By M. Sellers Johnson. I loved the idea that I could convey the interior of my imagination in my documentary and that it could be anything, like a narrative film, because no one can argue with your imagination. And yet, it’s really my story, and these are real people.” Documentarian […]
Strength in Representation: Filmmaker Jen Rainin on the Queer Doc Ahead of the Curve
By Brad Windhauser. My producing partner, Rivkah Beth Medow, and I kept talking about how frustrated we were with the lack of nuanced, well-told stories that represented strong queer women. We just weren’t seeing very many of them….” Jen Rainin’s excellent documentary Ahead of the Curve (2023), which debuted on […]
Mad Props – For the Movie Collector Nerds Amongst Us
By Elias Savada. Humankind’s appetite for many things nostalgic is at play here, and it is a satisfying meal.” Most folks who do genealogy, like myself, cherish old photos of their great-great grandparents, a family bible with birth, death, and marriage records handwritten in the back, or assorted documents and […]
Youth (Spring): Wang Bing on Youth Labor
By Yun-hua Chen. The first installment of Wang Bing’s documentary triptych explores the textile industry in rural China and its young workers, aged 16 to 22, engrossed in intricate maneuvers for extended hours….” Having premiered in Cannes and subsequently showcased at major film festivals including Viennale and IDFA, Youth (Spring) […]
No Longer in the Wings: The 2024 Slamdance Film Festival
By Thomas M. Puhr. ‘Disrupting the status quo’ through diverse selections…. their documentary choices – including a feel-good athlete biography and a harrowing portrait of religious faith in a maximum security prison – exhibit a similar variety.” Ranging from a comedy-drama about the pitfalls of parenthood to a genre-hopping eco-parable/musical, […]
Don’t Look Away: Stephen Gerard Kelly and Garry Keane’s In the Shadow of Beirut (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. What emerges is a record of a people that is unwaveringly empathetic in its portrayal but incomplete in terms of either interrogating its position as a historical artifact or providing cultural context.” The poor Lebanese neighborhoods of Sabra and Shatila are the subject of Stephen Gerard […]
A Queer Artist Hiding in Plain Sight – Counter Gravity: The Films of Heinz Emigholz
A Book Review by Rastko Novakovic. A fascinating record of the depth of Heinz Emigholz’s cinematic engagement and the evolving critical reception of it.” Heinz Emigholz started in the structuralist vein with the Shenec-Tady trilogy (1972-75): intricate, silent, mathematically composed studies of landscape. Those who know these films will be […]
Unearthing the “Story” of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation: Landsberry-Baker and Peeler’s Bad Press
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. If people are not liking you, then you’re doing your job.“ -Angel Ellis Freedom of the press is a fundamental right guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution; it has been a cornerstone of American democracy since its ratification in 1791. Nonetheless, […]
Policies of Migration: Sylvain George on Nuit obscure – Au revoir ici, n’importe où (2023)
By Yun-hua Chen. I don’t want to make a film about political discourses. I don’t want to preach to people. My purpose as a human being is to define and redefine my position in the world. How can we live with absolutely beautiful and totally awful things at the same […]
New Voices During Labor Unrest: Selections from the 48th Toronto International Film Festival
By M. Sellers Johnson. The presence of exceptional domestic screenings surely attests to the saliency of the Canadian film industry – a reminder of the importance of local creatives, amidst the large collection of international filmmakers and audiences.” In the early weeks of September, Toronto found itself once more engulfed […]