The Film Comment Podcast

In case you missed the exciting news: we just relaunched the Film Comment Podcast last week after a yearlong hiatus. We’re glad to be back, and in this episode, we’re looking at one of the big developments that the film world has grappled with while we were away: the emergence of virtual film festivals. As the pandemic shut down cinemas and made travel impossible, festivals adopted a variety of strategies to keep bringing movies to their audiences. Some, like Cannes, were cancelled; others went fully online; and many, like the New York Film Festival, Sundance, and the Berlinale, experimented with hybrid formats. These new models have opened up a host of questions. Is it really a festival if you’re not in a cinema? What does the virtual format expose about the mechanics of festivals? And as theaters start to reopen, are these changes here to stay? In this episode, Film Comment editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish invited two festival veterans—curator Abby Sun (DocYard; My Sight Is Lined With Visions), and critic Jessica Kiang (Variety, The Playlist)—to dig into these questions and more. This episode of the Film Comment Podcast is sponsored by MUBI. Film Comment readers and listeners can get 30 days of great cinema free at mubi.com/filmcomment.

Welcome back to the Film Comment Podcast. After a months-long hiatus prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are thrilled to kick off the return of Film Comment with one of our favorite ways to connect with our audience: our weekly podcast. We've missed talking about movies with our whip-smart friends and fellow critics, and we're excited to be back here, bringing you insightful commentary on the latest in film culture. Check this space every Tuesday for new episodes. For our first new episode, we delved into the lineup of the 2021 Berlinale. Like several other festivals, this year’s edition is taking a hybrid approach, with two staggered parts—a virtual Industry Event, which took place March 1-5, and an in-person event scheduled for June. To dig into some highlights from the (very strong) slate screened online last week, Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute were joined by two of our favorite critics: scholar Erika Balsom, who writes for Artforum, CinemaScope, and other publications, and Ela Bittencourt, a longtime Film Comment contributor. They discussed Alexandre Koberidze’s What Do We See When We Look at the Sky, Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s The Girl and the Spider, Radu Jude’s Golden Bear-winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Celine Sciamma’s highly anticipated Petite Maman, and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, among other films.

It’s been a while since we did a new episode in our Film Comment Podcast: at Home series. Let me assure you that’s not because we’ve stopped watching movies or even left the house for that matter. So FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold got together again with my colleagues to talk about the latest selection of home viewing that’s been occupying our pandemicized brains. We discussed the shock of the present moment and how it’s changed, and then we talked about movies spanning cinema verite and what used to be called cyberspace, as well as a fair share of animals on screen. I was joined by all-star Film Comment editorial colleagues: Film Comment Digital Editor Clinton Krute and Assistant Editor Devika Girish. We discuss films like the Maysles Brothers’ Salesman, Hong Sangsoo’s Tale of Cinema, The Matrix, Greg Mottola’s The Daytrippers, Mike Nichols’ The Day of the Dolphin, Roar, and, um, Tiger King, among others. Stay safe, and thank you for all of your support. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

In more normal times, this week’s podcast might have been a Rep Report, reviewing some of the riches screening in New York’s art-house theaters. I’ve spent more happy hours than I could possibly count at those theaters, with certain years defined by landmark retrospectives and rare screenings of one sort or another. Film Comment has been lucky to count many of the programmers at these theaters as contributors to the magazine and the podcast. And so for our latest episode, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold checks in with two keepers of the flame: Eric Hynes, curator at Museum of the Moving Image, and writer of our Make It Real column on nonfiction; and Ashley Clark, director of film programming at BAM in Brooklyn. The three talk about steering theaters through this difficult time, and the movies and the 25-year-old baseball games that have kept them in good spirits. And fair warning: there is talk about Tron. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

We’re always happy to welcome two outstanding scholars to the Film Comment Podcast, and you’ve probably already read their criticism or heard them on a DVD or streaming commentary. David Bordwell last joined us to discuss his book Reinventing Hollywood, and of course his books are staples of film studies courses and his regular film blog with Kristin Thompson is a sharp and inquisitive resource. Critic Imogen Sara Smith is our other returning guest, a regular contributor to Film Comment and an all-star contributor at Criterion and elsewhere. Among her beautifully composed and observed essays, she’s written about Christian Petzold for us and on the podcast, reflected on the phenomenon of ghosts in cinema. Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold welcomed David and Imogen back for a discussion that ranges from fascinating rediscoveries in Japanese cinema to the inflammatory film The Hunt. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

