The Film Comment Podcast

Fall 2026 Books, with Erika Balsom and Genevieve Yue

On this week’s episode, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute invited two of their favorite writers, FC contributor Erika Balsom and FC Contributing Editor Genevieve Yue, to discuss their fascinating new books: Genevieve’s monograph Trains and Erika’s wide-ranging collection The…

Nov 10, 2026

Liani Greaves and Barry Jenkins on Once Upon a Time in Harlem

A standout of this year in films, Once Upon a Time in Harlem is an extraordinary feat of resurrection.

Oct 28, 2026

Fall New Releases, with Inney Prakash and Michael Blair

On this week's episode, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute invited FC Contributing Editor Inney Prakash and Assistant Editor Michael Blair to debate three new films that are currently gracing the marquees of multiplexes and stirring up discourse: Bassam Tariq's Your Mother Your…

Oct 22, 2026

NYFF64 Festival Report, with Bilge Ebiri and Molly Haskell

As the 64th New York Film Festival drew to a close last week, it was once again time for Film Comment’s Festival Report, our annual live overview of the NYFF that was.

Oct 13, 2026

Sex in the Cinema at NYFF64, with Ayanna Dozier and Melissa Anderson

Several films—both old and new—across this year’s NYFF lineup push the boundaries of depictions of sensuality and desire on screen, posing provocative questions for the current cinema landscape, where sex has become a divisive subject.Last Tuesday at the festival, filmmaker and scholar Ayanna…

Oct 9, 2026

Critics Academy x NYFF Shorts #2

For the last two weeks, we've handed over The Film Comment Podcast to the participants of the 2026 Film at Lincoln Center Critics Academy—an annual program for up-and-coming critics held during the New York Film Festival, led by Film Comment editors.

Sep 29, 2026

Critics Academy x NYFF Shorts #1

This week and next, we're handing over The Film Comment Podcast to the participants of the 2026 Film at Lincoln Center Critics Academy—an annual program for up-and-coming critics held during the New York Film Festival, led by Film Comment editors.

Sep 25, 2026

Venice 2026 #6, with Mariona Borrull, Leonardo Goi, Luke Hicks, and Öykü Sofuoğlu

For the past two weeks, Film Comment has been reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido di Venezia, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.For our final Podcast from this year's edition, which wrapped over the weekend, Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish invited critics…

Sep 14, 2026

Venice 2026 #5, with Jordan Cronk and Öykü Sofuoğlu

This week, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido di Venezia, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 11, 2026

Venice 2026 #4, with Eva Sangiorgi and Paola Casell

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido di Venezia, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 10, 2026

Venice 2026 #3, with Jonathan Romney and Tim Grierson

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 9, 2026

Venice 2026 #2, with Bilge Ebiri and Guy Lodge

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 8, 2026

Venice 2026 #1, with Miriam Bale and Öykü Sofuoğlu

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 6, 2026

Jane Schoenbrun on Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Jane Schoenbrun’s third narrative feature, opens in theaters tomorrow.

Aug 6, 2026

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, with Genevieve Yue and Inney Prakash

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, and more, is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated films of the year.

Jul 24, 2026

Karlovy Vary #3, with Robert Daniels and Guy Lodge

This week, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute is in the Czech Republic, reporting on the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Jul 11, 2026

Karlovy Vary 2026 #2, with Robert Daniels

This week, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute is in the Czech Republic, reporting on the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Jul 9, 2026

Karlovy Vary 2026 #1, with Pavel Sladký and Irena Kovarova

This week, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute is in the Czech Republic, reporting on the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Jul 7, 2026

John Early on Maddie’s Secret

Listeners might know John Early as a very funny comedian and actor—but last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, John debuted a new role: an auteur.

Jun 17, 2026

Cannes 2026 #9: Breaking Borders at Cannes Docs

On May 15, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish moderated a panel at Cannes Docs, an industry sidebar dedicated to nonfiction filmmaking.

Jun 2, 2026

Cannes 2026 #8, with Justin Chang, Tim Grierson, and Jessica Kiang

Cannes 2026 wrapped this past weekend, but the Film Comment crew has not slowed down one bit as we continue to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.For our final Podcast from the Croisette, FC Editor Devika Girish gathered three…

May 26, 2026

Cannes 2026 #7, with Thomas Flew and Neta Alexander

Cannes 2026 is nearing its close, but the Film Comment crew has not slowed down one bit as we continue to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 23, 2026

Cannes 2026 #6, with Isabel Stevens and Neta Alexander

Cannes 2026 is in full swing and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, cutting through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 20, 2026

Cannes 2026 #5, with Jordan Cronk, Adam Piron, and Ruun Nuur

Cannes 2026 is in full swing, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 19, 2026

Cannes 2026 #4, with Öykü Sofuoğlu and Inney Prakash

Cannes 2026 is in full swing, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 18, 2026

Cannes 2026 #3, with Robert Daniels and Inney Prakash

Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 16, 2026

Cannes 2026 #2, with Katie McCabe and Alison Willmore

Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 15, 2026

Cannes 2026 #1, with Jonathan Romney and Beatrice Loayza

Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.

May 14, 2026

Boots Riley on I Love Boosters

On this week’s Podcast, Boots Riley joins to discuss his new film, I Love Boosters.

May 4, 2026

In Conversation with George Clooney

Next week, on Monday, April 27, Film at Lincoln Center honors George Clooney with their annual Chaplin Award.

Apr 21, 2026

Melissa Anderson on The Hunger

For more than two decades, Melissa Anderson has been one of New York City’s most important film critics—and one of Film Comment’s favorite writers.

Mar 31, 2026

The Films of Peter Watkins, with J. Hoberman

On October 30 of last year, we lost one of cinema’s most daring auteurs: the British director Peter Watkins.

Mar 24, 2026

Oscars 2026 Preview, with the Los Angeles Review of Books

It’s that time of year again: the Academy Awards are just around the corner.

Mar 12, 2026

Akinola Davies Jr. on My Father’s Shadow

Set in Nigeria in 1993, Akinola Davies Jr.’s elliptical, atmospheric My Father’s Shadow is a portrait of a country on the cusp of a political crisis.

Feb 26, 2026

Ashley Clark on The World of Black Film

Across his contributions to Film Comment and other publications, and his programming as the Curatorial Director of the Criterion Collection, Ashley Clark has established himself as one of the smartest, sharpest taste-makers in the film scene in New York and beyond—particularly through his…

Feb 11, 2026

Sundance 2026 #5, with Bilge Ebiri, Tim Grierson, and Madeline Whittle

It's late January, and the intrepid Film Comment crew has been on the ground reporting from an extra special edition of the Sundance Film Festival—the last to take place on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, the festival's home since 1981, before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027.

Jan 31, 2026

Sundance 2026 #4, with Robert Daniels, Will Tavlin, and Natalia Winkelman

It's late January, and the intrepid Film Comment crew is on the ground reporting from an extra special edition of the Sundance Film Festival—the last to take place on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, the festival's home since 1981, before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027.

Jan 27, 2026

Sundance 2026 #3, with Tim Grierson, Robert Daniels, and Monica Castillo

It's late January, and the intrepid Film Comment crew is on the ground reporting from an extra special edition of the Sundance Film Festival—the last to take place on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, the festival's home since 1981, before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027.

Jan 26, 2026

Sundance 2026 #2, with Madeline Whittle and Will Tavlin

It's late January, and the intrepid Film Comment crew is on the ground reporting from an extra special edition of the Sundance Film Festival—the last to take place on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, the festival's home since 1981, before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027.

Jan 25, 2026

Sundance 2026 #1, with Madeline Whittle, Robert Daniels, and Will Tavlin

It's late January, and the intrepid Film Comment crew is on the ground reporting from an extra special edition of the Sundance Film Festival—the last to take place on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, the festival's home since 1981, before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027.

Jan 24, 2026

New Year, New Releases, with Beatrice Loayza and Mark Asch

Every January, as we ring in the new year, we take a moment to take a look at some of the major new releases of the holiday season.

Jan 13, 2026

The Best Films of 2025, with Amy Taubin and Bilge Ebiri

On December 11, 2025, as part our annual winter list extravaganza, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute were joined by esteemed critics Amy Taubin and Bilge Ebiri for a real-time countdown of the films topping our year-end critics’ poll.

Dec 12, 2025

Kleber Mendonça Filho on The Secret Agent

This week’s Podcast features an in-depth interview with Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, whose latest feature, The Secret Agent, is in select theaters now.

Nov 25, 2025

Noah Baumbach on Jay Kelly

This week, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute sit down with writer-director Noah Baumbach, whose new feature, Jay Kelly, is in select theaters now.

Nov 18, 2025

Tokyo International Film Festival #3, with Aiko Masubuchi

Last week, Devika returned from the Tokyo International Film Festival, which ran from October 27 to November 5 in the Japanese capital.

Nov 14, 2025

Tokyo International Film Festival #2, with Kambole Campbell and Sasha Han

Last week, Devika returned from the Tokyo International Film Festival, which ran from October 27 to November 5 in the Japanese capital.

Nov 14, 2025

Tokyo International Film Festival #1, with Vadim Rizov and Kong Rithdee

Last week, Devika returned from the Tokyo International Film Festival, which ran from October 27 to November 5 in the Japanese capital.

Nov 14, 2025

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, with Miriam Bale and Adam Piron

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another has been the talk of the town since its wide release last month—from critics to filmmakers to audiences, the reception has been nothing short of euphoric.

Oct 24, 2025

NYFF63 Festival Report, with Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman, and Beatrice Loayza

As the 63rd New York Film Festival drew to a close last weekend, it was once again time for Film Comment’s Festival Report, our annual live overview of the NYFF that was.

Oct 17, 2025

Gianfranco Rosi on Below the Clouds

One of the highlights of this year’s New York Film Festival is the latest feature by the nonfiction master Gianfranco Rosi, known for documentaries like Sacro GRA (2013), Fire at Sea (2016), and Notturno (2020), which paint both lyrical and urgent portraits of places that function as…

Oct 7, 2025

Stealing Time, with Kelly Reichardt, Kent Jones, and Lucio Castro

Three films in this year’s NYFF lineup explore the intersections of quotidian life and the arts, following artists whose efforts to make time and space for their creative passions are thwarted or frustrated by the grind of the everyday.

Oct 2, 2025

Spinal Tap on Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

“That’s the majesty of rock / The mystery of roll / The darning of the sock / The scoring of the goal / The farmer takes a wife / The barber takes a pole / We’re in this together…and ever.” These lyrics ring as true today as they did back in 1992, when Spinal Tap penned them for their song “The…

Sep 11, 2025

Venice 2025 #6, with Guy Lodge and and Öykü Sofuoğlu

This week, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 5, 2025

Venice 2025 #5, with Savina Petkova and Jordan Mintzer

This week, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 4, 2025

Venice #4, with Bilge Ebiri and Jonathan Romney

This week Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 3, 2025

Venice #3, with Joseph Fahim and Öykü Sofuoğlu

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Sep 1, 2025

Venice 2025 #2, with Tim Grierson and Katie McCabe

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.

Aug 30, 2025

Venice 2025 #1, with Jonathan Romney and Jordan Cronk

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year, and this year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more.

Aug 29, 2025

Locarno 2025, with Inney Prakash and Cici Peng

The Locarno Film Festival takes place every August in the Swiss town of Locarno, at the base of the Alps, with a robust mix of new discoveries, repertory selections, and premieres of films by major auteurs.

Aug 22, 2025

Alexandre Koberidze and Miguel Gomes at Locarno 2025

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish moderated a conversation between the filmmakers Miguel Gomes and Alexandre Koberidze.

Aug 19, 2025

Summer Rep Report, with Gina Telaroli, Benjamin Crais, and Michael Blair

Today’s episode is an entry in our regular Rep Report series, where we survey the best and most interesting offerings at repertory theaters in New York City.

Jul 30, 2025

Cinema of the Rice Cooker, with Phoebe Chen, Bedatri Datta Choudhury, and Joseph Hernandez

From July 4 to July 8, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish presented a series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music called Let Them Cook: Cinema of the Rice Cooker, which spotlit movies where the humble household appliance takes on a poetics and pragmatism uniquely suited to the screen.

Jul 15, 2025

Summer New Releases, with Alana Pockros and Adam Nayman

It’s officially summertime, and with the AC blasting in multiplexes around the globe, Film Comment Editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish invited two fellow respite seekers, critics Alana Pockros and Adam Nayman, to chat about some of the buzziest new releases in circulation.

Jul 3, 2025

GriGris, with Malcolm Harris and Anselm Kizza-Besigye

Earlier this month, Film Comment hosted the author Malcolm Harris for a special event celebrating the launch of his latest book, What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis—an invigorating analysis of climate change and the collective solutions required to rescue humanity from it.

Jun 25, 2025

Familiar Touch, with Kathleen Chalfant and Molly Haskell

One of our favorite movies of 2025 so far is Sarah Friedland's debut feature Familiar Touch, which opens in theaters in New York on Friday, June 20.

Jun 18, 2025

Cannes 2025 #10, with Eduardo Williams, Brett Story, and Zoya Laktionova

For the last two weeks, our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been reporting from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

Jun 4, 2025

Cannes 2025 #9, with Justin Chang, Tim Grierson, and Alison Willmore

Cannes 2025 is wrapping up this weekend—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 25, 2025

Cannes 2025 #8, with Beatrice Loayza, Giovanni Marchini Camia, and Abby Sun

Cannes 2025 has arrived—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 23, 2025

Cannes 2025 #7, with Kong Rithdee and Inney Prakash

Cannes 2025 is in full swing—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 22, 2025

Cannes 2025 #6, with Miriam Bale, Robert Daniels, and Jessica Kiang

Cannes 2025 has arrived—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 21, 2025

Cannes 2025 #5, with Kong Rithdee and Neta Alexander

Cannes 2025 has arrived—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 20, 2025

Cannes 2025 #4, with Mark Asch, Kong Rithdee, and Isabel Stevens

Cannes 2025 has arrived—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 19, 2025

Cannes 2025 #3, with Mark Asch and Beatrice Loayza

Cannes 2025 has arrived—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 17, 2025

Cannes 2025 #2, with Isabel Stevens and Thomas Flew

Cannes 2025 has arrived—and you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 16, 2025

Cannes 2025 #1, with Jonathan Romney and Guy Lodge

Cannes 2025 has at last arrived—and while news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood your feed, you can count on our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors to cut through the noise with thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and Podcasts.

May 15, 2025

A Conversation with Tom Gunning

Legendary American scholar and critic Tom Gunning has changed the way we think about film history and the future of the medium, profoundly influencing generations of academics, artists, and cinephiles.

May 2, 2025

New Releases, with Robert Daniels and Michael Blair

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a singularly ambitious horror film set in 1930s Mississippi, is currently setting theaters ablaze (in an array of formats and aspect ratios to boot).

