Since the late 1990s, Lav Diaz’s cinema has explored the Philippines’ troubled history with colonization, authoritarianism, corruption, poverty, macho-feudalism and the tensions that animate and enliven the sociopaths of today. His durational works are simultaneously a test of patience and spirit and assertions that the stories of Filipinos deserve time and space to unfold in all of its complexities. Diaz’s works paint portraits of good men and women whose morals disintegrate along with their minds, poisoned by the pressures of the world, leading them to commit uncharacteristic acts of violence one would think they are too progressive or too intelligent […]
Originally published January 20, 2024, timed to the film’s premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, this interview with Seeking Mavis Beacon director Jazmin Jones is now reposted in conjunction with the film’s theatrical release from NEON. — Editor Exuberantly maximalist in approach, Jazmin Jones’s blast of a debut feature, Seeking Mavis Beacon, is a rapid-fire blend of neo-noir road movie, desktop essay film and meta critique of the “searching for” documentary subgenre. The picture follows Jones and cyber doula friend Olivia McKayla Ross — self-described “e-girl detectives” — on their years-long journey to locate Renee L’Espérance, the Haitian-born model […]
Since its inception in 2012, Blackstar Film Festival has become one of my favorites. In a recent interview in Essence, founder Maori Karmel Holmes said, “When I started the festival, I didn’t realize that it was going to be an annual event, and I was mostly interested in seeing films that I knew existed in the world but hadn’t been shown in Philadelphia. I was also interested in a specific kind of film, mostly experimental, largely made by independent filmmakers and wanting to put them together in a way that would put artistic films next to social justice documentaries and […]
A 4DX screening offers a host of bells and whistles engineered to make the moviegoing experience less passive. Three motors in every seat work in tandem to shake a participant around violently during big action setpieces or vibrate lightly during quieter moments. There’s a back kicker for imitating punches or kicks thrown during fights. Lightning effects and fog fill the theater at large, while sprays of water interact with each audience member. The premium format received a massive visibility bump this summer when viral clips of audience members watching Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters lit up TikTok and X. On this […]
Andrés Arochi’s cinematic indoctrination began at a Blockbuster Video in Mexico City when he was 12-years old. Stuck at home for the summer after being grounded for his grades, Arochi spent those months binging the offerings in his local Blockbuster’s small section of American arthouse cinema. The next summer he worked for his uncle to save money for his first stills camera. By the time he was 17, Arochi was shooting music videos and beginning to direct experimental films. Now, he’s behind the lens on his first narrative feature Longlegs, the well-received box office hit about an FBI Agent (Maika […]
In 2012, Angela Patton delivered a viral TED Talk about her revolutionary Date with Dad prison program—a father-daughter dance between incarcerated dads and their daughters, giving separated families a unique chance to connect and reunite without any physical barriers. The CEO of Girls for a Change—a youth development nonprofit with a mission to empower Black girls in Central Virginia—Patton then found a partner in Natalie Rae, who reached out to collaborate on a film together. The result of their nearly a decade-in-the-making work is Daughters, a heartrending documentary that premiered in Sundance in January 2024, where it was bought by […]
The biggest headline of the 77th Locarno Film Festival wasn’t a movie but a man: Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, who attended to receive a career achievement award as a reminder (none is needed) of the role red carpet celebrity plays in drawing money and attention to festivals which can then, aspirationally, redirect both towards smaller title. But even as the whole idea of “cinema” requires increasingly vigilant caretaking, those festivals themselves are nearly all in financial trouble. When I got this job at Filmmaker a decade ago, companies who’d invested a lot of time and money in VR were […]
Looking for the most competitive film incentives in Texas? Searching for a treasure trove of unique locations? On the hunt for a filming destination that will prioritize your project and welcome you with open arms, while providing untold added value, famous hospitality and film friendly support every step of the way? Look no further than San Antonio, Texas—a best kept secret among filmmakers where history shines just as brightly as the city’s boundless future. Enjoy rolling Hill Country landscapes just a quick drive from the city’s European-influenced downtown or trek a few hours in either direction to access coastal or […]
“It’s the light! Always the light!” exclaims a priest to the murderous Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) as they bask in the glory of a Caravaggio painting in Netflix’s new adaption of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. There are a multitude of exquisite facets to cinematographer Robert Elswit’s work on the series, including the formal compositions that embrace the Italian setting’s architecture. But, more than anything else, it’s the light as Elswit harkens back to classic noirs, 1960s Italian cinema and the canvasses of the great masters of chiaroscuro. Elswit earned an Oscar nomination for his black and […]
Following a decade of work in experimental and documentary cinema, director Courtney Stephens steps into fiction for the first time with Invention, a remarkably resourceful microbudget drama that nonetheless resists strict categorization. Starring and co-conceived by Callie Hernandez, the film draws upon the actress’s real-life relationship with her late father, a medical doctor turned small-time huckster who made a name for himself on local television talk shows and public access programs in the ’90s and 2000s. In this fictionalized telling set in the Berkshires, VHS footage of those TV appearances weave through a story in which Hernandez, playing a version […]