Patrick Russell

In a vivid new account of the dawn of film in Britain, film historian and curator @BryonyDixon introduces us to Britain's first cinematic pioneers. The Story of Victorian Cinema is out now: bit.ly/3Rd3i4e

Something Nice to Eat is a favourite, and I would love to see the other films. So much interesting overlap in terms of women making sponsored and industrial films in the UK and Canada.

@mcnatch @muninnherself Pavlov's dog...

@NonFicPatrick @muninnherself I knew a screenshot of TW album would encourage Twitter words

One of the joys of Apple Music’s new multi-channel audio is old quad mixes of 70s country albums like this, in lush surround streaming - paging @NonFicPatrick

@muninnherself @mcnatch She and her sometime husband George Jones were IMO in the front rank of 20th c US popular singers- up there with Holliday, Sinatra, Sam Cooke etc but rarely placed in that pantheon because country often taken less seriously than other genres

@mcnatch TW is one of those 'really quite famous' people I literally never recognise. (Unless she's ina video with the KLF.)

@mcnatch & lush is the word when it comes to Tammy's 70s LPs (as produced by Billy Sherrill; and lush the word in sadly more ways than one for George Jones' LPs produced by BS in same period..) Will check out. Well done for enticing me back into the limelight of Twitter, if but briefly...

Another rare return to Twitter for me- to highlight upcoming screenings & other cool stuff that my colleague Ros has been overseeing, on vital subject of women in British documentary making- past & present. Incl some great #BFINationalArchive restorations. Follow Ros for more

Looking forward to the first screening of our splendid new restorations in The Camera is Ours: Britain's Women Documentary Makers season @BFI Southbank on Thu 3 Mar, incl. The English Inn (1941), directorial debut of Muriel Box @_CarolMorley whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default…

Briefly breaking long Twitter silence to celebrate publication today of @stewjeez' brilliant book The Story of British Animation. 1st in a new BFI/Bloomsbury series British Screen Stories - exploring true width, breadth, depth of UK film/TV histories shop.bfi.org.uk/pre-order-the-…

Have yourself a curatorial Christmas. Seasonal selections from the BFI National Archive, gift-wrapped by a few of its staff youtu.be/FbikuD3k3QY

@Illuminations @robinalexbaker @RosCranston @KatyMcGahan And to you - a happy and a safe one.

@NonFicPatrick @robinalexbaker @RosCranston @KatyMcGahan Thanks Patrick - I'm going to follow up these researches once there's access again to #BBC Written Archives Centre - there may be a production file for 'Pay Day' that gives us more details. Oh for the chance to work in archives again... Happy Christmas.

Another post on one of BBC TV's '20 new plays', 1960-61; this one is Roderick Barry's (lost) mining drama 'Pay Day' - with intriguing connections to Sarah Erulkar + National Coal Board doc 'Nine Centuries of Coal' (hence @robinalexbaker @NonFicPatrick) illuminationsmedia.co.uk/20-new-plays-p…

@Illuminations @robinalexbaker @RosCranston @KatyMcGahan Anyway an amazingly interesting interaction between two media worlds, thanks for sharing a great read.

@Illuminations @robinalexbaker @RosCranston @KatyMcGahan 2dly, all filming underground required going thru a bureaucratic NCB permissions process. Not imposs the BBC got this permission to do own filming. At least as likely the play used NCB footage- its access to it as you say prob eased by the Erulkar connection. Tho we'll never know

I put together this playlist of Pride's lesser-known tracks, Charley Pride: Beyond the Hits. Hardly complete--his catalog is DEEP, people--but when you get through re-listening to the singles... #charleypride open.spotify.com/playlist/5UXOt…

“It’s my music, too.” R.I.P. Charley Pride, one of the greatest country acts, and one of the greatest popular artists, we’ll ever be so lucky to know. I tried to get down a bit of why he matters (present tense) in this essay from last year. #charleypride newyorker.com/culture/cultur…

... Peter was one of the UK’s great filmmakers + the man behind one of Paul Robeson’s best moments captured on film. Paul Robeson sings to Scottish Miners (1949) (filmed at Woolmet Colliery). RIP Peter! Obit on the Guardian website: theguardian.com/film/2020/dec/…

@jamesmjharrison @DrMatthewSweet @TalkingPicsTV PS James thanks so much for sharing the obit for Peter P and your pics from the Timeshift shoot- remember that day well! Btw Peter and John K knew one another- John did a couple of Mining Reviews in the DATA years (on a freelance basis, he wasn't in DATA). Have a great day.

@jamesmjharrison @DrMatthewSweet @TalkingPicsTV His loss was our gain as he soon left World Wide for Leon Clore which led to the 5 years or so of documentary shorts that (I'd argue) are still the peak of his great career.

Amazed by Captured (1959) a drama made for British soldiers so they might resist Chinese and North Korean interrogation techniques. Waterboarding, isolation, sleep deprivation, ideological re-education. Regret I didn’t know it existed when I interviewed its director, John Krish.