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.
“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.
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.”
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.
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.
“Snow White” (1916) was shown for one night only — and not one more — on Screen One of The West Newton Cinema, an independent theater nestled between a massage parlor and audiologist ten miles west of Downtown Boston. Current showings are pasted on the low marquee and the ticket booths are covered in multicolored post-its and flyers. It has stood on Washington Street for nearly 90 years, and was recently saved by the West Newton Cinema Foundation (or WNCF), a nonprofit organization formed by the local community to keep the theater alive through financial difficulties and the age of streaming.
Kelly Reichardt is not known to capitalize on star power, but one can make the case that she is integral…
When the lights dimmed and the screen began to flicker, I felt like I was standing in front of an altar. There was something holy about that crisp October night in Cambridge, when The Brattle theater transformed from a movie house into a cathedral of cinema. The smell of buttered popcorn floated through the air as strangers shuffled to creaky seats, their plastic cups fizzing with delicious cherry cola. It wasn’t just a screening. It was a gathering of believers. A horde of cinephiles grouped, itching for their fix.
On October 1 Boston got a taste of Floridian sunshine when The 502s took the stage at Boston’s Citizens House…