7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
October 24, 2025
Set against the vivid backdrop of 1931 French-colonized Martinique, “Sugar Cane Alley” (“Rue Cases-Nègres”) stands as one of cinema’s most tender and politically charged coming-of-age stories. The film follows eleven-year-old
3 min read
by cinemafemme
October 21, 2025
Rental Family, directed by Hikari Set in modern-day Tokyo, “Rental Family” follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for
17 min read
by Rebecca Martin
March 6, 2025
Sometimes the most meaningful interactions can take place in the unlikeliest of locations. Consider the central relationship in George Ellzey Jr.’s riveting short film, “Cottage Grove,” between a young man, Emmanuel
8 min read
by Rebecca Martin
March 27, 2024
To celebrate the release of the film, we bring back our 2023 New Orleans Film Festival interview (originally posted on 11/2/23) with filmmaker Nailah Jefferson about her feature documentary “Commuted,”
9 min read
by Rebecca Martin
January 29, 2024
Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s feature debut, “Tendaberry,” moves you, not just on a visceral level, but a deeply human level. I felt the same way after I watched “All Dirt Roads
12 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 8, 2023
I’m going to keep my intro brief because I feel filmmaker Michéle Stephenson speaks to the truth of her film “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which she co-directed
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 7, 2023
Sometimes you need a film that can wash over you and speak to the elements in your soul by reflecting the world around you. That is what “All Dirt Roads
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 2, 2023
I’ve been fortunate to interview some of the up-and-coming female programmers who have come out of Chicago. Earlier this year, I spoke with Imani Davis, who now is a programmer
21 min read
by Rebecca Martin
July 25, 2023
“My poems and songs have no flavor without you.” The above quote comes from the end of the short documentary “Ayenda,” directed by Marie Margolius. A group of teenage Afghan
13 min read
by Rebecca Martin
July 17, 2023
Tiffany Tenille is a phenomenal woman. She is an actress (as displayed in Numa Perrier’s “Jezebel”), writer and an emerging filmmaker. We were so honored to host the Chicago premiere
12 min read
by Rebecca Martin
June 29, 2023
“Numa was our choice and we went after her. She did this movie for Netflix called ‘Jezebel’ and I loved it. She was in it – she starred in it
12 min read
by Rebecca Martin
February 28, 2023
When I turned 36, I put together clips from films that I felt represented my life at that moment in time, and I broke it up into six parts. I
