Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Investigating Genre The monthly show about world cinema and cult releases. Electric Sheep assistant editor Alex Fitch talks to Lee Broughton about his book Euro-Western, published by I.B. Tauris, which uncovers progressive attitudes to women and minorities in European Westerns, and to the director (Andrew Martin) and lead actor (Edmund Kingsley) about their excellent Cold War SF thriller Capsule, in a Q&A recorded at the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival. Also,...

Electric Sheep magazine podcast: Death and Beyond Electric Sheep Magazine editor Virginie Sélavy talks to Death Waltz Records’ Spencer Hickman and composer Fabio Frizzi about the latter’s scores for such classic Italian horror films as The Beyond and Zombi 2, recorded at Frightfest 2016. Also, ESM assistant editor Alex Fitch takes part in a Q and A with director Justin Schein about his film Left on Purpose which documents the life and death of ‘Yippie’ activist Mayer Vishner, recorded at...

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Fear and Fantasy Electric Sheep Magazine editor Virginie Sélavy talks to Steven Shainberg about his new film Rupture and takes part in a Q and A with director Guillermo del Toro about the documentary Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex, recorded at Fantasia Festival, Montreal. Also, ESM assistant editor Alex Fitch discusses the comprehensive history of ‘Tarzan on Film’ published by Titan Books, with author Scott Tracy Griffin. Plus classic tracks from...

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Looking East / Thalma Goldman Electric Sheep editor Virginie Selavy talks to East End Film Festival programmer Andrew Simpson, Masonic Temple programmer Josh Saco, and to Evrim Ersoy, programmer and presenter of DukeFest the Third. Electric Sheep assistant editor Alex Fitch discusses Israeli-born British artist and animator Thalma Goldman with Richard Hallam and Sylvie Venet-Tupy, authors of Thalma, An Artist’s Life. Plus an extract from a conversation between...

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Skolimowski and Kinoteka Celebrating this year’s Polish Film Festival Kinoteka, Alex Fitch talks to Oscar winning producer Jeremy Thomas and director Jerzy Skolimowski about the latter’s work on such films as The Shout, Essential Killing, and his latest movie 11 Minutes. Virginie Selavy talks to writer and filmmaker Daniel Bird about the late director Andrzej Zulawski, and his translation of the director’s Cosmos. With classic tracks by Blondie, Otis Spann,...

Reality Check: Building a better High Rise Following a screening of High Rise as part of the symposium J.G. Ballard in the Seventies, Alex Fitch talks to three members of the production team behind Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High Rise. Dan Martin discusses arranging the special effects for the movie and creating realistic gore for Wheatley’s films, Mark Tildesley talks about dressing the set cost effectively and how this compared to working with Michael Winterbottom on Code...

Panel Borders: Action – The Story of a Violent Comic Guest presenter Professor Martin Barker (University of Aberystwyth) investigates the story of Britain’s notorious Action comic, which was launched on Valentine’s Day and banned by Halloween in 1976. Professor Barker explores the rise and fall of the comic, what elements of the strips were censored and censured, and how the legacy of Action was continued in “The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic” – 2000AD. Also, in a panel discussion entitled: “Poor,...

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Ballard and the Seventies The March episode of the Electric Sheep Film Show is a J.G. Ballard special: ESM editor in chief Virginie Sélavy talks to his daughter, artist Fay Ballard, to director Harley Cokeliss, who made a version of Crash featuring J.G. Ballard for the BBC in 1971, and to director Ben Wheatley about his new adaptation of High-Rise, which is out in cinemas on 18 March. With classic tracks by The Shangri-Las, The Residents and The Specials....

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Frankenstein revived, Superman Lives In the February episode of the Electric Sheep Film Show, Electric Sheep Magazine editor assistant editor Alex Fitch talks to Jasper Sharp, artistic director of the Asia House Film Festival, which runs from 22 February, to actor Tony Todd about Bernard Rose’s new adaptation of Frankenstein, and to the director (Jon Schnepp) and producers (Holly Payne, Robert Pierce) of the documentary The Death of Superman Lives. With...

Book List: McKean and Sinclair Guest presenter Chiara Ambrosio talks to psycho-geographer and novelist Iain Sinclair and artist Dave McKean about their collaborations such as Slow Chocolate Autopsy and London Orbital, their inspirations and their working methods. The podcast also includes additional questions from Alex Fitch and others, plus readings by Sinclair and McKean of their short stories The Articulate Head and The Coast Road. Recorded at The Light and Shadow Salon, Horse Hospital,...

Reality Check: Save Our Skins, Superbob! Alex Fitch talks to the casts and crews of two British Comedy / Science-Fiction films, in Q and As on stage at the SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival. At Stratford PictureHouse, the director of SOS: Save our Skins, produced by Baby Cow, discusses finding humour in an alien apocalypse, and at the Ritzy Cinema, the creator of SuperBob and members of the cast, including Catherine Tate talk about creating a South London Superhero. Poster and still from SOS: Save...

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Brain Pickings and Cigarette Burns Virginie Sélavy and Alex Fitch talk to Rich Pickings director Carla MacKinnon, about their new series of science and art events titled Inside Out, which explore the human experience through film and discussion. They also talk to Josh Saco, head of celluloid promotion outfit Cigarette Burns, about their Twisted Valentine screening of 1965 seedy gem Who Killed Teddy Bear at the Barbican. Plus an interview with female-centred...

