WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED might not find an audience outside those already obsessed with folk horror, but it’s a real treat for those who are and, through Janisse’s strong arguments and exhaustive research, is an essential text in debates about the definition of this weird subgenre.
To those of you who also harbour the guilt-laden secret that you have viewed, even relished, TLC’s car crash reality television series People Who Love Objects, the unconventional romantic plot of JUMBO will come as no surprise. To the other, more well-adjusted people, JUMBO may be a fresh oddball love story about acceptance and the … Continue reading Jumbo
Magnus von Horn’s SWEAT fuses the age-old story arc of the battle between success and loneliness in a modern setting that resonates in the digital age. Horn, above all, paints the 4G world on a three-dimensional canvas, allowing human nature to take the spotlight in a setting that is often illuminated to promote the shallowness of humanity.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE will inspire courage and perseverance in those that feel lost or disconnected from their community, especially in a time of isolation. It reignites the need for increased visibility in society but also a need to preserve our own queer spaces and cultures.
In THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY, director Petra Costa’s camera flows through the sleek and spacious rooms of the Palácio da Alvorada, Brazil’s presidential residence designed by modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer, in slow travelling shots. As the camera traipses around the empty, noiseless halls and doorways, it becomes clear that the stillness and quietude of these … Continue reading Alvorada
ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE succeeds as a primer on visual literacy, always questioning its images, asking what they omit, how they are structured, how the form makes claims on the visual information it contains.
SUMMER OF SOUL assumes a natural position alongside a group of the essential American music documentaries.
While an imperfect effort, DEATH ON THE STREETS is an interesting outside-in angle on a forgotten America. Heart and honesty make up for lack of polish, and it treats its subject with uncomfortable, unrelenting respect that drives home the lack of quick fixes and easy answers.
The Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in far northeastern Russia is far removed from the political, social, linguistic, and cosmopolitan realities of Moscow or St Petersburg. In this environment, a local cinema culture has flourished, and Dmitry Davydov’s SCARECROW (PUGALO) brings Sakha cinema to an international audience at IFFR.
SHIVA BABY, the feature debut from director Emma Seligman, is a whirlwind of anxiety where a conflict between the personal and the familial erupts at a shiva while surrounded by relatives, community, and salmon and cream cheese bagels.
