Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976

Latest Highlights

• Zine Article

  Reclaiming the Male Gaze: Learning to See Through Film Photography

  By Terra Friedman King

  I’ve questioned my own gaze for years. As a small child, I observed my three sisters — triplets eight years older than me — become women, and marveled at the power, allure and dynamism in femininity. Simultaneously I saw men lie, cheat and be violent in their reach for women. And I’ve gazed at myself in the mirror, watching my perception of self shift from day to day. My own perception of myself is as capricious as the winds, rising and falling with my mood, my cycle, the day’s events.

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  Features | Zine Article

  The United States, Its Secret Origins, and the Deflation of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

  By Terra Friedman King

  At last year’s Academy Awards, Lily Gladstone was the first Indigenous American to be nominated for Best Actress. Her nomination was one of 10 Oscar nominations for Martin Scorsese’s film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which many celebrated as progress for Indigenous representation in Hollywood.

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  Features | Zine Article

  Too Daring for a Domestic Audience? Examining the 1964 Japanese Horror Film ‘Onibaba’ 

  By Nate Ruttenberg

  “THE MOST DARING FILM IMPORT EVER . . . FROM JAPAN!” is how Toho Studios first advertised “Onibaba” to foreign audiences. With a sex-centered plot that features disturbing, psychosexual encounters between characters, writer/director Kaneto Shindo’s intentionally controversial 1964 horror film pushed the limits of both Japanese and international censorship laws. Mildly censored in Japan and banned outright in countries such as the U.K., “Onibaba” serves as a deeply unusual combination of folkloric story and bold, modern sexuality.

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  Documentary | Zine Article

  ‘No Other Land’ and the Violent Suppression of Truth

  By Liliya Shafir

  Before he was murdered in his hometown of Umm al-Khair, Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen sent a final message to the West Bank Protection Consortium’s WhatsApp group:

  “Urgent call — the settlers are working behind our houses. And the worst, they’re trying to cut the main water pipe for our community. We need everyone to act. If you can reach people like the congress, the courts, please do everything. If they cut the pipe — I’m sorry. If they cut the pipe, the community here will literally be without any drop of water.”

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  Features | Zine Article

  ‘Z’: How a Single Letter Paved the Way for Government Criticism

  By Andriani Lamprinou

  Post-WWII, the sixties were a period of military dictatorships and one-party governments around the world. In Europe, one of the only countries that had a military dictatorship, or junta, was Greece, after a bloodless coup orchestrated by the leadership of army colonel and subsequent Prime Minister Georgios Papadopoulos. This military junta inspired French-Greek filmmaker, Costa-Gavras, to create the film “Z” in 1969. Due to its critique of the government, the film would not be released in Greece until after the fall of the junta.

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  Artist Feature | Interviews

  Playwright and Director Ashley Monet Long Discusses Explosive Debut, ‘Jamie Has A Bomb’ 

  By Ashley Davis

  Written and directed by Ashley Monet Long and produced by Emerson’s own Mercutio Troupe, “Jamie Has A Bomb” centers the eclectic and mechanically-apt teenager Jamie (Maya Smith), who builds a bomb with the intent to self-detonate, and her pet goldfish Judas (Darrell Mondaine), who becomes determined to prevent her untimely suicide.