a real career breakthrough, has had the storyline and structure—the real, solid content, basically—to make something as good as his posters and loglines promise. Making reference to promotional material is not superficial: more than anyone associated with arthouse horror currently working, he is absolutely soaked, marinated in more disreputable sides of the genre: to be blunt, the softcore, Europhile, blood-soaked exploitation kind. Where the goal, some decades ago, was to just make you buy a ticket for the thing… so you could see all that.

But also key for Strickland is how this strategy can be deployed as a bait-and-switch or Trojan horse. A punter might be drawn to The Duke of Burgundy and, now, Flux Gourmet mainly for the titillation, but what they get—especially from...

The adage “write what you know” works well for writer-director Peter Strickland with his Berlin Film Festival Encounters feature Flux Gourmet. The former member of The Sonic Catering Band makes rich work of a fictional culinary performance collective, while also tackling taboos in the depiction of stomach problems on screen.

The latter may sound comical, and often is, but there’s also a serious note to Strickland’s flatulent hero, Stones (Makis Papadimitriou), who recounts his suffering in a solemn voiceover as he describes working as a ‘dossierge.’ His job is to interview and document the artist collective in residence at an institute run by an indomitable Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie). But Stones finds himself increasingly drawn into their world and their politics, while silently suffering from bowel issues that keep him awake at night.

Desperate to avoid embarrassment, Stones details the measures he takes for his condition to remain undetected,...

Just as the Tiktok-ers and Instagrammites of the world had completed the mainstreaming of Asmr, master of the tactile Peter Strickland has returned to restore the unsettling, alien quality to sensation. In “Flux Gourmet,” his latest and most bizarre film — a hotly contested title he earns with this feverish stew of murdered turtles, torrid orgies, and heartrending fart-tending — texture is everything. The experimental performance group of Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield), Elle di Elle, and Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed) obsess over every little growl and crunch of feedback in the avant-garde music pieces they generate by plugging modular synthesizers into assorted foodstuffs.

Continue reading ‘Flux Gourmet’ Review: Peter Strickland Delivers Sensory Overload In His Most Bizarre, Possibly Best, Film [Berlin Film Festival] at The Playlist.

British auteur Peter Strickland is back with his fifth feature, “Flux Gourmet,” and it is as striking and uncompromising as his previous body of work, which includes “In Fabric” (2018), “The Duke of Burgundy” (2014), “Berberian Sound Studio” (2012) and “Katalin Varga” (2009). “Flux Gourmet” world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters strand on Feb. 11.

The film follows a sonic collective trio with rocky interpersonal dynamics, who take up residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance and have to answer to the institute’s head, who has her own opinions about their work. Their chronicler, meanwhile, is dealing with stomach problems.

“Flux Gourmet” began life as Strickland was completing “In Fabric” when a producer offered him the opportunity of making anything he wanted, provided the budget was under £1 million ($1.3 million). “When I showed them the script, they ran a mile,” Strickland told Variety. “They said, ‘Do whatever you want,...

Say what you will about British horror director Peter Strickland, but his films are anything but dull. He broke out with 2005’s “Berberian Sound Studio,” a twisted tribute to 1970s Italian horror that established him as one of the genre’s most unique voices. Recent films “The Duke of Burgundy” and “In Fabric” continued to show off his distinctive visual style and unapologetic embrace of weirdness. His fans have nothing to worry about with latest film “Flux Gourmet,” which debuts at the Berlin Film Festival this week and appears to be firmly within his wheelhouse.

As “Berberian Sound Studio” focused on people who make horror movies, “Flux Gourmet” follows a collective of gourmands and the internal power struggles that unfold within the organization. Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie lead the cast, which also features Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Leo Bill, and Richard Bremmer.

