Pomona Rewind

Has Pedro Almodovar really been making feature films for 42 years? Si. For five decades, the Spanish director has become one of Europe's most cherished filmmakers tackling weighty subjects such as the suppression of sexual identity, psychopathic behaviour, sexual abuse, Catholic Church oppression and misogyny. But while he has addressed those issues, Almodovar has done that with great panache. © Sony Pictures International His movies have been lauded for their vibrant, colourful imagery but they have also been striking because of their veneration of women and their empathy for people in the most challenging of situations. Almodovar has shown a flair for the melodramatic like Douglas Sirk but he also has had a fascination with the grotesque like his fellow countryman Luis Bunuel. He hasn't been afraid too to channel Alfred Hitchcock from time to time during a rarely dull, remarkably consistent career. Over 42 years, the Calzada de Calatrava born filmmaker has notched up an impre

The trick to a great psychological thriller is atmosphere. Set the right tone and the audience is immediately hooked. If you want to get a sense of how to do it, look no further than Northern Irish filmmaker Stacey Gregg's debut feature 'Here Before'. Revelling in the cold and damp of a late Northern Irish late autumn/early winter, Gregg's film uses the weather to accentuate the sense of loss experienced by Andrea Riseborough's central character Laura. © BBC Films But it also adds to the chilling effect that Niamh Dornan's talkative young schoolgirl Megan has on Laura as she starts to trigger uncomfortable questions about life after death. In Gregg's film, Laura and Jonjo O'Neill's Brendan live on the edge of a residential estate in Antrim with their teenage son, Lewis McAskie's Tadgh. The family is coming to terms with the death of their young daughter Josie years earlier in a car accident. Despite their grief, Brendan and Laura have been keepin