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“There Was a Fair Amount of Us All Killing Each Other”: Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls on Grand Theft Hamlet
Grand Theft Hamlet
Grand Theft Hamlet, which took the Documentary Feature Jury Award at last year’s SXSW, is groundbreaking cinema to say the least. The first documentary to win an Innovation Award at The Stage Awards in London back in 2022, the film’s production probably also marked the first time a filmmaker jumped into an online avatar and then shot her doc entirely within a video game (one in which conditions often resembled a war zone to boot). The project was born out of the UK’s third Covid lockdown in 2021, when abruptly out-of-work theater actors Sam Crane (who co-directed along with his veteran documentarian wife Pinny Grylls) and Mark Osterveen found themselves in existential distress, the former wondering how he’d support his… Read more
Things I Learned About Filming Shamans While My Marriage Ended
She is a Shaman
In 2021, I was sitting in a dark room in the depths of the Andes, listening to the steady chanting of a Peruvian Shipibo shaman guiding me through a wildly personal and intense ayahuasca ceremony. I was bawling my eyes out, purging what felt like an entire lifetime of pain through my tears, the tribally-robed medicine man before me some kind of God pulling the abuses of my past up and out of my body with his song. The next day, I saw this same man eating oatmeal in Nike sweatpants and jovially WhatsApping his wife. I was disoriented: I could not draw a coherent line between the transcendence of my experience and the utter banality of the morning after. This… Read more
Remembering David Lynch, 1946 – 2025
Director David Lynch, whose works plumbed the dream life of the American unconscious, revealing both joy and the deepest of horrors within, died today at the age of 78. “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time,” his family posted on Facebook. “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.” From his earliest short films like The Grandmother through his early masterpiece of parental anxiety and industrial… Read more
“It Was Crucial to Bring a Native Lens into Each Area of the Creative Roles”: Jonathan Olshefski and Elizabeth Day on Without Arrows
Without Arrows
Delwin Fiddler Jr., star of Jonathan Olshefski (a "25 New Face" of 2017) and Elizabeth Day’s Without Arrows, grew up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, where he found his calling as a grass dancer (which led to championships on the pow-wow circuit and eventually even international fame. His work can be seen not only in the film but also in a continual loop at the Museum of the American Indian in D.C.). And then he spent over a decade in Philadelphia, making more money if not a better living. Having had enough of big city life, Fiddler eventually decided to return home to rekindle relationships, particularly with his aging mom and dad, and to reconnect… Read more
Watch: David Ehrlich’s 25 Best Films of 2024 Video Countdown
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A beloved and virtuoso annual production, David Ehrlich's video montage of the previous year's best films is here. Set aside 23 minutes and dive in. Ehrlich's practice it to use these videos to fundraise for non-profits, and he asks directors to name receiving organizations. Last year, he decided himself to direct the funds to Palestine Children's Relief Fund. Today, he writes, he writes: This year, I would again like to do what I can to support the people of Palestine. Eager to ensure that this fundraiser is as effective as possible at a time when aide isn't reliably reaching the people who need it most, I asked No Other Land co-director and subject Basel Adra for advice, and he pointed me towards… Read more
The Animals Around Us: Amalia Ulman Visits Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Rosselini on her farm
In the first of a series on filmmakers and their relationship to the animal world, artist, director, writer and actress Amalia Ulman visits with actress, director (of the short film series Green Porno, among others), model and animal behaviorist Isabella Rossellini at her regenerative farm, Mama Farm. Rossellini can currently be seen on screen in Edward Berger’s Conclave playing Vatican nun Sister Agnes, while El Planeta director Ulman’s newest film is Magic Farm, premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Photographs by Amalia Ulman. On October 2, I visited Isabella Rossellini’s farm with Gabriella. We took the train from Penn Station to Merrick, Long Island, where my friend Moises, an extraordinary cat whisperer, picked us up in his car. In the Merrick… Read more
Two New Films Added to the 2025 Sundance Film Festival
The Stringer
Two new documentaries — The Alabama Solution from Andrew Jarecki and The Stringer from Bao Nguyen – have been added to the Premieres category of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Institute announced today. Both directors have histories with the festival. Each of the projects are directed by filmmakers who have presented their works at previous editions of the Sundance Film Festival. Nguyen premiered Be Water in 2020 and The Greatest Night in Pop in 2024, while The Alabama Solution director Andrew Jarecki's previous Sundance titles are Capturing the Friedmans (2003), Just a Clown (2004), and The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015). “Adding these two nonfiction features to our robust slate of documentary offerings at the… Read more
