Sustain an edge: filmmaker Courtney Stephens reflects on the inspiration, both personal and artistic, she has drawn from Joan Didion’s foundational writing
In my room: while the big-name titles were relatively modest, there was nothing small about more formally expansive films like Dry Ground Burning and Jet Lag
Light touches: this year’s slate was dotted with life-affirming standouts like Claire Denis’s Fire, Mikhaël Hers’s The Passengers of the Night, and more
Fresh perspective: the nonfiction lineup ran the gamut from the exploitative provocation of Jihad Rehab to the genuinely moving uplift of jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy
A closer look: Scathing but myopic in its critique of the sexist cinema of Hollywood, Nina Menkes’s Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power regurgitates the blind spots of male-gaze theory.
Factory settings: a long-awaited retrospective shines a light on the films of Márta Mészáros, thickly textured portraits of love affairs, workdays, and friendships between women
Care and care alike: on cinema as a cultural and communal practice—and not just an industry—and the increasing need for an ethics of “care” in film culture