Apr 29, 2025

David Cronenberg on The Shrouds

A new film by David Cronenberg is always a major event for all of us at Film Comment, especially after his 2022 opus Crimes of the Future was voted the Best Film of the Year by our contributors.

Apr 15, 2025

New Directors/New Films 2025, with Mark Asch and Natalia Keogan

Spring is finally in the air, and, for New York City cinephiles, that means it’s time for another edition of New Directors/New Films, the annual showcase for standout works by emerging filmmakers co-hosted by Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.

Mar 30, 2025

New Releases, with Tim Grierson

Today’s episode marks another entry in our New Releases series, where we dig into the latest titles opening in theaters and offer recommendations on what’s worth seeking out and what’s better left skipped.

Mar 8, 2025

Oscars 2025 Preview with The Los Angeles Review of Books

The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2, bringing a strange and wonderful year in cinema—and an awards race filled with surprises and scandals—to an end.

Feb 26, 2025

The Frederick Wiseman Potluck, with Andrew Katzenstein, Genevieve Yue, and Michael Blair

On January 31, Film at Lincoln Center opened a landmark new retrospective titled Frederick Wiseman: An American Institution.

Feb 23, 2025

You’re Projecting – Valentine’s Day Edition, with Matthew Rankin and Haley Mlotek

When it comes to love and desire, the movies have always had a powerful sway: as a mirror, as a site of fantasy, and as a perfect backdrop for date night.

Feb 14, 2025

Afro-Asian Film Festival at IFFR, with Bunga Siagian, Yuki Aditya, Cici Peng, and Inney Prakash

The International Film Festival of Rotterdam, which ran from January 30 through February 9 this year, is a festival with a uniquely wide-ranging and eclectic program of new and repertory films; narrative, documentary, and experimental work; and installations, performances, and expanded cinema.

Feb 12, 2025

True Crime at Sundance 2025, with Charlie Shackleton, David Osit, and Geeta Gandhbir

Real-life stories of grisly crimes have always had a primal pull on our collective imagination.

Feb 4, 2025

Sundance 2025 #4: Isabelle Huppert on LUZ

The great French actress Isabelle Huppert is a mainstay at many international festivals, but seeing her grace the screens at Sundance in Park City, Utah was a uniquely pleasant surprise.

Jan 28, 2025

Sundance 2025 #3, with Lovia Gyarkye, Alana Pockros, and Lisa Wong Macabasco

It’s late January, which means that the intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 27, 2025

Sundance 2025 #5, with Vadim Rizov and Ruun Nuur

It’s late January, which means that the intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 26, 2025

Sundance 2025 #2, with Robert Daniels and Tim Grierson

It’s late January, which means that the intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 26, 2025

Sundance 2025 #1, with Maddie Whittle, Ruun Nuur, and Vadim Rizov

It’s late January, which means that the intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the snowy slopes of Park City, Utah, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 25, 2025

Robert Eggers on Nosferatu

Nosferatu, the new film by Robert Eggers, has been the talk of the movie-town since its release on Christmas Day.

Jan 15, 2025

Mike Leigh on Hard Truths

A new film from Mike Leigh is always a cause for celebration.

Jan 14, 2025

New Year, New Releases, with Lovia Gyarkye and Michael Blair

Two enigmatic icons with enduring holds on the Western imagination are currently lighting up multiplex screens: fearsome Transylvanian vampire Dracula and Nobel Prize–winning American treasure Bob Dylan.

Jan 8, 2025

The Best Films of 2024, with Molly Haskell and Michael Koresky

On December 12, 2024, as part our annual winter list extravaganza, Film Comment Editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish led a panel of special guests—Molly Haskell (critic, author), and Michael Koresky (critic, founding editor of Reverse Shot)—for a live real-time countdown of the films topping our…

Dec 13, 2024

Holiday New Releases, with Robert Daniels and Beatrice Loayza

Sleepily emerging from the turkey-induced haze of Thanksgiving break and looking ahead to the barrage of Best of 2024 lists, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute invited critics Robert Daniels and Beatrice Loayza to discuss some of the most highly-anticipated Hollywood blockbusters…

Dec 3, 2024

Julianne Moore on The Room Next Door

During the 2024 New York Film Festival, Film Comment’s Devika Girish had the chance to chat with Julianne Moore, one of the great American actresses of the last three decades and more.

Nov 18, 2024

Payal Kapadia and Miguel Gomes

When Payal Kapadia won a historic Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her second feature, All We Imagine as Light (the first Indian film to play in competition at Cannes in 30 years), she paid homage to another Cannes prizewinner whose work has deeply influenced her: Miguel Gomes…

Nov 12, 2024

The Films of Robert Kramer, with Erika Balsom and Benjamin Crais

The films of Robert Kramer blend fiction and documentary modes to engage with, and expand on, traditions of militant political cinema and subjective essay filmmaking.

Nov 5, 2024

NYFF62 Festival Report, with Bilge Ebiri and Lovia Gyarkye

As the 62nd New York Film Festival drew to a close last weekend, it was once again time for Film Comment’s Festival Report, our annual live overview of the NYFF that was.

Oct 16, 2024

Collective Protagonists, with Brett Story, Stephen Maing, John Hanson, and Rob Nilsson

Two films in this year’s New York Film Festival lineup grapple beautifully with the challenge of narrating stories of collective movements without giving in to the allure of the heroic individual protagonist.

Oct 9, 2024

The Films of Christopher Harris

The films of Christopher Harris are haunting and cerebral in equal measure—blending the sensorial power of analog avant-garde cinema with a thoroughly researched and deeply felt engagement with African-American history.

Sep 25, 2024

Toronto 2024 #4, with David Schwartz, Saffron Maeve, and Robert Daniels

This week, Film Comment is on the ground at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which began on September 5 and runs through September 15.

Sep 12, 2024

Toronto 2024 #3, with Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza

This week, Film Comment is on the ground at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which began on September 5 and runs through September 15.

Sep 11, 2024

Toronto 2024 #2, with Madeline Whittle and Mark Asch

This week, Film Comment is on the ground at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which began on September 5 and runs through September 15.

Sep 10, 2024

Toronto 2024 #1, with Mark Asch and David Schwartz

This week, Film Comment is on the ground at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which began on September 5 and runs through September 15.

Sep 9, 2024

The Rebel's Cinema—Frantz Fanon on Screen #4, with Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich

Last April, Film Comment invited writer Adam Shatz on the Podcast to talk about The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, his new biography of the Martinican writer, psychiatrist, and anti-colonial revolutionary.

Sep 7, 2024

The Rebel's Cinema—Frantz Fanon on Screen #3, with Cheryl Rivera and Clifford Thompson

Last April, Film Comment invited writer Adam Shatz on the Podcast to talk about The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, his new biography of the Martinican writer, psychiatrist, and anti-colonial revolutionary.

Sep 6, 2024

The Rebel's Cinema—Frantz Fanon on Screen #2, with Kazembe Balagun and Brent Hayes Edwards

Last April, Film Comment invited writer Adam Shatz on the Podcast to talk about The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, his new biography of the Martinican writer, psychiatrist, and anti-colonial revolutionary.

Sep 5, 2024

The Rebel's Cinema—Frantz Fanon on Screen #1, with Blair McClendon and Adam Shatz

Last April, Film Comment invited writer Adam Shatz on the Podcast to talk about The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, his new biography of the Martinican writer, psychiatrist, and anti-colonial revolutionary.

Sep 4, 2024

Digital Migrations, with Suneil Sanzgiri and Greg de Cuir Jr.

As part of this year's Locarno Film Festival, scholars at the Università della Svizzera italiana organized a conference called Cinema Audiovisual Futures, with a series of panels and workshops exploring cinema's importance in constructing a new and alternative futures.

Aug 27, 2024

Locarno 2024, with Inney Prakash and Cici Peng

The Locarno Film Festival takes place every August in the Swiss town of Locarno, at the base of the Alps, with a robust mix of discovery titles, repertory selections, and premieres of films by major auteurs.

Aug 23, 2024

Summer Rep Report #3, with Rockaway Film Festival's Sam Fleischner and Courtney Muller

For the third and final installment of our Summer Rep Report series, Sam Fleischner and Courtney Muller, the founding programmers of the Rockaway Film Festival, join Film Comment editor Devika Girish to discuss this year’s edition, which runs from August 17 to 25.

Aug 13, 2024

Summer Rep Report #2, with Jessica Green

For Part 2 of our Summer Rep Report, film programmer Jessica Green joins to discuss Passing You By: Impostorism on Film, a new series she’s programmed titled at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Aug 9, 2024

Summer Rep Report #1, with Jed Rapfogel of Anthology Film Archives

Early August is usually something of a lull in the film calendar, but this year, at least in New York City, it’s proved to be a goldmine—particularly for repertory programming.

Aug 8, 2024

Jonathan Rosenbaum on his new book, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities

The guest on this week’s episode will need little introduction to anyone who reads film criticism or follows film culture.

Jul 30, 2024

Making Movies in Prison, with Rahsaan Thomas and Thanh Tran

In April, Film Comment published an article by Phillip Vance Smith II, titled “Streaming Behind Bars.” Phillip is an incarcerated writer, and his piece delves into the ways in which people in prison watch movies—the technology they’re able to use, the programming they can access, and the exorbitant…

Jul 16, 2024

Children’s Cinema, with Isabel Stevens and Rai and Genevieve Yue and Harriet

In a recent essay, critic Isabel Stevens writes: “There is much discussion of childishness—popular cinema is often described as ‘infantilized’—but how often do we consider what children want and need from films, and what they are watching and where (outside the usual narrow, artificial…

Jul 10, 2024

Flaherty Film Seminar 2024

The Flaherty Film Seminar is one of the nonfiction film world’s most interesting events.

Jul 3, 2024

Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay on the Trans Film Image

In April 2021, Film Comment published a Trans Cinema Roundtable Podcast, in which two trans film critics and two trans filmmakers answered questions submitted by listeners on what constitutes a cinema of transness.

Jun 25, 2024

Richard Linklater on Hit Man

Critics have been buzzing about Richard Linklater’s Hit Man since it premiered at festivals last year.

Jun 18, 2024

Cannes 2024 #10, with Kiyoko McCrae, Adam Piron, Alemberg Ang, and Viv Li

For the last two weeks, our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been reporting from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 28, 2024

Cannes 2024 #9, with Justin Chang and Dennis Lim

Cannes 2024 is in wrapping up this weekend—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 24, 2024

Cannes 2024 #8, with Beatrice Loayza, Giovanni Marchini Camia, and Caitlin Quinlan

Cannes 2024 is in full swing—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 23, 2024

Cannes 2024 #7, with Guy Lodge and Adam Piron

Cannes 2024 is in full swing—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 22, 2024

Cannes 2024 #6, with Robert Daniels, Miriam Bale, and Mark Asch

Cannes 2024 is in full swing—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 21, 2024

Cannes 2024 #5, with Kevin B. Lee, Abby Sun, and Vadim Rizov

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 19, 2024

Cannes 2024 #4: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson on Rumours

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 18, 2024

Cannes 2024 #3, with Jessica Kiang and Kelli Weston

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 17, 2024

Cannes 2024 #2, with Bilge Ebiri and Jonathan Romney

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 16, 2024

Cannes 2024 #1, with Beatrice Loayza and Isabel Stevens

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts.

May 15, 2024

Writing About Avant-Garde Cinema, with Ayanna Dozier, Amy Taubin, and Genevieve Yue

Avant-garde cinema emerged in direct conversation with the film criticism that contextualized, championed, and critiqued it.

May 14, 2024

Jeff Bridges Makes a Decision

Every year, Film at Lincoln Center honors a luminary of the film industry with the Chaplin Award.

Apr 26, 2024

Tribute to Navroze Contractor, with Deepa Dhanraj

From the early ’70s onwards, Indian cinematographer Navroze Contractor—who passed away last year at age 80—blazed a trail of radical image-making.

Apr 24, 2024

Adam Shatz on Frantz Fanon in Cinema

In his new book The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, Adam Shatz writes that, “The American poet Amiri Baraka described James Baldwin, who was born a year before Fanon, as ‘God’s Black revolutionary mouth.’ What Baldwin was for America, Fanon was for the world, especially the…

Apr 16, 2024

Christine Smallwood on Chantal Akerman’s La Captive

Christine Smallwood’s new book on Chantal Akerman’s Proust adaptation, La Captive, is, among many things, a meditation on the act of criticism.

Apr 9, 2024

Bertrand Bonello on The Beast

Last fall, director Bertrand Bonello’s latest, The Beast, was a thrilling highlight of the festival circuit.

Apr 2, 2024

New Directors/New Films 2024, with Vadim Rizov and Alissa Wilkinson

Every spring the New Directors/New Films festival at Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA puts on an exciting showcase of movies by the best emerging filmmakers around the world.

Mar 26, 2024

The Films of Med Hondo, with Aboubakar Sanogo

In our May-June 2020 issue, the scholar Aboubakar Sanogo wrote of Med Hondo, the late, great Mauritanian-French filmmaker: “For Hondo, decolonization and independence were not simply a matter of regime change from colonial to postcolonial, but rather a radical geopolitical and avant-gardist project.

Mar 20, 2024

Oscars Preview with The Los Angeles Review of Books

It’s once again that time of year: that’s right, the Academy Awards are just around the corner.

Mar 5, 2024

Berlinale 2024 #6, with Jordan Cronk, Giovanni Marchini Camia, and Beatrice Loayza

The 2024 Berlinale wrapped up on Sunday, February 25, after a fortnight of buzzy premieres and fraught political controversies.

Feb 27, 2024

Berlinale 2024 #5, with Ela Bittencourt and Frédéric Jaeger

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2024 Berlinale kicked off on February 15.

Feb 22, 2024

Berlinale 2024 #4, with Jonathan Ali, Frédéric Jaeger, and Antoine Thirion + Christine Vachon

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2024 Berlinale kicked off on February 15.

Feb 21, 2024

Berlinale 2024 #3, with Olivier Assayas on Suspended Time

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2024 Berlinale kicked off on February 15.

Feb 19, 2024

Berlinale 2024 #2, with Erika Balsom, Beatrice Loayza, and Giovanni Marchini Camia

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2024 Berlinale kicked off on February 15.

Feb 18, 2024

Berlinale 2024 #1, with Jordan Cronk, Jessica Kiang, and Jonathan Romney

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2024 Berlinale kicked off on February 15.

Feb 17, 2024

The Films of Ilkka Järvi-Laturi, with Steve Macfarlane and Hannu Björkbacka

The Finnish filmmaker Ilkka Järvi-Laturi, subject of an ongoing retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, made only three features in his life, each of which is maverick in its own right.

Feb 13, 2024

IFFR 2024, with Beatrice Loayza and Jordan Cronk

Last week, FC Editor Devika Girish attended the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)—a Dutch festival that, since its inception in 1972, has become known for showcasing independent and experimental cinema by both emerging and established filmmakers.

