Birdeater: An Australian Masculinity Run Amok

By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Sydney filmmakers Jim Weir and Jack Clark turn the mirror inwards to examine the conditions where, if left unchecked, certain kinds of male social relationships can grant violence against women a space to flourish.” Launched in 2021, the Australian government-supported Our Watch organization rolled out the “Doing […]

Ukraine, Pre-Invasion: Maryna Vroda on Stepne

By Yun-hua Chen. The shooting took place before the full invasion by Russia and just before the pandemic started. When we arrived in Kiev, we had to go through special pandemic control measures. Everything was shut down. We were lucky to be able to finish the shooting, but then for […]

The Unexpected Raymond Griffith

By Thomas Gladysz. The two films included in Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian serve as an excellent introduction to the comedian’s considerable talents.” Many rediscoveries aren’t. All-too-often, the thing in question – a movie or book or album, an actor, artist or musician, hasn’t been undeservedly forgotten so much […]

The Street of Forgotten Men (1925): From Story to Screen and Beyond

By Thomas Gladysz. An act of cinematic and cultural archeology. I just kept on digging to find out what I could find out.” Film International contributor Thomas Gladysz has published a fifth book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond (PandorasBox Press). He describes it as […]

For the “God Jean-Luc”: Thomas Imbach on Say God Bye

By Yun-hua Chen. I was already under the spell of Godard. I thought, why not just start in my home country as a self-taught filmmaker?” From his teenage years, Swiss filmmaker Thomas Imbach was ensnared by Godard’s allure. Say God Bye, his latest documentary, chronicles his journey embarked upon with […]

Boo-Who-dunit – Kenneth Branagh Sinks A Haunting in Venice

By Elias Savada. Not the charm you might be hoping for, unless you’re a fan of endless rain, too many jump scares, unsettling camera angles, ragged hand-held camerawork, onerous close-ups, and a score drowning in dreary woodwinds and screechy violins.” Those actor-ensemble, murder mystery set pieces you’ve experienced in movie […]

Reflections on Oppenheimer: The Jewish Question, Bad Conscience, the Bomb

By Christopher Sharrett. This story is well-known…. We are deprived of the factors transforming him into the destroyer of worlds, as well as those making him into the pathetic cowboy, and the smart aleck who could not mount a sensible defense in the face of imbeciles without being a stupid, […]

Recent Contemporary Protest Cinema and Political-Cultural Exoticism

By Hamed Soleimanzadeh. By bringing attention to the challenges of the surrounding world, exotic protest cinema encourages audiences to take responsibility against the injustices and inefficiencies.” The concept of political-cultural exoticism in protest cinema refers to the presentation and understanding of ethnic, national, and regional cultures and policies in films […]