The Film Comment Podcast

The Flaherty Film Seminar is one of the nonfiction film world’s most interesting events. Founded by Frances Flaherty in 1955 in honor of her late husband, Robert—the documentarian best known for Nanook of the North (1922)—the Seminar brings together scholars, artists, programmers, critics, and more to watch and intimately discuss a selection of works curated by rotating guest programmers. But here’s the twist: none of the films are revealed to the audience in advance of the screenings, in accordance with a principle that Frances Flaherty described as “non-preconception”—an open-minded encounter with the unknown. Typically, the Seminar is held in Upstate New York, but this year’s curators, Julian Ross and May Adadol Ingawanij, decided to host it in a new location—in Thailand, at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya. It’s added a whole different dimension to the Flaherty experience, with audiences and films drawn primarily from Southeast Asia.  On today’s episode, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish, who’s been on the ground as a Fellow at the Seminar for the last week, invites May and Julian—as well as Thai Film Archive deputy director Kong Rithdee and Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong—to discuss the making of this year’s seminar. Their engaging conversation charts how the works of featured artists—Jumana Manna, Chikako Yamashiro, Riar Rizaldi, Ho Tzu Nyen, Saeed Taji Farouky, Korakrit Arunanondchai, and more—elucidate overarching themes of solidarity and communion.

In April 2021, Film Comment published a Trans Cinema Roundtable Podcast, in which two trans film critics and two trans filmmakers answered questions submitted by listeners on what constitutes a cinema of transness. Now, two of those panelists—Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay—are about to publish a new book on that very subject. Corpses, Fools and Monsters is a thorough inquiry into the history, present, and future of what Caden and Willow call the “trans film image”—not a fully developed cinema, yet, but gestures, glimpses, and traces that have been visible in film from its earliest days and have now gained a renewed creative force. On today’s episode, Caden and Willow join Film Comment Editor Devika Girish to talk about the extensive research they understood for the book, why representation can be a complex term for trans cinephiles, and films from reappraised classics like Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) to new works by trans filmmakers, including Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow.

Critics have been buzzing about Richard Linklater’s Hit Man since it premiered at festivals last year. A charming mix of screwball and noir, the film takes inspiration from the real-life story of Gary Johnson, a schoolteacher who for years moonlighted as a pretend hit man in Houston, helping local police entrap folks who would reach out to him to order a killing. Hit Man stars Glen Powell, who also wrote the script with Linklater, and it adds a sexy twist to the true tale. In the movie, Gary falls for one of his targets—a beautiful woman (played by Adria Arjona) who asks him to kill her abusive husband. A game of secrets, twists, and multiple identities follows, as dark and thrilling as it is hilarious. On today’s episode, Linklater joins Film Comment Editor Devika Girish to discuss the movie’s genesis, how it draws unexpectedly from his activism for criminal justice reform, his fascination with the flexibility of identity, and his underrated talent for writing great twists.

For the last two weeks, our on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been reporting from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. Before the festival officially drew to a close last Saturday, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish moderated a panel about documentary ethics in the Cannes Docs section of the Marché du Film. Curated by the Documentary Association of Europe and presented with American Documentary, the live event featured a stellar lineup of speakers, including Kiyoko McCrae from Chicken and Egg Pictures; Adam Piron from the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program; Alemberg Ang, a Philippines-based producer and filmmaker; and Viv Li, a Chinese filmmaker based in Berlin. Titled “Towards a Universal Values System in Documentary,” the panel explored a number of fascinating questions, such as what equitable collaboration looks like in nonfiction filmmaking, what it means to gain the consent of your subjects, and who gets to tell which stories.

Cannes 2024 is in wrapping up this weekend—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. For our (nearly) final episode from the sunny shores of Southern France, Dennis Lim, Artistic Director of the New York Film Festival, and Justin Chang, film critic for The New Yorker, join Film Comment Editor Devika Girish to discuss some late-festival selections and highlights, including Mohammed Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2:50), Truong Minh Quý’s Viet and Nam (14:20), and Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light (21:10), before debating what the Cannes 2024 lineup says about the current state of cinema. Subscribe today to the Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2024 edition: www.filmcomment.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Cannes 2024 is in full swing—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. On our latest episode from the sunny shores of Southern France, critics Beatrice Loayza, Giovanni Marchini Camia, and Caitlin Quinlan join Film Comment Editor Devika Girish to dig into their recent festival viewing, including Miguel Gomes’s Grand Tour (3:15), Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia (19:50), Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown (34:48), and Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope (45:55). Subscribe today to the Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2024 edition: www.filmcomment.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Cannes 2024 is in full swing—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. On our latest episode from the sunny shores of Southern France, critics Guy Lodge and Adam Piron join Film Comment Editor Devika Girish to share their reactions to two of the most buzzy recent premieres—Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez (3:15) and Sean Baker’s Anora (14:39)—before offering some personal recommendations for deserving films that aren't getting the same hype treatment, including Sandhya Suri’s Santosh (26:30), Carson Lund’s Eephus (33:12), and Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (37:10). Subscribe today to the Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2024 edition: www.filmcomment.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Cannes 2024 is in full swing—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors has been high-tailing it from screening to screening, cutting through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. For our latest episode from the shores of the Riviera, critics Robert Daniels, Miriam Bale, and Mark Asch join Film Comment Editor Devika Girish for a discussion of their recent festival viewing, including David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds (3:15), Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (23:37), Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice (36:54), and Claire Simon’s Elementary (49:25). Subscribe today to the Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2024 edition: www.filmcomment.com/newsletter-sign-up/

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. On today’s episode, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish is joined by Kevin B. Lee, Abby Sun, and Vadim Rizov to debate their differing reactions to Jia Zhangke’s Caught by the Tides (3:28), Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada (21:17), Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson’s Rumours (40:41), Patricia Mazuy’s Visiting Hours (48:21), and Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language (53:42). Subscribe today to the Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2024 edition.

Cannes 2024 has arrived—and our intrepid on-the-Croisette crew of Film Comment contributors is high-tailing it from screening to screening, ready to cut through the noise with a series of thoughtful dispatches, interviews, and podcasts. On today’s episode, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish sat down with Canadian filmmakers Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson to discuss their new film Rumours, one of the true delights of the festival so far. It’s a horror comedy set during a G7 Summit, with a dynamic ensemble cast including Cate Blanchett as the German chancellor, Charles Dance as the American president with an explicable British accent, and Roy Dupuis as the Canadian prime minister sporting a man bun. These and other leaders of the world’s richest democracies gather in a gazebo in the German forest to draft a statement addressing an unnamed political crisis, but soon sinister noises and figures emerge from the shadows around them. Rumours is a satire that is as whip-smart and timely as it is unabashedly silly, featuring hijinks such as a giant brain and an AI bot that traps sex predators. Subscribe today to the Film Comment Letter for a steady stream of Cannes coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2024 edition: www.filmcomment.com/newsletter-sign-up/