Joe Fordham

Joe Fordham

@flashfilms.bsky.social

Writer, filmmaker (glitchsite.com), author of books, screenplays, and (2001-2021) a million-plus words for Cinefex magazine. https://linktr.ee/flashfilms

156 followers60 following599 posts

Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Crumbs! It's the 40th anniversary of TV Cartoons "When the Wind Blows"––here's my epic article now playing at Cartoon Brew celebrating four decades of Jim and Hilda Bloggs' animated thermonuclear heartbreak. ❤️🌍🚀🤯😵‍💫🫠❤️‍🩹 www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film...

cartoonbrew.comMeltdown Memories: Revisiting ‘When the Wind Blows’ At 40Animation art director Richard Fawdry and former animation assistant Paul Donnellon revisit Raymond Briggs’ nuclear satire on its 40th anniversary
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Yep, sounds awesome, now showing at The British Museum: www.theguardian.com/artanddesign... My adaptation: flashfilms.us/1066-screenp... ⚔️🏹🐴🌊💫💔🦁🦅🏹⚔️

theguardian.comThe Bayeux tapestry: a stupefying, thrilling, horrifying masterpiece that shakes the earthThe greatest battle ever depicted in art is here at last – and it hurtles along, making your heart pound with its sense of doom and destiny, culminating in fires and corpses on a battlefield full of p...
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Here's a flip through the August 2026 magazine, and a glimpse at the bonus Spielberg-themed 'Wrap Shot' feature that I also got to write for this issue's end pages, at the American Cinematographer Instagram 🚗🚓🚓🚓🚓🚓🚓🚓👽🛸 www.instagram.com/p/DbbuAnBSpZu/

instagram.comAmerican Cinematographer on Instagram: "Hot Off the Press: August 2026 The August issue of American Cinematographer has arrived. This month features Janusz Kamiński on Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure D...american_cinematographer on July 30, 2026: "Hot Off the Press: August 2026 The August issue of American Cinematographer has arrived. This month features Janusz Kamiński on Steven Spielberg’s Disclosu...
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Here’s my conversation with the spectacular Mr. Boots Riley about his recent phantasmagoric “I Love Boosters,” part of my coverage in the new American Cinematographer (same issue also features my story on “Pluribus”). theasc.com/article/i-lo...

theasc.com"A Visceral Feeling": Boots Riley on 'I Love Boosters'Director Boots Riley breaks down the bold color, in-camera miniatures and stop-motion VFX on 'I Love Boosters,' shot by Natasha Braier, ASC, ADF.
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

What's that you say? It's Disclosure Day today? Why, I don't mind if I do. flic.kr/p/bAjTNs Unredacted Flashfilms Blog (containing no Spielberg spoilers) recalling my 1994 close encounter, here: flashfilms8.wixsite.com/flashfilms/p... 🛸👽 #DisclosureDay

flic.krRoswell, 1994Redacted uncredited crew-person and alien crash victim created at Steve Johnson's XFX for the 1994 Showtime TV movie "Roswell" (I'm the one in the black shirt). Photo by Scott Enyart. Full disclosur...
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

I visited Normandy with my parents a few years after this. Hard to believe anyone could stand on that soil and mouth the monstrous bilge that happened there today.

Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

This was a fun assignment: an unexpectedly affecting YouTube documentary about fledgling computer graphics in the 1970s. Look for the surprise appearance of Coen brothers' film score composer Carter Burwell moonlighting as a CG modelmaker, and classic footage of Shatner's 1980s toupée 🖖🤖💾

Cartoon Brew@cartoonbrew.bsky.social

Before Pixar, there was 'The Works,' an unfinished '70s CG feature produced at the New York Institute of Technology by a who's-who of pioneers in the field, including Pixar founders Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/the-work...

cartoonbrew.comInside 'The Works,' A Lost Pre-Pixar CGI Feature ExperimentYouTube documentary captures the experimentation and heartbreak of early computer graphics at the 1970s New York Institute of Technology.
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

A fun website devoted to the art of fonts has published a little story about how a 16mm filmmaker (me) made titles for his short (Board Game) back in the pre-digital era. #BoardGame #Letraset #Denby fontsinuse.com/uses/76933/b...

fontsinuse.comBoard Game movie poster and titlesDenby Medium was my weapon of choice as font for my first 16mm short film, Board Game, made in 1985. I loved the old world classic style that, I now think, I subconsiously associated with the ITC Souv...
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Very moved by Artemis II launch today, which obliterated the negativity that's surrounded this admin's attitude to space science. Astounded to discover NASA's tracking app that allows us to image the progress of Wiseman-Glover-Koch-Hansen in real-time. Go, science! 🚀❤️🌚 www.nasa.gov/missions/art...

Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Happy CE3K day, to all who celebrate the U.K. premiere of Spielberg's film at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, 48 years ago today. #WeAreNotAlone #Odeon #Spielberg

Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

My obituary on Con Pederson. I never had the opportunity to meet or interview him, but he was a fascinating man.

Cartoon Brew@cartoonbrew.bsky.social

Remembering Con Pederson (1934–2026), the visionary animator and special photographic effects supervisor whose contribution to '2001: A Space Odyssey' changed science fiction cinema. A quiet pioneer of both analog and digital worlds. www.cartoonbrew.com/rip/con-pede...

cartoonbrew.comThe Animated Universes Of Con Pederson, Who Died On January 2Pederson, credited as special photographic effects supervisor on '2001: A Space Odyssey,' leaves an incredible legacy of animation and FX work.
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

Had a wonderful time speaking to these filmmakers, Gabrielle Brady and Michael Latham, about Australia's entry into the Best Documentary Feature race, with their moving and magical film "The Wolves Always Come at Night". theasc.com/articles/the...

theasc.com'The Wolves Always Come At Night': A Family In CrisisHow cinematographer Michael Latham shot 'The Wolves Always Come At Night,' from harsh sandstorms to warm moments between herders and their animals.
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

For the first time in its history, American Cinematographer is offering a choice of covers in its December 2025 issue. Proud to see my coverage on GDT's "Frankenstein" will be one of those. Preview of the print mag at the link below. Additional online story coming soon 🌭🍺 theasc.com/news/america...

theasc.comInside the December 2025 Issue of American CinematographerAC's December 2025 issue explores the making of 'Frankenstein,' 'Wicked: For Good,' 'Song Sung Blue,' 'Bugonia' and 'Train Dreams.'
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

And here are ASC's online bonus stories. Production design: theasc.com/articles/fra... Photographing miniatures: theasc.com/articles/fra... American Cinematographer's main article details "Frankenstein"s shooting, makeup, models and visual effects. With Guillermo, Dan Laustsen, and co.

theasc.comDesigning 'Frankenstein'How production designer Tamara Deverell helped build the world of 'Frankenstein' — plus, vivid renderings of environments from concept artist Guy Davis.
Joe Fordham
@flashfilms.bsky.social

I commissioned this beautiful conceptual painting by Miles Teves for "The Dodo Man" after my story received attention as finalist for Ron Howard's Imagine Impact. Unveiled here as part of my Flashfilms redux: flashfilms.us/the-dodo-man #ScriptSky #MilesTeves 🦤 flic.kr/p/2k43E1j

flic.krThe Dodo ManConceptual art by Miles Teves. Extract from 'The Dodo Man' screenplay by Joe Fordham: "Out of the undergrowth, a second bird appears – a sleeker, slighter FATHER DODO. It rams into the dog’s ribs. T...