Feb 7, 2024

Sundance 2024 #5, with Monica Castillo, Robert Daniels, and Vadim Rizov

It’s January, which means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2024 edition.

Jan 24, 2024

Sundance 2024 #4, with Justin Chang, Vadim Rizov, and Madeline Whittle

It’s January, which means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2024 edition.

Jan 23, 2024

Sundance 2024 #3, with Vadim Rizov, Abby Sun, and Madeline Whittle

It’s January, which means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2024 edition.

Jan 22, 2024

Sundance 2024 #2 with Guy Lodge, Robert Daniels, and Madeline Whittle

It’s January, which means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2024 edition.

Jan 21, 2024

Sundance 2024 #1, with Lovia Gyarkye and Guy Lodge

It’s January, which means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches, interviews, and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2024 edition.

Jan 20, 2024

Nancy Savoca and Vincent D’Onofrio on Household Saints

More than thirty years ago, director Nancy Savoca premiered what the New York Times described as a “miracle” of a film.

Jan 16, 2024

New Year, New Releases, with Alissa Wilkinson and Robert Daniels

Every January, Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute like to take stock of holiday multiplex offerings with an episode they call "New Year, New Releases." For the 2024 edition, they invited FC podcast veteran Alissa Wilkinson, staff critic at the New York Times, and first-time guest…

Jan 9, 2024

The Best Films Of 2023, with Bilge Ebiri and Amy Taubin

Last night, Film Comment Editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish headed a panel of special guests—Bilge Ebiri (critic, Vulture), and Amy Taubin (critic and FC contributing editor)—for a real-time countdown of the films topping our year-end critics’ poll.

Dec 15, 2023

Stanley Schtinter and Erika Balsom on Last Movies

In the epigraph to his new book, writer-slash-film programmer-slash-performance artist Stanley Schtinter succinctly describes his project: “Last Movies is a dedication to the absence of choice, to chance.

Dec 5, 2023

Paul B. Preciado on Orlando, My Political Biography

This year’s Berlinale saw the filmmaking debut of acclaimed philosopher Paul B.

Nov 28, 2023

Mumbai Film Festival, with Inney Prakash

After a three-year hiatus induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival returned this year with a new curatorial team and a robust lineup of independent and art-house work from all over South Asia and beyond.

Nov 27, 2023

Lisa Cortés on Little Richard: I Am Everything

Midway through the new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything, actor and singer Billy Porter says something that distills one of the film’s major themes: “In the face of insurmountable challenges, sometimes simply existing is a revolutionary act.” The film, directed by the multi-hyphenate…

Nov 15, 2023

Halloween Hangover 2023, with Clyde Folley and Nicholas Russell

It’s once again that time of year when ghosts, ghouls, and goblins are on the prowl.

Oct 31, 2023

NYFF61 Festival Report, with Molly Haskell, Adam Nayman, and Kelli Weston

The 61st New York Film Festival closed up shop last weekend, which means that it was once again time for Film Comment’s Festival Report, our annual live overview of the NYFF that was.

Oct 17, 2023

Trust Issues at NYFF61, with Jason Fox, Rosine Mbakam, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Frederick Wiseman

“Every film is a documentary of its own making,” Jacques Rivette famously said, pointing to the mix of fabrication and truth that lies at the heart of every movie.

Oct 12, 2023

From the Picket Line, with WGA East and SAG-AFTRA

As this year’s historic strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have shaken up the entertainment industry and film festivals, they’ve brought to the forefront a truth sometimes elided by cinema’s glamorous facade: that…

Oct 9, 2023

The Fictions of Race, with RaMell Ross, Milisuthando Bongela, and Jason Fox

“To be Black is the greatest fiction of my life. Yet I’m still bound to its myth.” The filmmaker and photographer RaMell Ross shares this excerpt from an artist statement in a conversation with Jason Fox, the editor of nonfiction journal World Records, in a new audio series called Trust Issues.

Sep 19, 2023

Toronto 2023 #4, with Lovia Gyarkye and Alex Barasch

We’re reporting this week from one of the major film events of the fall: the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 7 to 17.

Sep 13, 2023

Toronto 2023 #3, with Saffron Maeve and Adam Nayman

We’re reporting this week from one of the major film events of the fall: the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 7 to 17.

Sep 12, 2023

Toronto 2023 #2, with Chloe Lizotte and Adam Nayman

We’re reporting this week from one of the major film events of the fall: the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 7 to 17.

Sep 11, 2023

Toronto 2023 #1, with Mark Asch and Madeline Whittle

We’re reporting this week from one of the major film events of the fall: the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 7 to 17.

Sep 10, 2023

Labor Day on 16mm, with Elena Rossi-Snook and Brett Story

Film Comment just happens to be next-door neighbors with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, whose film and video collection is filled with treasures.

Sep 7, 2023

The Future of Intelligence, Part 2, with Kevin B. Lee and Andrea Rizzoli

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, Film Comment participated in a fascinating experimental event called “A Long Night of Dreaming about the Future of Intelligence.” Curated by Rafael Dernbach in collaboration with the Università della Svizzera italiana and Locarno Film Festival…

Aug 22, 2023

The Future of Intelligence, Part 1, with Shane Denson

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, Film Comment participated in a fascinating experimental event called “A Long Night of Dreaming about the Future of Intelligence.” Curated by Rafael Dernbach, a researcher at the Università della Svizzera italiana, the event began at sunset on…

Aug 17, 2023

Steve James on A Compassionate Spy

Over the course of his storied career, filmmaker Steve James has delved into the many ways in which individuals—frequently residents of his native Chicago—are subject to the whims of history, society, and life itself.

Aug 8, 2023

Franz Rogowski on Passages

If you’re a follower of contemporary world cinema, chances are, you’re a fan of Franz Rogowski.

Aug 1, 2023

Oppenheimer, with Mark Asch and Madeline Whittle

Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Oppenheimer, a biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the key leaders of the Manhattan Project, has sold out movie theaters all over the country.

Jul 25, 2023

The Most Significant Political Films of All Time, with J. Hoberman

Last February, the magazine The New Republic invited a host of film critics to participate in a new poll, curated by esteemed critic and longtime Film Comment contributor J.

Jul 4, 2023

Boots Riley on I'm a Virgo

Musician, filmmaker, and wearer of (many) hats Boots Riley has a new series streaming on Amazon Prime Video, called I’m a Virgo.

Jun 27, 2023

The Art of Script Collecting, with Robert M. Rubin and Erin McGuirl

This week, we take a peek into the world of Robert M. Rubin, a New York–based collector of film scripts.

Jun 21, 2023

In Conversation with Trinh T. Minh-ha

You may know Trinh T. Minh-ha from her groundbreaking films, like Reassemblage (1982) and Sur Name Viet Given Name Nam (1989); from her foundational books, like Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality on Feminism (1989) and When the Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender and Cultural Politics…

Jun 7, 2023

Cannes 2023 #9, with Justin Chang, Dennis Lim, and Rachel Rosen

If you've been following the podcast and the Film Comment Letter, you'll know that for the last two weeks, we've been reporting from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

May 30, 2023

Cannes 2023 #8, with Caitlin Doherty, Frédéric Jaeger, and James Wham

Cannes 2023 has wrapped—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 28, 2023

Cannes 2023 #7, with Mark Asch, Miriam Bale, and Kevin B. Lee

Cannes 2023 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 25, 2023

Cannes 2023 #6: Todd Haynes on May December

Cannes 2023 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 24, 2023

Cannes 2023 #5, with Lovia Gyarkye, Abby Sun, and Kelli Weston

Cannes 2023 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 23, 2023

Cannes 2023 #4, with Jonathan Romney and Giovanni Marchini Camia

Cannes 2023 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 22, 2023

Cannes 2023 #3: Steve McQueen on Occupied City

On today’s episode, FC co-deputy editor Devika Girish sits down with Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen, whose new documentary Occupied City was one of the early standouts at the festival.

May 20, 2023

Cannes 2023 #2, with Beatrice Loayza, Inney Prakash, and James Wham

Cannes 2023 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 19, 2023

Cannes 2023 #1, with Jordan Cronk and Jessica Kiang

Cannes 2023 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 17, 2023

Remembering Safi Faye

The 30th edition of the New York African Film Festival runs May 10 to 16 at Film at Lincoln Center, with a showcase that spans the historic past and the vital present of cinema from Africa.

May 9, 2023

Silicon Valley Movies, with Malcolm Harris

Writer Malcolm Harris has a new book out called Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World.

Apr 25, 2023

In Conversation with Viola Davis

This week we’re celebrating the recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s 48th Chaplin Award, one of America’s preeminent actresses: Viola Davis, who has dazzled us for over three decades on the stage and the screen, and whose life story is as inspirational as her craft.

Apr 21, 2023

Peter Greenaway on Drowning by Numbers

The last few years have seen several new restorations of the films of Peter Greenaway, the British director known for classics like The Draughtsman’s Contract and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.

Apr 11, 2023

Kelly Reichardt on Showing Up

Kelly Reichardt’s latest feature, Showing Up, is a delicate, witty, yet deeply profound film about the messy ways in which living and surviving can get in the way of art-making.

Apr 4, 2023

New Directors/New Films 2023, with Beatrice Loayza and Vadim Rizov

Every spring the New Directors/New Films festival at Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA puts on an exciting showcase of movies by the best emerging filmmakers around the world.

Mar 28, 2023

Louis Garrel on The Innocent and The Plough

This year’s Rendezvous with French Cinema festival (March 2-12), Film at Lincoln Center’s annual showcase of contemporary French filmmaking, was something of a Louis Garrel convention—the French actor and director appeared in three movies in the lineup.

Mar 14, 2023

The Politics of the Personal, with Milithusando Bongela, Burak Çevik, & Jonathan Ali

Last weekend, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish was at the True/False Film Festival: an annual documentary festival in Columbia, Missouri that has, over the years, become an exciting site to discover the latest developments in nonfiction cinema.

Mar 7, 2023

Berlinale 2023 #6, with Frédéric Jaeger, Giovanni Marchini Camia, and Victor Guimarães

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently winding down.

Feb 24, 2023

Berlinale 2023 #5, with Edo Choi, Inney Prakash, and Caitlin Quinlan

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently underway.

Feb 22, 2023

Michael Cera and Dustin Guy Defa on The Adults

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently underway.

Feb 21, 2023

Berlinale 2023 #3, with Antoine Thirion and Jean-Michel Frodon

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently underway.

Feb 20, 2023

Berlinale 2023 #2, with Ela Bittencourt and Jonathan Ali

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently underway.

Feb 19, 2023

Berlinale 2023 #1, with Erika Balsom and B. Ruby Rich

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently underway.

Feb 18, 2023

Cinema of Care, with Claire Denis, Abby Sun, and Marek Hovorka

This week, Film Comment is reporting from Berlin, where the 2023 Berlinale is currently underway.

Feb 17, 2023

Sam Pollard and Samantha N. Sheppard on Bill Russell: Legend

With an award-winning filmography that includes the epochal Civil Rights series Eyes on the Prize, 2020’s MLK/FBI, and 2021’s Citizen Ashe, among many others, documentarian Sam Pollard has changed the way we read history.

Feb 7, 2023

Sundance 2023 #8: New Frontier with Deborah Stratman, Mary Helena Clark, and Mike Gibisser

On our final podcast from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, FC co-editor Devika Girish talks to filmmakers Deborah Stratman, Mary Helena Clark, and Mike Gibisser about their fantastic new films, which premiered in the festival’s New Frontier section.

Jan 31, 2023

Sundance 2023 #7, with Dessane Lopez Cassell, Poulomi Das, and Jessica Kiang

The Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returns to in-person screenings this year, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2023 edition.

Jan 27, 2023

Sundance 2023 #6, with Miriam Bale and Abby Sun

The Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returns to in-person screenings this year, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2023 edition.

Jan 25, 2023

Sundance 2023 #5, with Jessica Kiang and Justin Chang

The Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returns to in-person screenings this year, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2023 edition.

Jan 24, 2023

Sundance 2023 #4, Vadim Rizov and Dan Sullivan

The Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returns to in-person screenings this year, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2023 edition.

Jan 23, 2023

Sundance 2023 #3, with Miriam Bale and Abby Sun

The Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returns to in-person screenings this year, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2023 edition.

Jan 22, 2023

Sundance 2023 #2, with Sam Adams, Kayla Myers, and Alissa Wilkinson

The Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returns to in-person screenings this year, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering all the highlights of the 2023 edition.

Jan 21, 2023

Sundance 2023 #1, with Abby Sun and Alissa Wilkinson

With the Sundance Film Festival triumphantly returning to in-person screenings this year, your intrepid Film Comment crew is once again on the scene in snowy Park City, bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering each day's new highlights and lowlights.

Jan 20, 2023

Indigenous Cinema with Sky Hopinka and Adam Piron

Last week, ThousandSuns Cinema, an online screening initiative by the Media City Film Festival, launched a unique virtual series devoted to Indigenous cinema.

Jan 17, 2023

New Year, New Releases, with Sam Adams and Nicholas Russell

Every January, to ring in the new year, Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute take a look at some of the major new releases of the holiday season.

Jan 10, 2023

Mina Kavani on Jafar Panahi’s No Bears

Happy new year to our listeners, and thanks for joining us for another year of writing and talking about movies.

Jan 4, 2023

The Best Films of 2022

Last night, we sat down with a panel of special guests—Alissa Wilkinson (critic, Vox), Bilge Ebiri (critic, Vulture), and Inney Prakash (curator, Maysles Documentary Center and founder, Prismatic Ground film festival)—for a real-time countdown of the results of our year-end critics’ poll.

Dec 15, 2022

TÁR WÁRS, with Jessica Kiang and Nathan Lee

A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away... Well, actually, just a few weeks ago, right here on the good old internet, our esteemed colleague, The New Yorker’s Richard Brody, tweeted out two simple words: TÁR WARS.

Dec 1, 2022

Pasolini at 100, with Radu Jude and Giovanni Marchini Camia

2022 marks the birth centenary of the great filmmaker, writer, and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Nov 15, 2022

Cop Movies, with Brett Story and Pooja Rangan

This week’s podcast is about one of America’s favorite genres: cop movies.

Nov 8, 2022

Halloween Hangover 2022 with Steven Mears and Kelli Weston

It’s the time of year when ghosts, ghouls, and goblins are on the prowl.

Nov 1, 2022

Lists and the Documentary Canon, with Nick Bradshaw, Emerson Goo, Girish Shambu, and Kelli Weston

The leaves are changing color, and there’s a chill in the air.

Oct 25, 2022

NYFF60 Festival Report, with Phoebe Chen, Molly Haskell, and Kelli Weston

The 60th New York Film Festival closed up shop last weekend, which means that it was once again time for Film Comment’s Festival Report, our annual live overview of the NYFF that was.

