Last January, in the before times when film festivals were still held in person, I beheld one of the most unique and powerful films I’d ever seen. Cedric Cheung-Lau’s “The Mountains Are a Dream That Calls to Me” was unlike anything I had ever seen before—or since. Filmed in Nepal, it told the profoundly simple story of a Nepalese man named Tukten (Sanjay Lama Dong) who says he is walking to a new job in the Middle East. Along his trek he meets
Award season is here, and the upcoming Golden Globes have made history by nominating three women in their “Best Director” category. To honor that long overdue achievement I thought it would be the perfect time to talk with filmmaker Pamela B. Green about her documentary “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché.” If you don’t recognize the name in the title, unfortunately, you’re not alone. Guy-Blaché was born in 1873
The Apple TV+ series “Losing Alice” fashions an atmosphere of dread in its first moments and never lets up. Over eight episodes this Israeli import, which debuts stateside on Friday, is more about engendering a feeling within the viewer rather than setting up a who-did-what-when thriller procedural.
Not that the staples of the mystery genre aren’t present. But unlike lesser shows
Donald Trump’s 2016 election shocked a great many, including Dr. Tim Seelig, the artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Despite the heartbreaking result, Seelig decided that, rather than continue to perform for friendly Bay Area audiences, it was time to head south—-to the Deep South. After Trump’s election, Seelig and the choir announced their intention to stage a tour to some of the most conservative states in the country
Since international travel is currently all but impossible the movies provide a way to visit other parts of the world—as they always have. And it was of tremendous importance to writer/director John Patrick Shanley (“Doubt,” “Moonstruck”) that Ireland, the land of his forefathers, be a main character in his new film “Wild Mountain Thyme,” adapted from his play “Outside Mullingar.”
Even as we spoke on the phone last week, filmmaker Errol Morris said he was still putting the finishing touches on his new documentary, a version of which I had seen not long before the Oscar-winning director of “The Fog of War” and “Gates of Heaven” chatted with me from his home in Massachusetts.
Until recently, he was still color correcting and filling in the musical score. Letting go of the “final edit” is often the most
Stephen and Alexa Kinigopoulos wanted to make a movie where they came from. The siblings, who co-directed the new psychological thriller “Fishbowl,” grew up near Baltimore, and so when they were seeking a setting for their film, they simply cast their gaze out the window.
“When you’re surrounded by those locations every day, you maybe see them differently. And it’s always great to shoot in places that helped make you who you are,”
It has been two years since Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and was never seen again. The royal family at first claimed Khashoggi had left the consulate on his own, but then changed their story to say a fight had broken out. But the full truth, later confirmed by the CIA, was far worse: He was murdered inside the consulate by a hit squad sent by the frequent target of Khashoggi’s critiques, Crown Prince Mohammed
Nick Quested believes the War on Drugs cannot be properly understood without examining the social, economic and political situation of our neighbors to the south. The documentarian says that Americans all too often view the import of drugs as Mexico’s problem rather than one of interconnectedness between our two nations.
“What Americans should understand is that this is a problem of economics
Thanks to covid-19, both the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were postponed to 2021. That means the competitors will have another whole year to train and prepare for their events in Tokyo.
And however disappointing, it’s just one more bump on the road for the Paralympics athletes featured in the new documentary “Rising Phoenix,” which opens on Netflix this weekend. Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter