Hammer to Nail

Director Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana just premiered his latest documentary, Backside, at the 2025 Tribeca Festival (where I reviewed it). The film focuses on the grooms and hotwalkers of Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby), most of whom are Latine....

“This is the story of the birth, life, death, and afterlife of the video store.” Hammer to Nail alum Alex Ross Perry is gearing up for his second film of this year. Following its premieres at the Rotterdam and Tribeca...

(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 Brad Cook stumbles into...

Six years after working together on their breakout feature, The Climb, director Michael Angelo Covino and co-writer Kyle Marvin navigate complex marriages in Splitsville. This NEON comedy is fresh off its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it screened...

Director Suzannah Herbert’s most recent documentary, Natchez, just played the 2025 Tribeca Festival (where I reviewed it) and it won not only the best documentary feature prize but also special jury awards for cinematography. The movie delivers an intriguing portrait...

Filmmaker Fawzia Mirza’s feature directorial debut, The Queen of My Dreams (which I reviewed back at SXSW 2024), opens June 20, 2025, after a long and successful festival run. A charming meditation on identity and culture—queer, Pakistani, and Muslim—the film...

Familiar Touch represents a unique entry in cinema’s exploration of aging and dementia, offering a perspective rarely seen on screen: that of the person living with the condition rather than the family members watching from the sidelines. Director Sarah Friedland’s...

(The Tribeca Festival ran June 4-15 in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood and Hammer to Nail has boots on the ground! Check out Chris Reeds’s Billy Idol Should Be Dead movie review fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN...

Out of Kenya’s population of 53 million, 8 million are widows. Many face not just the pain of loss, but the added trauma of being pushed out of their homes, denied their land, and labeled with cruel names: “witch,” “murderer,”...

(The Tribeca Festival ran June 4-15 in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood and Hammer to Nail has boots on the ground! Check out M.J. O’Toole’s Twelve Moons movie review fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)...