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CIFF 2021- “Hit the Road” Is the Best Directorial Debut of the Year: Film Capsule Review
Move aside Green Book! Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road is the most emotionally-impactful road trip films of recent memory and quite possibly the best directorial debut of the year. A slightly mysterious family road trip across the rugged Iranian landscape proves to be fertile ground for heart, humor, and pangs of sorrow. The extreme wide, […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “Once Upon A Time In Uganda” Inspires the Artist in Us All
No burgeoning film movement has been more fascinating than that of Wakaliwood, which has created nearly fifty exhilarating action films since the late 2000s. How do the people of Wakaliga, which is a slum district in Uganda’s capital, create so many fascinating action films with virtually no budget? Cathryne Czubek’s Once Upon a Time In […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “The Mole” is the Peak of International Espionage Filmmaking: Film Capsule Review
The motto “reality is stranger than fiction” has never been more true than it is in The Mole, a riveting documentary following Ulrich Larsen, a retired Danish chef who ends up independently spying on the North Korean regime and their weapons deals for nearly a decade. It’s a crackpot narrative that sounds difficult to take […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “Anonymous Sister” Reveals the Power of Home Movie Footage: Film Capsule Review
The most powerful documentaries often make the world’s largest crises feel emotionally personal, and Anonymous Sister is no exception. Director Jamie Boyle uses nearly 30 years worth of interviews and home movies to recount the devastating effects the opioid crisis has had on her mother and sister. The voices of journalists reporting on the developments […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “The Gig Is Up” is An Enlightening Exposé on the Gig Economy: Film Capsule Review
No industry may be as important to the upper middle class as the gig economy. Uber, Doordash, TaskRabbit, and countless others serve an integral part to the daily rituals of many. However, The Gig Is Up shines a light on the gig workers who make these companies function and the struggles these individuals face everyday. […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “Zero Gravity” Reaches for the Stars: Film Capsule Review
Zero Gravity is an uplifting look at the future of coding and space exploration through the frame of a middle school space robotics club. Developing code for SPHERES located in the International Space Station conceptualizes the power of code for the young students and audiences alike. Director Thomas Verrette’s documentary does struggle at times to […]
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AFI Fest 2021- “The First Wave” Is The First Essential Pandemic Feature: Film Capsule Review
After nearly two years of wall to wall coverage of the biggest worldwide event in decades, I had grown numb and accustomed to “the new normal”. That is, until Matthew Heineman’s The First Wave woke me from my desensitized slumber. Rather than try to cover as much of the pandemic as possible, Heineman centers solely […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “Krimes” is An Artistic Balancing Act: Film Capsule Review
Krimes‘ exploration of Jesse Krimes, a former drug dealer turned acclaimed conceptual artist while incarcerated, is a high wire act of contrasting messages. The documentary demonstrates how damaging the industrial prison complex was to Krimes’ mental health, but at the same time, points out that the isolation that prison provided fueled him to develop his […]
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AFI Fest 2021- “Holy Emy”, A Slow Burn Coming of Age Tale: Film Capsule Review
Director Araceli Lemos has mounted a massive thematic medley for her debut feature, Holy Emy. The film follows Emy, a young Filipino teenager in Greece who has to learn to forge her own identity as she searches for an answer to her frequent ocular bleeding. Lemos blends an intimate portrait of the strongly religious Filipino […]
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DOC NYC 2021- “Grandpa Was An Emperor” Challenges Childhood Recollection: Film Capsule Review
For decades, the Derg enactment of a coup against the Selassie royal family in has been seen as beneficial in eyes of many Ethiopians. This largely stems from a lack of context and explanation from the royal family about their side of the regime change, who have remained silent about what took place. That is […]