The first animated feature out of Portugal, Nuno Beato’s My Grandfather’s Demons, uses digital and stop-motion animation to tell a story of intergenerational trauma on the border between reality and fairytale.
Essays
Both Sides of the Blade: Claire Denis explores lies and love
Claire Denis’s Silver Bear Winner Both Sides of the Blade explores the lies we tell the people we love (and ourselves).
Quick Thoughts: Violeta Salama’s sensitive Alegría at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.
Violeta Salama’s warm and sensitive feature debut, Alegría, is exactly the kind of film you look for at a Jewish Film Festival: a travelogue and a story of culture, religion, and family.
Cannes Film Review: Manuela Martelli’s 1976 ratchets up the tension
Manuela Martelli’s feature debut, 1976, which she co-wrote with Alejandra Moffat, is equal parts character study and taut political drama. The film 1976 screened in the Director’s Fortnight sidebar at Cannes 2022.
Cannes Review: Naomi Kawase’s Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side A
Naomi Kawase’s Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side A avoids the usual tropes and cliches of sports films, focusing instead on how the athletes are rounded people, as well as the beauty fleetingness of athletic achievement
Continental Drift (South) is a biting satire and family drama
Lionel Baier’s biting yet heartfelt comedy Continental Drift tackles the migrant crisis and the consequences of personal failures of empathy.