By Gary M. Kramer. The Tribeca Film Festival sadly did not take place this year because of the global pandemic, but the festival’s shorts programs, curated by Sharon Badal and Ben Thompson were available for press. Badal, Thompson, and their team winnowed more than 6,100 entries down to 64 shorts […]

A Book Review by Tony Williams. Usually, I have a fondness for direct-to-library publishers such as Bear Manor, McFarland, and Scarecrow since they often provide a very important service in publishing books often unjustly neglected by mainstream publishers that contribute to knowledge rather than engage in theoretical mystifications designed to […]

By Gary M. Kramer. Our Mothers is a somber but powerful drama getting a virtual theatrical release on May 1. Ernesto (Armando Espitia) is a forensic anthropologist in Guatemala, 2018. He is surrounded by death. He assembles a skeleton at work and digs up mass graves. He also listened to […]

By Jeremy Carr. According to Ian Christie, Mikhail Kalatozov’s The Cranes Are Flying is “in many ways the most important post-war Soviet film.” Christie, who is interviewed for the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray release of Kalatozov’s 1957 feature, regards the film as a turning point in the nation’s cinematic history, embodying […]

By Tony Williams. This short, but concise 120-page monograph belongs to a developing series initiated by Auteur Publishing: Constellations: Studies in Science Fiction Film and TV. Akin to those BFI monographs usually written by those carefully selected by the good graces of the BFI establishment, this (and other aligned) series […]

By Rod Lott. Pop quiz, hotshot: What makes a film a cult film? A. They have a quality of danger. B. It has to be the audience finding the film, rather than the film finding the audience. C. A film that is profoundly special and informative in a way that […]

By Gary M. Kramer. Writer/director Tayarisha Poe’s feature debut, Selah and the Spades, is a precisely calibrated spellbinder. Anchored by an exacting performance by Lovie Simone as the title character, a senior at the Haldwell School, the film depicts the power struggles, rivalries, and jealousies that unfold among five underground […]