The official synopsis for “Flux Gourmet...

pdir="ltr">Yearsafterhishypnotichaunteddresstale"ahref="https://www.slashfilm.com/56985/in-fabric-review/">InFabric/a>,"PeterStricklandhasreturnedwithanotherstrikingconcept:whatkindofhorrorsawaitata"culinarycollective"forperformanceart?SensoryoverloadisaStricklandtrademark,andgiventheauteuroftenworkstexturesandcloseupvisualfascinationintohisfilms,puttingfoodatthecenterofthestoryisaneerilyperfectfit."FluxGourmet"issetataninstitutedevotedtoculinaryandalimentaryperformancesandstarsAsaButterfield(of"ahref="https://www.slashfilm.com/75641/the-daily-stream-sex-education-is-a-sexy-teen-romp-with-a-heart-of-gold/">SexEducation/a>"fame),ArianeLabed("TheSouvenirPartII")andGwendolineChristie("GameofThrones")asmembersofthecollectiveembroiledin"powerstruggles,artisticvendettasandgastrointestinaldisorders."/p>pdir="ltr">ThefilmissettopremiereinBerlinFilmFestival's222EncountersprogramonFebruary11,beforearrivingintheatersinSummer222.ThismarksStrickland'sfifthfeature,reunitingthedirectorwithIFCFilms,whopreviouslycollaboratedonhisEnglish-languagedebut"BerberianSoundSystem"andhisfollow-upfeature"TheDukeofBurgundy."Strickland'sfirstEnglishfeaturehadasimilarfascinationwithartandfoodstuff,followingaFoleysoundengineersmashingwatermelonsandstabbingcabbagestocreatesoundeffects.Thistimearound,stabbingvegetablesseemslikeagiven—andjustthebeginningoftheoddness"FluxGourmet"willembrace.Inastatementlastyear(viaahref="https://variety.com/221/film/news/peter-strickland-flux-gourmet-asa-butterfield-gwendoline-christie-123514679/">Variety/a>),Stricklandexplainedhisinspirationforthefilm,saying/p>blockquote>"'FluxGourmet'cameaboutthroughapersonalfrustrationwithhowalimentarydisordersorfoodallergieshavebeencomicallyportrayedinsomefilms,andwithoutwantingtoembarkonafinger-waggingmission,Iwantedtowritesomethingdevotedtothedisruptionsofthestomachwhilstattemptingtomaintainadegreeofdignitytodeeplyprivateandembarrassingsymptoms."/blockquote>pdir="ltr">Youcancheckoutthefirstteasertrailerfor"FluxGourmet"below./p>

A collective dedicated to making food-oriented art sounds oddly specific, but the concept works like magic in Strickland's hands. Based on the trailer, the film mixes visual exploration with intriguing power dynamics. The story begins with the arrival of newcomer Stones (Makis Papadimitriou) whose gastrointestinal unrest catches the attention of the company stars, Billy Rubin (Butterfield), Elle di Elle (Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed), and Lamina Propia (Labed). Seizing on Stones as...

"Silence from an audience was always my fear. And anything I could do to break that silence became more important than anything else." IFC Films has revealed the first teaser trailer for a wacky film titled Flux Gourmet, a sort of strange indie horror dark comedy about a "food collective", made by the director of Berberian Sound Studio. Their goal is to produce art and explore the sounds created by food. Uh, yeah. Set at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective finds themselves embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas and gastrointestinal disorders. It stars Asa Butterfield, Gwendoline Christie, Ariane Labed, Fatma Mohamed, Makis Papadimitriou, Leo Bill, Richard Bremmer. This is premiering at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival this month before a release coming up this summer. I'm not a fan of Strickland's films, and this looks like he went overboard on the artsy-fartsy let's create art from...

Paralympics

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has revealed a disabled presenting team for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, who will present on the ground in China. Award-winning presenter Ade Adepitan will front the daily highlights show, with former rugby player Ed Jackson and Paralympic champion triathlete Lauren Steadman presenting the “Breakfast Show.” Recently retired Paralympic swimmer Ellie Robinson will be joined by British racing car driver Billy Monger as on-screen reporters and former sit-kier Sean Rose as pundit. Tokyo 2020 presenter Arthur Williams will lead overnight sports coverage.

Over 80 hours of the games will be on Channel 4 live from Beijing and will also stream on the broadcaster’s streaming on YouTube platform.

