The Film Comment Podcast

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Cannes 2026 #3, with Robert Daniels and Inney Prakash May 16, 2026

Show notes

Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year’s edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Pedro Almodóvar, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.

For the third of our daily Podcasts from the Croisette, critic Robert Daniels (RogerEbert.com) and FC Contributing Editor and Asia Society programmer Inney Prakash join FC Editor Devika Girish to discuss Radu Jude's The Diary of a Chambermaid (3:45), Marie Kreutzer's Gentle Monster (19:55), and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden (28:16).

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Cannes 2026 #2, with Katie McCabe and Alison Willmore May 15, 2026

Show notes

Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year's edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.

On the second of our daily Podcasts from the Croisette, critics Katie McCabe (Sight and Sound) and Alison Willmore (New York, Vulture) join FC editor Devika Girish to talk over their recent festival viewing. They begin with Pawlikowski’s highly anticipated Fatherland (3:20), before moving to Kôji Fukada’s subtle Nagi Notes (11:30), Asghar Farhadi’s surprisingly soapy Parallel Tales (19:56), and Maxence Voiseux’s documentary Gabin (27:30) before wrapping up by revisiting Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (31:52).

Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.

Cannes 2026 #1, with Jonathan Romney and Beatrice Loayza May 14, 2026

Show notes

Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year's edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.

To kick off our daily Podcasts from the Croisette, critics and Film Comment contributing editors Jonathan Romney and Beatrice Loayza join FC editor Devika Girish to discuss the highs and lows of the festival's first few days. The group begins by debating Pierre Salvadori's The Electric Venus (4:30), the festival's opening night film, and Kantemir Balagov's Butterfly Jam (9:58), the opening selection of the Directors' Fortnight section. Next, they share their responses to Jane Schoenbrun's Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (22:15) and Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet's A Woman's Life (33:45) before discussing the films they are most looking forward to seeing at this year's edition.

Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.

Boots Riley on I Love Boosters May 04, 2026

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On this week’s Podcast, Boots Riley joins to discuss his new film, I Love Boosters. The director of 2018’s Sorry to Bother Youand the 2023 streaming series I’m a Virgo has returned with a movie that provides a new, invigorating riff on the theme that runs through all his work: the destruction of capitalism by an organized working class. I Love Boosters, which opens in theaters later this month, is a kaleidoscopic joyride that features professional shoplifters, lurking demons, a Marxist teleportation device, and more, all anchored by a cast par excellence: Keke Palmer in the lead, with Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Demi Moore, Eiza González, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, and LaKeith Stanfield making up a pitch-perfect ensemble.

Film Comment Editor Devika Girish had a long conversation with Boots about everything from how he got into fashion when he was depressed to why it’s important for him to make movies that show that the left can win.

In Conversation with George Clooney Apr 21, 2026

Show notes

Next week, on Monday, April 27, Film at Lincoln Center honors George Clooney with their annual Chaplin Award. Clooney has been a shining star in the American media firmament since the 1990s, from his breakout role on E.R., through innumerable hits, like O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Michael Clayton (2007), The Descendants (2011), just to name a few—to Noah Baumbach’s recent Jay Kelly (2025), in which he gave a twinkling, reflexive performance as a movie star looking back on the choices made during a long and illustrious career. Throughout roles big and small, as well as directorial outings, Clooney has combined versatility, humility, humor, and strong moral convictions, with an undeniable screen presence.

As Adam Nayman writes in an essay for The Film Comment Letter, dropping this Friday: “Pauline Kael, who shouted out Clooney’s performance in Three Kings (1999) in her final on-the-record interview (‘he was very good’), once called Cary Grant ‘The Man From Dream City.’ Clooney’s gifts put that phrase in reverse. Instead of materializing out of thin air, he’s grounded, earthbound—not a figure of fantasy but a stickler for mischief. Tasked consistently with playing petty thieves, swindlers, and ethically flexible professional types, Clooney traverses familiar actorly terrain and transforms it, by sheer force of presence.”

In advance of next week's Chaplin Award Gala, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish chatted with Clooney about the depth and breadth of his career—his key roles, his approach to his craft, and his vision of the world which he brings to every performance and work.