Oct 18, 2022

Jerzy Skolimowski on EO

In his Cannes 2022 dispatch, Jonathan Romney wrote “Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO is a flamboyant, visionary work: its execution—including drone shots set to blazing red filters—and wayward, fragmented narrative showed an energy shared by that little else at the festival.

Oct 14, 2022

Film Comment Live: On the Critical Attitude, with Laura Poitras, Elvis Mitchell, and Tiffany Sia

Taking its title from a poem by Bertolt Brecht, this talk explores the role of critique and criticism in the arts and beyond.

Oct 12, 2022

2022 Amos Vogel Lecture by Cauleen Smith

2021 marked the birth centenary of Amos Vogel, the pioneering film programmer, author, and co-founder of the New York Film Festival.

Oct 7, 2022

Remembering Godard, with Richard Brody and Blair McClendon

“Cinema is never on time,” wrote the great critic Serge Daney.

Sep 27, 2022

Toronto 2022 #4, with Adam Nayman, Vadim Rizov, and Beatrice Loayza

As we head into the last weekend of the 2022 Toronto Film Festival, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish welcomes Adam Nayman (critic and certified Toronto native), Vadim Rizov (director of operations at Filmmaker Magazine), and Beatrice Loayza (associate web editor at the Criterion…

Sep 16, 2022

Toronto 2022 #3, with Madeline Whittle and Mark Asch

We’re reporting this week from one of the major film events of the fall: the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 8 to 18.

Sep 15, 2022

Toronto 2022 #2, with Chloe Lizotte, Cristina Nord, and Beatrice Loayza

We’re reporting this week from one of the major film events of the fall: the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 8 to 18.

Sep 14, 2022

Mathieu Amalric & Vicky Krieps on Hold Me Tight

Hold Me Tight, the latest directorial venture from actor and filmmaker Mathieu Amalric, is a riveting, kaleidoscopic entry to the canon of movies about women on the verge.

Sep 13, 2022

Toronto 2022 #1, with Jordan Cronk, Inney Prakash, and Bedatri Choudhury

Once again we’ve arrived at that special time of year known as festival season.

Sep 12, 2022

Fall 2022 Rep Report, with Gina Telaroli, Inney Prakash, and Steve Macfarlane

This week, Clint surveys the wealth of cinematic delights on offer this fall across repertory calendars, both in person in New York City and online.

Sep 6, 2022

The Future of Attention, with Kevin B. Lee

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish participated in a fascinating experimental event called “The Future of Attention”, curated by Rafael Dernbach, a researcher at the Universita della Svizzera italiana.

Sep 1, 2022

The Future of Attention with Hito Steyerl

Welcome to the Film Comment Podcast! I'm Devika Girish, the Co-Deputy Editor of Film Comment.

Aug 30, 2022

The Future of Attention, with Julia Murat

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish participated in a fascinating experimental event called “The Future of Attention”, curated by Rafael Dernbach, a researcher at the Universita della Svizzera italiana.

Aug 25, 2022

The Future of Attention, with Noa Levin and Giovanni Carmine

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish participated in a fascinating experimental event called “The Future of Attention”, curated by Rafael Dernbach, a researcher at the Universita della Svizzera italiana.

Aug 23, 2022

The Future of Attention, with Kamal Aljafari

At this year's Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish participated in a fascinating experimental event called “The Future of Attention”, curated by Rafael Dernbach, a researcher at the Universita della Svizzera italiana.

Aug 19, 2022

The Future of Attention, with Helena Wittmann

At this year's Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish participated in a fascinating experimental event called “The Future of Attention”, curated by Rafael Dernbach, a researcher at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana.

Aug 17, 2022

Irma Vep and The Rehearsal, with Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza

This week's podcast initially began as a sequel to our episode about Irma Vep from a few weeks ago, in which Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza joined us to discuss Olivier Assayas's new HBO series.

Aug 4, 2022

Nathaniel Dorsky & Jerome Hiler on NYC's Underground Cinema

This week we have a special treat for listeners: a conversation with avant-garde filmmaking legends Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler, and programmer and Light Industry co-founder Thomas Beard.

Jul 27, 2022

Restoration and preservation with Ina Archer and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur

In a recent Film Comment Letter interview, Academy Film Archive preservationist Mark Toscano said: “to me, restoration has a variable definition, because it’s not embodying any specific technique or approach.

Jul 19, 2022

Cinematographer Hélène Louvart on Murina and more

This week, Film Comment editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish talk to a cinematographer who’s worked with everyone from Agnès Varda to Wim Wenders to Eliza Hittman to Alice Rohrwacher.

Jul 12, 2022

Movie Gifts with Nathan Lee and Gavin Smith

This week sees another episode of our Movie Gifts podcast. It’s like Secret Santa but for movies—each participant picks a title for another that the recipient hasn’t seen.

Jun 28, 2022

Top Gun and Nationalist Cinema with Blair McClendon and Ed Halter

Today’s podcast is spurred by something Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish wrote in her dispatch from Cannes a few weeks ago: “the undeniable thrills and pleasures of Top Gun: Maverick … are not entirely separable from the American-exceptionalist fervor of its narrative or the military…

Jun 21, 2022

Olivier Assayas's Irma Vep with Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza

Two episodes in, Olivier Assayas’s new, mind-bendingly metatextual HBO series, Irma Vep, has already proven to be catnip for cinephiles.

Jun 14, 2022

Léa Seydoux on Crimes of the Future and One Fine Morning

Léa Seydoux had an enviable and prolific 2021 with standout turns in Cary Fukunaga’s No Time to Die, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Ildikó Enyedi’s The Story of My Wife, Bruno Dumont’s France, and Arnaud Desplechin’s Deception.

May 31, 2022

Cannes 2022 #11 with Dennis Lim, Jean-Michel Frodon, and Antoine Thirion

With Cannes 2022 winding to a close, the last stretch has proved especially rich with standouts.

May 28, 2022

Cannes 2022 #10: Albert Serra and Dennis Lim on Pacifiction

With Cannes 2022 beginning to wind down, the last stretch has proved especially rich with standouts.

May 27, 2022

Cannes 2022 #9 with Jonathan Romney and Jessica Kiang

With Cannes 2022 winding to a close, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film industry’s grandest annual event with the help of our on-the-Croisette crew of contributors.

May 26, 2022

Cannes 2022 #8 with Miriam Bale and Mark Asch

With Cannes 2022 in full swing, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film world’s grandest annual event.

May 25, 2022

Cannes 2022 #7 with Justin Chang

With Cannes 2022 in full swing, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film world’s grandest annual event.

May 24, 2022

Cannes 2022 Industry #2 with Arianna Bocco

With Cannes 2022 kicking off this week, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film industry’s grandest annual event with the help of our on-the-Croisette crew of contributors.

May 23, 2022

Cannes 2022 #5 with Jordan Cronk and Giovanni Marchini Camia

With Cannes 2022 in full swing, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film industry’s grandest annual event with the help of our on-the-Croisette crew of contributors.

May 22, 2022

Cannes 2022 #4 with Inney Prakash and Vadim Rizov

With Cannes 2022 in full swing, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film industry’s grandest annual event with the help of our on-the-Croisette crew of contributors.

May 21, 2022

Cannes 2022 #3 with Jordan Cronk and Jessica Kiang

With Cannes 2022 kicking off this week, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film industry’s grandest annual event with the help of our on-the-Croisette crew of contributors.

May 19, 2022

Cannes 2022 Industry Preview with Eugene Hernandez and Lizzie Francke

With Cannes 2022 kicking off this week, Film Comment is on the ground, reporting on all the cinematic excitement at the film industry’s grandest annual event with the help of our on-the-Croisette crew of contributors.

May 18, 2022

Cannes 2022 Preview with Jonathan Romney and Jessica Kiang

Cannes 2022 is here—and as news of standing ovations and walkouts, throwaway raves and pans, spit takes and hot takes flood the feed, we’ll be reporting on all the cinematic goings-on, with our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors ready to cut through the noise with a series of…

May 17, 2022

The Hong Show with Dennis Lim

Everything you always wanted to know about Hong Sangsoo… but were afraid to ask!

May 10, 2022

Forgotten Filmmakers of the French New Wave & Prismatic Ground

This week's special two-parter episode spotlights a pair of upcoming must-see programs in New York City.

May 3, 2022

Céline Sciamma on Petite Maman

After 2019’s Portrait of a Lady of Fire, we were eagerly awaiting Céline Sciamma’s next feature.

Apr 26, 2022

In Conversation with Cate Blanchett

Every year, Film at Lincoln Center honors a luminary of the film industry with the Chaplin Award.

Apr 25, 2022

Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer on The Wobblies

For this week’s podcast, Film Comment co-deputy editor Clinton Krute sat down with filmmakers Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, the duo behind the 1979 documentary The Wobblies.

Apr 12, 2022

The Art of the Real 2022 with Chris Boeckmann and Leo Goldsmith

We look forward to the Art of the Real festival every year, and 2022 is no exception.

Mar 29, 2022

Cinema and the State with Nadav Lapid and Jamsheed Akrami

With Ahed’s Knee, the rawest, most autobiographical entry in Nadav Lapid’s blistering filmography (The Kindergarten Teacher; Synonyms), the director crafts a stylized and self-lacerating portrait of an Israeli filmmaker railing at the censorship, hypocrisy, and violence of his government.

Mar 22, 2022

Ukrainian Cinema with Anastasiya Osipova and Lukas Brasiskis

The ongoing horrors of war in Ukraine have raised questions for art communities around the world: How can we meaningfully respond to this crisis?

Mar 15, 2022

Points of View, with Reid Davenport and Joe Hunting

A common term in nonfiction filmmaking and criticism, “point of view” connotes a number of different meanings: a perspective on the world, a camera position, an assertion of subjectivity.

Mar 8, 2022

Diary Films with Gina Telaroli and John Klacsmann

The work and legacy of the late Jonas Mekas have been on our minds even more than usual, with a recent retrospective of his films at Film at Lincoln Center and an ongoing exhibit at the Jewish Museum.

Mar 1, 2022

Berlinale 2022 with Jessica Kiang and Edo Choi

Against all odds, the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival returned to cinemas this year after last year’s virtual edition.

Feb 23, 2022

Steven Soderbergh on Kimi

This week, Film Comment co-editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish sit down with Steven Soderbergh, whose latest film, KIMI, premiered on HBO Max last week.

Feb 17, 2022

Sundance 2022 #4 with Abby Sun and Violet Lucca

For the last week and a half, your intrepid Film Comment crew has been watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock from this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival.

Feb 1, 2022

Sundance 2022 #3 with Alissa Wilkinson and Violet Lucca

The Sundance Film Festival is once again in full swing, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew are watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock to bring you coverage of the annual showcase for independent cinema.

Jan 27, 2022

Sundance 2022 #2, with Eugene Hernandez and Kim Yutani

The Sundance Film Festival is once again in full swing, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew are watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock to bring you coverage of the annual showcase for independent cinema.

Jan 26, 2022

Sundance 2022 #1, with Cassie da Costa and Abby Sun

The Sundance Film Festival is once again in full swing, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew are watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock to bring you coverage of the annual showcase for independent cinema.

Jan 25, 2022

Music Documentaries with Geeta Dayal and Ashley Clark

This week's episode is inspired by the recent release of The Beatles: Get Back, Peter Jackson’s eight-hour docuseries about the making of the band’s 1970 album, Let It Be.

Jan 18, 2022

New Year, New Releases with A.S. Hamrah and Simran Hans

With the holidays behind us and a new and exciting year of cinema on the horizon, FC editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute caught up on some major recent releases.

Jan 11, 2022

The Best Films of 2021

Drumroll, please! Film Comment’s highly anticipated Best Films of 2021 list, voted on by nearly a 100 critics and colleagues the world over, is finally out.

Dec 17, 2021

Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tilda Swinton on Memoria

The arrival of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria has been one of the film events of the year.

Dec 9, 2021

The Mind Games of David Fincher, with Kent Jones and Adam Nayman

This week's conversation focuses on David Fincher—a director whose decade-spanning body of gritty Americana—from the grim moral drama of Se7en to the revisionist Hollywood tale of the recent Mank—has inspired reams of divisive analysis A new book by Adam Nayman, David Fincher: Mind Games (out…

Nov 23, 2021

2021 Amos Vogel Lecture by Albert Serra

2021 marks the birth centenary of Amos Vogel, the pioneering film programmer, author, and co-founder of the New York Film Festival.

Nov 11, 2021

Amos Vogel and Subversive Cinema, with Richard Peña, Tom Waibel, and Edo Choi

This year marks the centenary of Amos Vogel, a programmer, writer, and educator very dear to Film Comment—he was one of the founders of the New York Film Festival, and an abiding influence on New York’s film culture with his legendary Cinema 16 film society.

Nov 9, 2021

Halloween Hangover with Violet Lucca and Maddie Whittle

Every year, as Halloween approaches, Film Comment Co-Deputy Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute are forced to confront one of their greatest fears: horror movies.

Nov 3, 2021

Wendell B. Harris on Chameleon Street

This Friday, a new restoration of the 1989 indie classic Chameleon Street opens at BAM.

Oct 21, 2021

NYFF 2021: Silvan Zürcher & Alexandre Koberidze in Conversation

In an NYFF lineup with a record number of new and emerging filmmakers, Alexandre Koberidze’s What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?

Oct 13, 2021

NYFF 2021: The Velvet Underground & the New York Avant-Garde, ft. Todd Haynes, Amy Taubin, & others

Two films in this year’s NYFF lineup take us back to the ‘60s heyday of the New York avant-garde: in the Main Slate, Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground offers a revelatory portrait of the milieu that gave rise to the eponymous band and its boundary-pushing music, while in Revivals, Ed Lachman’s…

Oct 5, 2021

NYFF 2021: Joanna Hogg and Honor Swinton Byrne on The Souvenir Part II

This week we're reporting from the 59th New York Film Festival.

Oct 1, 2021

NYFF 2021: Currents, with Chloe Lizotte and Ela Bittencourt

Established in 2020—and picking up where the late, lamented Projections section left off—Currents is the New York Film Festival's home for films with more offbeat, experimental, or hybrid sensibilities.

Sep 28, 2021

Toronto 2021 with Adam Nayman and José Teodoro

As we enter the thick of fall festival season, it seems that every week brings with it a full slate of amazing new films from all over the world.

Sep 21, 2021

Terence Davies on Benediction and more

This week Film Comment is reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival, both virtually and in-person.

Sep 14, 2021

Spike Lee’s Documentaries with Amy Taubin and Ina Archer

In a 2007 Film Comment essay, Amy Taubin wrote in praise of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, a documentary about the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the communities that bore its brunt.

Sep 9, 2021

Smaller Festivals with Jordan Cronk

The summer and fall festival seasons bring a flurry of buzzy premieres at glamorous locales: Cannes, Venice, New York, Toronto.

Aug 31, 2021

Sex Work in Cinema

On today’s podcast we’re talking about a long-running preoccupation of cinema: sex work.

