Uncategorized

Black girl at ballet class.

Rendez-Vous with French Cinema March 2-12

By

Film for film, performance for performance, there’s no more pleasurable way for cinephiles to weather a Manhattan winter than to rendez-vous for ten days and nights in early March on West 65th Street. Audiences at the Walter Reade and Munroe theaters are civilized and mostly masked, there’s popcorn but the carpeting’s never sticky, no one… Read more »

Riotsville U.S.A. Comes to Bright Lights on Feb. 16

By

Sierra Pettengill’s documentary, “Riotsville, U.S.A.” comes to Bright Lights Cinema Series this Thursday, Feb. 16, followed by a talk with producer Sara Archambault. The film was created entirely from 1960s archival footage and begins with a bird’s eye view of what, at first, appears to be a city.  At closer glance, we realize it is… Read more »

CHILDREN READING TABLOID

New York Jewish Film Festival, January 12–23

By

The cautionary alerts are everywhere throughout Manhattan. At the Center for Jewish History on West 16th just off Fifth Avenue, president Gavriel Rosenfeld writes that to understand “growing antisemitic threats facing American Jews, examining the past is indispensable for understanding the present.” At Bloomberg Philanthropies, former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg introduced showings of Arthur Miller’s… Read more »

60th New York Film Festival, September 30 to October 16, 2022

New York Film Festival, Sept.30-Oct.16

By

Above is Nan Goldin’s photo that’s become the poster for this 60th NYFF.  Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words. It celebrates movies as they once were in the 1960s (and long before), when Irving Shulman’s 1947 The Amboy Dukes was the coming-of-age novel for NYC bonehead teens and wayward young adults. Youths… Read more »

ICIA’s Submission Window Nearing a Close

By

    The International Competition for Intermedia Work of Art (ICIA), is nearing the end of their open call for intermedia artwork. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 30. According to the website, the aim of the competition is “to select works that open a discussion about the criteria for comparing and evaluating intermedia artworks,… Read more »

“The Lobster”: When the Sin of Being Single Is Unforgivable

By

 Dystopian films are no doubt a popular genre, especially among young adults. From “The Hunger Games” which reflects the animalistic tendencies of teenagers to “Divergent” which emphasizes their rebellious nature,  dystopian films tend to be similar to one another. “The Lobster,” however, includes elements of dark comedy and science fiction, bringing something new to the… Read more »

“Master” Explores Old Ideas in a New Setting

By

Racism is horror. This is the idea behind creative masterpieces such as Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and Bernard Rose’s “Candyman” (which later inspired Nia Dacosta’s 2021 spiritual remake). These films explore Black trauma through a generational lens, often coming to the same conclusion: nothing has changed. Whether it’s police violence or malicious tokenism from white… Read more »

“Hi, Mom” and “Mama”: Dedicated to Every Ordinary but Great Mother

By

In his short story collection “Puck of Pook’s Hill,” Rudyard Kipling said, “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” There are many stories around the world that revolve around mothers. The Korean film “Wedding Dress,” the British film “Philomena,” and the American horror movie “Mama” are all stories with themes of mothers protecting and loving… Read more »