With the uncertainty of global travel, many of us have been forced to postpone or even cancel our holiday plans this summer. But alas, do not fear. We have got you covered by assembling some of the must-see places to visit in the UK this summer season (and beyond). North Wales By Caitlin Parr This year, a lot of people will understandably be looking a … Continue reading Staycation Settings: Making the Most of the UK
As lockdown measures have caused lots of us to cancel holiday plans, we thought we’d bring some of the best dishes we’ve eaten abroad back home and recreate them! Check out some of our favourites below… Gyros from Corfu, Greece By Hannah Penwright ThereÔÇÖs not much IÔÇÖd rather be doing than being back in Corfu. Eating gyros after a gorgeously sunny day relaxing at the … Continue reading Recreating Holiday Meals
Words by Sarah BelgerArtwork by Sarah Belger With lockdown restrictions easing and life starting to return to normality, , the return of cinema is for the moment at least on hold, following the postponement of reopening plans by major chains across the UK earlier this month. Luckily for you, the big screen need wait no longer, as we at Quench have a range of ideas … Continue reading Creating A Lockdown Cinema Experience
The lockdown over the past few months has led to boredom – long swathes of time where some of us find we’re lacking a substantial activity to sink our teeth into. Video games are a perfect outlet for excitement that many have turned to in order to alleviate the monotony of life stuck inside the house. Here are just a few games that we and … Continue reading The Games Getting Us Through Lockdown
By Georgia Glenn Hamilton is a musical depicting the life and death of Alexander Hamilton: one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. Following his birth to his legacy after death, we are given insight into an immigrant who helped birth America. The first act highlights HamiltonÔÇÖs naivety and his expressed emotions. We meet Eliza, his wife, along with Angelica, his perhaps … Continue reading Hamilton: An Eye Opener For Racial Prejudice
By Cynthia Vera There used to be a time when I used to believe that America was best country in the world. I believed it was the Land of the Free. I guess as a young immigrant from a British-colonised African country, I had no other choice than to believe otherwise. I am from a ÔÇ£developingÔÇØ country after all, so how can I not idealise and romanticise a country … Continue reading Stop Killing Us
Words by Ona Ojo, Ella Rowe Hall, Thomas Benny, Finegas Stocking and Megan Evans (in order of appearance) Illustration by Shafia Motaleb @artsyfifi Sorry to Bother You (2018) dir. Boots Riley RileyÔÇÖs directorial debut is an absurdist dark comedy set in an alternate modern-day Oakland. Despite an unpromising start in a telemarketing office, young, black and anxious Cassius ÔÇÿCashÔÇÖ Green quickly rises through the company … Continue reading Films Made by BAME Directors
Illustration by Jasmine Snow @jasminesnowartContributions by: Ella Clucas, Kate Waldock, Ellie Hutchins, Ella Lloyd, Annabelle Ingram and Rhian Lock (in order of appearance) Kindred (1979) by Octavia Butler If youÔÇÖre looking for a book that will enthral you in its narrative whilst at the same time educating you on the history of racial politics, Kindred is it. In this poignant science fiction novel Butler brings … Continue reading Books Written by BAME Authors
Here at Quench Film & TV, one of our favourite topics to discuss is The Importance of Queer Cinema, because we all get bored of watching the same heteronormative narratives on our screens. Now that we’re stuck indoors, why not celebrate some of our favourite Queer films and shows? Quarantine? More like Quarantine! Portrait of a Lady on Fire By Phoebe Bowers If you want … Continue reading Queerantine: Here’s to Queer Cinema!
