One of the great things about smaller independent films is that the freedom they explore in not getting pigeon-holed into one specific genre. As the recently-passed Tribeca Festival caters to the independents it follows that they reap the benefits of this formula. Case in point is one of the festival’s better selections this year ASHBY which combines drama, comedy (or dark comedy) sprinkled with a bit of teen angst, romance, action and even neo-noir.

There are years when everyone knows which film will win. 2015 was not one of them, although there was some consensus among the major press that CAROL and MIA MADRE were the strongest films, cinematographically and stylistically and the Hou Hsiao-Hsien-directed THE ASSASSIN, the rare film by a filmmaker who's completely in control of his art, would not go home empty-handed. We expected the Coen Brothers-led jury would award them but not

Notwithstanding the lack of one film trailblazing the others as was the case in previous years (MOMMY or LA VIE D'ADELE, as recent examples, HOLY MOTORS a little bit earlier), 2015 has borne a tremendously-strong Cannes vintage. So yes, credit--much of it--goes to Thierry Frémaux and his team for having bravely assembled such an inventive slate of films by filmmakers who express themselves genuinely on the larger issues

CANNES, France - Defining the influences that push someone towards a career as filmmaker isn't an easy task. But where Ethiopian director Yared Zeleke is concerned two events can be said to have been defining ones: a photo he saw in the French city of Cannes fourteen years ago and his emigrating to the US with his father at age ten, a very difficult moment

CANNES, France - The Croisette has been awash in semen since the midnight premiere screening of the new Gaspar Noé film LOVE. The director of ENTER THE VOID and I STAND ALONE said during a sparsely-attended press conference today that he submitted the film to fest a week after the April selection announcement. That this was going to be in 3D was a mystery, even to the filmmaker. Vincent Maraval of Wild Bunch (one of the film’s co-producers) had told him “you should get into 3D” after the success of James Cameron’s AVATAR. What started as a joke between them gained traction and eventually became reality.

This doesn't happen every year, and yet, 2015 is now the year that Ethiopia was represented in the official selection. Ethiopia by way of New York University Film, where filmmaker Yared Zeleke studied, among others, screenwriting under Todd Solondz. "Lamb," which screened yesterday afternoon, is a tender and affecting film about a young boy and his goat. At least, that seems to be the point

Every Cannes Festival (and so, every festival) needs a good shoot-em-up movie. We got ours this year with SICARIO, starring Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, and Josh Brolin in the supporting role. SICARIO's at-times lack of depth and the expeditious nature of certain plot twists make this solid revenge drama imperfect. But an extraordinary lensmanship by Roger Deakins and ominous, queasiness-inducing sound by Tom Ozanich complemented by the tense three-way tug-of-war between the characters played by Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin as they somehow try to work together to take out the top of a drug cartel is a joy to watch. SICARIO hasn't stayed with