Hell Is For Hyphenates – April 2018

Ming-Zhu Hii joins us to talk the films of Steve McQueen! Rochelle and Lee are joined by this month’s guest, actor and filmmaker Ming-Zhu Hii! Ming-Zhu joins us to chat about some of the key films from this month, including Steven Soderbergh’s feature-film-shot-on-an-iPhone Unsane (01:21), Rungano Nyoni’s dramatic debut I Am Not a Witch (07:40), Sally Potter’s one-act stageplay-esque The Party (14:47), and Wes Anderson’s stop motion animation Isle of Dogs (20:37). They then look at the news that the Cannes Film Festival has banned Netflix films from playing in competition. Is Cannes turning its back on the changing nature of cinema, or helping to preserve its traditions? (27:10) Then, Ming-Zhu takes us through the films of British filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen. McQueen is best known for his feature films Hunger (2008), Shame (2011), and 12 Years a Slave (2013), all of which received high critical praise, and the latter of which won the Oscar for Best Picture. But McQueen had a prolific career before he entered the world of feature films, winning the Turner Prize for his art, as well as making short films, video installations, TV commercials, music videos, and much more besides. Ming-Zhu talks about how she first discovered McQueen’s work, and what it means to her. (35:48)