By Yun-hua Chen. During the pandemic, Li Haihai and I discovered a shared fascination with portraying a female figure navigating life inside and outside of marriage.” Beibei—a daughter, a wife, a mother—finds herself at a crossroads when she loses her steady job and faces the uncertainties of the pandemic. In […]
A Rich Space for Personal Expression – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on The Cinema Coven: Witches, Witchcraft and Women’s Filmmaking
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. Hopefully the book will be part of a broader shift towards more focused, deeper critical dives into the nitty gritty of women’s horror filmmaking now that the field has been broadly solidified with incredible foundational texts….” Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ career offers a rich tapestry of interests […]
Autumn of Life: Francois Ozon on When Fall is Coming
By Ali Moosavi. I alternate between small films and bigger films with stars…. I have no strategy, I follow my instincts.” The French writer-director Francois Ozon is not just one of France’s best known and most lauded film makers, but also one of the busiest. His latest film, When Fall […]
“Empathy is Key”: Nele Wohlatz on Sleep with Your Eyes Open
By Yun-hua Chen. What’s important is understanding that pain cannot be compared. We can’t measure how someone else’s pain impacts them versus our own. Empathy is key.” It’s an unexpected encounter during a summer in Recife, Brazil. Kai, a tourist from Taiwan, finds herself alone after being abandoned by her […]
A Producer’s Journey, from Tehran to Hollywood – Barry Navidi on Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness
By Ali Moosavi. I always wanted to be a director but John Huston said to me, look you’ve got the passion and the desire to make movies; why don’t you become a creative producer? This way you don’t have to always seek for jobs as director. The producer creates the […]
Against Mechanization: Adam Elliot on Memoir of a Snail (CIFF 2024)
By Jonathan Monovich. It’s always tempting to speed up the process and save money by using CGI, but I think we’re at a period where we’re drowning in CGI. Now, with the advent of AI, I think stop motion has never been appreciated as much as it is now.” —Adam […]
Made in Chicago: Andrew Davis on his Career and Disturbing the Bones (CIFF 2024)
By Jonathan Monovich. Born in Chicago’s South Side, Davis understands exactly where his characters should be, when they should be there, and why they should be there.” Throughout his career, Andrew Davis found a way to make Chicago the city of spectacle on the big screen. There have been plenty […]
Complicated Feelings – John Bleasdale on The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick
By M. Sellers Johnson. A lot of the people who worked for Malick have a lot of affection for him and want to protect him. They have this complicated feeling that they’re really keen to tell stories but they don’t want to be seen to be spilling the beans. Having […]
“Hitchcock is Grammar”: Mark Cousins on My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock
By Jonathan Monovich. A lot of people talk about the scary Hitchcock, the manipulative Hitchcock, or the anti-feminist Hitchcock, but in looking at his films I wanted to see what really were the themes and where the humanity was in his work.” Mark Cousins Mark Cousins has dedicated his life […]
Shedding Old Skin: Ramon and Silvan Zürcher on The Sparrow in the Chimney
By Yun-hua Chen. For me, the third installment of the trilogy is about liberation and breaking out of certain emotional or psychological prisons, shedding old skin so that new skin can grow. The sparrow is important because of this potential for freedom and flight.” —Ramon Zürcher From cat to spider, […]