Nashville Film Festival Reviews: “Charm Circle,” “Fanny: The Right to Rock”

The Nashville Film Festival is taking place this week starting September 30 and running through October 6, and oday I have reviews of two documentaries that are playing both in person and virtually at the festival: the slice of life “Charm Circle,” making its North American premiere after winning the audience award at Sheffield Doc […]

Nashville Film Festival: Short Film Reviews

This week, I’m very excited to be covering the Nashville Film Festival, which is occurring both virtually and in person from September 30 through October 6. I’ll be dropping reviews of some of the films playing at the festival throughout the week, starting off with four short films I selected to review. They range from […]

TCM Film Festival Recap

I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend than at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. But unlike the previous festivals, which have been occurring in Hollywood annually since 2010, this fest was virtual, with anyone who had access to TCM or HBO Max able to enjoy its offerings. Last year’s festival, […]

Sundance Review: “Night of the Kings”

Writer and director Phillippe Lacôte’s “Night of the Kings” left me feeling baffled, but in the pleasant sort of way that makes me want to dive deeper into the world created on screen, and its inspiration behind the scenes. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy, “Night of the Kings”—which played at the Sundance Film […]

Sundance Review: “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It”

Entertainer. EGOT winner. Activist. Role model. Legend. All of these words and more can be applied to Rita Moreno, the Puerto Rican performer who rose to fame in the waning years of the Hollywood studio system and continues to work consistently in film and television today. Her life and career, including her struggles to overcome […]

Sundance Review: “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street”

Last summer, “Sesame Street” was widely praised for a town hall it hosted on anti-racism as a means of explaining the protests for racial justice happening around the world in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police officers to both children and adults. “Sesame Street,” the educational children’s television program that celebrated its 50th […]

SLIFF Review: “MLK/FBI”

It’s easy to build up figures in our minds—in fact, we frequently revel in the opportunity to find historical figures with little to no flaws to give us someone to look up to. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. is one such figure, seemingly larger than life despite the fact that he died only […]

SLIFF Review: “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show”

In 1968, performer and activist Harry Belafonte became the first Black person to host a full week of an American talk show when he took over for Johnny Carson to host five nights of “The Tonight Show.” It’s easy to think, watching the first several minutes of “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show,” […]

SLIFF Review: “On Broadway”

The bright lights of the marquee that can be spotted from the other end of the block. The crush of people milling around outside the doors, under the lights; maybe some of them just got straight off the train, maybe some of them moseyed over from dinner across the street. Then the doors open—it’s a […]

Pordenone Silent Film Festival Recap

Almost all of the film festivals that normally take place this time of year have sadly had to cancel in-person screenings and events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But as hard as it is not to be able to gather in person, many of these festivals have moved to a virtual platform, making it more […]