Authors — Natalia Keogan
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Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont
World premiering in Sundance’s NEXT category back in January, the trailer now arrives for director Babak Jalali’s feature debut Fremont. Co-written by Jalali and Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, the Bay Area-set film stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada, The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and On Cinema‘s Gregg Turkington. An official synopsis reads: Each morning Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) leaves her tight-knit community of Afghan immigrants in Fremont, California. She crosses the Bay to work at a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Donya drifts through her routine, struggling to connect with the culture and people of her new, unfamiliar surroundings […]
by Natalia Keogan on Aug 2, 2023 -
Trailer Watch: Carpet Cowboys Doc Executive Produced by John Wilson
Having its world premiere at the inaugural edition of the New/Next Film Festival in Baltimore later this month, a trailer arrives for Carpet Cowboys, the feature debut of co-directors Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier. The doc, executive produced by John Wilson (who appeared on our 25 New Faces of Film list in 2016 before embarking on his excellent How To HBO series, which just kicked off its third and final season) and released by MEMORY, takes a sprawling look at the “Carpet Capital of the World” located in Dalton, Georgia before tackling a worldwide exploration of expat culture and American […]
by Natalia Keogan on Aug 2, 2023 -
Trailer Watch: Stewart Thorndike’s Bad Things
After world premiering at the Tribeca Festival in June, a trailer officially arrives for Bad Things, writer-director Stewart Thorndike’s follow-up to her 2014 debut Lyle. While her first film was a lesbian riff on Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Bad Things is overtly influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining. In my interview with Thorndike out of Tribeca, I detail the film’s plot in an introductory paragraph: Ruthie (Gayle Rankin) is debating whether or not to sell the now-derelict hotel her mother used to run years prior. With a decisive real estate meeting only days away, Ruthie […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 31, 2023 -
“There Are Not Many Places in the World Better To Live Than Dublin Right Now”: Luke McManus on His Inner-City Doc North Circular
Regular Dublin folk, and the folk songs that have preserved their histories, guide viewers along the city’s North Circular in director Luke McManus’s first documentary feature. A three-and-a-half mile long loop separating Dublin’s inner city from its first hints of suburbia, the North Circular Road was laid in 1763 concurrently with the city’s South Circular Road, which now comprises residential homes and, until the early 19th century, largely ran through countryside. Due to its longstanding urban location, the North Circular has been synonymous with working class residents, leading to a broader public consensus that much of the road ran through […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 28, 2023 -
IDA Interim Executive Director Ken Ikeda Releases Letter on Documentary Workers United’s Two-Year Contract Ratification
Months of negotiations came to an end on Friday, July 21 when the Documentary Workers United (DWU) unanimously voted to ratify a two-year contract with the International Documentary Association (IDA), a non-profit that provides grants and general support to documentarians and the broader non-fiction film sector. “Our contract, our union, and our victorious ratification is a labor of love and care that would not have been possible without the continuous work of IDA workers, past and present,” DWU, which is part of the Communications Workers of America local 9003, said in a Twitter thread last week. Several changes ratified in […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 27, 2023 -
“Film Sets Are the Best Film School”: YouTubers-Turned-Filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou on Their A24 Horror Debut Talk To Me
Ventriloquist demons go viral in Talk To Me, the feature film debut of twin brothers and co-directors Danny and Michael Philippou. While the A24 horror venture marks their first official foray into feature filmmaking, the duo have been uploading action-packed videos onto their YouTube channel, RackaRacka, since 2013. Unlike Kyle Edward Ball, another YouTuber-turned-filmmaker whose chilling feature debut Skinamarink released earlier this year, the Philippou’s prior output wasn’t necessarily horror-focused. To date, their channel is mostly comprised of stunts, comedy sketches, satirical vlogs and prank videos. This decade-spanning commitment to making content is likely what primed the brothers to helm Talk […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 27, 2023 -
Trailer Watch: Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil
A new trailer lands today for Our Father, the Devil, writer-director Ellie Foumbi’s feature debut that earned her a spot on our 25 New Faces of Film list last year. Selected for funding through the Venice Biennale College Cinema in December 2019, the film first screened as a “work in progress” at Venice in 2021 before premiering a final cut at Tribeca in 2022, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Here’s the plot of the film, per an official synopsis: Nominated for the 2023 Best Feature Independent Spirit Award, Ellie Foumbi’s elegant moral thriller and debut feature […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 24, 2023 -
TIFF Announces First Wave of 2023 Programming With 60 Gala and Special Presentation Titles
The Toronto International Film Festival unveils today 60 titles programmed for the 2023 edition’s gala and special presentation sections. Taking place from September 7-17, TIFF’s first wave lineup announcement encompasses 37 World Premieres, seven International Premieres, 12 North American Premieres, and four Canadian Premieres. At a glance, several buzzy films that premiered at this year’s Cannes will also screen in Toronto, including Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet, Gran Prix winner The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Monster (which won Best Screenplay for Yuji Sakamoto), Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera and Catherine Breillat’s Last […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 24, 2023 -
Watch: Ian Samuels’s Kathleen Hanna-Voiced 2015 Short Myrna the Monster
Myrna the Monster, Ian Samuels’s 2015 short film that secured him a spot on our 25 New Faces of Film list that same year, is finally available to watch online via the filmmaker’s personal Vimeo account. The titular monster is voiced by Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin frontwoman) and embodied by an elaborate puppet that Samuels, a former Sesame Street employee and graduate of CalArts’s puppetry program, crafted himself. Filmmaker editor-in-chief Scott Macaulay penned Samuels’s 25 New Faces profile, describing the plot of the 14-minute short as follows: Hovering just around 3 feet, Myrna — […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 20, 2023 -
Dos Estaciones, Charm Circle, a New Joel Potrykus Short and More to Debut on the Criterion Channel in August
Alongside programming celebrating hip-hop, actress Kay Frances, Roger Corman’s Poe adaptations and “eurothrillers,” this August’s streaming selections on the Criterion Channel heavily feature filmmakers who’ve appeared in this publication, including in our recent Summer 2023 print issue. First up, Juan Pablo González’s highly-recommended Dos Estaciones will have its exclusive streaming premiere on the platform. González made our 25 New Faces of Film list back in 2015, and Dos Estaciones is the director’s sophomore feature. Described by Criterion as blending a “fictional character study and documentary-like observation,” the film follows tequila ranch owner María (Teresa Sánchez, winner of a Special Jury […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 19, 2023
