Attracted to Abstraction: Lucile Hadžihalilović on “The Ice Tower”
“If you can’t play with the language, you are not reinventing the language.” This is what Argentine director Gaspar Noé told me when I interviewed him fifteen years ago about his 2009 masterpiece, “Enter the Void.” There is perhaps no filmmaker who has crafted more visceral portrayals of primal human experiences, particularly sex, violence and […]
It Was All a Miracle: Embeth Davidtz on “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight”
I was ten years old when Danny DeVito’s euphoric screen adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel Matilda arrived in theaters. I had read the book so many times that the cover had fallen off, and in the character of Miss Honey, I found an embodiment of all the teachers who had been an invaluable, nurturing […]
Disrupt the Dopamine: Lily McInerny on “Bonjour Tristesse”
Throughout human history, few things have discomforted patriarchal societies quite like the candid thoughts of women. French author Françoise Sagan was only 18 when she published her wildly popular 1954 debut novel, Bonjour Tristesse, which translates as Hello Sadness. Her tale of a teenage girl, Cécile, whose freedom she enjoys with her widowed father, Raymond, […]
SXSW 2025: “Baba I’m Fine” explores the angst of an Arab teenage girl
I was fortunate to discover Karina Dandashi and her work at the Indy Shorts Film Festival in 2023. Her short film, “Cousins,” which screened at the festival, was about a queer Arab American woman and a night she spends with her long distance cousin in New York City. It was a slice of life film, […]
This Was the Fight: Emily Sheskin on “JessZilla”
One of my favorite films I saw in 2024 is finally kicking off its limited theatrical run before arriving on VOD. Last year, I had the privilege of serving on the documentary nomination committee for Slamdance’s inaugural awards ceremony, The Indies. As a result, I screened numerous magnificent pictures, yet none delivered a knockout punch […]
An Aliveness Behind the Eyes: Shuchi Talati and Preeti Panigrahi on “Girls Will Be Girls”
I have always had a fondness for coming of age films that vividly recall how intense our emotions are during pivotal moments of growth and transition. In many ways, we as humans are coming of age throughout our entire lives. It is an experience not merely confined to our adolescence, and that is a truth […]
A Sense of Authenticity: Olivia Edward on “Better Things”
When Pamela Adlon released her marvelous directorial feature debut, “Babes,” earlier this year, my husband Matt and I had not yet been acquainted with the filmmaker’s Peabody Award-winning FX series, “Better Things.” Adlon plays a fictionalized version of herself named Sam, and loosely based the series on her own experience of raising three daughters while […]
Sundance 40: Mel Eslyn’s coming-of-age debut series “Penelope” will have you yearning for simpler times
Have you ever stood on a bridge and been tempted to throw your phone down into the water? Or chuck it right out the car window, letting it smash into little pieces behind you? When’s the last time you hugged a tree, or felt grass beneath your fingers? Living in a constant state of technology […]
Thank you, Jennifer Reeder, for the blood in your horror feature “Perpetrator”
Thank goodness for Jennifer Reeder. She is a breath of fresh air in the horror world. What she brings to the screen is so needed in terms of representing the things that young women, and women of all ages, have faced at one point or another. We needed a place to channel a collective rage […]
Asian Pop-Up Cinema Film Fest Season 15: Hoi Yeung on Hong Kong’s “The First Girl I Loved,” co-directed with Candy Ng
Last week Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema Film Festival wrapped up its 15th season showing eight Hong Kong productions. I was fortunate to interview one of the filmmakers behind one of these movies, Hoi Yeung, about the coming-of-age gem “The First Girl I Loved”, which he co-directed with Candy Ng. Currently in its festival run, the […]
CUSP: Q&A with directors Parker Hill + Isabel Bethencourt and more!
Filmmakers Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt join their subjects (Autumn and Brittney), to talk about their coming of age documentary CUSP. Cinema Femme Managing Editor Rebecca Martin moderates the Q&A. We discuss several important topics including teenage life, rape culture, how it’s “ok to not be ok”, and the power of Lil Peep songs. Coming […]
“Eighth Grade” Star Emily Robinson on Her Directorial Efforts “Hearsay” and “Virgin Territory”
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 played the young versions of Gaby Hoffmann’s characters, Rose and […]