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‘Slow’ by Marija Kavtaradzė Explores the Choreography of Desire

©Courtesy of Kimstim Films Slow is certainly an apt title for this charming little romcom about a dance instructor and a sign-language interpreter she employs while teaching a class of hearing-impaired teenagers. There is nothing forced or hurried about their relationship, which blossoms naturally as the two explore the limits and horizons of their own…

Sundance Film Festival: Food and Country is a Vital Documentary That Explores America’s Problematic Food System During COVID

Food critics who thrived in supporting restaurants before the COVID-19 pandemic closed dine-in services across America in March 2020 were forced to reevaluate their careers during the national lock down. But former Los Angeles Times and New York Times restaurant critic, Ruth Reichl, is one such food writer who was able to pivot in her…

Exclusive Video Interview: Directors Razelle Benally and Matthew Galkin on Their Showtime Documentary Series ‘Murder in Big Horn’

Check out more of our video interviews on our YouTube channel. There is a disturbing phenomenon of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women across the United States, where Native women all too frequently disappear and little is done to find them. The Showtime documentary series Murder in Big Horn, which made its premiere at the Sundance…

Sundance Film Festival Review – World Grand Jury Prize Winner ‘Scrapper’ is a Wonderful Tale of Newfound Family

Children may be capable of growing up on their own, but there’s still some value in having an adult around. The circumstances of a family situation may be unpredictable and influenced by many factors, which can involve an untimely death or other events that force people not to be together as they should. When a…

Sundance Film Festival Review – ‘Past Lives’ is an Extraordinary, Intoxicating Tale of a Relationship That Could Have Been

In the best of circumstances, two people meet at exactly the right moment and are able to proceed on a path together to forge a relationship. But the timing doesn’t always work out like that, and one person being available and interested may not coincide with the other. The sense of loss that can come…

Sundance Film Festival Review – ‘Magazine Dreams’ Shows the Destructive Power of Societal Standards

People will go to incredible lengths to be perceived as beautiful. What that looks like is different by culture and by gender, and celebrities often embody the worst ideals, which then encourage devoted fans to mimic them in their own lives. There are diets and workout programs that promise participants supposedly healthy and fit bodies…

Sundance Film Festival Review – ‘Jamojaya’ is a Contemplative Portrait of Father, Son, and Fame

The first 10pm screening I ever attended at the Sundance Film Festival was Justin Chon’s Ms. Purple, which, while melodically slow, was absolutely captivating and well worth the late hour. Chon starred in his subsequent film, Blue Bayou, a more conventional drama about a family torn apart by unexpected immigration news. His latest, Jamojaya, is…

Sundance Film Festival Review: Scoot McNairy and Emilia Jones Capture the Complexities of Father-daughter Relationships in Fairyland

Sometimes the most emotionally fulfilling relationships, which shape a person’s entire life perspective and development, prove to be the ones that society deems to be unconventional. While society is often unwilling to accept the seemingly unconventional connections people can develop, some of the most emotionally captivating films are character-driven stories that chronicle and celebrate those…

Sundance Film Festival Review – ‘Fair Play’ is a Stressful Cautionary Tale Against Workplace Romances

People often meet the loves of their lives while working together. An office environment can be exactly the right place for a romance to begin and mature, but it can also be a toxic setting where ambition and ego run counter to the personal feelings people have for each other outside of work. There may…

Sundance Film Festival Review – Daisy Ridley Anchors the Entertaining Human Comedy ‘Sometimes I Think About Dying’

It’s often hard to explain natural impulses and the things that fill our dreams, or even our waking moments. Thinking frequently of one’s own death might seem morbid or terrifying, but it can also provoke a more neutral curiosity. That’s the case for the protagonist of Sometimes I Think About Dying, an antisocial office worker who…

Sundance Film Festival Review – ’20 Days in Mariupol’ is a Vital Journalism Documentary from Ukraine

One of the primary functions of documentary filmmaking is to educate audiences, and to expose something previously unknown to a wider breadth of people. The hope is that the world learning about an injustice will help to prevent it from happening again. Yet, unfortunately, that’s not always the case, and history all too often repeats…