Authors — Natalia Keogan
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13 Films to Catch at DOC NYC 2022
DOC NYC, the largest documentary film festival in the U.S., kicks off this Wednesday, November 9. Featuring more than 200 films among this year’s roster, the fest will run in-person and online from the 9th to the 17th, with New York City screenings and events taking place at IFC Center, SVA Theater and Cinépolis Chelsea. Additional virtual screenings will be streamable for audiences across the U.S. until November 27. Whether you plan on attending locally or from afar, we’ve compiled a list of 13 films to catch at this year’s 13th edition of DOC NYC, sourcing from our own previous […]
by Natalia Keogan on Nov 8, 2022 -
Filmmaker Recommends 13 Films to Stream for Halloween
With “Halloweekend” upon us, Filmmaker recommends 13 horror films perfectly catered to the season. As the site’s newly-minted Web Editor, I wanted to infuse the list with long-time personal favorites of my own and recent genre standouts. It also felt important to highlight our existing coverage of these films/filmmakers, while also ensuring that each title is readily available to stream for all those who’re interested in checking them out. Due to these self-imposed restrictions, a number of horror highlights (at least in this writer’s opinion) were regretfully omitted in the end: Álex de la Iglesia’s Day of the Beast (1999), […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 28, 2022 -
5 Questions for Indie Memphis’s New Executive Director Kimel Fryer
The 2022 edition of the Indie Memphis Film Festival kicks off this Wednesday, October 19, with a robust lineup that features buzzy festival titles, local gems and an exciting assortment of repertory programming. More specifically, the opening night film is Phil Bertelsen’s The Picture Taker, serving as the centerpiece selection is Indie Memphis alum Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection and closing out this year’s fest is Elvis Mitchell’s documentary Is That Black Enough For You??? Other program highlights are Alice Diop‘s recently-added Saint Omer, Nikyatu Jusu‘s Nanny (featured in our Fall 2022 Issue, along with fellow Indie Memphis selections Aftersun and […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 18, 2022 -
DOC NYC Announces the Main Slate for Its 2022 Edition
DOC NYC, the largest documentary film festival in the U.S., has announced its main programming slate. The festival will run in-person from November 9-17 at the IFC Center, SVA Theatre and Cinépolis Chelsea. The festival will continue online through November 27 after the in-person portion concludes. The 2022 lineup features 101 feature-length documentaries, including 15 Short List titles that have yet to be announced. The thirteenth edition of the festival features more than 200 films in total—29 world premieres at 27 U.S. premieres among them —as well as several events, with filmmakers regularly in attendance. Many popular competition categories and […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 14, 2022 -
Trailer Watch: Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Nan Goldin’s prolific career as an artist and photographer as well as her recent anti-Sackler activism is the focus of Laura Poitras’s latest documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which just released its first trailer today. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it earned the Golden Lion, making it only the second documentary in the festival’s history to win the top prize after 2013’s Sacro GRA. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is Filmmaker‘s most recent Fall Issue cover story, with an interview between Poitras and critic Amy Taubin currently available for digital subscribers. Physical […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 13, 2022 -
“I Needed to Honor Mamie’s Decision To Have the World See What Happened to Her Son”: Chinonye Chukwu on Till
The lynching of Emmett Till—a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was murdered in 1955 after having an “inappropriate” encounter with a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi—has long served as a testament to the odious racism endemic in American culture. As such, Emmett Till has been posthumously considered an icon of the then-burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, but director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu’s biopic Till is particularly invested in documenting the aftermath of Till’s murder as experienced by his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (played by Danielle Deadwlyer). In Chukwu’s sophomore film, the audience follows her journey after this life-altering tragedy […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 13, 2022 -
“Extremity in All Forms of Human Experience”: Director David Bruckner on Hellraiser
In director David Bruckner’s Hellraiser reboot, it’s clear that co-writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski were committed to representing a more faithful version of Clive Barker’s original Hellraiser text, The Hellbound Heart, than continuing any storyline already explored within the long-spanning cinematic franchise. This is for good reason: While Barker’s 1987 Hellraiser (which he helmed due to frustrations with other filmmakers failing to capture his work’s essence) is a renegade horror classic, the subsequent nine sequels are widely considered to be tepid, half-baked follow-ups. In this version of the story, a young woman named Riley (Odessa A’zion) struggles with drug […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 11, 2022 -
SXSW Film & TV Festival Director Janet Pierson Becomes Director Emeritus, Claudette Godfrey Promoted to Director
Today, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced that Janet Pierson, long-time VP, Director of the SXSW Film & TV Festival will shift to the role of Director Emeritus. Film Festival Programming Director Claudette Godfrey will now assume leadership of the SXSW Film & TV Festival. The 2022 edition of the SXSW Film & TV Festival marked Pierson’s 15th year as Festival Director. Her 45-year career has included various roles in the independent film landscape, notably as exhibitor, producer’s rep, executive producer and segment producer and segment director of IFC-Criterion’s Split Screen. According to a press release announcing […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 5, 2022 -
“We Often Speak of the Film as a ‘Making-of-a-Ghost’ Story”: Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer on God’s Creatures
The brackish waves of the Atlantic are a source of livelihood and peril for the inhabitants of a coastal Irish fishing village in God’s Creatures, the directorial work of Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer. Aileen O’Hara (Emily Watson) is the manager of a local fishing plant, tasked with sifting through daily catches of oysters and haddock on a whirring conveyor belt and preparing them for market. She is diligent yet warm, providing a maternal presence for many of her employees, namely young Sarah (Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale). During an ordinary shift, Aileen and a handful of other employees witness […]
by Natalia Keogan on Sep 29, 2022 -
“A Club You’ve Always Wanted To Be a Part Of”: Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes on DCTV Firehouse Cinema’s Inaugural Film The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales
Founded in 1972, DCTV (Downtown Community Television Center) has the distinction of being one of the rare permanent cinema landmarks in NYC. Housed in a striking firehouse on Lafayette Street in Chinatown, the non-profit media center has long been the one of the most prominent documentary production and film education centers in the country. After a storied legacy of hosting various educational programs, folding-chair screenings, master classes, panel discussions and Chinatown-specific community events, on its 50th anniversary the building will now finally house its own specialized cinema. “We don’t make films for ourselves, we make films for people to see […]
by Natalia Keogan on Sep 22, 2022
