17 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
December 5, 2025
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
6 min read
by Rebecca Martin
December 1, 2025
Freya Adams is a first-generation Indian American actress best known for her lead role in Jennifer Phang’s “Advantageous” (now streaming on Netflix), where she starred opposite Ken Jeong, Jennifer Ehle,
9 min read
by Davide Abbatescianni
November 26, 2025
“Mariposa Traicionera” (“Treacherous Butterfly”) marks one of the most arresting and mysterious short films currently seeking a world premiere on the 2026 festival circuit. Shot in Spain and distributed worldwide
8 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 21, 2025
When cult filmmaker Kira Muratova told a young Isa Willinger, “The truth is, women make the harsher films,” the statement lodged itself in Willinger’s mind like a riddle. Could this
10 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 18, 2025
In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (June 2022) decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, Lauren Melinda’s “Before You” emerges as an intimate, unflinching, and profoundly
13 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
November 17, 2025
As I sat in my favorite movie palace, the Music Box Theatre, waiting for my wife—Cinema Femme founder Rebecca Martin—to arrive for that evening’s eagerly awaited Chicago International Film Festival
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 12, 2025
Sophia Dunn-Walker’s creative world hums with contrast — elegance laced with rebellion, discipline infused with punk energy. A director, producer, and actor, Dunn-Walker’s work traverses film, music, and visual art
14 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
November 4, 2025
I went into David Michôd’s biopic “Christy” knowing nothing about its titular boxer. I knew I would be interviewing the film’s real-life subject, Christy Salters Martin, the following morning, and
14 min read
by Anna Pattison
November 1, 2025
When a laid-off sex worker falls for a mail carrier in a world frozen by pandemic unknowns, it will take the help of an astrologer, cinema guru, cam model, retired dungeon owner,
14 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
October 25, 2025
With the 61st Chicago International Film Festival nearly in the rearview mirror, there are so many memories from the past several days that I know I will be cherishing for
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
10 min read
by Rebecca Martin
October 20, 2025
Mary Bronstein is a writer/director based in New York City, known for her raw style, auteurist approach, and unflinching focus on stories about complicated women. Her best-known work, the cult-classic
