Andrew Kelly
@andrewkelly.bsky.social
Writer, festival director, interviewer, visiting professor. Projects: ideas events, Future City Film Festival, John Boorman, John Berger, William Gray Walter, revisiting J B Priestley, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel book. https://festivalofideas.substack.com
Has Bristol experienced a cultural renaissance since the 1960s? Is this more than civic boosterism? What are the lessons for planning for the future? festivalofideas.substack.com/p/the-newcom...
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
November 9, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Has Bristol experienced a cultural renaissance since the 1960s? Is this more than civic boosterism? What are the lessons for planning for the future? festivalofideas.substack.com/p/the-newcom...
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
Subscribe for more at the link. Next piece is on the film Paths of Glory.
Questions Peter Watkins asked his class in his Columbia University film course in the late 1970s: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/m...
November 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Questions Peter Watkins asked his class in his Columbia University film course in the late 1970s: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/m...
Breakfast today is with Andre Previn, or Mr Preview to lovers of classic TV comedy.
November 9, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Breakfast today is with Andre Previn, or Mr Preview to lovers of classic TV comedy.
Breakfast with Ronnie Scott; lunch with Nina Simone.
November 8, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Breakfast with Ronnie Scott; lunch with Nina Simone.
I asked Margaret Heffernan why she liked working with artists and what we can learn from them: ‘…I was just in awe of their capacity without support, without encouragement, often without very much money, to just keep doing astonishing things.’ festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I asked Margaret Heffernan why she liked working with artists and what we can learn from them: ‘…I was just in awe of their capacity without support, without encouragement, often without very much money, to just keep doing astonishing things.’ festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
Coming up 18-21 November: Festival of Economics 2025. Many sessions looking at AI and jobs, doom and gloom in the economy, trade and tariffs, housing and land, migration, art and the economy, aid vs defence, working class men, and polarisation. Details: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
November 7, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Coming up 18-21 November: Festival of Economics 2025. Many sessions looking at AI and jobs, doom and gloom in the economy, trade and tariffs, housing and land, migration, art and the economy, aid vs defence, working class men, and polarisation. Details: www.economicsobservatory.com/festival-of-...
Saw the new Frankenstein yesterday which I had greater hopes for. It remains an incredible story. We ran a project in 2016 which looked at Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (and Bristol). Alys Jones created this image which we thought captured the creature well.
November 7, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Saw the new Frankenstein yesterday which I had greater hopes for. It remains an incredible story. We ran a project in 2016 which looked at Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (and Bristol). Alys Jones created this image which we thought captured the creature well.
Margaret Heffernan: ‘I think we’re taking a 20th century mindset, which is a linear managerial focus on efficiency, and we’re trying to use that mindset for 21st century problems and I don’t think it’s going to work.’
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
November 5, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Margaret Heffernan: ‘I think we’re taking a 20th century mindset, which is a linear managerial focus on efficiency, and we’re trying to use that mindset for 21st century problems and I don’t think it’s going to work.’
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
festivalofideas.substack.com/p/festival-o...
For more follow @margaretheffernan.bsky.social; sign up to her Substack: heffernanm.substack.com; and read her excellent book published by @policypress.bsky.social.
November 5, 2025 at 9:18 AM
For more follow @margaretheffernan.bsky.social; sign up to her Substack: heffernanm.substack.com; and read her excellent book published by @policypress.bsky.social.
New interview online. Margaret Heffernan: ‘…it really pisses me off when people talk about artists as luvvies, as if they’re infantile, slightly fey, weak people. These are the toughest people I’ve ever known in my life. And I’ve worked with some tough people.’ open.substack.com/pub/festival...
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
New interview online. Margaret Heffernan: ‘…it really pisses me off when people talk about artists as luvvies, as if they’re infantile, slightly fey, weak people. These are the toughest people I’ve ever known in my life. And I’ve worked with some tough people.’ open.substack.com/pub/festival...
As the Christmas market starts to be built in Broadmead Bristol, nothing beats the spirit of Christmas than these jolly fellows.
November 4, 2025 at 8:45 PM
As the Christmas market starts to be built in Broadmead Bristol, nothing beats the spirit of Christmas than these jolly fellows.
Good to read the @filmnoiruk.bsky.social catalogue (especially as Melanie Kelly has written about The Asphalt Jungle for this).
November 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Good to read the @filmnoiruk.bsky.social catalogue (especially as Melanie Kelly has written about The Asphalt Jungle for this).
Only one film for me in @filmnoiruk.bsky.social Fest this year in the means streets of the place that never sleeps, Weston-super-Mare, but it was a fine one: Forgotten Faces (1928), supported by The Great Train Robbery (1903). And with added bonus of music from the great Neil Brand.
