Anthony Andrews Co-Founder and Creatve Director We Are Parable credit Williams Omope

Source: Williams Omope

Anthony Andrews

My BFI Player subscription has been great for discovering older films, like The Battle Of Algiers, and I’ve gone back and looked at the work of Agnes Varda – Le Bonheur is a film I discovered this year. It threw me into a bit of a spin. It looks beautiful, but beyond the surface it’s a horror story. I’ve also got into Jacques Demy’s work and the French New Wave.

I go to my local cinema [Vue Stratford] and see how audiences are responding. It’s important to stay connected with local audiences. Late one night, about 11:30pm, I drove to my local cinema and saw Weapons. There were a bunch of young people shouting at the screen — normally that’s something that’s quite irritating, but it enhanced my experience. That was the best environment to watch it in. It reminded me of going to see Scream 2 with my college friends.

I’m in a wonderful WhatsApp group that’s constantly talking about films, with splinter spoiler groups. Sometimes the conversations get super-heated. [UK film and TV critic] Amon Warmann is the founder.

Founder of The British Blacklist Akua Gyamfi is someone I trust for recommendations. We have very similar taste. It’s rare we disagree.

I read The Guardian for Peter Bradshaw’s reviews and I enjoyed Ellen E Jones’s piece on One Battle After Another – I thought that was an incredibly well-written piece of critical thinking. Leila Latif is another journalist I enjoy, and Hanna Flint.

Shout out to the Fade To Black podcast [hosted by Flint, Warmann and Clarisse Loughrey]. Those guys talk about film in an accessible way. It’s important that film journalism remains accessible to the masses, so people are thinking critically about what they are watching. The Little White Lies podcast is also great, and an oldie but a goodie – the Empire podcast – is an astute piece of work.

I like the role reality TV plays in my life. Our job at We Are Parable is to engage with audiences and engage with people, and that’s what reality TV does. Teanne [Andrews’ wife and We Are Parable co-founder] and I watch Love Is Blind and Married At First Sight when we’re not watching films. We have to look at the craft of how well these shows are put together, and how they are designed to keep you watching. It’s storytelling done in an interesting and innovative way.

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