Category: Film Appreciation
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Tribeca Docs Salute Congressional Pioneers
Delaware is known as “the First State” for its historic legacy as the first state to ratify the United States Constitution. Delawarean Sarah McBride has herself tallied some impressive firsts: the first openly transgender woman to work at the White House; the first trans speaker at the Democratic National Convention, in 2016; the first trans…
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Tribeca Festival Goes Pop with Billy Joel and Boy George
The 24th annual Tribeca Festival kicked off on June 4, 2025, with a sadly newsworthy opening-night attraction: part one of Billy Joel: And So It Goes, a two-part HBO documentary detailing the career of one of pop music’s most successful singer-songwriters. It’s newsworthy because Joel recently announced he’s suffering from Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, a rare brain…
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Open Roads Italian Series Returns with Stories of Familia
For the 24th year, Film at Lincoln Center and the legendary Italian studio Cinecittà are presenting “Open Roads: New Italian Cinema,” a chance for New Yorkers to catch up with the latest offerings from one of the world’s greatest cinema nations. Running May 29 to June 5, the 2025 series opens with a film that…
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‘Green Border,’ ‘No Other Land’ and ‘Anora’ Are Among 2024’s Best
Thanks to my relatively new perch on the editorial board at Cineaste, I’m getting to see more films a year than ever. (Editing a monthly magazine and website for several decades limited my free time to luxuriate in the three weeks of New York Film Festival press screenings, although I tried to make up for that…
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More Highlights from the 62nd New York Film Festival
The 62nd New York Film Festival ends on October 14, having screened 73 features plus various programs of shorts. I managed to see 28 films over a whirlwind three weeks of press screenings. Here are some highlights, in addition to the films I’ve discussed in previous posts. One of the most haunting and disturbing films…
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Sigrid Nunez’s Tales of Grief Enliven the New York Film Festival
Avid readers of fiction will know the name Sigrid Nunez, author of nine novels and winner of the National Book Award for her seventh, The Friend (2018). But for many of us, the 2024 New York Film Festival has been the introduction to her world, with the New York premieres of two film versions of her books,…
Kevin Lally on Film 