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PODCAST

Celebrating Cinema

From cult classics to today’s popular movies, Celebrating Cinema, from Amsterdam’s LAB111, explores the films that shape how we see the world. Each week, Laura Gommans (film journalist), Hugo Emmerzael (film critic), Kiriko Mechanicus (filmmaker), and Tom Ooms (film programmer) take turns diving into movies old and new — revealing what they tell us about ourselves, our culture, and the times we live in. Insightful, nostalgic, and sometimes delightfully absurd, this is a podcast for anyone who loves

tv & film

All Episodes

00:43:15

Why Luca Guadagnino Is The Master Of Desire

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/10/17

Few filmmakers explore desire with as much curiosity and elegance as Luca Guadagnino. His cinema doesn’t just show yearning, it makes us feel it. With After the Hunt now in cinemas, Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms trace how the great films of desire have shaped Guadagnino’s work, from the charged glances to the slow unraveling of restraint. But while Laura revels in the sensuality of his worlds, Tom questions the pretension that can often surround them, avoiding conflict. Together, they ask why cinema

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00:38:01

How Rietland Put Dutch Cinema Back on the Map w/...

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/10/09

Sven Bresser’s debut feature Rietland marks a striking moment for Dutch cinema — the first film in nearly 30 years to be selected for Cannes. This eerie, quietly devastating story follows a reed cutter whose discovery of a murdered girl’s body sets off an introspective search for truth, asking where violence really comes from — the world outside or something buried within. Set against the haunting stillness of the Dutch countryside, the film transforms landscape into witness.Speaking with producer

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00:31:38

Eddington, Rietland and Tilly Norwood

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/10/02

A lot can change in a week at the movies. One Battle After Another—the film we crowned as the year’s best—has stumbled at the box office, but does that tell the full story? Meanwhile, Dutch cinema is making international headlines, though for all the wrong reasons: AI actors. Alongside all this, new films demand our attention: Ari Aster returns with Eddington, a chaotic, unhinged attempt to wrestle with the Covid era, and Sven Bresser’s Rietland might just put The Netherlands back on the cinematic

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00:36:56

One Battle After Another, Yi Yi and Him

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/09/25

Paul Thomas Anderson’s $130 million blockbuster might just be the film of the year. In this episode, Laura and Elliot dive into the action-packed, satirical drama while lamenting Leonardo DiCaprio’s phenomenal performance—brilliant on screen, morally dubious off it. They also revel in the timeless elegance of Yi Yi, recently restored and returned to the big screen by Odyssey Classics, and ask why the thriller Him couldn’t live up to the hype, even with Jordan Peele’s name on it.Get tickets to One

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00:44:23

Make Chick Flicks Great Again....Or Not?

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/09/18

What ever happened to the chick flick? At the turn of the millennium, this fizzy, unabashedly feminine genre ruled the box office and sleepovers alike, but somewhere along the way, it slipped out of fashion. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Clueless, now screening at LAB111, Kiriko Mechanicus and Tom Ooms revisit their favorite titles and try to define what a chick flick really is. From iconic gems to forgotten cult favorites, they explore the pleasures, pitfalls, and cultural baggage of the

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00:46:35

Why Agnès Varda is a Cinema Icon

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/09/10

Coinciding with our Viva Varda retrospective now playing at LAB111 in Amsterdam, Elliot and Kiriko celebrate the life and cinema of French filmmaker and feminist icon Agnès Varda. They discuss why Varda is Kiriko’s ultimate cinematic hero and how her films mirror the warmth, curiosity, and humour of the woman herself. Varda's approach to filmmaking is more than craft, it’s a way of seeing the world, a playful blueprint for us all to live by. Together, they unpack some of her classics and imagine

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00:36:55

The Deadly Reality of Filming in Gaza: Fatima...

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/09/04

Sepideh Farsi’s Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is a film made in the urgency of the present. Composed through a series of video calls with Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, it documents a life confined in Gaza during the current phase of Israel’s genocide. Speaking with producer Elliot Bloom, Sepideh reflects on why the film is essential at a moment when Palestinian voices are being silenced and when the daily struggle to survive is kept at a distance from the world.This conversation

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00:43:45

Jaws: The Birth of the Summer Blockbuster & the...

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/08/27

In honor of its 50th anniversary, Jaws emerges from the depths of the cinematic sea to remind us why it remains the archetype of the summer blockbuster, forever shaping our fear of the ocean and giving sharks a bad rep. Join Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms as they dissect Spielberg’s masterstroke, from its thrilling mechanics to the happy accidents that made it an instant classic.This episode also explores the evolution of creature features, tracing how this genre once thrived on tangible, terrifying

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00:29:49

Why Everyone is Talking About Weapons and Sorry, Baby

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/08/13

Back from a summer hiatus, Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom reunite to trade notes on the hot new releases. Zach Cregger’s hotly anticipated Weapons has horror fans buzzing—though for producer Elliot, he can only manage to watch it through his fingers. They also dive into Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor’s quietly devastating debut, a tender comedy-drama about how life insists on moving forward no matter what.Get your tickets to Weapons @ LAB111Get your tickets to Sorry, Baby @ LAB111

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00:34:42

Morgan Knibbe on The Garden of Earthly Delights and...