Aug 17, 2021

Ira Deutchman on Searching for Mr. Rugoff

This week’s podcast features a conversation with Ira Deutchman, the director of the new documentary, Searching for Mr.

Aug 10, 2021

Summer 2021 Rep Report, with Abby Sun and Steve MacFarlane

As the dog days of summer loom, we’ve been pining for the crisp, air-conditioned darkness of the cinema.

Aug 3, 2021

Cannes #2, with Miriam Bale and Jonathan Romney

After a Cannes-less 2020, we were glad to welcome back cinema’s grandest event this year.

Jul 21, 2021

Cannes 2021 # 1, with Miriam Bale and Jonathan Romney

After a Cannes-less 2020, we were glad to welcome back cinema’s grandest event.

Jul 20, 2021

Happy Birthday, America! with A. S. Hamrah

As the good old U. S.

Jul 6, 2021

James Benning’s Ten Skies with Erika Balsom

In the introduction to her new book on James Benning’s 2004 film, Ten Skies, critic and scholar Erika Balsom writes: “there are films that present themselves as complex objects but which are in fact quite simple … And then there are films—rarer altogether—that appear simple but harbour tremendous…

Jun 29, 2021

New Red Order

A couple weeks ago, I (Devika) visited the Artists Space gallery in downtown Manhattan to check out the ongoing exhibit, "Feel at Home Here," by New Red Order—a “public secret society” with rotating members who creates exhibitions, videos, and performances that question and re-channel our…

Jun 22, 2021

Movie Doubles with K. Austin Collins and Mayukh Sen

This week, we sat down with critics K. Austin Collins and Mayukh Sen—to talk about one of the most enduring motifs in movie history: the double.

Jun 15, 2021

NYFF58 Redux with Dan Sullivan and Steve Macfarlane

Last year’s hybrid New York Film Festival was an oasis amid the movie desert of the pandemic, but we sorely missed seeing the selections in the dark of Film at Lincoln Center’s theaters.

Jun 9, 2021

Homework, with Nellie Killian and Ina Archer

This week on the podcast, Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute went to school with two learned FC veterans: Nellie Killian, curator and FC contributing editor, and Ina Archer, artist, critic, and media preservationist at the National Museum of African-American History & Culture.

Jun 1, 2021

At Home, Palestinian Cinema Edition with Kaleem Hawa

In an essay on the militant films of the Palestine Film Unit for The New York Review of Books, the critic Kaleem Hawa writes that, “Palestinian cinema has always been saddled with the psychic weight of colonization.

May 25, 2021

Barry Jenkins on The Underground Railroad

On this week’s podcast, Film Comment editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish speak to Barry Jenkins, Oscar-winning director of Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, about his latest project, The Underground Railroad.

May 18, 2021

The Maverick Movies of Melvin Van Peebles

This week on the podcast, we went long on an American filmmaker like no other: Melvin Van Peebles.

May 11, 2021

Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness

“The people are all pale as mushrooms, blending in with the ashen cityscapes, sterile white rooms, and drab, half-empty restaurants.

May 4, 2021

New Directors/New Films 2021 Critics’ Preview

This last year has been a drought for movie-lovers by most standards.

Apr 27, 2021

Trans Cinema Roundtable

“A film that centers on a transgender person or storyline enters the culture like any other movie.

Apr 20, 2021

At Home, Oscars Edition with A.S. Hamrah and Blair McClendon

On this week's episode, editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish were joined two excellent writers, both first-timers on the Film Comment Podcast: A.

Apr 13, 2021

Raoul Peck on Exterminate All the Brutes

For years, Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck has been crafting eloquent correctives to Eurocentric and capitalist histories through acclaimed films like Lumumba (2000), I Am Not Your Negro (2016), and The Young Karl Marx (2017).

Apr 6, 2021

Adam Curtis's Can't Get You Out of My Head

A few weeks ago, the British documentarian Adam Curtis debuted his newest mega-project online: a six-episode, eight-hour BBC series titled, Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World.

Mar 30, 2021

The Return of Movie Gifts with K. Austin Collins and Adam Nayman

On this week's episode, we bring back a beloved Film Comment Podcast format of yore: Movie Gifts.

Mar 23, 2021

Virtual Festivals with Abby Sun and Jessica Kiang

In case you missed the exciting news: we just relaunched the Film Comment Podcast last week after a yearlong hiatus.

Mar 16, 2021

Berlinale 2021 Wrap

Welcome back to the Film Comment Podcast. After a months-long hiatus prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are thrilled to kick off the return of Film Comment with one of our favorite ways to connect with our audience: our weekly podcast.

Mar 10, 2021

At Home #16: Devika Girish and Clinton Krute

It’s been a while since we did a new episode in our Film Comment Podcast: at Home series.

Apr 24, 2020

At Home #15 - Ashley Clark and Eric Hynes

In more normal times, this week’s podcast might have been a Rep Report, reviewing some of the riches screening in New York’s art-house theaters.

Apr 13, 2020

At Home #14 - Critics David Bordwell and Imogen Sara Smith

We’re always happy to welcome two outstanding scholars to the Film Comment Podcast, and you’ve probably already read their criticism or heard them on a DVD or streaming commentary.

Apr 8, 2020

At Home #13 - The Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund’s Nellie Killian and Ed Halter

An inspiring development during the pandemic has been watching people pull together to help one another and especially those hit hardest.

Apr 7, 2020

At Home #12 - Critic Jonathan Romney

We begin another week with The Film Comment Podcast at Home, keeping ourselves distracted and hopefully our listeners too.

Apr 6, 2020

True/False Film Fest 2020

Right now, movie theaters are temporarily closed, and we’ll have to wait a while before we can all sit together again and look up at the big screen.

Apr 2, 2020

At Home #11 - Critic Ela Bittencourt

Staying at home is a global phenomenon in these difficult times, as we all find ourselves with a lot more indoors time and anxiety on our hands.

Mar 31, 2020

At Home #10 - Synonyms’s Nadav Lapid

For our latest daily edition of the podcast, we reached out again to a filmmaker for a report from another corner of the world.

Mar 30, 2020

At Home #9 - New York Times Critic Manohla Dargis

In an article in The New York Times, the critic Manohla Dargis wrote about what we’re missing right now: “There is nothing like watching a movie, leaving the world while being rooted in it alongside friends, family and everyone else.” It’s a feeling that means so much to all of us, and on this…

Mar 27, 2020

At Home #8 - Film at Lincoln Center and NYFF’s Eugene Hernandez

On the past few episodes we’ve posed the same essential question to critics, a filmmaker, and a curator: what’s the view from where you’re sitting?

Mar 26, 2020

At Home #7 - Nick Pinkerton on Buñuel, Godzilla, baseball, and more

Last weekend, the box office report for new releases looked very different: it was glaringly empty.

Mar 25, 2020

At Home #6 - MoMA’s Rajendra Roy

Every year, the New Directors/New Films festival introduces audiences to fresh and adventurous cinema from around the world.

Mar 24, 2020

At Home #5 - Sandi Tan on Mauvais sang

For the past week we’ve been doing a special daily edition of the podcast where we talk about what we’ve been watching at home.

Mar 23, 2020

At Home #4 - Jean Arthur

In case you’re just joining us, this is another edition of the Film Comment Podcast at Home.

Mar 20, 2020

At Home #3 - Kathleen Collins’s Losing Ground

Today we continue our special homebound version of the podcast, as we all do our best to stay connected and stay sane.

Mar 19, 2020

At Home #2 - Vertigo and The Green Fog

“NO NEW ‘MOVIES’ TIL INFLUENZA ENDS“ read the October 10, 1918, headline in The New York Times, during the global flu pandemic one century ago.

Mar 18, 2020

At Home #1 - Věra Chytilová’s Daisies and more

You don’t need us to tell you that we’re living in extraordinary times, and consequently, many of us are spending our time indoors these days.

Mar 17, 2020

Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’s Bacurau

Bacurau is the new film from Brazilian filmmakers Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, and it has a pulp thriller premise with a radical heart: a small rural community becomes the target of a mysterious, heavily armed group of foreign white tourists.

Mar 13, 2020

Interview: Kelly Reichardt

First Cow is the movie on the lovely cover of our March-April issue, directed by Kelly Reichardt.

Mar 11, 2020

Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow

In the cover story of our March-April issue, out now, Film Comment Digital Editor Clinton Krute writes “Kelly Reichardt’s deceptively modest epic First Cow opens with a wide, static shot of a barge, heavy with consumer goods, pushing down the Columbia River.

Mar 6, 2020

Berlinale 2020 Wrap-up

The Berlin International Film Festival is now over, but there were a few more films we wanted to share with you.

Mar 4, 2020

Interview: Christian Petzold on Undine

This week we have been reporting from the Berlin International Film Festival.

Feb 28, 2020

Berlinale 2020 #3

This week, The Film Comment Podcast reports from the Berlin International Film Festival, straight from, you guessed it, Berlin.

Feb 27, 2020

Berlinale 2020 #2

This week, The Film Comment Podcast reports from the Berlin International Film Festival, straight from, you guessed it, Berlin.

Feb 26, 2020

Berlinale 2020 #1

This week, The Film Comment Podcast reports from the Berlin International Film Festival, straight from, you guessed it, Berlin.

Feb 25, 2020

Marriage Stories #2

Last fall saw the release of Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, which joins a long tradition of marital dramas while adding its own fresh sense of candor.

Feb 19, 2020

Marriage Stories #1

Last fall saw the release of Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, which joins a long tradition of marital dramas while adding its own fresh sense of candor.

Feb 14, 2020

For Your Consideration: Actors Of Color

The achievements of actors and actresses of color have long gone under-recognized in Hollywood.

Feb 12, 2020

Sundance 2020 #7

As you may have noticed, Film Comment went to the Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah.

Feb 5, 2020

Interview: Kirsten Johnson on Dick Johnson Is Dead

This week we have been recording at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, talking about the highlights in its film lineup.

Jan 31, 2020

Sundance 2020 #6

Welcome back to our ongoing series podcasts from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 30, 2020

Sundance 2020 #5

Welcome back to our podcasts from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 29, 2020

Sundance 2020 #4

Welcome back to our podcasts from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 28, 2020

Sundance 2020 #3

Welcome back to our podcasts from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival!

Jan 27, 2020

Sundance Interview: Dee Rees on The Last Thing He Wanted

This week we are at the Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah, sending regular dispatches about the highlights in its independent film lineup.

Jan 26, 2020

Sundance 2020 #2

Welcome back to our series of podcasts from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival!

Jan 25, 2020

Sundance 2020 #1

We’re back, reporting from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Where others may have balked, we brave the dangerously crowded, ice-packed streets of Park City, Utah to bring you critical conversations about all the highlights from the festival.

Jan 24, 2020

Sundance 2020 Preview

It’s January, which means it’s time once again to see some movies in the snowy wilderness of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Jan 22, 2020

The Decade Project #4: The 2010s, or, What Just Happened?

For the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about the 2010s and asking some questions as part of our Decade Project.

Jan 17, 2020

Interview: Pedro Costa on Vitalina Varela

Vitalina Varela, the beautiful new film from Pedro Costa, is the cover of our January-February issue.

Jan 15, 2020

Filmmakers on Varda

Throughout her pioneering career, Agnès Varda has inspired countless filmmakers with her work and her groundbreaking career and style.

Jan 10, 2020

Interview: Josh and Benny Safdie on Uncut Gems and New York Movies

Uncut Gems, directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, and starring Adam Sandler, is a full-throttle portrait of a diamond dealer in New York’s Diamond District.

Jan 8, 2020

Greta Gerwig and Little Women

Little Women is without question one of the best movies of the recently-ended year, and it’s a wonderful triumph for director Greta Gerwig.

Jan 2, 2020

The Decade Project #3

Welcome to another episode in our Decade Project series where we look back at the past 10 years and talk about our favorite filmmakers, major changes and trends, and the movies that made a difference.

Dec 18, 2019

The Decade Project #2

With the 2010s on the way out, we thought that this very recent history could use a road map.

Dec 13, 2019

The Best Movies of 2019

It’s that time of year again! Film Comment has made a list and we’ve checked it twice: the best films of 2019, chosen through a poll of our contributing writers.

Dec 11, 2019

The Decade Project #1

By any measure, the 2010s have been a confusing and turbulent and also exciting time.

Dec 4, 2019

Martin Scorsese and The Irishman

Martin Scorsese’s new film The Irishman has been out in theaters since the beginning of November, which you probably know unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (or were buried under Giants Stadium).

Nov 27, 2019

New Releases, November 2019

It’s a busy couple of months for moviegoers as hits from festivals make their way into cinemas.

Nov 22, 2019

Todd Haynes on Dark Waters

Dark Waters is the new film from Todd Haynes, and it’s a change of pace from his last feature, Wonderstruck, and much of his work generally.

Nov 20, 2019

Work and Class in Movies, with John Sayles

Some of the most exciting movies being made today are tackling class tensions and the role of work in our lives.

Nov 13, 2019

Ritwik Ghatak and Vetri Maaran

This week we celebrate two different strands of Indian cinema, looking at the past and the vibrant present.

Nov 6, 2019

Horrific Non-Horror

Horror movies are the usual choice for Halloween viewing. But we here at Film Comment got to wondering: what are the scariest movies that are not horror films?

Oct 30, 2019

Robert Eggers on The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse is the mind-bending new movie out from Robert Eggers, a director who’s making a career out of revisiting America’s primal past in vividly imagined period films.

Oct 23, 2019

Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite

At Film Comment, we love it when we get behind a movie and then see other movie-goers share the love.

Oct 16, 2019

Tim Heidecker & Gregg Turkington on Mister America

Mister America is the new film starring Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington.

Oct 15, 2019

NYFF57 Festival Wrap

For the festival’s final week, contributing critics and editors gather together for a spirited discussion with Film Comment‘s Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold about the movies they’ve seen in the NYFF57 lineup.

Oct 11, 2019

NYFF57 Filmmakers Chat

Every year at the New York Film Festival, Film Comment brings together a group of intrepid filmmakers whose work is screening in the festival.

Oct 9, 2019

Bacurau directors Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles

The new film Bacurau centers upon the residents of a remote Brazilian village who gradually discover that they’re being hunted by a group of Western tourists.

Oct 7, 2019

NYFF57 Projections

Think of it as a festival within the festival: every year, the annual Projections program brings the latest and greatest of experimental film to the New York Film Festival.

Oct 4, 2019

NYFF 2019: State of the Nation

Every year at the New York Film Festival, Film Comment puts on a slate of special events, including public talks and a screening presentation.

Oct 2, 2019

NYFF57 Preview

The New York Film Festival is here! And there’s a lot to talk about.

Sep 25, 2019

Pedro Almodóvar and Pain and Glory

One of the highlights of the fall, and this year’s New York Film Festival, is the new film by Pedro Almodóvar, Pain and Glory.

