Authors — Natalia Keogan
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“If No One Documents It, It Basically Doesn’t Exist”: Emily Mkrtichian on Her DOC NYC-Screening Feature Debut There Was, There Was Not
When she first started filming in the Republic of Artsakh—a small “breakaway” state where most residents were ethnically Armenian, but lived under the control of Azerbaijan—Emily Mkrtichian was planning to portray the pivotal roles local women play 30 years after experiencing a violent war. But her project was thrust in a completely different direction when the small sovereign state became besieged by sudden conflict once again. Taking its title from the opening line of most Armenian fairy tales, Mkrtichian’s feature debut is fascinated with the preservation of a place that no longer exists. For the first half of the film, […]
by Natalia Keogan on Nov 18, 2024 -
“We Need to Keep Working, Otherwise Our Voices Will Be Buried and Unheard.”: Areeb Zuaiter on Her Gaza-Set DOC NYC World Premiere Yalla Parkour
Threads concerning family, identity and resistance are carefully interwoven in Yalla Parkour, Palestinian filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter’s portrait of Gaza’s scrappy yet talented troupe of parkour athletes. After getting in touch with Ahmed Matar—a young man who dreams of securing a rare visa so that he may attend international parkour tournaments—Zuaiter realizes that by documenting his story, she can reconnect with a facet of her own heritage that she had once felt completely closed off to. While her family originally hails from the city of Nablus in the West Bank, conversing with Ahmed brings out the filmmaker’s own misconceptions about life […]
by Natalia Keogan on Nov 16, 2024 -
18 Recommended Titles at 2024’s DOC NYC
Returning for its 15th edition, DOC NYC presents yet another robust lineup of over 200 non-fiction short and feature-length films. Taking place in-person from November 13-21 and online through December 1, the largest documentary film festival in the country features buzzy future Oscar contenders, hidden gems from this year’s global festival circuit and even a handful of world premieres amid its 2024 program. Screenings will be held at several Manhattan theaters (namely IFC Center, SVA Theater and Village East) and via the festival’s own streaming platform. Below, from Filmmaker‘s writers, find a selection of recommended titles to seek out, which […]
by Natalia Keogan on Nov 15, 2024 -
“It’s Punk Rock to Be Hopeful These Days”: Harley Chamandy on His Self-Distributed Feature Debut Allen Sunshine
The somber existence of a reclusive electronic musician is the focus of Allen Sunshine, the feature debut of 25-year-old Harley Chamandy. The eponymous character (played by Vincent Leclerc) resides in a charming lakeside cabin in Quebec, yet the idyllic nature of his surroundings is tempered by inconsolable grief over his wife’s recent death. As a big-name musical talent in her own right, the solitary Allen is pained by the fact that his grief is not just his own; though he deeply adored her and produced most of her music, it’s clear that fans, both rabid and casual alike, feel equally […]
by Natalia Keogan on Nov 12, 2024 -
“I Knew Exactly How to Bring It to the Screen”: Marco Calvani on High Tide
Italian playwright Marco Calvani makes his feature film debut as a writer-director with High Tide, a Provincetown-set indie drama that centers on the need for communal tenderness after a heartbreak. Lourenço (Marco Pigossi, now Calvani’s husband) considers P-town a paradise. Having left his native Brazil years ago in order to live life as an out gay man (a fact he still conceals from his mother), the queer enclave provides ample community and connection for the handsome young man. However, recent events have made the locale feel more oppressive than he expected: his long-term boyfriend up and left without warning, visa […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 21, 2024 -
“A Throwback to Nancy Drew and Columbo”: Alice Maio Mackay on Carnage for Christmas
For her fifth feature, 20-year-old Australian filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay gifts us Carnage for Christmas. A renegade force in the no-budget genre realm, her previous work has explored demonic cults, ancient parasites, vigilante vampires and Stephen King filtered through a uniquely queer lens. Maio Mackay’s latest features a supernatural, bloodlusting Santa Claus that small town residents have adopted as part of their folklore. The return of young adults for the holiday season awakens this mythologized entity, though it seems particularly drawn to Lola (newcomer Jeremy Moineau), a true crime podcast host who hates making the annual trek to her hometown. […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 18, 2024 -
“There Is a Bombardment of Violent Images in Our Lives”: Director Pascal Plante on His High-Tech Serial Killer Drama Red Rooms
Real world inspirations and dark web folklore converge in Red Rooms, the third feature from Quebecois filmmaker Pascal Plante that has conjured much buzz since its U.S. theatrical release last month. Named after the fabled sinister backdrop of covertly circulated online snuff videos, the film dissects our culture’s obsession with gorey details. As the first day of a shocking murder trial unfolds in a Montreal courthouse, the devilishly striking Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) is first in line to snag one of a handful of seats available to the public. The man on trial, bald and lanky Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos), is […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 9, 2024 -
“Made by Five People Who Love Cats”: Mary Dauterman on Booger
After the sudden death of her best friend and roommate Izzy (Sofia Dobrushin), Anna (Grace Glowicki) starts to act strange. At first, her odd behavior seems easily attributable to intense grief, but soon she begins to recognize physical abnormalities she can’t quite explain. Granted, she was bitten by her and Izzy’s fluffy, inky-black cat (the eponymous Booger) just before he fled via the fire escape. But Anna begins to suffer from far more than just cat-scratch fever and a gnarly hand wound: coarse, dark hairs begin to sprout, her movements become increasingly delicate yet uncanny, and could that actually be […]
by Natalia Keogan on Sep 20, 2024 -
“I Wanted to Make a Black, Gay Paris, Texas“: Shatara Michelle Ford on Their BlackStar-Premiering Sophomore Feature Dreams in Nightmares
Three cross-coastal best friends reunite for a spontaneous road trip across the American underbelly in Dreams in Nightmares, the sophomore feature from writer-director Shatara Michelle Ford. Though a significant pivot in theme and scope from their lean yet intense debut feature Test Pattern, Ford’s latest continues to plainly indicts the oppression that finds Black, femme, queer bodies at a stark institutional disadvantage. After being laid off from their respective jobs in academia and finance, Z (Denée Benton) and Tasha (Sasha Compère) hop on the phone to reschedule a planned trip to the Dominican Republic. Instead of lounging in paradise, Tasha […]
by Natalia Keogan on Aug 2, 2024 -
“Suspense Comes From Air Conditioning”: Lucy Kerr on Family Portrait
“I thought about The Exterminating Angel,” Lucy Kerr says over coffee as she describes the origins of Family Portrait, her hypnotic feature debut. Indeed, the film’s central conceit hews closely to Luis Buñuel’s 1962 satire, but instead of posh partygoers being inexplicably stuck in a single room, an extended Texas family is unable to get everyone to gather for the titular photo. In particular, Katie’s (Deragh Campbell) pleas for everyone to assemble are frustratingly ignored or otherwise thwarted, especially when the family matriarch (Silvana Jakich) is suddenly nowhere to be found. Wandering around the vast property in search of her […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 28, 2024