Channel 4’s director of programs Ian Katz said: “Channel 4 is incredibly proud to announce a stellar presenting team and — in a first for any broadcaster around the world — an entire presenting team who are disabled. This is testament to...

Flux Gourmet

Moving from the clothes we wear (with accompanying antagonist forces of everyday appliances) to the food we eat (or can’t eat), Peter Strickland is one of the best British filmmakers since breaking onto the scene with sensorial items such as 2009’s revenge drama Katalin Varga, and following that by 2012’s Berberian Sound Studio and 2014’s The Duke of Burgundy. With several coals in the fire, Strickland turned to low budget pandemic filmmaking lassoing muses Fatma Mohamed and Gwendoline Christie (the both recently appeared in In Fabric), in addition to the likes of Asa Butterfield, Ariane Labed, and Makis Papadimitriou to the fold last June for his fifth feature film.…...

“Flux Gourmet,” the new film from Peter Strickland, will be released by IFC Films in North America. The movie, which is backed by IFC Films, Bankside Films, and Head Gear/Metrol Technology, quietly wrapped production. The cast, which has not previously been announced, includes Asa Butterfield of “Sex Education” fame and “Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline Christie.

“Flux Gourmet” reunites IFC Films with Strickland — the indie studio previously collaborated with the auteur on his English-language debut “Berberian Sound System” and his follow-up feature “The Duke of Burgundy.” A24 released his most recent film 2018’s “In Fabric.”

IFC Films will release “Flux Gourmet” in 2022. The film is set at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective finds themselves embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas and gastrointestinal disorders.

“‘Flux Gourmet’ came about through a personal frustration with how alimentary disorders or food allergies have been comically portrayed in some films,...

The International Cinephile Society is known for going its own way with its annual awards, and its latest edition is no exception. Leading the field for its 17th awards was Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical “Pain and Glory,” which won best picture, and best actor for Antonio Banderas.

The Ics is made up of more than 100 accredited journalists, film scholars, historians and other industry professionals. Led by Ics president Cédric Succivalli, each year the Ics honors the finest in American and international cinema.

Best director went to Céline Sciamma for her 18th-century story of obsession “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” while the film’s Adèle Haenel earned the supporting actress prize.

Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” – which is up for six Oscars this weekend – was another hot Ics favorite, winning original screenplay, ensemble and production design awards.

Vitalina Varela won the lead actress prize for her role as a Cape...

by Jason Adams 

It's been easy to say this for several years running now but it's been a pretty darn good year for Horror Movies. There are filmmakers out there taking risks and big swings with the genre, from art-house oddities (Midsommar) right on up to the mainstream ones (Us). And once you really dig deep -- the Horror Genre has almost always been one where the most interesting stuff has been a dirty secret whispered between likeminded folk -- the beautiful freaks really come out to play.

For the past five weeks in our "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" series I've covered five of my favorite female performances in the genre in 2019, so first let's recap those before we get to the other five -- click their names to read those earlier posts.

Sofia Boutella in Climax

Rebecca Ferguson in Doctor Sleep

Fatma Mohamed in In Fabric

Lupita Nyong'o...

A hypnotic TV commercial for a local department store beckons — summons, really — shoppers for what amounts to a culturally mandatory annual winter sales event. It’s an ad that’s not unlike the ones for Silver Shamrock in “Halloween III: Season of The Witch,” and in “In Fabric,” it succeeds in the same way, bringing in unhappy bank employee Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) to look for a first-date dress.

She finds the Ambassadorial Function Dress, color: Artery Red. It’s an alluring garment summed up in the store’s catalog with hyperbolic copy like “body sensual, captivating, candlelight glances, canapé conversations.” Not really Sheila’s size, it somehow fits her perfectly. And though she protests that she normally wouldn’t wear something so bold, the commandingly seductive saleswoman, Miss Luckmoore, doubles down: “Daring eclipses the dark circumference of caution.” There’s really no arguing with that.

Naturally, the dress is haunted.

