Issues
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Inherited Histories: Cherien Dabis on All That’s Left of You
Few films arrive with the urgency and necessity of Cherien Dabis’s All That’s Left of You, a work that positions itself as both historical epic and intimate confession. Emerging from the long shadow of displacement and erasure, it stands as one of the most vital contributions to Palestinian cinema in recent memory. Told through the voice of Hanan (played with piercing restraint by Dabis herself), the story begins with her son Noor, a teenager shot during a protest in the occupied West Bank, before spiraling outward to a multigenerational saga of exile, endurance and return. While Dabis’s Amreeka (2009) examined […]
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The Art of Arrival: Yashaddai Owens on Jimmy
Once in a while, never often, a film comes along that defies the protocols of the moment and delivers an unexpectedly wondrous impact. Thus it was that Jimmy sent this writer skittering down the internet hole in search of young Yashaddai Owens, writer-director-cinematographer-editor of this portrait of the young James Baldwin, about whom everything had seemingly already been filmed, revived, archived or written. Owens brings considerable powers of lyrical invention to the table in his debut feature, imagining and projecting himself into the past, 16mm Bolex in hand to capture the unfailingly imaginative contours of the young Baldwin (Benny O. […]
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The Gotham Pages: AI and the Usefulness Question
Amid the perpetual torrent of news about rising investment in artificial intelligence tools within the entertainment industry, one recent item garnered particular attention online. Included in Lila Shapiro’s sweeping look at the current state of AI usage in Hollywood for Vulture were snippets about Asteria, a new studio co-founded by entrepreneur/producer Bryn Mooser and actor/director/producer Natasha Lyonne. Lyonne, who is also a three-time Gotham Award nominee, has even announced that she plans to use AI in the production of her debut feature. The news that the popular actor had thrown her weight behind the controversial technology caused consternation on social […]
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A Man in a Room: Joe Bini’s Burden of Other People’s Dreams
When the premise or form of a documentary film is difficult to explain, one is often hit with phrases like “Trust me” or “You just have to see it.” This has been an eventful year for such works, from Julian Castronovo’s byzantine Debut to the final stretch of Caveh Zahedi’s long-running The Show About the Show. Often falling between the cracks of the documentary world, these are not simple projects to describe, but in London they have a welcoming home at the Creative Nonfiction Film Weekend. The festival describes itself as a home for unconventional nonfiction—everything that the genre can […]
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Motherload: Mary Bronstein on “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
With If I Had Legs I’d Kick You opening today from A24, we’re unlocking from behind our paywall Natalia Keogan’s interview with Bronstein, which is the cover story of our Fall, 2025 edition. — Editor “Something very bad is happening,” young mother Caroline (Danielle Macdonald) whimpers amid oncoming tears during a routine therapy appointment. In the throes of a severe bout of postpartum depression exacerbated by a lack of support from her husband, Caroline’s hour-long sessions at Montauk’s “Center for Psychological Arts” are a brief respite from a world that, in her mind, is more violent and evil than anyone […]
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Tour or Perish: A Self-Distribution Case Study
In the 1957 musical The Music Man, con man Henry Hill makes a living convincing small-town folks to buy expensive band instruments, ostensibly to keep their kids out of trouble. Really, he’s just fleecing them before skipping town, but then the con man falls in love with the town’s librarian. When she uncovers his scheme, she challenges him to not run away and to invest in the community. He does, and by the end everyone is transformed by love and music. The high-school production of The Music Man I was in instilled lessons about salesmanship and the importance, to quote […]
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Production Gear: A Primer on How Tariffs Inflate Costs and Erode Choice, and Why Costs Will Never Come Back Down
L.A. film and TV production, recovering in the long wake of the global pandemic, has been beset by strikes, streaming wars, a generational turn from legacy media, and now AI anxiety. Resulting historic lows in production have meant that industry freelancers are widely out of work. It’s a safe bet that the last thing the industry wants is another round of whiplash. Enter broad tariffs. A blast from the past, last signed into law by Herbert Hoover in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. I think we know how that turned out. The current American President, seizing questionable executive powers […]
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Media in the Middle: The Emerging Media Arts Program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Asked about the fundamental goals of the program of which she is founding director, Megan Elliott is expansive and enthusiastic. “We have a very strong interest in the myriad places our students can go as storytellers, makers, artists, entrepreneurs and innovators, not just within the film industry, but far beyond it,” she explains. She acknowledges that these ambitious goals also pose challenges. “There is always a tension that exists within any design, architecture, arts or media program about how you teach both technical and creative skills that are rigorous and experimental, and how to hold space for all of that.” […]
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Be True to Your School
When considering applying to a film school, either as a student or faculty member, it’s worth thinking about those film programs in much broader academic and political contexts. For example, will the school, and the broader institution that it’s a part of, stand up for academic and creative freedom in the face of withering actions from the Trump administration? In the spring of 2025, the Trump administration went on the offensive against academia, beginning by essentially demanding that universities drop all DEI programs. They used the cynical guise of defeating “anti semitism” as a cudgel to bludgeon schools into submission. […]
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Duty of Care: Sarah Friedland on Familiar Touch
Sarah Friedland’s Familiar Touch follows Ruth, an octogenarian woman experiencing memory loss as she transitions into assisted living. Played with luminous restraint by Kathleen Chalfant, Ruth is not someone we observe from a distance—we move with her. Told entirely from her perspective, the film unfolds through a sensory experience of time and memory. Through light, texture, sound and gesture, we come to understand what it means to live inside a body—and a mind—that is transforming. Ruth is looked after by Vanessa (Carolyn Michelle Smith), a personal support worker, and Brian (Andy McQueen), the home’s doctor. Over time, she begins to […]