November 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Only one film for me in @filmnoiruk.bsky.social Fest this year in the means streets of the place that never sleeps, Weston-super-Mare, but it was a fine one: Forgotten Faces (1928), supported by The Great Train Robbery (1903). And with added bonus of music from the great Neil Brand.
For more on this see my lengthy piece Our Project Was the City: Bristol Ideas 1992-2024: www.bristolideas.co.uk/read/our-pro...
November 2, 2025 at 12:40 PM
For more on this see my lengthy piece Our Project Was the City: Bristol Ideas 1992-2024: www.bristolideas.co.uk/read/our-pro...
Sara Wheeler chooses @joannapocock.bsky.social Greyhound as one of her books of the year in The Spectator. It’s one of my books of the year, too. www.spectator.co.uk/article/book...
November 2, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Sara Wheeler chooses @joannapocock.bsky.social Greyhound as one of her books of the year in The Spectator. It’s one of my books of the year, too. www.spectator.co.uk/article/book...
I hope when The Galleries in Bristol is demolished this plaque is saved. I’ll have it for safe-keeping if no-one else will. It needs to be protected and then reinstalled.
November 2, 2025 at 8:02 AM
I hope when The Galleries in Bristol is demolished this plaque is saved. I’ll have it for safe-keeping if no-one else will. It needs to be protected and then reinstalled.
Heading to Film Noir Fest tomorrow. Schedule here: www.southwestsilents.com/film-noir-fe...
November 1, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Heading to Film Noir Fest tomorrow. Schedule here: www.southwestsilents.com/film-noir-fe...
Ferry setting off in Bristol harbour this morning.
November 1, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Ferry setting off in Bristol harbour this morning.
In my latest Festival of Ideas essay I look at the Bristol renaissance over the past 65 years and what might come next. substack.com/inbox/post/1...
October 30, 2025 at 8:52 PM
In my latest Festival of Ideas essay I look at the Bristol renaissance over the past 65 years and what might come next. substack.com/inbox/post/1...
Terrific evening organised by Curiosity Unlimited. Come to Talks4Change to hear inspiring stories and ideas shaping a better future. www.eventbrite.com/e/talks4chan...
October 30, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Terrific evening organised by Curiosity Unlimited. Come to Talks4Change to hear inspiring stories and ideas shaping a better future. www.eventbrite.com/e/talks4chan...
In my latest Festival of Ideas essay I look at the Bristol renaissance over the past 65 years and what comes next. open.substack.com/pub/festival...
October 28, 2025 at 10:07 PM
In my latest Festival of Ideas essay I look at the Bristol renaissance over the past 65 years and what comes next. open.substack.com/pub/festival...
Latest arrivals. I like this series.
October 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Latest arrivals. I like this series.
How it started; how it finished. A full house for our showing of the first major BBC2 series The Newcomers (1964) about Bristol and John Boorman’s reflections on this 21 years later in Money Into Light. Thanks @swsilents.bsky.social for the partnership and James Harrison for the photos.
October 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
How it started; how it finished. A full house for our showing of the first major BBC2 series The Newcomers (1964) about Bristol and John Boorman’s reflections on this 21 years later in Money Into Light. Thanks @swsilents.bsky.social for the partnership and James Harrison for the photos.
Delighted to be helping with this important evening looking at protest, progress and purpose: music, poetry, film, talks and more. First speakers now announced.
📅 Tuesday, 11 Nov 2025 | Wills Memorial Building, Bristol
🎟️ Limited tickets from £10. BOOK NOW to secure yours → shorturl.at/0cHPm
📅 Tuesday, 11 Nov 2025 | Wills Memorial Building, Bristol
🎟️ Limited tickets from £10. BOOK NOW to secure yours → shorturl.at/0cHPm
October 27, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Delighted to be helping with this important evening looking at protest, progress and purpose: music, poetry, film, talks and more. First speakers now announced.
📅 Tuesday, 11 Nov 2025 | Wills Memorial Building, Bristol
🎟️ Limited tickets from £10. BOOK NOW to secure yours → shorturl.at/0cHPm
📅 Tuesday, 11 Nov 2025 | Wills Memorial Building, Bristol
🎟️ Limited tickets from £10. BOOK NOW to secure yours → shorturl.at/0cHPm
One of my favourite paintings is back on show at The Met Museum:
Grant Wood (1892-1942)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Grant Wood (1892-1942)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
October 25, 2025 at 3:29 AM
One of my favourite paintings is back on show at The Met Museum:
Grant Wood (1892-1942)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Grant Wood (1892-1942)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere