"We did what we wanted to do, not what we should have done." Out from behind the paywall: B. Ruby Rich ( @brubyrich.bsky.social ) speaks to Yashaddai Owens about JIMMY, now playing @ifccenter.bsky.social and elsewhere. filmmaker.substack.com/p/the-art-of...

The Art of Arrival: Yashaddai Owens on “Jimmy”

B. Ruby Rich speaks with the director about his speculative portrait of James Baldwin.

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"This was my way of saying 'fuck it.'" Steve Macfarlane interviews Ngozi Onwurah about WELCOME II THE TERRORDOME, the first British film by a Black woman, back in theaters after 30 years: filmmaker.substack.com/p/in-the-hou...

In the Hour of Chaos: Ngozi Onwurah on “Welcome II the Terrordome”

The first British feature directed by a Black woman is back in theaters after 30 years.

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had fun writing about pop personas, gregg araki, and charli xcx for @filmmakermagazine.com this week! sign up for new essays from me each Friday, direct to your inbox: filmmaker.substack.com/p/faceoff-gr...

"Persona is a very deliberate instrument for Charli, who is curious about the conditions that might destabilize it." Chloe Lizotte ( @celizotte.bsky.social ) on expectation and dissonance in Gregg Araki's I WANT YOUR SEX and Charli XCX's MUSIC, FASHION, FILM: filmmaker.substack.com/p/faceoff-gr...

Face/Off: Gregg Araki and Charli XCX

An underground filmmaker and an international pop star play against type.

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"With Jennifer Lame in the editing room, Christopher Nolan has transformed the abstract into the impressionistic." Corey Atad ( @coreyatad.com ) on what Jennifer Lame's editing brings to Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY: filmmaker.substack.com/p/weaving-th...

Weaving “The Odyssey”

Editor Jennifer Lame’s third collaboration with Christopher Nolan is an epic of emotional immediacy.

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"I don't mind that people can see fingerprints on the clay or hot glue every now and then." In the latest excerpt from our summer issue, Kambole Campbell ( @kambole.bsky.social ) speaks with Emily Ann Hoffman about her delightfully bizarre animations. filmmaker.substack.com/p/disarming-...

Disarming the Audience

Emily Ann Hoffman on the power of “human-crafted” animation.

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"The festival has walked an improbable path of occupation, compromise, and survival." Sonya Vseliubska shares standouts from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, including BLACK MONEY FOR WHITE NIGHTS & Swann Arlaud in A MAN OF HIS TIME: filmmaker.substack.com/p/spa-eclect...

Spa Eclectics: At Karlovy Vary

The festival’s 60th edition and 80th anniversary acknowledges its inheritance on its own terms.

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"A film effectively unstuck in time, in which all events occur simultaneously, gaining shape in a storytelling style akin to recollected memory." for @filmmakermagazine.com, i wrote about Christopher Nolan's editing style and his collaboration with editor Jennifer Lame

Weaving “The Odyssey”

Editor Jennifer Lame’s third collaboration with Christopher Nolan is an epic of emotional immediacy.

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“The best intimate scenes go beyond sex. It’s like the characters—not the actors—stop performing.” Presenting the cover story from our summer issue: an intimacy coordinator roundtable, moderated by Yehuda Duenyas, the IC of Gregg Araki’s I WANT YOUR SEX. open.substack.com/pub/filmmake...

Keep Sex Weird

An intimacy coordinator roundtable.

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"By refusing to condescend to his lurid B-movie material, [Sam] Neill inhabits it like a church." Adam Nayman (@brofromanother.bsky.social) writes a remembrance of Neill, who threw himself headfirst into blockbusters and B movies alike. filmmaker.substack.com/p/rememberin...

Remembering Sam Neill

One of the proverbial good guys, Neill threw himself headfirst into blockbusters and B movies alike.

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A very good mail day today!! My profile of THE FURIOUS’ Kenji Tanigaki in Filmmaker Mag (a debut for me) arrived. As did my contributor’s copy of I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA (I wrote an essay for it).

"Like Odysseus, people had traveled far—from Boston, from Arizona, from Toronto." Chloe Lizotte ( @celizotte.bsky.social ) files a scene report from the opening night of Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY and tries to get to the bottom of a monocultural moment: filmmaker.substack.com/p/a-long-way...

A Long Way to See “The Odyssey”

On the scene at Christopher Nolan’s epic opening night.

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Jeffrey Wright @ebertvoices.bsky.social, John Woo @ BFI, Archivistas Salvajes @ Ultra Dogme, Babylon’13 @documentary.org, La Clef @filmmakermagazine.com, Ultraman @japantimes.co.jp, AI “sloppycats” @avclub.com … Did You See This? www.criterion.com/current/post...

“Political commitment is woven into the fabric of the cinema itself.” Botagoz Koilybaeva profiles the La Clef Revival collective, who occupied an arthouse theater in Paris to unlock a new future for cinema. From our summer issue. 📸: Chiara Marinai. open.substack.com/pub/filmmake...

La Clef Revival Occupies the Cinema

The Parisian cinema collective unlocks a new future for film culture and city life.

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“You can feel the earthiness of the East Village and the rubble, the empty lots, the abandoned buildings.” —Phil Hartman on NO PICNIC on the heels of its historic run at @filmforumnyc.bsky.social . Read David Schwartz on the film’s second life: open.substack.com/pub/filmmake...

“No Picnic” Feasts at Film Forum

Phil Hartman’s forgotten ode to Manhattan’s Lower East Side gets a second life.

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"Diving into the archive meant confronting a history that isn't taught and that we don't really have access to." Lauren Wissot interviews Lana Daher about her film Do You Love Me, which excavates Lebanon's past through home movies and the rhythms of emotion: filmmaker.substack.com/p/do-you-lov...

“Do You Love Me” Reassembles Lebanon’s Cultural Memory

Director Lana Daher on excavating Lebanon’s past through archival cinema, home movies, and the rhythms of emotion.

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talked with Georgia Bernstein about her wonderfully weird, watery debut NIGHT NURSE filmmaker.substack.com/p/take-care-...

Take Care: Georgia Bernstein on “Night Nurse”

The director talks about her psychosexual first feature.

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"There is something irresistible about Valerie's futile but sincere effort to prevail." From our summer issue, Rafaela Bassili reflects on the transforming entertainment industry depicted in Lisa Kudrow's THE COMEBACK: filmmaker.substack.com/p/lost-in-th...

Lost in the Funhouse

As the television industry reinvents itself, so does Lisa Kudrow’s protagonist in “The Comeback.”

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We’re thrilled to unveil the summer 2026 issue of Filmmaker! Featuring an intimacy coordinator roundtable, Jane Schoenbrun, John Early, Julio Torres, and much more ☀️ Trailer by Charlotte Gosch / Studio Other Types