Hello everyone,
I hope you're all enjoying the summer as much as I am!
Cinephile aired it's season 3 finale on the 23rd of April and thus marked it's end for the 2023-2024 academic year. Season 2 and 3 of Cinephile were a tremendous success, boasting more guests and genres covered than ever before. Let's take a look back and see what exactly happened!
September 2023
Niamh makes her grand return to UCD after being away on Erasmus in Toulouse, France for the year.
October 2023
October 3rd 5pm - Cinephile airs for the first episode of Season 2. Niamh shares all the movies she's watched and soundtracks she's loved since last being in the pod including Bullet Train, The Menu and Barbie.
October 10th 5pm - Episode 2 revisits the familiar franchise highlight format for the show, talking all things Mission: Impossible.
October 17th 5pm - Episode 3 harks the first guest episode of the season - Barbeinheimer with Mehr and Gearoid. These two guys are some of my best friends in college and we had such a great time on air. Mehr is an integral character on Cinephile, featuring in more episodes than anyone except myself. It was so lovely to have Gearoid join us as it had been something we'd both been trying to organise. It was the perfect episode with the perfect music from Ludwig Gorranson and Mark Ronson.
October 24th 5pm - The Halloween Episode of Cinephile got a little creepy, featuring music from one of Niamh's favourite films; The Nightmare Before Christmas. Niamh discusses what musical techniques are employed by both composers and musicians to add that nail biting, hand over the eyes quality to the pieces.
November 2023
November 7th 5pm - Returning from reading week, Niamh is no stranger to a bit of study. Therefore, she humbly offers up a playlist of her favourite pieces to help her through the grind. One of the best Cinephile playlists of all time, spotlights pieces from The Theory of Everything, American Beauty and Twilight.
November 9th 8am - BelfieldFM hosted their annual 24hr livestream in aid of St. Vincent De Paul, raising hundreds of euro for the great cause. This special episode of Cinephile rounded out the 24hrs and featured playlist of movies which take place within one singular day. It was an honour to be able to be a part of it.
November 14th 5pm - Niamh introduced this episode as "perhaps the most important episode of Cinephile that I'll ever do". John Williams has pioneered film music composition in the past few decades and this episode was in honour of his genius. Niamh came in guns blazing with fun facts, musical theory and fantastic pieces for days.
November 21st 5pm - Hans Zimmer is another of the most recognised film composers of the 21st century, this unique blend of the classical and electronic have won him some of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Niamh takes Episode 7 to celebrate his brilliance.
November 28th 5pm - Festive season hits Cinephile, Niamh curated some of the best pieces from the most classic and nostalgic Christmas movies for your listening pleasure. This being the season finale of season 2, Niamh brings out all the stops and festive cheer for the occasion.
February 2024
February 6th 6pm - Cinephile returns for season 3! Niamh fills listeners in on what she's been watching and listening to over the Christmas break and her plans for the upcoming season of the show.
February 13th 6pm - Episode 2 of the third season celebrated all things Lorne Balfe. This episode is tied with John Williams Week for Niamh's favourite solo episode that has ever aired. This episode holds a special place in Niamh's heart as it was the one which earned Cinephile it's nomination for 'Radio Production of the Year: Art's and Features' in the 2024 Smedia Awards.
February 20th 6pm - Feeling a little under the weather, Niamh tries to brighten up her mood with the music from some of her favourite 'Feel Good Films'. A nostalgic mix of action, comedy and animation. This episode was sure to induce that warm fuzzy feeling inside.
February 27th 6pm - With the Oscars looming, Niamh got everyone up to speed with the composers and films who has been nominated for 'Best Original Score'. Although a strong attempt was made to be unbiased, Niamh couldn't help but fangirl over Ludwig Gorranson's nomination for the Oppeinheimner score. This playlist features some of the most innovative pieces Niamh has heard in a while.
March 2024
March 5th 6pm - Adam and Mehr joined Niamh in the pod for a special episode highlighting one of her favourite composers, Michael Giacchino. Mehr was no stranger to Giacchino as he was a guest for the Pixar episode in Season 1 which featured a great number of his pieces and Adam was back in the pod for the first time since 2022. Unfortunately, this episode is now lost media as the recording was corrupted. Still a special episode for those who were able to tune in!
March 26th 6pm- Mehr was back in the pod to help discuss all things Dune 2. He was fresh off the back of seeing both movies for the first time and provided an interesting insight as a newcomer to the franchise, while Niamh completely forgot the names of half of the characters even though she'd only seen the movie a few days before. Unfortunately, another episode lost to the ether.
April 2024
April 2nd 6pm - A new guest enters the pod, Kevin (Niamh's boyfriend) was a guest for Star Wars Week! Seeing as they had both been watching the franchise together, Niamh thought there was no one better to recruit to act as consulting producer/guest. Indeed, this was the first time a non-UCD student had featured on the show, the Cinephile Cinematic Universe expands!
April 9th 6pm - In light of the recent solar eclipse, Niamh took this episode out of this world to highlight film score from movies with extra terrestrial plots. Issuing health and safety warnings and pondering the meaning of the music in 'The Martian', this episode was a little bit of everything.
April 11th - Niamh and Kevin attended the 2024 Smedia Awards in the Mansion House, where Cinephile was nominated in the 'Radio Production of the Year: Arts and Features' category. A wonderful night and an absolute honour to be recognised.
April 16th 6pm - Colm O'Shea from Writer's Block, joined Niamh for this crossover episode. A friend of the show and fellow radio host, this episode was as smooth as butter and included some great conversations and story telling.
April 19th - The BFMies (BelfieldFM's own society awards) are held the Marlin Hotel and Niamh is shocked and honoured to win 'Show of the Year' and receive a special recognition for being nominated for a Smedia Award.
April 23rd 6pm - Cinephile's Season 3 finale boasted the biggest number of guests to feature on a single episode! Emma, Ella and Belinda joined Niamh as they reminisced on some of their favourite childhood movie scores and finished off the season in style.
April 25th 7pm - Niamh and Kai (Host of 'That's all folks') made an appearance on Colm O'Shea's final episode ever of his show 'Writer's Block'. This two hour long super show was a privilege to be a part of and definitely brought a tear to our eyes bidding adieu to a BelfieldFM veteran.
Overall, this past year of Cinephile has been absolutely fantastic. I really can't put into words how much this show means to me and being able to involve my friends is one of the best feelings. My most sincere thank you to everyone who participates, listens and supports the show, I am forever thankful to you.
This summer I'm carving out a good chunk of my time to make the show better than ever when it returns in September, I can't wait to chat to you all back in the pod!
Thanks for listening (or reading in this case 😉),
Niamh
