By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The idea of making a truly dark revenge film at heart, in this day and age of global political-correctness-vs.-fascism, felt like the right thing to do (especially) if you are a true genre fan/filmmaker.” – Can Evrenol Going back at least to Metin Erksan’s classic The Well […]
It Lives! Andrew Repasky McElhinney on A Chronicle of Corpses at 25 Years
By William Blick. Aren’t all genre films structuralist in nature? Isn’t everyone either obeying or disobeying genre conventions?” –Andrew Repasky McElhinney At the turn of the millennium, the filmmaking industry was in flux. A wave of visionary film directors emerged to embrace new forms of cinematic expression. The horror film […]
Pacing and Place: Désirée Nosbusch on Poison (2024)
By Yun-hua Chen. The key was having the courage not to rush the pacing. People tried to convince me otherwise—they said it was too slow, that it took too long for the characters to meet. But I stood my ground.” –Désirée Nosbusch With over 30 years of experience as an […]
What the 80s Mean in Czechoslovakia: Alexandra Makarova on Perla
By Ali Moosavi. It was clear for us that we wanted to have an observer’s perspective so that it feels like I am invisible and standing with the camera and looking at these people.” –Alexandra Makarova One of the films showing at this year’s Rotterdam Film Festival is Perla by […]
Limitations and Innovations: An Interview with Filmmaker and Animator Richard Bazley
By William Blick. Speed is a huge advantage in live action. Animation is time consuming, and if you ask an animator to rework a scene, it can take days, maybe even weeks for a few seconds.” –Richard Bazley Richard Bazley has had an illustrious career in animation beginning with his journey on […]
Listening to Freedom: Tommaso Santambrogio on Oceans are the Real Continents
By M. Sellers Johnson. Rather than provoking a kind of response from nothing, we hoped to shape the characters out of the reality of their lives and reality experiences. As a director, I feel that it is more important to listen than to talk.” Oceans Are The Real Continents is […]
Considering the Last Breath: An Interview with Costa-Gavras
By Ali Moosavi. It’s an important personal lesson to myself to learn to prepare myself to die with dignity. The others cannot help you and I think you have to know the truth.” —Costa-Gavras I first became aware of Costa-Gavras, and quickly became a fan, in the Seventies after watching […]
Blurred Boundaries, Inside and Outside of Marriage: Alan Zhang on This Woman
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 […]