Hammer to Nail

Nadav Lapid was born in Tel Aviv in 1975. Before turning to filmmaking, he published a novel, worked as a literary critic and sports journalist. He joined the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation in 2007, where he wrote the screenplay for...

(We here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week, our new addition to...

The Cannes Film Festival has just unveiled the official 2026 lineup for its Directors’ Fortnight section. Created in 1969, this section has been dedicated to showcasing the most singular forms of contemporary cinema. Opening the section’s 58th edition this year...

After making stops at last year’s Cannes, TIFF, and NYFF, Francesco Sossai’s road trip comedy The Last One for the Road is ready to charm U.S. audiences in time for spring. It stars The Hand of God breakout Filippo Scotti...

Director Fergus Campbell just premiered Sparks, his debut feature film, at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival (where I reviewed it). The movie stars Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) as Cleo, a young woman out of time and out of place. Obsessed...

Throughout its five-decade run, New Directors/New Films has introduced the works of many of today’s notable auteurs, including Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Pedro Almodóvar, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Joachim Trier, Kelly Reichardt, Denis Villeneuve, Michael Haneke, Luca Guadagnino, Richard Linklater,...

Get ready for the next wave of buzzworthy new cinema of 2026. The Cannes Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 79th edition, which will take place May 12 through 23. The films are divided into sections, from the...

The debut feature from screenwriter Aidan West and director Gloria Mercer, A Safe Distance just premiered at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival (where I reviewed it). In the movie, we follow the increasingly wild adventures of a young...

Union County is a drama about the opioid epidemic that does something rare: it focuses on recovery rather than despair. Writer-director Adam Meeks’s feature debut follows Cody Parsons (Will Poulter), a young man in rural Ohio navigating a county-mandated drug...

(Check out Chris Reed’s Palestine ’36, movie review, the film is in theaters nationwide now Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) All European countries that were once (or still are) colonizers bear responsibility for the state...