By Yun-hua Chen. Where I really drew inspiration was from the older classic films like Scream by Wes Craven, and like Halloween by John Carpenter. My hope was to really take those real classic ideas and melt them with these newer things like SAW and Unfriended….” Shook, which is streaming […]
Trusting the Process: Oscar Contender Maria Sødahl on Hope
By Robin Gregory. Hope is also about blended family, the modern family, the structures and mechanics of that. For example, how you love differently or the same, stepchildren versus biological children. All of these things can have taboos around them (that) I wanted to explore.” Cancer is not for the faint […]
An Iranian-American Director Takes on Feminist Horror: Natasha Kermani on Lucky
Star and Screenwriter Brea Grant By Ali Moosavi. It is feminist in the sense that it is about a woman’s experience and the whole movie is a deep dive into that experience.” Natasha Kermani is a young Iranian-American film director, working in independent cinema. She has three feature films under […]
Expanding the Dialog on National Cinemas: an Interview with MK Raghavendra
Zibahkhana (Hell’s Ground, Pakistan, 2007) By Devapriya Sanyal. MK Raghavendra, a film critic and leading scholar of Indian cinema, has authored eight books with leading publishers to date. He offers fresh and invaluable insights into the world of Indian cinema not only restricted to studies of Hindi or Bollywood (as […]
Deceptive Simplicity: John Crye on Chance
By Robin Gregory. I cannot grow as a human being if I do not observe and explore and attempt to explain my own life to myself, to understand my own patterns of behavior. I think the same can be said of humanity at large.” We’ve been warned by Hollywood bigwigs […]
Instinct and Intimacy: Svetlana Cvetko on Show Me What You Got
By Zoe Kurland. There are all these little surprises because it’s all happening as it’s happening in real life among a group of people. That was the intention behind my style of shooting.” In an early scene in Svetlana Cvetko’s Show Me What You Got, Marcelo (Mattia Minasi), the son […]
Short Takes from a Nation’s Youth: An Interview with Kamel Aouij and Mohamed Feki
France 1911 By Matthew Fullerton. New technologies continue to bridge distances, and the importance that Tunisia has accorded the seventh art of filmmaking in the realm of culture and the organization of events surrounding this art has helped.” Tunisia has for many years – and even in the midst of […]
A RomCom during Ramadan: Mike Mosallam on Breaking Fast
By Ali Moosavi. It is a romantic comedy about how people live their lives and how people love each other. I think nobody should watch this film and say here is what it means to be a Muslim, because there is no one way to be a Muslim.” REVIEW When […]
In a Feature Debut, Things Come to an End: David Färdmar on Are We Lost Forever
By Tom Ue. David Färdmar’s new film Are We Lost Forever explores what happens at the end of a picture-perfect relationship: Adrian’s (Björn Elgerd) and Hampus’ (Jonathan Andersson) partnership seems built to last. They are materially secure, and they are, for all appearances, compatible. One day, Hampus decides that the […]
Return of the “Beast”: Shawn Linden on Hunter Hunter
By Ali Moosavi. I knew that it was a story that could be done with very little resources, so the punch that it would have to pack would be thematic and content wise.” Like cigarettes, some movies ought to come with a health warning. Hunter Hunter, written and directed by […]