Kurt Brokaw

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.

A scene from the courtroom at Nurenberg
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The New York Jewish Film Festival Jan. 12-25

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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.

A man and woman on a fire escapte staring out at morning in New York City.

20th Annual Tribeca Festival June 9-20

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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.