International: Africa
First Look 2023 Preview: Survey of New World Cinema
Once again, First Look Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image is upon us, showcasing new, adventurous films from around the world. Encompassing features, shorts, narratives and non-narratives, this year's wide ranging selections include Tori and Lokita, a new film...
Sundance 2023 Review: MAMI WATA, West African Folktale Stuns, Mesmerizes
In West African folklore, Mami Wata (“Mother Water”) represents a water-based deity of relatively recent vintage to the continent. Traditionally a life-giver and life-bringer, Mami Wata isn’t without her ambiguities, however. She can take as well as give in equal...
Sundance 2023 Review: ANIMALIA, Abstract, Metaphysical Sci-Fi Drama
For writer-director Sofia Alaoui, winning the Short Film Grand Jury Prize for Qu’importe si les bêtes meurent (So What If the Goats Die) at the Sundance Film Festival and the Best Short Film at the César Awards three years ago...
STAR WARS: VISIONS: Disney+ And Lucasfilm Announce Animators And Release Date For Volume 2
Arguably one of the best things that Disney+, Star Wars and Lucasfilm released last year was Star Wars: Visions. The collection of short films created by animation studios in Japan offered a staggering variety of animation styles and stories...
Blu-ray Review: THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESURRECTION, The Poetics of Resistance
With only one or two 'big' names known, even among cinephines, cinema from sub-saharan Africa has often been neglected both on the festival and the art house cinema circuit. Perhaps also because of the way the filmmakers use the...
International Genre Focused Hub 'Fantastic Pavilion' to Launch at Marche du Film at Cannes
Variety had the exclusive yesterday, an announcement of the creation of Fantastic Pavilion, "... a significant booth and exhibition space located at the Cannes Marché du Film in the Palais des Festivals". Announced this week during Ventana Sur in...
South African Horrorfest 2022: THE HARBINGER, KING OF SCREEN And LIFE WITH CHUCKY Highlight African Genre Fest Lineup
After an unforeseen scheduling setback our friends at the South African Horrorfest picked up their bootstraps and were able to reschedule their annual event for this coming week and a half. While its always nice to be able to hold...
Criterion in January 2023: THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN and Some Other Movies
Also out in the new year: 'Bergman Island,' 'Imitation of Life,' 'This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection' and Lars von Trier's 'Europe Trilogy.'
Toronto 2022 Review: THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER, Mirrors and Memories
It might be something bred into us when we're in the womb, a need to please our parents. Or at least, to have some kind of effect on them. The memory of how we either succeeded or failed can haunt...
Toronto 2022 Review: HOLY SPIDER, A Taut and Stark Social Thriller
It might be the world's oldest profession, but prostitution has always been treated with disdain, or far worse, depending on the society and time period. Prostiutes, who are mainly women, are both wanted and reviled; treated as though they are...
Review: In SALOUM, Rules Are Bent and Broken With Aplomb
Yann Gael, Evelyne Ily Juhen and Roger Sallah star in a thriller from Senegal, directed by Jean Luc Herbulot, and now streaming on Shudder.
Shudder's THE HOME FOR HALLOWEEN Event, Counting Down 61 Days to Halloween!
Thank goodness Summer is nearly over. Who's with us? High five? Anyone? Alas, the days will become shorter and the air crisper but do not dwell on the absence of light and heat but bask in the glow and...
SALOUM: Official Trailer Lands With Aplomb!
Now that Shudder and IFC have announced that they're handling the streaming and threatrical release of the action-horror hybrid Saloum next month it was only a matter of time before we got an official trailer. Boy howdy it does not...
Celludroid 2022: Final Days to Submit to South African Sci-Fi, Animation and Fantasy Film Festival
Was I this many years old when I found out that our friends at South African Horrorfest had a sister festival called Celludroid, and that it focuses on Sci-Fi, Animation and Fantasy subjects? For shame. Our friends have long...
Shudder Acquires Senegalese Genre Bender SALOUM
Well now. This is fantastic news. This is amazing news. Shudder has announced that they have acquired the Senegalese film, Saloum. A verifiable kitchen sink of genres, Saloum is equal parts a horror filim, an action film, a revenge...
Review: GOOD MADAM, Chilling Haunted House Story
Laws might change, but it can takes years, or even generations, to change a society and how it operates. What's bred in the bone cannot be easily overturned, and even as some people might techncially have the hard-fought freedom they...
GOOD MADAM (MLUNGU WAM): New Trailer Arrives Ahead of Shudder Release
An eerie psychological thriller about Tsidi, who is forced to moved in with her estranged mother, a live-in domestic worker caring obsessively for her catatonic white 'Madam' in the wealthy Cape Town suburbs. But as Tsidi tries to heal her...
Criterion in September 2022: EXOTICA, SOUND OF METAL, TAKE OUT Lead the Pack
Brian De Palma's 'Blow Out' should blow everyone away in 4K, as should new editions of Henri-Georges Clouzot's 'Le Corbeau' and Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project.
South African Horrorfest 2022: Cape Town Horror Film Festival Extends Submission Deadline
Hey, filmmakers! Our friends at South African Horrorfest have extended their deadline for submissions for this year's film festival and halloween event. Horrorfest will be hosting their 18th edition this year with in person screenings in Cape Town. There...
Review: NEPTUNE FROST, Spiritual, Joyful, Badass Cyberpunk
The coltan mines in the hills of Burundi supply minerals that makes tantalum capacitors used in most of world's electronic devices. Multidisciplinary artist Saul Williams (Slam) and Rwandan artist Anisa Uzeyman use the mines as a springboard to embark on...
