At this year’s Berlinale, a number of films contend with questions of the archive.
Category: reviews & essays
berlinale dispatch: phantoms of cinema past
A poignant tribute to the resilience of cinephilia, TALKING ABOUT TREES chronicles the efforts of a group of retired Sudanese filmmakers to revive a defunct cinema.
berlinale dispatch: detours in the steppe
In the haunting opening sequence of Wang Quan’an’s ÖNDÖG, a car stumbles upon a dead woman in the heart of the Mongolian steppe, its headlights eerily illuminating her naked body.
sundance dispatch: midnight family & the infiltrators
Broken systems: two Sundance films highlight the breakdowns that occur when the public good meets the free market
notes from the in-between: an indian critic in the states
The transatlantic move between two incredibly robust film cultures has deeply influenced my foray into criticism.
sundance dispatch: clemency
Framing the guilty: Chinonye Chukwu’s film features an extraordinary performance by Alfre Woodard as a conflicted prison warden
the film comment podcast: sundance 2019
I was a guest on four episodes of Film Comment’s Sundance 2019 podcast series
sundance dispatch: america
Parallel histories: Garrett Bradley’s remarkable short interrogates representations of early Black filmmakers
interview: jennifer kent
Love in dark times: The Nightingale director on bringing together distinct (but connected) narratives of gendered and racist violence
sundance dispatch: as told to g/d thyself
Astral traveling: The spirit of Afro-futurism is beautifully embodied in the all-star collective The Ummah Chroma’s short film
