A film lasting only a few minutes has the potential to impact viewers in a way that is tantamount to a feature, and that is certainly the case with “Young People,” which marks the directorial debut of Brooke Westphal, a student at the University of […]
With over two feet of snow piled upon the driveway, I spent this past Christmas Eve with my wife, Cinema Femme founder Rebecca Martin Fagerholm, binging holiday perennials at her parents’ cozy home in Holland, Michigan. Well into the evening, we decided to watch a […]
“To understand my work,” David Lynch once told a bewildered moviegoer in Chicago, “you must follow the emotion. Because if you follow the buttermilk, you’ll end up going to the dairy.” The same rule of thumb could be applied to writer/director Wendy McColm’s sophomore feature […]
Of all the categories at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, the one that voters seem to get right year after year is the one devoted to promising young talent. In past years, the Breakthrough Performer prize has gone to such indelible actors as Amy Adams […]
Like many moviegoers of my generation in the United States, I was first captivated by the breathtaking landscapes of New Zealand in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Yet it wasn’t until I saw Niki Caro’s masterful “Whale Rider” upon its release two decades […]
Bringing back our Sundance interview for the film’s theater release today. One of my favorite movies I’ve seen at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is easily the Finnish coming-of-age drama, “Girl Picture,” directed by Alli Haapasalo. It is an unflinchingly honest, deeply moving and often […]
Palm Trees and Power Lines Jamie Dack’s shattering debut feature, based on her short of the same name, is anchored by a performance from newcomer Lily McInerny that is sure to rank among the year’s very best. She plays Lea, a teenager eager to escape […]
Emily Robinson is, without question, one of the most gifted and promising talents of her generation. She earned a Young Artist Award and Young Entertainer Award, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination, for her work on Joey Soloway’s landmark Amazon series, “Transparent,” where she […]
Sixteen years after her debut feature, 2005’s crowd-pleasing documentary, “Mad Hot Ballroom,” showed us how the art of dance transformed the lives of elementary schoolers throughout New York City, filmmaker Marilyn Agrelo has returned with the definitive cinematic portrait of the most beloved children’s television […]
One of the joys of covering the movie beat is seeing a great artist whose work you believe in receive the recognition they deserve. When the 2021 Oscar nominations were announced on March 15th, I jumped out of my chair and cheered when Elvira Lind’s […]
“For many years, I had to confront the cruel system in my home country that does not tolerate people with a different mindset. People judged me for my ideas as if I was a traitor. The desire to work in another country was born when […]