Sep 18, 2019

Toronto 2019 #3

For our third roundup of all the on-screen goings-n at TIFF 2019, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold sits down with critic and FC contributor Michael Koresky and Justin Chang, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, to discuss Waves, Jojo Rabbit, Africa, Two of Us, Uncut Gems, Marriage…

Sep 13, 2019

Toronto 2019 #2

For our second dispatch from the not-yet-frozen tundra of Toronto, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold welcomes back Devika Girish (FC Assistant Editor) and programmer and critic Abby Sun for a rundown of highlights, including Lina from Lima, Just Mercy, Synonyms, Terminal Sud, Blood…

Sep 11, 2019

Toronto 2019 #1

After a whirlwind tour of Venice (don't forget to check out those episodes!), we dive right into the Toronto International Film Festival this week.

Sep 9, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Venice Three

In our third and final dispatch from the Venice Film Festival, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Jay Weissberg, film critic for Variety, and Christina Newland, writer for Sight & Sound and Little White Lies.

Sep 5, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Venice Two

In our second dispatch from the Venice Film Festival, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Justin Chang, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, to discuss some much-anticipated titles, including Todd Phillips' Joker, Nate Parker's American Skin, and Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat.

Sep 3, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Venice One

This week The Film Comment Podcast reports on the latest premieres at the Venice Film Festival, already in full swing with the fall’s first wave of highly anticipated titles.

Aug 30, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Venice 2019 Preview

The 76th Venice International Film Festival opens today, kicking off a jam-packed fall festival season.

Aug 28, 2019

Richard Linklater & Ginger Sledge

Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, Before Sunset and beyond—it’s hard to match Richard Linklater when it comes to movies basically about how we find our way through life.

Aug 21, 2019

Locarno 2019

This week, the Film Comment podcast reports on location from the 2019 Locarno International Film Festival.

Aug 14, 2019

The Rep Report #9

Welcome to another edition of the Rep Report, our regular roundup of retrospectives, repertory cinema, and other film series in New York.

Aug 7, 2019

Quentin Tarantino and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood is the subject of the cover story for our July-August issue.

Jul 31, 2019

21st Century Debuts

We tend to agree on the classic films of the past, from Breathless, to McCabe & Mrs.

Jul 24, 2019

New Releases #2

Welcome back to the second installment in our monthly series covering new releases.

Jul 17, 2019

Ari Aster and Midsommar

One of summer’s most anticipated films is Midsommar, from filmmaker Ari Aster.

Jul 10, 2019

Queer & Now & Then

A big part of Film Comment’s mission is to bring well-informed insights and original voices to the rich heritage of movies.

Jul 3, 2019

New Releases

As summer officially begins and vacations mount, more and more find themselves stranded on remote, unspoiled beaches, far from the nearest cinema.

Jun 26, 2019

What Was the TV Movie?

For a while now, we’ve been wanting to do an episode on the curious art form known as the TV movie.

Jun 19, 2019

The Rep Report #8

Welcome to another edition of the Rep Report, our regular roundup of retrospectives, repertory cinema, and other film series in New York.

Jun 12, 2019

Joanna Hogg and The Souvenir

In her feature on Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir in the May-June issue of Film Comment, Sheila O’Malley writes,“The autobiographical origins of The Souvenir are obvious (Hogg doesn’t try to hide them), yet she allows for free-floating associations, creating a kind of space where connections are…

Jun 5, 2019

Mary Harron on Charlie Says, American Psycho, and Punk

For our latest Film Comment Free Talk, the director of I Shot Andy Warhol and American Psycho sat down for a conversation about at her latest, Charlie Says.

May 29, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 11

The end is nigh! For our final salvo from the Riviera, we welcome guest Manohla Dargis, critic for the New York Times, for a wrap-up of all the festival goings-on.

May 28, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 10

The Film Comment Podcast takes you into the closing weekend of Cannes with guest Rasha Salti, programmer for the Marrakesh International Film Festival.

May 24, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 9

We're back from Cannes, this time with a recording of a live Film Comment event at the American Pavilion.

May 23, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 7, part II

It’s two-fer Tuesday! We’re back with a fresh-out-of-the-oven special episode on two of the most anticipated films at the festival: Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life.

May 21, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 7

The Film Comment Podcast returns for another day of fun, sun, and Cannes-versation from the French Rivieria.

May 21, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 6

Welcome back for day 6 of our podcast from Cannes. We’re kicking the week off with guests Dennis Lim, director of programming at Film at Lincoln Center, and Film Comment contributor Jonathan Romney.

May 20, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 5

We’re back from Cannes with day 5 of our podcasts covering all the cinematic goings-on in the south of France.

May 19, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 4

We’re back from Cannes for day four of our series of podcasts on the cinematic goings-on on the Riviera.

May 18, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 3

Welcome back for day 3 of our podcasts from Cannes 2019. Joining us on the Riviera for today’s episode are Bruno Dequen, critic and Director of Programming at Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal and Eric Hynes, Film Comment contributor and Curator of Film at the Musuem of Moving…

May 17, 2019

Cannes 2019 Day 2

For day 2 at Cannes, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold sits down with Eugene Hernandez, Deputy Director of Film at Lincoln Center, to chat about a handful of the most impactful films they've seen so far.

May 16, 2019

Cannes 2019 Preview, Day 1

Let the games begin! We’ve touched down in Cannes and, for our first of many podcasts from the festival, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold found a quiet corner with FC contributing editor Amy Taubin to talk over some of the titles—both big and small—that we’re most excited about.

May 15, 2019

Interview: Olivier Assayas

In our May-June issue (out now!), Aliza Ma writes about the new film Olivier Assayas’s Non-Fiction, a comedic portrait of a Paris literary set struggling to adapt to the digital age.

May 8, 2019

The Rep Report #7: Black ’90s at BAM

The Rep Report is our regular roundup of current retrospectives and film series.

May 1, 2019

Desire at the Movies

In our March-April issue, Michael Koresky writes about history of a movie magazine with a humble name: Films and Filming.

Apr 24, 2019

Claire Denis and Robert Pattinson

For our latest Film Comment Free Talk, Claire Denis and Robert Pattinson joined FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold to discuss their singular new film High Life, which graces the cover of Film Comment’s March-April issue.

Apr 17, 2019

New Directors/New Films 2019

New Directors/New Films has always been a vital for, well, new directors and new films.

Apr 10, 2019

This Is What Democracy Looks Like

They say that "democracy dies in darkness," but a handful of new films, including Mike Leigh's Peterloo and Jordan Peele's Us, argue otherwise, providing evidence that the subject is alive and well in darkened theaters across the country.

Apr 3, 2019

The Rep Report #6

The Rep Report returns with an in-depth conversation about the upcoming Nelly Kaplan retrospective at the Quad Cinema, along with other rep highlights.

Mar 28, 2019

High Life and Beyond

High Life, the new movie from Claire Denis, comes to theaters on April 5.

Mar 20, 2019

László Nemes

For our latest Film Comment talk, Academy Award-winning director László Nemes sat down to discuss his latest film, which opened Film Comment Selects last month.

Mar 14, 2019

True/False 2019

Over the years, the True/False festival (based in the college town of Columbia, Missouri) has grown into one of the most outstanding annual showcases for documentary film.

Mar 8, 2019

Art and Fascism

This week, the Film Comment Podcast digs into Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will and the ways in which the reputations of the notorious film and its maker have shifted over the years.

Feb 27, 2019

Spike Lee on BlacKkKlansman

On February 13, Film Comment presented a special evening with the Spike Lee, Best Director nominee for BlacKkKlansman.

Feb 22, 2019

The Rep Report #5

Love is, of course, in the air, and with most new release schedules in hibernation, February can be a great time for repertory cinema for both lovers and loners.

Feb 13, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019–The Final Chapter

The Film Comment Podcast returns with our final episode on the wild, windswept ride that was Sundance 2019.

Feb 6, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 Six

Maintaining a marathon pace, the Film Comment Podcast returns with more insightful commentary and conversation from the Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 31, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 Five

The Film Comment Podcast returns with another update from Park City.

Jan 30, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 Four

The Film Comment Podcast returns with our fourth update from the snow-and-glamour-packed streets of Park City, Utah.

Jan 29, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 Three

On the third Film Comment Podcast from the Sundance Film Festival, FC Editor in Chief Nicolas Rapold is once again joined by FC contributors Devika Girish and Eric Hynes(also curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image) to chat about a few highly-touted features that left them wanting.

Jan 28, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 Two

We're back with our second update from Park City. Today's podcast features Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold in conversation with FC contributors Devika Girish and Eric Hynes (also curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image).

Jan 26, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 One

In the first of a series of updates from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold hits the slopes with Eric Hynes, FC contributor and curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image.

Jan 25, 2019

The Film Comment Podcast: Sundance 2019 Preview

In the calm before the storm, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold sits down with critic and FC contributor Amy Taubin to chat about some of their more eagerly anticipated film from Sundance 2019, opening January 24 and running through February 3.

Jan 23, 2019

Amazing Grace and Other Concert Films

From Woodstock to Stop Making Sense to Madonna: Truth or Dare, the concert film provides an up-close-and-personal—and otherwise unattainable—perspective on performance and performer.

Jan 18, 2019

The Rep Report #4

New year, new rep report! Our latest edition looks at the annual mainstay of the restoration calendar, To Save and Project at the Museum of Modern Art—featuring everything from Chantal Akerman to Nude on the Moon—as well as a wide-ranging survey of the city symphony film at Anthology Film Archives.

Jan 11, 2019

The Rest of 2018

All too often, the ritual of ranking films at the end of the year leaves a lot of worthy movies on the cutting floor.

Jan 2, 2019

Matt Dillon (The House That Jack Built)

For the final Film Comment Talk of the year, Matt Dillon came to the Film Society of Lincoln Center to talk about his new film, The House That Jack Built, directed by Lars von Trier.

Dec 21, 2018

The Rep Report #3

The Rep Report continues with another joyous discussion of the latest in repertory and new release.

Dec 19, 2018

The Best Movies of 2018

Every year we send out a poll to our critics and staff and put together a list of the best movies of the year.

Dec 12, 2018

NYFF Live Filmmakers Chat 2018

At the New York Film Festival, Film Comment presents a series of talks that includes our reliably energizing and insightful conversation with a group of directors.

Dec 7, 2018

The Rep Report #2

The Rep Report, our new Film Comment podcast series devoted to repertory programs and new releases, continues this week with its latest installment.

Nov 30, 2018

Families on Film

In marketing parlance, a “family film” has tended to mean an anodyne product, something that all could enjoy and that couldn't possibly offend anyone.

Nov 21, 2018

Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino was an original. A Warner Brothers star who went on to become an independent director, writer, and producer, Lupino holds a singular place in American film history, and she is currently the subject of an ongoing retrospective at New York’s Film Forum.

Nov 14, 2018

The Rep Report #1

There’s an abundance of riches in movie houses across our fair city of New York—and, of course, beyond.

Nov 9, 2018

Sandi Tan (Shirkers)

“With Shirkers, Sandi Tan . .

Nov 7, 2018

Ghosts

Cinema and ghosts both offer the promise of life after death.

Oct 31, 2018

Paul Dano and Richard Ford

Our latest Film Comment Talk brought together Paul Dano, director and co-writer of Wildlife, and Richard Ford, author of the book from which the film was adapted.

Oct 29, 2018

Peter Bogdanovich

As a chronicler of film history, director Peter Bogdanovich has assembled what amounts to an insider’s oral history of classic Hollywood, across books and films and assorted individual interviews.

Oct 23, 2018

NYFF56 Festival Wrap

Toward the end of the New York Film Festival, our all-star team of Film Comment contributors came together to talk about the highlights.

Oct 17, 2018

NYFF56 Projections

For this week's podcast, we take a close look at Projections, the New York Film Festival’s program of experimental work from around the globe.

Oct 11, 2018

NYFF56 Live: Cinema of Experience

The 56th New York Film Festival features three special Film Comment Talks, the first of which was our latest “Cinema of Experience” roundtable.

Oct 3, 2018

Ballad of the Coen Brothers

“In their films—especially Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn’t There, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, and Inside Llewyn Davis—there’s always the sense that the deck is stacked against us and that we’re the authors of our own misery, a doubly discomfiting, Camusian view that perfectly matches…

Sep 26, 2018

Ethan Hawke

Our latest guest for our Film Comment Talks was Ethan Hawke.

Sep 21, 2018

Work / Bujalski

“Very rare are the movie depictions of restaurant work that evoke the mental and emotional dissonance required to get through an eight-hour shift,” April Wolfe wrote in her Film Comment review of Support the Girls.

Sep 19, 2018

Toronto Three

Our Toronto 2018 podcast series comes to a close as our group gabs about Olivier Assayas's garrulous Non-Fiction, Alex Ross Perry's Her Smell, Ho Wi Ding's Cities of Last Things, and more.

Sep 14, 2018

Toronto Two

The Toronto hit parade continues with another podcast from the festival formerly known as the Festival of Festivals.

Sep 12, 2018

Toronto One

Drawn like hopeless spaceships into a black hole, Film Comment and friends are currently attending the sprawling Toronto film festival.

Sep 11, 2018

Venice

Taking a breath to look back, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Jonathan Romney, FC contributing editor, in an undisclosed garden location at the Venice Film Festival to discuss a few of the much-anticipated headliners: Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, Laszlo Nemes’s Sunset, S.

Sep 5, 2018

Great Debuts, Still Masters

This week on the podcast, the re-release of Terence Davies’s first full-length film, Distant Voices, Still Lives, in a new restoration, has our guests reminiscing about great debut features throughout cinema.

Aug 30, 2018

The Summer of 2001

This week on the podcast we head back to the summer of 2001.

Aug 22, 2018

Locarno 2018

With a playful 13.5-hour multigenre film-of-films from Mariano Llinas, an ultra-sharp new Hong Sangsoo, and an array of other experiments, the Locarno Festival this year maintained its position as a reliable source of vitality in the cinematic landscape.

Aug 9, 2018

Spike Lee

Our cover story for the July/August issue is about Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman—a story about incredible events in America’s past that feel well-suited to our incredible present.

Aug 1, 2018

The Russians

As long as we are being inundated with worrisome news about Russian cyberwarfare and other attacks, the time seems ripe for taking a look at the motherland’s cinema.

Jul 26, 2018

Boots Riley and Questlove

On July 17, our latest Film Comment Free Talk brought together Boots Riley, director of the mind-altering new film Sorry to Bother You, and special guest Questlove at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Jul 18, 2018

Drone Cinema

“In just a few years’ time, they’ve become both requisite filmmaking tools and regrettable freighters of cliché.

Jul 11, 2018

Sorry to Bother You

“Audiences will enjoy Sorry to Bother You in one go, but the film invites and can stand up to multiple viewings, in much the same way that complex rap lyrics benefit from repeated plays and familiarity gained from memorization,” Ina Diane Archer writes in our July/August issue.