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman In the December episode of the Electric Sheep Film Show, ESM editor in chief Virginie Sélavy and assistant editor Alex Fitch explore film and pop culture. Celebrating her recent 90th birthday, in an interview recorded at the London Film Museum, Alex talks to legendary British actress Honor Blackman about Goldfinger, Doctor Who and the cult 1960s TV series The Avengers, plus producer Sean Hogan discusses Future Shock: The Story of...

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2 Alex Fitch continues his exploration of the actors who have been hired to play incarnations of Doctor Who after the original actors have passed on. Alex talks to John Guilor about providing a new voice for William Hartnell’s First Doctor in reconstructed ‘missing’ scenes for BBC DVDs; and to Tim Treloar about continuing the adventures of the Third Doctor in Big Finish audio plays, now that Jon Pertwee is no longer with us. (Originally broadcast 21st...

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 1 Alex Fitch looks at the actors who have been hired to play incarnations of Doctor Who after the original actors have passed on or retired. While the programme has a built in fiction for the constant recasting of the lead role, fans have had a desire to still see and hear new adventures for the 1960s and 70s versions of Doctor Who, and these have begun to be made and licenced by the BBC for broadcast on digital radio, television and download. Alex talks...

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Sound and Vision Electric Sheep Magazine editor in chief Virginie Sélavy and assistant editor Alex Fitch talk to visual artist Graham Humphreys, best known for his posters for The Evil Dead, Dream Demon and Santa Sangre, about his new book, Drawing Blood. Festival director Nag Vladermersky discusses this year’s edition of the London International Animation Festival, which runs at the Barbican from 4 to 10 December. Plus an interview with Peter Strickland,...

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Satanic Panic, Festival Screenings Electric Sheep Magazine editor Virginie Sélavy talks to author Kier-La Janisse about her book on the 1980s ‘Satanic Panic’ phenomenon, in which subculture, cult film and teenage rebellions were erroneously classified as having supernatural connections. Virginie also chats to film critic and cartoonist Mark Stafford about films they saw at this year’s London Film Festival, including: High Rise, The Witch, Evolution, Der...

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Cult Screenings, Hardware, Squirm Electric Sheep Magazine assistant editor Alex Fitch talks to directors Jeff Lieberman and Richard Stanley, and composer Simon Boswell about cult cinema screenings. Fitch and Lieberman discuss the latter’s classic horror films Squirm, Blue Sunshine and Just Before Dawn during the director’s visit to Cine-Excess 2014 at the University of Brighton, and bookending a 25th anniversary screening of Hardware at SCI-FI-LONDON, Stanley...

Panel Borders: Erica Smith – Girl Frenzy Alex Fitch talks to cartoonist Erica Smith recalls her influential zine Girl Frenzy, made by Brightonians in the 1990s, in an interview recorded at Cartoon County, Hove. Alex and Erica also discuss the anti-UKIP beer mats the artist designed for distribution in the South East before the General Election and her contributions to “Julia Kay’s Portrait Party”.(Originally broadcast as part of the ‘Clear Spot’, 12th October 2015 on Resonance 104.4...

Panel Borders: Chris Riddell Alex Fitch talks to Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell about newspaper cartoons, Goth Girl and illustrating Coraline. Chris and Alex also discuss the artist’s different takes on Alienography for political cartoons and children’s books, plus his memories of encountering David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta at a young age. (Originally broadcast as part of the ‘Clear Spot’, 15th September 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM. Recorded at Graphic Brighton) Political and non-political...

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: The Female Gaze, the Forbidden Room In the start of a new series, Electric Sheep Magazine editor in chief Virginie Sélavy and assistant editor Alex Fitch preview the London Film Festival and talk to filmmaker Prano Bailey-Bond, whose short film NASTY is screening as part of the Cult section. Sight and Sound production editor Isabel Stevens joins them to talk about the new Female Gaze issue of the magazine. Plus extracts from Evan Johnson’s interview with Guy...

Panel Borders: Dave Gibbons, Comics Laureate In the first of a new series of Panel Borders, Alex Fitch talks to ‘Comics Laureate’ Dave Gibbons about his career so far, from Doctor Who Weekly strips to Watchmen, Give me Liberty to Kingsman / The Secret Service. Recorded at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, October 2014. Originally broadcast as part of the ‘Clear Spot’, 15th September 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM. Dave Gibbons interviewed by Alex Fitch at LICAF, interior art from The...

Alicia Walter, leader of Chicago Art-Pop band Oshwa, tells Lee Stapleford about her inspiration, motivation and craft. This is an extended version of the programme originally broadcast on 9th July 2015, Resonance FM, London      

Book List: Family Reading In an hour long show looking at titles aimed at different ages of young readers, Alex Fitch talks to three female authors about their work. Graphic designer Lotta Nieminen talks about her first picture book, Walk This World, which depicts various cities and locations around the world, in a highly stylised rectilinear fashion; YA author Sally Gardner discusses her Carnegie Medal winning dystopian novel Maggot Moon and new illustrated fantasy title Tinder; and debut...