Kurt Brokaw joined The Independent in 2010 as Senior Film Critic, covering New York’s six major film festivals and reviewing individual features and shorts of merit. He was Associate Teaching Professor at The New School for 33 years, and has taught courses on film noir, early lesbian fiction and Jewish-themed cinema at The 92nd Street Y for 15 years. His memoir, The Paperback Guy, was published in 2020.
Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw picks his virtual favorites from the 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival. Selections include documentaries on the history of a film about the Nuremburg Trials, artist Lily Renée Phillips, ehtnomusicologist Moisei Beregovsky, a musical about Bernie Madoff and a short about a bar mitzvah in the middle of an arial bombing.
Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw reviews this year’s DOC NYC and reviews Film, The Living Record of Our Memory, Storm Lake and The Art of Making It from the festival.
Senior Critic Kurt Brokaw picks his top movies and shorts from the 59th New York Film Festival, including Julia Ducournau’s Titane, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car and Rebecca Hall’s Passing as well as two shorts.
Dale Bell’s Woodstock (Rare Bird Books, 2019) is a day-by-day, event-by-event diary by Bell, the associate producer, and 22 other…
Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw reviews the 2021Tribeca Festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary. He spotlights the Warner Bros. musical In the Heights and Michèle Stephenson’s Stateless, two movies tied to the Dominican Republic in two very different ways. He also reviews Coded, Ryan White’s short documentary about J. C. Leyendecker, and The Queen of Basketball, Ben Proudfoot’s documentary on basketball pioneer, Lusia Harris-Stewart.
Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw reviews Summer of Soul, a documentary on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival that brought together some of the best performers of Jazz, Soul, Gospel, and Funk.
Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw picks three new films and one short that reflects a half century of the New Directors/New Films festival from MOMA and Films at Lincoln Center.
Spring is busting out all over New York City, with cinemas scheduled to open March 5 (25% capacity, 50-seat maximum)….
Sure, it was sorely disappointing not to view the 24 narrative dramas, documentaries and shorts up on the big screens…