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10 Musicians and the Movies They’d Make
What if your favourite musicians stopped writing songs and started writing screenplays? We imagine the films hiding inside ten artists’ most cinematic worlds. 1. Jamie T – London, After Dark A grimy, funny and chaotic coming-of-age film about friendship, drinking, petty crime and trying to outrun your own mistakes. 2. Kendrick Lamar – Before We…
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10 Breakout Stars to Watch at BFI London Film Festival 2026
From rising actors appearing in some of the festival’s biggest premieres to emerging performers and filmmakers making their mark in the shorts programme, these are the 20 names Close-Up Culture think audiences should have on their radar at the 70th BFI London Film Festival. 1. Joe Locke – Elsinore Shaking off the boyish charm of…
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10 Films & The Paintings They Secretly Belong To
From classical ideals to psychological surrealism, these are the films that find their true visual souls hanging on museum walls. 1. The Substance (2024) + The Birth of Venus – Sandro Botticelli Beauty becomes a prison when the ideal woman is expected to emerge perfectly formed and remain eternally young. 2. Poor Things (2023) +…
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10 Films & The Wikipedia Rabbit Holes They’d Send You Down
From historical conspiracies to architectural crises, these are the films guaranteed to lock you into a midnight Wikipedia rabbit-hole spiral. 1. Goodfellas (1990) – The Lufthansa Heist A real $5 million robbery, an airport employee inside job, and a trail of bloody betrayals that sounds almost too cinematic to be true. 2. The Favourite (2018)…
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10 TV Characters Who Would Last Five Minutes on The Traitors
From tactical self-sabotage to roundtable meltdowns, these are the TV characters who wouldn’t survive the first murder mystery breakfast. 1. Gob Bluth – Arrested Development He’d accidentally reveal his entire strategy during the first breakfast while trying to perform an illusion to impress someone. 2. Super Hans – Peep Show He’d disappear after the first…
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10 TV Characters Who Would Be the Worst People to Go on Holiday With
From corporate stress-heads to unhinged over-exuberance, these are the TV characters guaranteed to turn your dream getaway into a psychological battleground. 1. Shiv Roy – Succession She’d spend the entire holiday pretending she’s relaxed while quietly judging every decision you’ve made. 2. Susie Greene – Curb Your Enthusiasm She’d get into a screaming match with…
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10 TV Characters Who Would Have the Most Unbearable Podcasts
From corporate buzzwords to aggressive current affairs, these are the fictional podcast hosts of your absolute nightmares. 1. Malcolm Tucker – The Thick of It A brutally aggressive current-affairs podcast where every guest is called an idiot in the most creatively offensive way before the first ad break. 2. Marnie Michaels – Girls A painfully…
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10 Films & Their Unlikely Photographic Companions
Ten iconic films meet ten visionary photographers in Close-Up Culture’s vision of shared psychological landscapes and visual echoes. 1. Aftersun (2022) × Rineke Dijkstra, Almerisa, Wormer, Netherlands A childhood memory caught just before it becomes something you can no longer return to. 2. The Piano Teacher (2001) × Francesca Woodman, Self-Portrait at Providence, Rhode Island…
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In Conversation with Kate Radcliffe & Sophie King: Redefining How We Talk About Baby Loss on Screen
Following its BAFTA qualification, writer-producer Kate Radcliffe and director Sophie King sit down to discuss Still Life, their deeply personal short film starring Ophelia Lovibond and Jacob Anderson. Drawing from Radcliffe’s own experience of losing her son, Dexter, the creative duo explore how they balanced profound grief with unexpected humour to portray the reality of…
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Magician Chris Cook on his Award-Winning Show Fake
Acclaimed magician Chris Cook pulls back the curtain on Fake, his hit fringe show exploring our cultural obsession with deception and misinformation. What first inspired you to explore deception and illusion in Fake? I think working as a magician means you’re naturally fascinated by deception. Inherently, no one ever believes anything a magician says so I’ve…