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Melissa Anderson on The Hunger Mar 31, 2026

Show notes

For more than two decades, Melissa Anderson has been one of New York City’s most important film critics—and one of Film Comment’s favorite writers. From her start as a freelancer in the 2000s, through her editorships at Time Out, The Village Voice, and most recently 4Columns, she has regaled readers with her peerless wit, her attunement to desire, especially queer desire, and her facility for writing about actors. A new book published by The Film Desk—evocatively titled The Hunger: Film Writing, 2012–2024—offers an invaluable compilation of Melissa’s writing.

Film Comment editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish invited Melissa on this week’s episode to talk about her formative experiences of film and film criticism, her development as a writer and editor, and the genesis of this new collection.

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The Films of Peter Watkins, with J. Hoberman Mar 24, 2026

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On October 30 of last year, we lost one of cinema’s most daring auteurs: the British director Peter Watkins. Starting out in television in the 1960s, Watkins developed an utterly unique and militantly political mode of filmmaking. In works like Culloden (1964), The War Game (1966), Punishment Park (1971), and his magnum opus, La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000), he cast nonprofessional actors in enactments of political events from the past, present, or a dystopian future, which he then shot in the style of live news reporting on TV. The results are thrilling films that startle with their naturalism and urgency, and provoke thorny questions about authoritarianism—not just of the state, but also of the media.

To commemorate this great filmmaker’s legacy, Film Comment editor Devika Girish invited critic J. Hoberman, who has not only admired and written about Watkins’s work, but also took a class with the man himself back in the 1970s. They talk about the trajectory of Watkins’s life and work, what makes his films feel so singular even today, and the contemporary directors that carry forward his legacy.

Oscars 2026 Preview, with the Los Angeles Review of Books Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

It’s that time of year again: the Academy Awards are just around the corner. In anticipation of the winners being revealed this Sunday, Devika and Clint teamed up with some colleagues from Tinseltown—the writers and editors of the Los Angeles Review of Books—to scrutinize this year’s nominees. The publication’s Editor-at-Large Eric Newman, Senior Humanities Editor Annie Berke, and Contributor Elizabeth Alsop joined for a special collaboration with their podcast, the LARB Radio Hour. The group debated the relative merits and shortcomings of this year’s Best Picture contenders—from Sinners to The Secret Agent to F1—and also discussed trends, surprises, and snubs.

Akinola Davies Jr. on My Father’s Shadow Feb 26, 2026

Show notes

Set in Nigeria in 1993, Akinola Davies Jr.’s elliptical, atmospheric My Father’s Shadow is a portrait of a country on the cusp of a political crisis. We experience these events through the eyes of the film’s young protagonists, two boys who spend a day in Lagos with their father. They’re thrilled at the prospect of some quality time with their often-absent old man—but they also sense that there’s trouble brewing around them, even if they don’t understand all the details. Film Comment Editor Devika Girish spoke with Davies, who just won a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut for the film, about the extent to which he drew upon family memories while writing the script with his brother, Wale; how the crew recreated the textures, sounds, and feel of 1990s Nigeria; and why it was important to have a children’s perspective at the heart of this story.

Ashley Clark on The World of Black Film Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

Across his contributions to Film Comment and other publications, and his programming as the Curatorial Director of the Criterion Collection, Ashley Clark has established himself as one of the smartest, sharpest taste-makers in the film scene in New York and beyond—particularly through his championing of underseen films by people of color. So we were very excited by the announcement of his new book, The World of Black Film, which comes out this week. The beautifully designed volume is a historical survey of a hundred significant films made by Black filmmakers or centering Black life. It adopts a rigorously critical and curatorial approach, taking care to define what a “Black cinema” can mean, and assembling a series of titles, accompanied by deft appreciations, that capture its breadth, depth, and diversity. Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited Ashley on the Podcast to discuss his methods in researching and shortlisting films, titles that he discovered while writing the book, and what it meant for him to have legendary Black filmmaker Sir John Akomfrah write the book’s introduction.

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