Last January, in the before times when film festivals were still held in person, I beheld one of the most unique and powerful films I’d ever seen. Cedric Cheung-Lau’s “The Mountains Are a Dream That Calls to Me” was unlike anything I had ever seen before—or since. Filmed in Nepal, it told the profoundly simple story of a Nepalese man named Tukten (Sanjay Lama Dong) who says he is walking to a new ... more >
INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEW with Cedric Cheung-Lau of “The Mountains Are a Dream That Calls to Me”
The film was shot with a crew of only nine people on a 19-day trek in the Himalayas
INTERVIEW | Pamela Green, director of “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché”
Her film premiered in 2018 in the Cannes Classics slate at the Cannes Festival
Award season is here, and the upcoming Golden Globes have made history by nominating three women in their “Best Director” category. To honor that long overdue achievement I thought it would be the perfect time to talk with filmmaker Pamela B. Green (featured image) about her documentary “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché.” If you don’t recognize the name in the title, ... more >
In conversation with the creator and cast of “LOSING ALICE,” airing today on Apple TV +
An erotic neo-noir with a Faustian bargain thrown in
The Apple TV+ series “Losing Alice” fashions an atmosphere of dread in its first moments and never lets up. Over eight episodes this Israeli import, which debuts stateside on Friday, is more about engendering a feeling within the viewer rather than setting up a who-did-what-when thriller procedural. Not that the staples of the mystery genre aren’t present. But unlike lesser shows, which start ... more >
“We saw scores, then hundreds, change”; interview with the director of “Gay Chorus Deep South”
Film premieres today
Donald Trump’s 2016 election shocked a great many, including Dr. Tim Seelig, the artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Despite the heartbreaking result, Seelig decided that, rather than continue to perform for friendly Bay Area audiences, it was time to head south—-to the Deep South. After Trump’s election, Seelig and the choir announced their intention to stage a tour to ... more >
“I didn’t hire Christopher Walken for his accent; I hired him for his soul” (talking with playwright and writer/director John Patrick Shanley about his latest film “Wild Mountain Thyme”)
Shanley is best-known for the 2008 film "Doubt"
Since international travel is currently all but impossible the movies provide a way to visit other parts of the world—as they always have. And it was of tremendous importance to writer/director John Patrick Shanley (“Doubt,” “Moonstruck”) that Ireland, the land of his forefathers, be a main character in his new film “Wild Mountain Thyme,” adapted from his play “Outside Mullingar.” “Instead of ... more >
INTERVIEW: “Ultimately, it’s the deepest quest of all,” Errol Morris speaks with us about his new film “My psychedelic love story,” it airs tonight
Fourth Floor Productions; Moxie Pictures
Even as we spoke on the phone last week, filmmaker Errol Morris said he was still putting the finishing touches on his new documentary, a version of which I had seen not long before the Oscar-winning director of “The Fog of War” and “Gates of Heaven” chatted with me from his home in Massachusetts. Until recently, he was still color correcting and filling in the musical score. Letting go of the ... more >
Coherent and intense horror indie “Fishbowl” started streaming on Tuesday. We got a sit-down with the brother-sister team who directed it and this is what they said
"I like a slow burn, where you take [something] realistic and maybe exaggerate it a little bit" (S. Kinigopoulos)
Stephen and Alexa Kinigopoulos wanted to make a movie where they came from. The siblings, who co-directed the new psychological thriller “Fishbowl,” grew up near Baltimore, and so when they were seeking a setting for their film, they simply cast their gaze out the window. “When you’re surrounded by those locations every day, you maybe see them differently. And it’s always great to shoot in ... more >