By Megan Evans The TV adaption of Sally Rooney’s bestselling novel Normal People has enfolded so much turmoil and heartbreak in front of us during this coronavirus outbreak. It is a complicated love story set in Northern Ireland, between two school students who have mutual fascinations and a friendship bond like no other despite their differing personality traits. A synopsis of the storyline is fairly … Continue reading Normal People and Turmoils of Heartbreak
By Pui Kuan Cheah Netflix has been on a roll lately, delivering plenty of content to audiences stuck indoors. Enter teen rom-com Never Have I Ever, from the minds of Lang Fisher and Mindy Kaling. Loosely based on KalingÔÇÖs childhood, this series is full of laughs but will also tug at your heartstrings. Never Have I Ever follows feisty Indian-American teenager Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) … Continue reading Review: Never Have I Ever
By Anna Heledd As someone who ravishes in learning about cultures so distant from my own, I was very eager to watch NetflixÔÇÖs Unorthodox upon its release. Adapted from a Deborah FeldmanÔÇÖs 2012 memoir, ÔÇÿUnorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic RootsÔÇÖ, the show follows the devastating yet empowering tale of 19 year old Esty Shapiro (Shira Haas); a Hasidic Jewish woman on the journey … Continue reading Unorthodox: The Journey of Self-Discovery
By Lindsay Smith Last time Laura Dazon spoke to us about the ways you can secure a golden ticket through the back door and become an extra! This time, we speak to 20 year old Kiera Robinson, a dancer at Rubicon Dance theatre, on her experiences of performing in the NetflixÔÇÖs Sex Education chaotic Romeo & Juliet play in the season finale of season 2. … Continue reading An Interview With a Dancer from Sex Education Season 2
Here’s a small list of our favourite shows that you can stream this month! Enjoy. Hollywood By Alisha Keane You are stuck inside, lacking hope, and feeling as though the world outside is scary and dark. Correct? Hollywood on Netflix is the show for you. Set in post-WW2 1940s Golden Age Hollywood, Ryan MurphyÔÇÖs second original series for Netflix (first was The Politician) re-tells the … Continue reading What’s on Streaming: May
By Natascha Ng Over the last few weeks, we have all had far too much time on our hands and, for many of us, this has probably been quite daunting. There is lots of societal pressure to be using this time to better ourselves, get fitter and learn new skills. However, if you are struggling to find this motivation it turns out this could, in … Continue reading How Can Boredom Foster Creativity?
By Holly McElroy NetflixÔÇÖs new dating show Love is Blind presents itself as a social experiment, where single women and men date in booths where they cannot see each other, before deciding whether or not they want to get engaged. If they do decide to get married, so begins a whirlwind of a group honeymoon in Mexico, moving into apartments and meeting the family until … Continue reading Love is Blind as a Microcosm for the Pitfalls of Millennial Dating
By Ella Rowe-Hall Teen dramas. The occasionally cringe-inducing yet always loveable, dramatic slices of the lives we often wished we ourselves could have led during our own teenage years. Though it feels like they have been dominating Netflix since the dawn of time, the genre only truly took form during the early 1990ÔÇÖs. Whilst many teen drama fanatics could never overlook the staple that is … Continue reading Deep Dive: The Evolution of the Teen Drama Genre
By Craig Strachan A couple months into our collective banishment to our front rooms, exile from the gig venues, expulsion from the indie discos and the heart breaking cancellations to our festival filled summers, life in isolation seems to have settled into itsÔÇÖ routines and procedures. The arduous late wake up, slipping into the comfy joggers and oversized band tee of the day and the … Continue reading Playlists for Quarantine: 20 songs that encapsulate life in isolation
By Josephine von Jascheroff The third online collection of the Banff Film Festival adventure films showcases heart-warming tales of achievement and personal growth while taking you on an epic trip of some of the most beautiful, yet often over-looked, destinations in the world. The six short films vary in length and location but feature the same comedic narration that takes viewers behind the scenes of … Continue reading BANFF Online Collection 3 | BANFF Mountain Film Festival Review
By Amelia Field Second up in the BANFF collection of handpicked adventure films we have a range from across the world, from Kyrgyzstan to North America. A range of activities, including trail running and surfing, are included in this collection but the constant that remains throughout is the theme of endurance and a will to succeed leading to an inspiring set of films. The collection … Continue reading BANFF Online Collection 2 | BANFF Mountain Film Festival Review
