Berlinale 2026: “Mouse” Destined to be Hailed Among the Year’s Best Films
There is no filmmaking duo whose work I await with greater anticipation than Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson. In 2019, Thompson made his debut feature, “Saint Frances,” written by and starring O’Sullivan as a thirty-something nanny with an unwanted pregnancy, who forges a bond with the six-year-old she looks after. O’Sullivan brought her next script, […]
The Magic of Sundance: Stories from my last dance in Park City
Yes, you can just go to Sundance. Yes, you will definitely have fun. Yes, you will see celebrities. Yes, you will see movies that may win Oscars or launch the career of your favorite new filmmaker. No, it’s not easy to get there or get around. No, you won’t feel your healthiest while you are […]
Sundance 2026: Xiye Bastida and Franco Campos-Lopez Benyunes on Hope, Whales, and Resistance
“The Way of the Whale” tells the untold story of an extraordinary interspecies bond — a connection so profound it feels like love — between humans and gray whales in a remote lagoon along the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Each year, after completing a 5,000-mile migration — the longest of any marine […]
Sundance 2026: Gabriela Ortega Explores Motherhood and Becoming in “Marga en el DF”
Cinema Femme is thrilled to reconnect with director, writer, and actress Gabriela Ortega on the occasion of her latest short film, “Marga en el DF”, which makes its World Premiere in Sundance’s International Fiction Short Films program. Ortega returns to the festival following the acclaimed run of her 2022 short “HUELLA.” The film has also […]
Sundance 2026: “The Musical,” “Extra Geography.” and “Carousel”
For my final dispatch of Sundance 2026, I talk about three films I screened virtually from home (though I originally saw “The Musical” in Park City, but I enjoyed it so much I watched it a second time at home). Coming of age was a popular recurring theme in many of the films I screened […]
Sundance 2026: “Birds of War” — Love, Journalism, and Bearing Witness Across Revolution and Exile
“Birds of War” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact. At its core, the film is a love story shaped by revolution, war, and exile. Told through thirteen years of personal archives, it traces the intertwined lives of London-based Lebanese journalist Janay […]
Sundance 2026: Finding Barbara Hammer—A Late Awakening to Queer Experimentation
Barbara Hammer once said, “If we’re experimenting with our lives and the way we’re going to live, our film and our art should also be experimental. It breaks tradition, and makes you think in a broader way. It’s the way I experience the world.” I’ve been carrying that quote with me lately, especially as I […]
Sundance 2026: Rachael Morrison chronicles a radical life in her documentary “Joybubbles”
“Joybubbles” is filmmaker Rachael J. Morrison’s debut feature documentary, which just premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition. Built almost entirely from archival film footage and audio recordings, the film resurrects the singular life and voice of Joe Engressia—later known as Joybubbles—a blind phone phreak who, as a child, discovered […]
Breaking Through the Lens at Sundance: Filmmakers on Resilience, Risk, and Not Selling Out
There’s a particular kind of honesty that surfaces at Sundance—usually not on the red carpet, but in the quiet spaces where filmmakers gather to tell the truth about how hard this all really is. At the Canon Creative Studio Space in Park City, Breaking Through the Lens created one of those moments. The room was […]
Sundance 2026: Unapologetically Imperfect: Siri Hjorton Wagner on Female Desire and Motherhood in “Without Kelly”
“Without Kelly” screened at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Shorts Program, following its Orizzonti International Short Film Award win at the Venice Film Festival. Made by Swedish filmmaking duo Lovisa Sirén (director) and Siri Hjorton Wagner (producer), the short offers a raw, intimate portrait of young single motherhood and the layered […]
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 […]
Sundance 2025: Cristina Costantini shows different kinds of bravery in her film “Sally”
While growing up, one of my heroes was Amelia Earhart. She defied expectations by attempting to fly around the world. Rumors were that she had disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle, but apparently no one has seen her since that day she disappeared in 1937. There is so much missing about her story that I would […]