The Film Stage

Returning for its seventh edition this year, the 2024 Rockaway Film Festival kicks off next weekend, taking place August 17-25 and featuring a rich lineup of cinematic and artistic events. Highlights include Zia Anger’s My First Film, featuring a Q&A...

One of the year’s best examples of resourceful filmmaking, Michael Duignan’s fantasy comedy The Paragon was shot over just 13 days in Auckland, New Zealand for a budget of around $15,000 in U.S. dollars. After premiering to much acclaim at...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here. Banel & Adama (Ramata-Toulaye Sy) A directorial debut programmed into the main Cannes competition...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Roxy CinemaFidelio, our four-film program with Chapo Trap House’s Movie Mindset, closes with Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer and Clint Eastwood’s Absolute Power on 35mm, both introduced by myself, Will Menaker,...

With nearly 1,700 titles in their catalog, it’s hard to discern where exactly to start when exploring the Criterion Collection. To celebrate their 40th anniversary, the company has now made it a bit easier as they’ve unveiled CC40, a 40-film,...

Next year marks two anniversaries: the (more or less) 130th of cinema and 50th of Saturday Night Live. Perhaps, thus, some fitting convergence that no idea in the history of cinema has been less-compelling than Jason Reitman doing a one-two...

A major note about this year’s New York Film Festival line-up: 19 of 34 directors have never been featured in the Main Slate. Debuting at Locarno before stopping stateside is Transamazonia, Pia Marais’ first feature since 2013’s Layla Fourie, which...

Rather than sit through interminable, months-long screenwriting courses charging fees so substantial they require a literal loan, there’s unique opportunity to develop skills and practice at a reasonable price. It’s a pleasure to announce I’m co-teaching a Zoom-based screenwriting workshop...

Long one of our favorite undistributed films of 2023, Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka has been acquired by Film Movement for a September 20 release. Ahead of this, we have a U.S. trailer that does well to capture the three-headed monster that...

One of the most entertaining films to premiere at Sundance earlier this year, Steven Soderbergh’s formally inventive ghost tale Presence has now reappeared. Ahead of a stop at the Toronto International Film Festival, NEON has now announced a January 17,...