DT500 Magazine

🎙️ Podcast Episode: The Lost Art of Attention: Ashanti Omkar on Cinema, Curiosity and the Stories That Shape Us

What if you’ve been watching films all wrong?

In an era defined by endless scrolling and fractured attention, film critic and broadcaster Ashanti Omkar poses a disquieting question: what do we lose when we no longer truly watch?

In this DT500 MAG LONDON DISPATCH conversation, she reframes cinema as more than entertainment — as a form of philosophy, empathy, and heightened perception. From the enduring cultural impact of *The Matrix* to the evolving role of film festivals, criticism, and global storytelling, Omkar explores how cinema continues to shape the way we understand ourselves and the world around us.

At its heart, this is a reflection on attention itself — and on why the most powerful films still ask for something increasingly rare: the willingness to slow down, and really see.

THE RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL: The Lost Art of Attention: Ashanti Omkar on Cinema, Curiosity and the Stories That Shape Us: LONDON

In an age of second screens and algorithmic feeds, London-based critic, broadcaster and cultural curator Ashanti Omkar argues that the real crisis facing cinema is not access, but attention. Audiences have never had more films and series at their fingertips, yet the patience required to experience them fully is under pressure. Drawing on her work across BAFTA juries, festival stages and interviews with actors and filmmakers, Omkar makes the case for curiosity, deep listening and the human encounters that streaming platforms cannot replicate. In a city that remains both a major global media market and a home to enduring cultural institutions, she explores why British film culture — with its tradition of rigorous criticism, public-service values and live festival conversations — still offers a distinctive counterweight to the increasingly fragmented attention economy.

🎙️ Podcast Episode: London Is Burning: Raindance and the Art of Controlled Chaos.LONDON

🎙️ New Podcast | London Is Burning: Raindance, Heatwaves & the Art of Controlled Chaos: A record-breaking London heatwave. A city on the edge of combustion. And a film festival that refused to cool down. Raindance 2026 turned the West End into a pressure chamber of ideas, ambition, and cinematic risk. First-time directors outnumbered expectations, not headlines. Conversations replaced branding. And the Canon Lounge beneath BAFTA became the real currency exchange of independent film. From sun-scorched red carpets to late-night revelations in darkened cinemas, everything felt heightened, urgent, and uncomfortably alive. Supported by Variety, under Denise Parkinson’s renewed leadership, the industry finally paid closer attention. Nothing here was passive. Nothing was safe. And nothing — not even the heat — could outshine the urgency of the stories being told.