Jul 4, 2018

Visconti

For many New York moviegoers, the past few weeks at the Film Society of Lincoln Center have virtually belonged to Luchino Visconti.

Jun 28, 2018

Paul Schrader

“Although religious symbols and themes have often found their way into Schrader’s film work, First Reformedmarks the first time he has applied elements of transcendental style—as extolled in his seminal book Transcendental Style in Film—to his own filmmaking.

Jun 21, 2018

Ari Aster

This summer we kicked off our Film Comment Free Talks, a new series of conversations with filmmakers held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Jun 14, 2018

Le Cinéma du Glut

In the May/June issue of Film Comment, Nick Pinkerton wrote: “Like few feature films before it, Spielberg’s [Ready Player One] exemplifies an aesthetic of pop-culture decoupage that has developed, in recognizably kindred forms, across a wide range of media, one that has been increasingly prevalent…

Jun 7, 2018

Queer Criticism

In his essay “Responsibilities of a Gay Film Critic”—first published in the January/February 1978 issue of Film Comment—Robin Wood wrote: “Critics are not, of course, supposed to talk personally.

May 29, 2018

Cannes Day 11

In this unbelievable season finale, promises are broken, insults fly, and lives are forever changed…well, not really.

May 21, 2018

Cannes Day 10

It’s been a full 10 days of Cannes! FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Eugene Hernandez, Deputy Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and co-publisher of Film Comment, to discuss four films that show how unforgiving life can be: Nadine Labaki’s Capernaüm, Sergei Dvortsevoy’s…

May 18, 2018

Cannes Day Nine

It’s Cannes, day nine! FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Justin Chang, film critic for the Los Angeles Times; Mara Gourd-Mercado, general director of Montreal doc-fest RIDM; and Eric Hynes, FC contributor and film programmer at the Museum of the Moving Image.

May 17, 2018

Cannes Day Eight

In this episode, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Amy Taubin, Jonathan Romney, and Eric Hynes to discuss Lars von Trier’s “provocative” The House That Jack Built and Spike Lee’s provocative BlackKklansman.

May 16, 2018

Cannes Day Seven

In today’s dispatch, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of Moving Image, and Orwa Nyrabia, artistic director of the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), to talk about all things documentary at Cannes.

May 15, 2018

Cannes Day Six

Following the high-profile “82 women” red carpet protest, FC and Artforum contributing editor Amy Taubin joins FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold to discuss the festival’s failure to find (good) films by female directors.

May 14, 2018

Cannes Day Five

Amidst the jubilance of a French wedding, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image and FC columnist, and Christina Newland, writer for Sight & Sound and Little White Lies, on the top of the Palais to discuss a few films from…

May 13, 2018

Cannes Day Four

It’s Cannes day four! FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Film Society of Lincoln Center Director of Programming Dennis Lim and FC columnist Jonathan Romney to discuss a few of the most anticipated films of the festival: Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book, Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest…

May 12, 2018

Cannes Day Three

FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Otros Cines critic Manu Yáñez Murillo sit down in the Palais to discuss the day’s films: Jaime Rosales’s Petra; Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego’s multigenerational, Godfather-esque cartel drama Birds of Passage; Ali Abbasi’s sweet, oddball Border; and Paul…

May 11, 2018

Cannes Day Two

FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Eric Hynes, Curator of Film at the Museum of Moving Image and FC Columnist, as they reflect on day two of Cannes from the roof of the Palais.

May 10, 2018

Cannes Day One

It’s Cannes, day one! FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Amy Taubin, FC contributing editor and Cannes veteran, to discuss the films they’re excited to see at this year’s edition (Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Wild Pear Tree, Alice Rohrwacher’s Lazzaro…

May 9, 2018

Geraldine Chaplin

Acting dynasties—like any kind of dynasty—rarely produce talents as great as Geraldine Chaplin, Charlie’s daughter, who ended up a sui generis figure in cinema history herself.

May 8, 2018

Claire Denis and Let the Sunshine In

The incomparable French director Claire Denis returns with Let the Sunshine In, a romantic comedy of sorts that stars Juliette Binoche.

May 1, 2018

Musical Performers on Film

While great pipes and a cute face don’t always allow pop stars to instantly become leading men or ladies (witness 2003’s From Justin to Kelly), many musical artists do succeed in bringing a heady mix of charisma and raw talent to the screen.

Apr 24, 2018

True/False 2018

In the college town of Columbia, Missouri, the True/False Film Fest has grown to become one of the world’s premiere showcases of cutting-edge nonfiction filmmaking.

Apr 17, 2018

Lucrecia Martel’s Zama

In honor of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s retrospective of Lucrecia Martel’s work and theatrical run of Zama, we re-present this episode analyzing the film.

Apr 10, 2018

New Directors / New Films 2018

With the ostensible arrival of spring comes the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA’s New Directors/New Films.

Apr 3, 2018

Easter Hams

Just in time for Easter (and a new series celebrating Al Pacino at The Quad), this episode honors an often-misunderstood subcategory of star: hams.

Mar 27, 2018

Satire’s Funny Like That

In the March/April issue of Film Comment, Lauren Kaminsky wrote about Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin: "a delirious historical mash-up that compiles sometimes independently factual details in utterly counterfactual ways.

Mar 20, 2018

Tell Me

All too often, women’s opinions are considered valuable only in certain situations: when there’s a problem affecting women, when there’s an opportunity to market to women, when there’s a president that is a deeply reactionary sexual predator.

Mar 13, 2018

Personal Problems (The Movie)

Featuring the talents of Bill Gunn (Ganja & Hess), Vertamae Grosvenor (Daughters of the Dust), Ishmael Reed, and many others, Personal Problems was originally intended as “an experimental soap opera” for WNET, the public broadcast station in New York.

Mar 6, 2018

The Cinema of Experience II

From the way in which the experiences of African Americans are portrayed on screen, to the way skin color is captured on film, the history of movies and photography is inextricable from race.

Feb 27, 2018

The Rise of Valeska Grisebach

Valeska Grisebach’s extremely precise yet highly naturalistic films take years to make: so far, we have been graced with only three features.

Feb 20, 2018

China Goes To The Movies

After being notorious as a “hotbed” of piracy for many years, the Chinese market is now more rightly regarded as the second-largest in the world.

Feb 13, 2018

I Loved It When I Was a Kid

Recent episodes of The Film Comment Podcast have contemplated formative filmmaker obsessions, but what about the movies that struck us much earlier in life?

Feb 6, 2018

Apichatpong Weerasethakul on SLEEPCINEMAHOTEL

One of the most curious entries at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (which runs January 24 to February 4) isn’t a film at all, but a new one-off project by Apichatpong Weerasethakul: SLEEPCINEMAHOTEL.

Feb 1, 2018

Let’s Eat

Food is versatile on film. Consider the ways it’s used in Tampopo, Daisies, Babette’s Feast, and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.

Jan 30, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day Seven

It’s Sundance, day seven! FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold is joined by Amy Taubin, FC contributing editor and Sundance veteran, to discuss the evolution of the festival over the years and, of course, what they’ve seen.

Jan 24, 2018

Steve James

Steve James returns to Sundance this week to present the first half of his ten-part miniseries America to Me, set to premiere in full this fall.

Jan 23, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day Six

We’re still going strong as we continue into our second week!

Jan 23, 2018

Sebastián Silva

In this Film Comment Podcast transmission from Park City, Sundance regular Sebastián Silva discusses his latest film, Tyrel, which had its world premiere on Saturday.

Jan 22, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day Five

As the first weekend of Sundance comes to an end, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Eric Hynes, FC contributor and Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image, discuss the white privilege and bacchanalia of Sebastián Silva’s disorienting Tyrel, Ethan Hawke’s biopic of heavy-drinking country…

Jan 22, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day Four

It’s day four and we’re still going strong! In this episode, Nicolas Rapold, FC Editor-in-Chief and Eric Hynes, FC contributor and Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image, discuss the social media hell of Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, Craig William Macneill’s ascetic biopic of Lizzie Borden, the…

Jan 21, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day Three

It’s Sundance, day three! On this (snowier) edition of our daily Sundance 2017 podcast, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Eric Hynes, FC contributor and Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image, discuss three more films—Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, RaMell Ross’s…

Jan 20, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day Two

It’s Sundance, day two! On this edition of our daily Sundance 2017 podcast, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Eric Hynes, FC contributor and Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image, discuss three new films—Tamara Jenkins’s Private Life, Maxim Pozdorovkin’s Our New President, and Elan and…

Jan 19, 2018

Sundance 2018: Day One

Before the madness begins, Film Comment kicks things off with a glimpse of what to expect from the hectic experience that is the Sundance Film Festival—how it sets the tone for the coming year and what it means to cinema lovers.

Jan 18, 2018

Good Soundtrack, Bad Movie

“Can a meretricious, inane movie with nothing else to recommend it produce a radiant, rousing film score?” asks Gary Giddins in “Rolling Thunder,” the January/February 2018 edition of Film Comment‘s “Playing Along” column.

Jan 16, 2018

Phantom Thread

“In Paul Thomas Anderson’s work, love can be—quite literally—a miracle,” writes Sheila O’Malley in her January/February 2018 Film Comment cover story, “Love, After a Fashion.” “People are scarred by life, their emotional resilience decimated by disappointments and neglect.

Jan 9, 2018

Reckoning With Misogyny

Stories about Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct and cover-ups have opened the floodgates of revelations about other figures in the entertainment industry and beyond.

Jan 2, 2018

Steve Bannon (Most Popular of 2017)

As filmmaker and critic Jeff Reichert put it in his January/February 2017 Film Comment feature on Steve Bannon’s documentary work, “We could dismiss Bannon as the Rainer Werner Fassbinder of shoddily made straight-to-video white supremacist documentary.

Dec 26, 2017

Sleepover, or, The Comfort of Movies

Sleepovers offer kids a special opportunity to hang out with their friends largely unsupervised, free to chat and dream way after bedtime.

Dec 20, 2017

Best Films of 2017

As another year of moviegoing comes to a close, relax by your fire or space heater with the results of the annual Film Comment critics’ poll!

Dec 12, 2017

Formative Filmmakers (Part Two)

Picking up where we left off last week, this week’s episode travels further down cinephilic memory lane…or should we say, further forward.

Dec 5, 2017

Formative Directors (Part One)

There’s nothing like first love, especially when it’s projected on the silver screen.

Nov 28, 2017

Film Comment Podcast Tales From The Campus Film Society

Nick Pinkerton’s feature in the new issue, “The Golden Age of Campus Film Societies,” serves as a point of departure for a discussion on the role of campus film culture in shaping cinephilia.

Nov 21, 2017

David Bordwell’s Reinventing Hollywood

This week, The Film Comment Podcast welcomes back seminal critic David Bordwell to discuss his new book Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling.

Nov 14, 2017

101 Episodes + Ruben Östlund

Have we passed 100 episodes already? Apparently so!

Nov 7, 2017

Tobe Hooper

This Halloween, The Film Comment Podcast salutes a filmmaker whose work, according to the British Board of Film Classification, exemplified the “pornography of terror.” The panel—Ina Archer, media conservation and digitization assistant at the Smithsonian National African-American Museum of History…

Oct 31, 2017

Lucrecia Martel’s Zama

Premiered in Venice and recently screened in the New York Film Festival, Zama marks not only the long-awaited return of Lucrecia Martel, but also her first literary adaptation.

Oct 24, 2017

Armando Iannucci

Armando Iannucci has long had a genius for the absurdity of global politics, from his work on the satirical news program On the Hour in the 1990s, to the British ministry antics of The Thick of It, to his HBO series Veep.

Oct 20, 2017

NYFF 2017 Live Roundtable

At the conclusion of the 55th New York Film Festival, Film Comment gathered together a panel of contributors and critics for one final live roundtable.

Oct 17, 2017

The Cinema of Experience

In this special live episode of the podcast, moderated by Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold, panelists Teo Bugbee (The New York Times contributor), writer-programmer Ashley Clark (BAMcinématek), and writer-filmmaker Farihah Zaman (Field of Vision) discuss how cinematic technique is used…

Oct 10, 2017

Steven Spielberg

Looking ahead to the New York Film Festival premiere of Susan Lacy’s documentary Spielberg, this week’s Film Comment podcast considers the household-name auteur: the architect of the modern blockbuster, and a surviving (and thriving) master of the Classical Hollywood vernacular.

Oct 3, 2017

Bonus: Darren Aronofsky

This week, The Film Comment Podcast hosts a very special guest, himself a choreographer of uninvited guests on their worst behavior.

Oct 2, 2017

Robert Mitchum

The centerpiece retrospective of this year’s New York Film Festival celebrates the centenary of Robert Mitchum, paragon of fatalist cool.

Sep 26, 2017

Twin Peaks: The Return

This week’s Film Comment podcast requires very little introduction beyond the topic—Twin Peaks: The Return, a work that is both a heartfelt refraction of David Lynch’s 50 years of creative output and a medium-reshaping beast unto itself.

Sep 20, 2017

Live From TIFF ’17

With every festival comes a new round of roundtables, so if you couldn’t make it to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, you can still listen to this week’s episode of the podcast and start planning ahead for when the lineup comes to a theater or streaming service near you.

Sep 13, 2017

Mudbound

Screening in the New York Film Festival a little over a month after the white supremacist horror in Charlottesville, Dee Rees’s Mudbound has a shocking urgency.

Sep 5, 2017

Revenge Of Movie Gifts

In May, we premiered our very first gift-giving episode. In it, each critic chose two films for another participant to experience for the first time.

Aug 29, 2017

Nocturama + Terrorism

Reducing Bertrand Bonello’s Nocturama to a straightforward psychological reading barely scratches the surface—which is exactly what makes the film a productive starting point for this week’s Film Comment Podcast.

Aug 22, 2017

Jeanne Moreau

In memory of Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017), this week’s podcast offers up a selection of previously unreleased interviews with the legendary actress and director.

Aug 15, 2017

Summer of ’77

“What holds the movies of 1977 together beyond a coincidence of the calendar?” asks J.D.

Aug 8, 2017

Yvonne Rainer

“Championed by Annette Michelson, B. Ruby Rich, and many others, [Yvonne] Rainer’s films are densely verbose, elusive, dryly comic, furious, fractured, and intimately concerned with addressing a variety of injustices beyond the concerns of feminism, from ageism to gentrification to mental illness,”…

Aug 1, 2017

Good Time

As Eric Hynes wrote in the cover story of our July/August issue, “At their best, the Safdies’ films don’t just mooch off the city’s story surplus—they also feed into it, contributing truly odd, activated extensions of urban life.” Their latest, Good Time, is no exception.

Jul 27, 2017

Location, Location, Location

Plenty of films open with an establishing shot of a city's iconic skyline, or of a few iconic barns, only to go on and use the location as an anonymous backdrop.

Jul 18, 2017

Wanda. Woman.

