New Directors/New Films 2020 (Dec. 9-20)
Do you remember the last movie you saw in a real theater, up on a big screen? Our memories grow…
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.
DOC NYC Film Festival Nov. 11-19 – Critic’s Choices
Consider for a moment what’s been recently showing in two very different movie-going Americas. On Oct. 30 The New York…
New York Film Festival – Critic’s Choices
2020 New York Film Festival – For the first time in its 58 year history, Manhattan’s NYFF wasn’t shown in its Lincoln Center home. Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw watched it all online, reviewing his favorite narrative dramas, documentary features, and outstanding shorts.
Tribeca 2020 Short Films: Critic’s Choice
This year’s 19th Tribeca Film Festival didn’t take place in downtown Manhattan, but Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw was able to view its 63 shorts, chosen from 6,100 submissions. Read his reviews on six favorites.
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema – March 5-15
You’ll forgive your 81-year-old Manhattan moviegoer if his first three reviews below putter about, pausing to stare at the pleasure…
The New York Jewish Film Festival Jan. 15-28
The nice curators at The Jewish Museum and Film at Lincoln Center have made their own special mitzvah to the…
DOC NYC Film Festival Nov. 6-15 – Critic’s Choices
America’s largest documentary film festival celebrates its 10th anniversary with 300 features, shorts and events, showing on 16 downtown Manhattan screens. Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw focuses on features and shorts set in and around New York City, selecting two shorts plus three features saluting The Apollo theater, rocker Lydia Lunch, and Cinema 5’s legendary exhibitor and distributor Donald Rugoff.
New York Film Festival 2019 – Critic’s Choices
Senior Film Critic Kurt Brokaw selects five narrative dramas, two documentaries and two shorts as top recommends from the 57th annual NYFF, held Sept.27-Oct.13 in Lincoln Center.
Checking Out “The Celluloid Paper Trail,” the Ultimate Guide to Screenplays
Could your screenplay one day be worth enough to display in Royal Books’ high-end collectors window in Baltimore? Owner/scholar Kevin Johnson’s new book, The Cellluloid Paper Trail, is the first definitive examination of movie scripts in the 20th century–their provenance and value from story scripts through the myriad drafts that follow. Senior film critic Kurt Brokaw deconstructs this landmark study.