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/07/23

In this episode, Kiriko sits down with Dutch filmmaker Morgan Knibbe to discuss his blistering debut fictional feature The Garden of Earthly Delights—a formally audacious, emotionally harrowing portrait of the post-colonial legacy in the Philippines. Through a fictional lens, Knibbe confronts the ongoing violence of Western capitalism, power, and desire, exposing the devastating asymmetry between those who are seen and those who are never heard.But why has a film this urgent and unflinching been met

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00:26:06

Plein Soleil and the Art of the Summer Movie

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/07/09

This week on Review Roundup, host Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom head south for the summer with a sun-drenched revisit of Plein Soleil—René Clément’s slow-burning 1960 thriller that introduced the world to a dangerously magnetic Alain Delon, as we dip our toes into the Mr. Ripley universe.Alongside Clément’s shimmering noir, they spotlight more scorchers from LAB111’s Heatwave program—including Aftersun, The Parent Trap, and Do the Right Thing—to explore what keeps us coming back to summer cinema:

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00:57:02

What Akira Kurosawa Taught Us About Movies—and Morality

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/06/25

This week, Elliot and Kiriko dive into the legendary world of Akira Kurosawa—Japan’s master filmmaker and, let’s be honest, probably your favorite director’s favorite director. From samurai epics like Seven Samurai and Rashomon to powerful character dramas like Ikiru and High and Low, Kurosawa knew how to tell a story that hits you in the heart and keeps you on the edge of your seat.They unpack the big questions his films tackle—truth, justice, mortality—and connect the dots between Kurosawa’s

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00:45:37

Why Zombies Refuse to Die

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/06/11

With 28 Years Later lurching toward the screen, Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms revisit the undead legacy of the zombie in cinema — a genre that, much like its subject, refuses to stay buried.From its racist roots in early 20th-century depictions of Haitian slavery to its reinvention as a metaphor for mass consumption, pandemic anxiety, and societal collapse, the zombie has shuffled through countless cinematic incarnations. But what keeps this creature so relentlessly alive in the cultural imagination

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00:31:57

Dogme 95, The Phoenician Scheme, Twin Peaks: Why Wes...

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/06/05

With Dogme 95 turning 30 this year, hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom reflect on the radical movement that dared to strip cinema down to its bare bones—and what that legacy means today. Returning to last episode's ranking of Wes Anderson's films, the duo discuss The Phoenician Scheme, the American director's latest film that only seems to reinforce the “all style, no substance” label. Rounding out the episode is a look at David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks, soon to be screened at LAB111 on June

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00:25:23

Dispatch from Cannes (2025)

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/05/28

Reporting from the Croisette, host Hugo Emmerzael is joined by fellow film critic Savina Petkova who together reflect on two unforgettable selections from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival—films that stood apart amid a blur of screenings and industry spectacle.Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, led by a luminous Renate Reinsve, is a quietly devastating meditation on memory, loss, and emotional inheritance. Meanwhile, Óliver Laxe's Sirat propels us into a dystopian rave-scape, where pulsing techno and

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00:53:19

Ranking Every Wes Anderson Movie

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/05/08

To mark LAB111’s full Wes Anderson retrospective, hosts Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms rank every film in his colorful, quirky career. They dive into what makes his work so distinct—asking whether it’s all style and no substance, or if there’s real emotional depth beneath the surface. Along the way, they share which actors they’d love to see in the Wes Anderson universe, and Laura makes the surprising case that one of his films doesn’t have enough color. Producer Elliot, ever the skeptic, adds his own

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00:28:09

Growing Up in a Revolution: The Power of Persepolis

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/04/30

In this edition of Review Roundup, host Laura Gommans is joined by Elliot Bloom to dive into the re-release of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s searing, stylish memoir of growing up in Iran through revolution, repression, and rebellion—newly restored by Odyssey Classics. They also take on Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag, a spy thriller that trades action for dry wit and quiet unease . And with Showgirls back in sparkling form for its 30th anniversary, they ask: was Elizabeth Berkley in on the joke all

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00:31:24

How Do You Film the Atomic Bomb?

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/04/23

Alain Resnais’s Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) returns to cinemas—a quiet revolution in filmmaking that blends love, loss, and the long shadow of human destruction. In this episode, hosts Kiriko Mechanicus and Elliot Bloom unpack why this haunting classic still matters today. Why did Resnais turn to fiction after his devastating Holocaust documentary Night and Fog? And what does the film reveal about how we confront images of destruction—past and present?Get tickets to Hiroshima Mon Amour @ LAB111

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00:50:25

Is Alex Garland's Warfare an Anti-War Movie?

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/04/16

Did audiences jump the gun on Alex Garland’s Warfare? Before it's release, the brutally realist portrait of America’s war in Iraq was deemed just another army recruitment movie, but Hugo Emmerzael and Laura Gommans definitely don't see it that way. Also: Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl gives Pamela Anderson a tender, neon-lit comeback, but did it warrant the awards hype it got? Plus, an interview with Carmen Chaplin on 'Chaplin: Spirit of the Tramp', her reframing of Charlie

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00:45:28

Why Hollywood Loves a Comeback

Celebrating Cinema ·

2025/04/09

In a moment when Hollywood is once again embracing the comeback—think Demi Moore’s return in The Substance or Pamela Anderson’s reinvention in The Last Showgirl—we turn our attention to the art of the revival. In this episode, hosts Laura Gommans and Tom Ooms explore the enduring appeal of the Hollywood comeback: why the industry—and its audiences—love to see actors return, transformed and triumphant. From John Travolta’s genre-defining resurgence in Pulp Fiction to Michelle Yeoh’s historic Oscar

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143 results

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