As David Thomson succinctly puts it in the July/August issue, "Wanda is the kind of person who didn’t and still doesn’t get into American movies (unless she’s got a few dollars for a ticket)." Based on a newspaper story about a woman convicted of robbery who thanked the judge for sentencing her to…

Jul 11, 2017

Independents Day

What do we talk about when we talk about independent film? At various points it’s referred to a freedom of style, or it’s been shorthand for a low-budget film outside of the studio system.

Jul 3, 2017

Bad Scenes in Good Movies, Good Scenes in Bad Movies

We expect that discrete scenes will play off of one another to create any given feature film, but what happens when one of these moments tugs the narrative in an unexpected direction?

Jun 27, 2017

Streaming vs. Theatrical

Having programmed two high-profile Netflix premieres, Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), in the main competition, Cannes was shadowed by a debate over distribution—theatrical versus streaming—and the role of heavyweight newcomers Amazon and Netflix.

Jun 20, 2017

Movie Addictions

Maybe it’s the magnetic pull of a performance, a sequence, or a mood, but there are some movies that demand multiple rewatches.

Jun 13, 2017

Fassbinder’s Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day

Did the golden age of television already happen? This episode of the podcast makes the case that it has—in 1970s Germany, courtesy of the one and only R.W.

Jun 4, 2017

Cannes 2017 Roundtable #2

The agony and the ecstasy of festivalgoing continues on this week’s episode.

May 30, 2017

Cannes 2017 Roundtable #1

The dark of the theater and the sunny seafront come together but once a year at the Cannes Film Festival, and in this week's episode of the Film Comment Podcast, the critics weigh in live from the south of France on the slate's standouts, surprises, and offenses so far.

May 23, 2017

Musicals! The Podcast

There's one alliterative movie musical that's dominated the recent conversational limelight, but less frequently discussed is how it operates within the genre.

May 16, 2017

1984

Following a free screening of Michael Radford's adaptation of 1984 in early April as part of a nationwide event, Film Comment Editor Nicolas Rapold moderated a panel discussion about present-day doublespeak and dystopia.

May 8, 2017

Movie Gifts

To celebrate the 55th birthday of our magazine, we present a special gift-giving episode of the podcast.

May 2, 2017

Art Of The Real 2017

This week's episode of the Film Comment podcast takes a sonic journey through this year's edition of Art of the Real, which runs through May 2 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Apr 26, 2017

John Waters Is on the Phone

On the occasion of Criterion Collection's home video release of Multiple Maniacs and the publication of his new book Make Trouble, Violet Lucca chats with John Waters—the director, writer, artist, sometime actor (most recently of FX's Feud: Bette and Joan), and Christmas card sender extraordinaire.

Apr 24, 2017

The Classical

James Gray's The Lost City of Z, which opened last Friday, charts a course into the jungle alongside a character in search of transcendence.

Apr 18, 2017

Terrence Malick

"You don't want something to look too staged in movies or they look overly presented.

Apr 11, 2017

Comedy Today

In a March/April 2017 feature titled "No Joke," Film Comment Digital Producer Violet Lucca traces current trends in modern American comedies to the pressures of globalization and the rise of the internet.

Apr 5, 2017

New Directors / New Films 2017 + Albert Serra

This week's episode of the Film Comment podcast begins with an interview with the irrepressible Albert Serra, director of our March/April cover film The Death of Louis XIV, which opens this Friday.

Mar 28, 2017

Coming Of Age Horror

Horror films are unusually adept at giving mutable flesh to the terrors of adolescence, and Julia Ducournau's new film Raw is no exception.

Mar 21, 2017

Live From True False 2017

The True/False Film Fest in Columbia, Missouri, reliably assembles a selection of the world’s finest nonfiction film, tracking down surprises from smaller festivals across the globe and picking highlights from Sundance.

Mar 15, 2017

Acting For All Ages

Jean-Pierre Léaud's familiar face graces the cover of the new March/April issue of Film Comment, waiting out his final days in Albert Serra's new film The Death of Louis XIV.

Mar 7, 2017

Steve Bannon

As filmmaker and critic Jeff Reichert put it in his January/February 2017 Film Comment feature on Steve Bannon's documentary work, "We could dismiss Bannon as the Rainer Werner Fassbinder of shoddily made straight-to-video white supremacist documentary.

Feb 28, 2017

Before And After, Live

In his 1985 film God's Country, Louis Malle visits a small town in Minnesota both before and after Reagan's election, documenting the stark economic despair that the agricultural community was forced to face.

Feb 21, 2017

The King of Cinema

“I always go back to Ozu and Bresson, both of whom I admire a great deal.

Feb 14, 2017

Women In New Hollywood

Road-tripping crises of masculinity soundtracked by classic rock, Harvey Keitel making up for his sins in the streets—a laundry list of 1970s New Hollywood highlights can tend to lack a nuanced female presence.

Feb 7, 2017

Raoul Peck + Dustin Guy Defa and Laura Dunn

This week's two-pronged episode of the Film Comment podcast digs into a varied slate of contemporary filmmaking.

Jan 31, 2017

Sundance History

The first Sundance Film Festival, then known as the US/Utah Film Festival, took place in 1978 in an effort to bring independent filmmaking talent to the state.

Jan 25, 2017

Sundance Critics' Roundtable

Alpine air, ski-friendly powder, and independent film converge every January at the Sundance Film Festival.

Jan 23, 2017

Identity

Ideology and aesthetics have somehow come to be positioned opposite one another—in film criticism, should one be privileged over the other?

Jan 17, 2017

Carte Blanche

Questions of legacy can rile up the creative juices in unexpected ways, especially when filmmakers who win a bit of success are allowed to dive headlong into their obsessions.

Jan 10, 2017

Spooky Christmas

There’s no single way to celebrate the holiday season, but nearly every custom is centered on family and friends gathering together.

Dec 26, 2016

LGBTQ Representation

On the other side of the visibility hurdle, questions about queer representation in film persist.

Dec 20, 2016

The Best Of 2016

2016 may be ill-suited to fond recollections, but the annual Film Comment Top 20 list does have plenty of good cheer to go around.

Dec 13, 2016

The Marginalization Of Cinema

The clickbait consensus may be that cinema is dead, but the fact of the matter is a bit more nuanced.

Dec 6, 2016

Tearjerkers and Manchester by the Sea

There’s more to tearjerkers than the deceptively simple term might suggest, and in this episode of the Film Comment podcast, we consider the nuanced workings of cinematic sorrow.

Nov 29, 2016

Post-Election

According to the experts, this wasn’t supposed to turn out this way… but it did.

Nov 23, 2016

Paul Verhoeven

What are the uncanny forces at work behind Paul Verhoeven’s visceral and transgressive cinema?

Nov 15, 2016

Election Day

It's finally here: Election Day. After you've cast your vote, hopefully this new episode of the Film Comment podcast will help you relax as the results come in.

Nov 8, 2016

NYFF Live Filmmaker Chat

Although one-on-one interviews with filmmakers are often accessible (depending, of course, on the personality at hand), group roundtables with a variety of filmmaking talent can be more difficult to come by.

Nov 1, 2016

Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny

Kristen Stewart took a quick breather from promoting her triptych of new films at NYFF to reflect on collaborating with Olivier Assayas and Kelly Reichardt.

Oct 26, 2016

Face Your Fears

Is it possible to pinpoint what is so scary about an unsettling moment of a well-made horror film?

Oct 25, 2016

Errol Morris Election Special

Photography is by nature bittersweet: a warm moment with a loved one is captured forever, a reminder of an instant in time that can never be repeated.

Oct 19, 2016

NYFF 2016 Live Roundtable

The fanfare of the 54th New York Film Festival may have officially wrapped on Saturday, but the films themselves live on—so let's talk about them.

Oct 18, 2016

The Living Cinema

The September/October issue of Film Comment re-envisioned the magazine’s style and sharpened its focus, celebrating the vibrancy of cinema as well as delving into tough critical issues.

Oct 11, 2016

Social Media and Criticism

Aside from search engines, the most visited sites in the world are social media: the old mainstays Facebook and Twitter.

Oct 4, 2016

Classical Cinema, Now

Great works of art transcend the passage of time, but the cinema of years past has its own special qualities of transcendence and immersion.

Sep 27, 2016

Charles Burnett and Oliver Stone

How do you approach political filmmaking in a meaningful way?

Sep 21, 2016

Live from TIFF '16

Hosting over 300 films, many of which are world or North American premieres, the Toronto International Film Festival is a frequently overwhelming experience even for veteran attendees.

Sep 16, 2016

American Movie Acting Today

This episode is the first of three to dive into features from our newly redesigned September-October issue, which asks "What Is Cinema Now?" Shonni Enelow, author of Method Acting and Its Discontents: On American Psycho-Drama and assistant professor of English at Fordham University, wrote a feature…

Sep 7, 2016

VHS, RIP

Last month, the final VCR rolled off the line at the Funai plant in Japan, officially signaling the end of an era.

Aug 30, 2016

Class at the Movies

Visions of class surround us each day, both overtly and subliminally, in advertisements, literature, and film.

Aug 23, 2016

Ironic Soundtracks

While so many soundtracks seem to exist solely to underline the tone of a scene, unexpected musical cues can completely recontextualize and undermine its action.

Aug 16, 2016

Mondo Mondo

This month, at Anthology Film Archives, FILM COMMENT contributor Nick Pinkerton has programmed a variety of shockumentary-style works ranging from the notorious Mondo Cane (an Academy Award nominee, for Original Song) to Thierry Zéno’s Des Morts.

Jul 26, 2016

Merchant-Ivory + Howards End

Though associated with heritage films—lush period films typically set in Britain’s imperial past—producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala collaborated since the early 1960s on a variety of literary adaptations.

Jul 19, 2016

The July/August Issue

Kristen Stewart takes the spotlight in the brand-new July/August issue of FILM COMMENT, in a nuanced and balanced appreciation of the star's performances by Nick Davis.

Jul 5, 2016

David Bordwell and The Rhapsodes

In his recently published book The Rhapsodes, seminal critic and film historian David Bordwell pays tribute to four groundbreaking film critics who were writing in the 1940s: Otis Ferguson, James Agee, Manny Farber, and Parker Tyler.

Jun 28, 2016

The Summer of '66

Today, the term “summer movie” is synonymous with big budgets, explosions, superhero franchises, family-friendly animated films, and sequels.

Jun 22, 2016

Hong Sangsoo

Hong Sangsoo is a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to repeat himself.

Jun 14, 2016

Brian De Palma

In their intimate and insightful documentary De Palma, directors Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow sit down with the legendary filmmaker to discuss his audacious career.

Jun 3, 2016

Cannes Redux and Whit Stillman

Believe it or not, but occasionally the critics attending Cannes take umbrage with the jury’s choices for awards—so much so this year that the Grand Prix recipient, Xavier Dolan, was booed during the ceremony.

May 27, 2016

Live from Cannes 2016

Comedies and genre films may not be the usual Croisette fare, but that wasn’t the case with the 69th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

May 20, 2016

History in the Making

Plenty of films are set in the past, either adapted from texts from the period or written by authors looking back on history (and likely bringing their own biases to it).

May 10, 2016

The May/June Issue + Straub/Huillet

It’s that most special time of year: the May/June issue has arrived!

May 3, 2016

Queer Cinema Before Stonewall

On June 28, 1969, following a police raid of the Greenwich Village LGBT bar Stonewall Inn, a riot broke out around the neighborhood that continued into the following evening.

Apr 26, 2016

Vincent Lindon + Masculinity

Described by Joan Dupont in the March/April issue of FILM COMMENT as “too haunted to be the suave lady-killer and too classy to be the loser,” Vincent Lindon has slowly gained prominence outside of France in his quietly simmering performances in films like Claire Denis’s Bastards and Stéphane…

Apr 19, 2016

Everybody Wants Some!! + Sports

Following the bold experiment of Boyhood, Richard Linklater returns with Everybody Wants Some!!, a semi-autobiographical movie about the infinite potential that awaits at the cusp of adulthood.

Apr 12, 2016

Art of the Real 2016

Since film’s inception—from the Lumière’s early actualités to Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North—the boundary between documentary and fiction film has been fairly fluid (or not even a term of discussion.) And as Jacques Rivette once observed: “Every film is a documentary of its own making.”…

Apr 5, 2016

Comebacks

In the spirit of fantasy football—or, you know, film criticism—FILM COMMENT contributors Michael Koresky (editor of Reverse Shot and director of publications of the Metrograph theater) and Ashley Clark (author of Facing Blackness) joined Digital Editor Violet Lucca to discuss the actors they feel…

Mar 29, 2016

Arnaud Desplechin and Kent Jones

Arnaud Desplechin’s My Golden Days takes the characters of his third feature, My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument, and puts them into new (but also familiar) narratives, collapsing and expanding our understanding of them.

Mar 22, 2016

New Directors / New Films 2016

Now in its 45th year, New Directors / New Films showcases fiction and documentary work from around the world.

Mar 15, 2016

Representing History + Isabelle Huppert Interview

Though we’re taught to compartmentalize historical movements into discrete events and dates, the truth (or what we know of it) is anything but.

Mar 8, 2016

Better Living Through Criticism

Criticism gets a bad rap a lot of the time, even from its practitioners.

Mar 1, 2016

Live from Film Comment Selects

It's that most wonderful time of year: Film Comment Selects!

Feb 24, 2016

Influences

Now that “takes,” gossip, and conversations about film can be instantly broadcast to the world, it’s sometimes easy to forget that above all else, film criticism is an act of writing.

Feb 16, 2016

The Coen Brothers and Peter Greenaway

At first blush, the Coen Brothers and Peter Greenaway don’t appear to have much in common except that their new films, Hail, Caesar!and Eisenstein in Guanajuato, both came out the same day.

Feb 9, 2016

Douglas Sirk and Representation

The Film Society of Lincoln Center recently mounted a major retrospective of Douglas Sirk’s films, which included his first German productions from the Thirties (The Girl from the Marsh Croft, La Habanera) to his Technicolor melodramas of the Fifties (All that Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind).

Jan 26, 2016

The Best Performances of 2015

What were the noteworthy performances of 2015? And what different kinds of performance are there?

Jan 18, 2016

The Best Films of 2015

Rejoice, o ye year-end list obsessives! Digital editor Violet Lucca sat down with senior editor Nicolas Rapold, contributing editor and New York Film Festival Selection Committee Member Amy Taubin, and regular contributor Nick Pinkerton to discuss the top 20 films as determined by our annual…

Dec 18, 2015

New York Film Festival Roundtable 2015

A New York Film Festival Live talk, recorded October 9th, where Film Comment editors and contributors discussed this year's NYFF.

Oct 20, 2015

50 Shades of Grey

Melissa Anderson (contributor to Artforum, The Village Voice, and other publications) and Film Comment Digital Editor Violet Lucca speak about the film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey.

Feb 20, 2015

The Film Comment Podcast: Shoah

The first episode of our podcast: a discussion of Shoah by critic J.

Jul 3, 2013