The Film Comment Podcast

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At Home #13 - The Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund’s Nellie Killian and Ed Halter Apr 07, 2020

Show notes

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

At Home #12 - Critic Jonathan Romney Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

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

True/False Film Fest 2020 Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

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

At Home #11 - Critic Ela Bittencourt Mar 31, 2020

Show notes

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

At Home #10 - Synonyms’s Nadav Lapid Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

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

At Home #9 - New York Times Critic Manohla Dargis Mar 27, 2020

Show notes

In an article in The New York Times, the critic Manohla Dargis wrote about what we’re missing right now: “There is nothing like watching a movie, leaving the world while being rooted in it alongside friends, family and everyone else.” It’s a feeling that means so much to all of us, and on this podcast, we’ve been doing our best to stay virtually connected with each other and with movies. We’ve had the pleasure of welcoming Manohla Dargis on the podcast in our festival editions, and in these extraordinary times, she joins us once again. For this episode, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Assistant Editor Devika Girish talked to Manohla about the impact of the cinema shutdown, what’s unique about the movies, and why old Hollywood movies can hold a special pleasure. We discuss Hollywood classics like 42nd Street and The Great McGinty as well as more recent films including Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and Sudanese documentary Talking About Trees. Please note that our necessarily remote connection may mean some variable audio quality 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

At Home #8 - Film at Lincoln Center and NYFF’s Eugene Hernandez Mar 26, 2020

Show notes

On the past few episodes we’ve posed the same essential question to critics, a filmmaker, and a curator: what’s the view from where you’re sitting? That’s come to mean a couple of things: what are you watching these days, but also what’s life like from your perspective of the film world? For this installment, we looked within our own organization, Film at Lincoln Center, and spoke with our colleague, Eugene Hernandez. Eugene is the deputy executive director at Film at Lincoln Center, director of the New York Film Festival, and publisher of Film Comment. FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold joined Clinton Krute and Devika Girish to talk with Eugene about his observations on our film community in these troubled times. And of course, we also discussed the movies we’ve been watching, including Jacques Tati’s Playtime, Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck, Robert Smigel’s The Week Of, and Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. 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

At Home #7 - Nick Pinkerton on Buñuel, Godzilla, baseball, and more Mar 25, 2020

Show notes

Last weekend, the box office report for new releases looked very different: it was glaringly empty. As with so much of the world, the pandemic has left its mark on film: for now, new theatrical releases are in a kind of holding pattern. Our latest guest on The Film Comment Podcast at Home series is regular contributor Nick Pinkerton, and he’s been wondering how this cinematic break is affecting film culture and the very idea of contemporary cinema. Nick has also been watching a ton of movies, everything from Bunuel’s Simon of the Desert to Virtuosity. For this episode, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Assistant Editor Devika Girish spoke with Nick about his voracious viewing and what isolation means for all of us as moviegoers with no place to go. 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: https://purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

At Home #6 - MoMA’s Rajendra Roy Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

Every year, the New Directors/New Films festival introduces audiences to fresh and adventurous cinema from around the world. It’s presented by Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art, and for many New York moviegoers, it’s a lovely prelude to the spring. This year, the 49th edition has been postponed, and so we thought it would be nice to sit down with MoMA’s chief curator of film, Rajendra Roy, for another installment in the Film Comment Podcast: At Home. We talked about a couple of Raj’s comfort food movies—including David Lynch’s Dune and Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve—and we also discussed how an institution like MoMA plans to adapt its film programming to the current moment. Also joining FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold were Clinton Krute, FC digital editor, and FC Devika Girish, assistant editor. 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: https://purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

At Home #5 - Sandi Tan on Mauvais sang Mar 23, 2020

Show notes

For the past week we’ve been doing a special daily edition of the podcast where we talk about what we’ve been watching at home. It’s a new week now and the world still seems to get a bit scarier every day, so we’re going to keep doing this to distract anyone who needs distraction. For this episode, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold was joined by Assistant Editor Devika Girish, Digital Editor Clinton Krute, and a very special guest: Los Angeles-based filmmaker and novelist Sandi Tan, director of Shirkers. We were pleased to welcome Sandi for a Film Comment Talk when Shirkers came out, and this time around, we had a terrific time discussing a number of great movies. We started with one agreed upon title, Leos Carax’s Mauvais Sang, starring Denis Lavant and Juliette Binoche, and ranged on from Zodiac to Fellini’s Roma. 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: https://purchase.filmlinc.org/donate/contribute2

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