Category: Film Festivals

If you’re familiar with Amanda Kramer’s films, BY DESIGN is exactly what you’d expect after reading the synopsis of a woman swapping bodies with a chair. I’m not sure whether it is a good thing or not.  Fans of her experimental and outlandish work will likely be happy. Anyone who watches the film because of […]

The concept of Kate Beecroft’s docufiction EAST OF WALL closely resembles Chloé Zhao’s The Rider and the film has some of the similar gorgeous and serene South Dakota scenery on display.  The non-professional cast of mostly family members is much larger and they do a fine job. They are more or less playing themselves, but […]

Vladimir de Fontenay’s SUKKWAN ISLAND with Swann Arlaud, young actor Woody Norman from C’mon C’mon, and Alma Pöysti would have been a fine father-son survival drama if it was not for its confusing structure that utilizes misdirection. You spend the last fifteen minutes of the film wondering what the heck is going on and you […]

Writer/director/actor/producer Katarina Zhu’s Bunnylovr, which had its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, is a personal film about being young and lonely in the city.  Her performance as Rebecca and her direction are excellent. I wish the story was a little less predictable. Rachel Sennott was her bubbly self as the best friend. It was also […]

Sylvia Le Fanu’s debut feature My Eternal Summer, which had its premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival, is a delicate portrayal of 15-year old Fanny and her parents spending one last summer together when her mother is battling a terminal illness.  Based on Le Fanu’s own experiences, its simplicity and lighter moments make the […]

Carlos Marqués-Marcet’s They Will Be Dust (Polvo serán) is the euthanasia musical I did not know I needed. Ángela Molina and Alfredo Castro are brilliant as the elderly couple who cannot imagine living without one another. The vocal and percussion driven music and the modern dance choreography are out of this world. Lively, yet heartbreaking, […]

U Are the Universe from director Pavlo Ostrikov is one of the most romantic sci-fi movies you’ll ever see. Shot partly under the Russian occupation of Ukraine, the space scenes look as good as any Hollywood blockbuster despite having a fraction of their budgets. It is about longing for human connection and finding love under the most […]

Ali Samadi Ahadi’s SEVEN DAYS is the heart-rending journey of human rights activist Maryam from Tehran to the Turkish border in an attempt to reunite with her family.  It is written by The Seed of the Sacred Fig director Mohammad Rasoulof. While it has similarities to his own story, it is inspired by Nobel Peace […]

Elena Manrique’s debut THE PARTY’S OVER is a unique eat-the-rich comedy built around an immigrant story. Wealthy divorcée Carmina would not feel out of place in Triangle of Sadness. She allows 19-year-old Senegalese immigrant Bilal, who is trying not to get caught by the police, to stay in her manor house, but makes Bilal her […]