Doomscrolling the Abyss: Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei on Reimagining Horror in “Faces of Death”
When John Alan Schwartz’s “Faces of Death” came out in 1978, it emerged at a time when the proliferation of violent images wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today. The mondo-horror film, which featured everything from animal cruelty, a firing squad execution, and death by electric chair (to name a few of its violent delights), […]
Grace Glowicki On Her Original Vision of Frankenstein in “Dead Lover”
About a year ago, I sat down for what was probably my sixth movie of the day at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. My eyes were burning, my brain was melting. But then “Dead Lover” lit up the screen before me, and my eyes felt renewed with energy. When you can recognize that you’re seeing […]
Sundancing on My Own: My Four Extraordinary Days in Park City
Sundance has always been a festival I had admired at a distance. How Robert Redford had gone about using his platform to launch the careers of countless filmmakers for over four decades had always left me in awe. So many of my favorite films had premiered at Redford’s festival nestled in the snow-capped mountains of […]
Being Fully Present: Alicia Witt on David Lynch, “Longlegs,” Her New Concert Tour and More
A longtime holiday wish of mine will be granted this month when I finally get to see one of my favorite actors perform in person. As part of her “Spending Christmas” tour, Alicia Witt will be putting on a holiday concert at Evanston SPACE, featuring tunes from her wonderful album, “I Think I’m Spending Christmas […]
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 […]
Sundance 2025: Laura Casabé on “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake”
When I met Argentinian filmmaker Laura Casabé at Sundance Film Festival for our interview, she immediately gave me a hug. It was a great way to start our conversation. I felt seen by Laura’s film, and by her. It was great to have an interaction with a person, human to human, rather than just filmmaker […]
Natalie Erika James on “Apartment 7A,” starring Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it makes complete sense that 2024 has been loaded with not only horror prequels, but demonic thrillers brimming with feminist rage. On the heels of “Immaculate” and “The First Omen” comes “Relic” director Natalie Erika James’ precursor to the Roman Polanski’s masterwork, “Rosemary’s Baby,” chronicling the fate of […]
Sundance 40: Thea Hvistendahl on her bold zombie film “Handling the Undead”
When you watch “Handling the Undead” you have to deconstruct your way of viewing the film. The film involves dead people and it touches on tropes of zombie films, but it’s not necessarily about the “zombies,” it’s about the loved ones and their relationship with these beings. It’s about the left behind, and how we […]
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 […]
Filmmaker Laura Moss on Their Mary Shelley-Inspired Feature Debut,”birth/rebirth,” releases in theaters on August 18
This week we bring back our Sundance interview with Laura Moss in anticipation of their film’s theater release on Friday, August 18. Learn more at birthrebirthmovie.com Laura Moss. This filmmaker means so much to me as an artist and a supporter of Cinema Femme. Laura Moss was the very first filmmaker I interviewed for the […]
Female creators and actors come together to express their rage regarding the overturning of Roe v. Wade in “Give Me An A”
On June 24th, 2022, the horrific news came out that Roe v. Wade had been overturned by the federal government. This was a landmark decision made by the Supreme Court in 1973, which gave women the right to decide what they wanted to do with their bodies when it came to their reproductive choices. Bodily […]
Palm Springs Shortfest 2023: Lola Blanc on her horror short “Pruning”
“Pruning” premieres at the Palm Springs International Shortfest on June 24, filmmaker Lola Blanc will be in attendance, learn more. Cinema Femme had the opportunity to speak with Lola Blanc about her horror short “Pruning.” They discussed how the horror lens can change the way we think about serious issues and the way we discuss […]