An inspiring development during the pandemic has been watching people pull together to help one another and especially those hit hardest. One such effort was the Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund, which raised nearly $80,000 in 10 days for out-of-work movie theater employees. For our latest edition of The Film Comment Podcast at Home, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold caught up with programmer-critics Ed Halter and Nellie Killian, who spearheaded the Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund alongside Thomas Beard and filmmaker Sierra Pettengill. Halter, a critic in residence at Bard College, is also co-curator of Light Industry with Thomas Beard, and Killian is a contributing editor of Film Comment. Halter and Killian last appeared together on an incredible podcast talking about Projections, the experimental film slate of the New York Film Festival. This time, the three talked about the effects of the crisis on how we watch movies, what we’ve been watching, and the interesting overlaps between our ultra-mediated existence and experimental cinema. Films discussed include Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah, Listen to Britain, Fail Safe, The Day After, and more. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

We begin another week with The Film Comment Podcast at Home, keeping ourselves distracted and hopefully our listeners too. One big way the crisis is affecting the movie business is that it’s also another week without new theatrical releases. That might be the least of our concerns, but it’s definitely been food for thought among critics and other moviegoers. On this episode, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief talked to our weekly critic, Jonathan Romney, who has been adapting his output for the current situation, and that goes for his intake. Nic reached him in London, where he’s weathering the crisis at home like the rest of us with a liberal mix of movies and television. The two discuss Sergei Loznitsa's My Joy, Bojack Horseman, The Larry Sanders Show, Babylon Berlin, and Zia Anger's My First Film, among others. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

Right now, movie theaters are temporarily closed, and we’ll have to wait a while before we can all sit together again and look up at the big screen. But before the curtain dropped on moviegoing, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold made his annual pilgrimage to the True/False Film Fest. True/False is a reliably energizing festival of nonfiction film, curating the best from around the world. It’s also a place to take the Film Comment Podcast on the road, taking part in Toasted, the late-night event that closes out the festival. This year, Rapold spoke with another rotating lineup of filmmakers, critics, and film professionals, about movies at the festival as well as the nitty-gritty of filmmaking and working with people in front of and behind the camera. Among the films discussed are Garrett Bradley’s Time; Khalik Allah’s IWOW I Walk on Water; Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s The Viewing Booth; Daniel Hymanson’s So Late So Soon; and Sky Hopinka’s Malni: Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore. Rapold was joined by an ever-changing lineup including Hymanson and Hopinka, critic Dessane Lopez Cassell, filmmaker Mustafa Rony Zeno, and more. Finally Please bear in mind that this was recorded before a live audience at Cafe Berlin. Special thanks to Em Downing of True/False for keeping the show running. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

Staying at home is a global phenomenon in these difficult times, as we all find ourselves with a lot more indoors time and anxiety on our hands. For our latest daily edition of Film Comment Podcast at Home, we go to Brazil. Critic and programmer Ela Bittencourt wrote our interview feature on Bacurau in our March-April issue, and now, the film’s story of collective action, state of siege, and inequality feel ever more urgent. Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Assistant Editor Devika Girish talked about the situation in Brazil and also what Ela has been watching. In addition to Bacurau, we also discuss Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Joseph Losey’s The Servant and Mr. Klein, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, Mani Kaul’s Our Daily Bread, and Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest White. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

For our latest daily edition of the podcast, we reached out again to a filmmaker for a report from another corner of the world. Nadav Lapid is the director of The Kindergarten Teacher, The Policeman, and most recently, Synonyms, which played in The New York Film Festival and before that won the top prize at Berlin. Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold interviewed Nadav about The Kindergarten Teacher at its premiere in Cannes, and in our July-August 2019 issue, the director sat down with Jordan Cronk for a conversation about Synonyms. The filmmaker spoke to us from Tel Aviv this time about working on his next feature under the current circumstances, and a couple of movies that came to mind in the process. I was joined by Devika Girish, assistant editor. And as we enter another week of the pandemic, we hope that all of our listeners are staying safe. If you’re a longtime Film Comment subscriber, listener, or reader, or are just tuning in now, please consider becoming a member or making a donation to our publisher, Film at Lincoln Center, during these unprecedented times: purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2