A British filmmaker with a keen grasp of the weird and what appears to be a mission to excavate the darker, danker corners of Eurosploitation cinema, he makes movies that function as both homages and fever dreams. His breakthrough, Berberian Sound Studio (2012), couches its tale of a sound engineer losing his mind in the world of ’70s giallo slasher-sleaze; its follow-up, The Duke of Burgundy (2014), is a same-sex S&m love story that replicates a vintage arthouse/grindhouse sordidness so well you’d think it was a lost Jess Franco flick.

Check out this clip from Peter Strickland's In Fabric about a divorcee who encounters a beautiful albeit cursed red dress. Also in today's Horror Highlights: Crowdfunder details for Neon Horror Zine, production details for the new Dust sci-fi series Alt, and a new poster as well as release details for Zombie with a Shotgun.

Watch a Clip from In Fabric: "Synopsis: A lonely woman (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), recently separated from her husband, visits a bewitching London department store in search of a dress that will transform her life. She’s fitted with a perfectly flattering, artery-red gown—which, in time, will come to unleash a malevolent curse and unstoppable evil, threatening everyone who comes into its path.

From acclaimed horror director Peter Strickland (the singular auteur behind the sumptuous sadomasochistic romance The Duke of Burgundy and auditory Giallo-homage Berberian Sound Studio) comes a truly nightmarish film, at turns frightening,...

Of all the things to throw someone’s life into abject chaos and uncertainty, a piece of clothing is pretty far down on that list. So in director Peter Strickland’s latest film, it’s no surprise that it’s almost too late when one central character realizes that the growing source of misery in her life is an impulse purchase.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars as a recent divorcee, looking to make a statement for an upcoming date. When she buys a striking red dress, the mysterious department store attendant gives the audience some not-so-subtle clues that this may be a choice she comes to regret. “In Fabric” is more than just a “killer dress” movie, but the trailer below gives a pretty good indication of what to expect from Strickland’s most recent film, including the mix of throwback atmospheric horror and raw sensuality that marked the filmmaker’s last...

In Fabric

Peter Strickland's In Fabric - which has its UK première at the London Film Festival tonight - is a heady mix of horror and ink black comedy. A brace of tales linked together by a cursed red dress and an unsettling department store operated under the watchful eye of a decidedly odd sales assistant (Fatma Mohamed). In the first story bank clerk and single mum Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) finds her life taking an odd turn after buying the dress for a Lonely Hearts blind date. In the second, Reg Speaks (Leo Bill), a washing machine repair man who turns out to have a particular way with words - has the dress foisted on him on his stag night, only for it to bring trouble to him and his fiancée Babs (Hayley Squires).

Strickland, catching up after the film had its European première at San Sebastian, describes filmmaking.

Good news for those who are (or will be) disappointed that Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” riff is a rebuke to the florid stylings of Dario Argento’s original: “The Duke of Burgundy” writer-director Peter Strickland is back with another mordantly funny and unapologetically fetishistic homage to vintage Euro-horror, and there’s no disguising its dark lineage. Unfolding like the giallo remake of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” that you never knew you always wanted, “In Fabric” tells the bloody story of a department store in Southern England, and the cursed red dress that fits perfectly on the women who have the misfortune of wearing it.

As much of a loving ode to the transformative power of fine clothing as it is a cheeky condemnation of the consumerism that drives people to buy it, Strickland’s long-awaited new delight might lack the cohesion of his previous film, but “In Fabric...

For obsessive-compulsive director Peter Strickland, horror cinema is all about style — a rapturous celebration of color, sound, and texture, fetishized nearly to the point of abstraction — so it stands to reason that the eccentric auteur behind “The Duke of Burgundy” and “Berberian Sound Studio” should next turn his attention to fashion. Technically speaking, “In Fabric” isn’t about the clothing industry but a single dress, a stunning red formal gown that plays nasty tricks on anyone who wears it.

Patterned after eye-popping giallo films of the 1970s and ’80s — that cult-beloved B-movie genre through which directors such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava crafted high-art imagery in service of less-than-coherent storytelling — “In Fabric” feels like a bespoke homage to those ultra-stylized Italian thrillers, with a wickedly arch sense of humor all its own, and a wicked other-dimensional vibe courtesy of modular synth group Cavern of Anti-Matter. What a peculiar coincidence...