Coming soon to a cinema near you this month are many high quality productions.
Tom Hanks (Big) portrays American television personality Fred Rogers in ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood’, released on 6 December 2019. Matthew Rhys (The Americans television series) plays journalist Lloyd Vogel, with the film focusing on his experience profiling Rogers and the effect it has on his life.
Brace for impact on 19 December 2019 as ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’ is released to conclude the nine-part “Skywalker saga”, that started with ‘A New Hope’ in 1977, with this third instalment in the sequel trilogy following ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘The Last Jedi’ from 2015 and 2017, respectively. Mark Hamill (Kingsman: The Secret Service) heads an ensemble cast that includes Carrie Fisher in unreleased footage.
Directed by Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), ‘Cats’ will be released on 20 December 2019. James Corden (Into the Woods), Judi Dench (Mrs Brown), Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Ian McKellen (X-Men) and Taylor Swift (Valentine’s Day) feature in Hooper’s second musical film following ‘Les Misérables’ in 2012.
On 26 December 2019 ‘Little Women’ will mark the eighth film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel of the same name. Directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Laura Dern (Rambling Rose), Timothée Chalamet (Beautiful Boy) and Meryl Streep (Out of Africa) will feature in this classic story.
In Scotland I attended Dunfermline High School from 2010 to 2016 and Edinburgh Napier University from 2016 to 2020, emerging with two Advanced Higher and five Higher qualifications from the former and graduating with an undergraduate bachelor of arts honours degree in journalism from the latter. After two years away from further education due to the coronavirus pandemic, I'm going to be studying the MFA Photography course at York St John University in England from 2022 to 2024. I've achieved The Duke of Edinburgh’s (Bronze) Award and received grade five level certification for electronic keyboard from Trinity College London. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, writing, watching television series, listening to music and going to the cinema as well as catching up with friends, travelling by railway and hostelling overnight and overindulging in food and drinks in a pub or restaurant then having to go to the gym to burn it all off again.
By studying journalism and photography, my aim of practicing photojournalism professionally will hopefully be once step closer. Both are partial artforms requiring the rest of the work to be undertaken by the audience, the specialism of photojournalism, however, providing each of its two parts with greater context. Exploring photographic techniques (aerial, timelapse, editing) through a variety of journalistic styles (features, poetry, songwriting) will allow me to develop my portfolio, hone my camera skillset and narrow my focus further in anticipation of working life. Without a global pandemic to deal with this time. Fingers crossed.
