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ENTRIES IN PART 6:


Peter Nagels

CINEPHILE, DREAM RESEARCHER, LIBRARIAN (RETIRED), MELBOURNE.

No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2021)
Dune (Denis Villeneuve, 2021)
The Works and Days (Of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (C.W. Winter & Anders Edström, 2020)
Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021)
Undine (Christian Petzold, 2019)
Ta fang jian li de yun (The Cloud in Her Room, Zheng Lu Xinyuan, 2020)
Koozhangal (Pebbles, P. S. Vinothraj, 2021)
Domangchin yeoja (The Woman Who Ran, Hong Sang-soo, 2020)
Le Sel des larmes (The Salt Of Tears, Philippe Garrel, 2020)
De quelques événements sans signification (About Some Meaningless Events, Mostafa Derkaoui, 1974) Recently restored

Boris Nelepo

FILM CRITIC (SÉANCE MAGAZINE) AND CURATOR (SPIRIT OF FIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL).

30. Suzanna Andler (Benoît Jacquot, 2021)
29. Gulyay, Vasya! Svidanie na Bali (Have Fun, Vasya! Date in Bali, Roman Karimov, 2021)
28. Dante’s Heaven (Raya na Dante, Dimitar Radev, Bulgaria, 2021)
27. Kto-nibud videl moyu devchonku? (Has Anyone Seen My Girl?, Angelina Nikonova, 2020)
26. Canal 54 (Channel 54, Lucas Larriera, 2021)
25. Pryvoz (Eva Neymann, 2021)
24. Poslednyaya “Milaya Bolgariya” (The Last “Dear Bulgaria”, Aleksey Fedorchenko, 2021)
23. Blinnaya Mashina (Pancake Machine, Oleg Mavromatti, 2021)
22. La nuit des rois (Night of the Kings, Philippe Lacôte, 2020)
21. Vas-tu renoncer? (Edouard and Charles, Pascale Bodet, 2021)
20. Zi Hua Xiang: 47 Gong Li Tong Hua (Self-Portrait: Fairy Tale in 47KM, Mengqi Zhang, 2021)
19. The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (Wes Anderson, 2021)
18. Diários de Otsoga (The Tsugua Diaries, Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes, 2021)
17. Żeby nie było śladów (Leave No Traces, Jan Paweł Matuszyński, 2021)
16. No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga, 2021)
15. A Kid’s Flick (Nikita Lavretski, 2021)
14. Kto tebya pobedil nikto (What Beat You Nothing, Lyubov Arkus, 2021)
13. Eternals (Chloé Zhao, 2021)
12. Severnyy veter (The North Wind, Renata Litvinova, 2021)
11. Cry Macho (Clint Eastwood, 2021)
10. Eiga ai no genzai (Cinephilia Now, Sasaki Yusuke, 2020)
9. France (Bruno Dumont, 2021)
8. Rengeteg – mindenhol látlak (Forest – I See You Everywhere, Bence Fliegauf, 2021)
7. Higit (Tug, Jon Lazam, 2021)
6. Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021)
5. Jenayat-e bi deghat (Careless Crime, Shahram Mokri, 2020)
4. Parket (Parquet, Aleksandr Mindadze, 2021)
3. Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde (Fabian: Going to the Dogs, Dominik Graf, 2021)
2. Kometa (Comet, Vadim Kostrov, 2021) // Orfey (Orpheus, Vadim Kostrov, 2021)
1. Pathos Ethos Logos (Joaquim Pinto, Nuno Leonel, 2021)

To this list I have included the older films that I have seen only in cinemas (no home screenings or streaming was considered). Therefore, my choice was navigated mostly by the wonderful work by curators in the Gosfilmofond cinema “Illuzion” (Moscow), film department of Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow) and Cinemateca Portuguesa (Lisbon), as well as such film festivals as Moscow International Film Festival, Doclisboa and Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival. 

30. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen, 2011, DCP)
29. La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016, DCP)
28. Beg inokhodza (Goodbye, Gyulsary!, Sergei Urusevsky, 1969, 35mm)
27. In Jazz Style (Stanislav Govorukhin, 2010, 35mm)
26. Gor’kaya yagoda (Bitter Berry, Kamara Kamalova, 1975, 35mm)
25. Zdravstvuy, eto ya (Hello, That’s Me!, Frunze Dovlatyan, 1965, 35mm)
24. Die Marquise von O… (The Marquise of O, Éric Rohmer, 1976, DCP)
23. Die linkshändige Frau (The Left-Handed Woman, Peter Handke, 1977)
22. Du rififi chez les hommes (Rififi, Jules Dassin, Fra1955, DCP)
21. Sad zhelaniy (The Garden of Desire, Ali Khamraev, 1987, 35mm)
20. Nezhnost’ (Tenderness, Elyor Ishmukhamedov, 1966, 35mm)
19. Dialog s prodolzheniem (Conversation That Continues, Gennady Karyuk, Aleksandr Lapshin, 1980, 35mm)
18. Ya soldat, mama (I am a Soldier, Mother, Manos Zacharias, 1969, 35mm)
17. Noviy Gulliver (The New Gulliver, Aleksandr Ptushko, 1935, 35mm)
16. Suprugi Orlovy (The Orlovs, Mark Donskoy, 1978, 35mm)
15. Veroy i pravdoy (By Faith and Truth, Andrey Smirnov, 1979, 35mm)
14. Samyy zharkiy mesyats (The Warmest Month, Yuli Karasik, 1974, 35 mm)
13. Ya vas lyubil… (I Loved You, Ilya Frez, 1967, 35mm)
12. Kashchey the Immortal (Aleksandr Rou, 1944, 35mm)
11. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959, 35mm) // The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959, 35mm) // The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (Masaki Kobayashi, 1961, 35mm)
10. Jackass 3D (Jeff Tremaine, 2010, DCP)
9. Romance (Catherine Breillat, 1999, 35mm)
8. Sredinniy Mir [Orto Doydu] (Middle World, Alexey Romanov [Uot Ayarhaan], 1993, 35mm)
7. Moskva (Moscow, Aleksandr Zeldovich, 2000, 35mm)
6. V mirnye dni (In Peaceful Time, Vladimir Braun, 1950, 35mm)
5. As Bodas de Deus (The Spousals of God, João César Monteiro, 1999, 35mm)
4. 10000 malchikov (10000 Boys, Boris Buneev, Yoshiko Okada, 1962, 35mm)
3. Polustanok (Whistle Stop, Boris Barnet, 1963, 35mm)
2. Bryzgi shampanskogo (Splashes of Champagne, Stanislav Govorukhin, 1989, 35mm)
1. Poyet Ives Montand (‎Yves Montand is Singing, Sergei Yutkevich, Mikhail Slutsky, 1957, 35mm)

In general, I didn’t “attend” any of streaming festivals. There was no need, as, living in Moscow, I didn’t have a single day of not going to the cinemas at least once or twice. Though, when International Film Festival Rotterdam had its online program, I couldn’t skip the “Cinema Regained” section incredibly curated by Olaf Möller where I have discovered some of the most original, sensitive and unforgettable films of the year.

Andy Norton

ACTOR (STORM FEVER THEATRE: ELLIOTT GORMLEY FILMS); SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBER (ABCD FILM SOCIETY).

Free Fall (Emmanuel Tenenbaum, 2021)
With this year marking the twentieth anniversary of the world-changing September 11th attacks, Free Fall provides a unique perspective in the form of stockbrokers trying to keep afloat before and after the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Whilst you might get a vibe of Wolf of Wall Street from the dialogue, it is its rather harrowing ending that makes it such an outstanding short period drama. This film will live in the memories of those that take the time to watch it.

Save Ralph (Spencer Susser, 2021)
Whilst being interviewed, our titular character goes through his day as a testing animal of beauty products. Animated with such exquisite stop-motion techniques, and featuring a cast of familiar voices that do not outstay their welcome, this excellent short brings home the ethics of animal testing in a creative manner.

Love is Just a Death Away (Bara Anna Stejskalova, 2021)
Shown online via the Leeds International Film Festival, where it won in the World Animation Competition category, this Czech offering tells a story of how a parasite by the name of Steve tries to find love in a rubbish dump. Using this country’s renowned heritage of stop-motion puppet animation, Love is Just a Death Away is an exquisite love tale told in an unexpected place. There is also minimal dialogue, giving this film such a universal edge in terms of appeal.

Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright, 2021)
Edgar Wright has had quite a busy year, not only releasing the music documentary The Sparks Brothers, but also this inventive chillier. With a reputable cast including Matt Smith, and the late Diana Rigg, Last Night in Soho shows all the crafted aspects that have made Edgar Wright’s films such a joy to watch, such as a creative soundtrack, some fast-paced editing, and its gripping story about a fashion design student getting haunted by their love of the 1960s. This is a great creepy offering for horror fans to enjoy this mystery with dark nostalgic undertones.

Affairs of the Art (Joanna Quinn, 2021)  
Shown online via the Leeds International Film Festival, Joanna Quinn returns with her latest short film; bringing their recurring character, Beryl, back in this latest venture. With gorgeous hand-drawn animation from Quinn alongside James Nutting, Affairs of the Art portrays the very British institution of having a quirky obsession and how it affects those that have it but also those throughout their lives. This might arguably be Quinn’s best film by a country mile for its comedic pacing and down-to-earth message of being true to yourself, regardless of your age.

West Side Story (Steven Spielberg, 2021)
Whilst sceptics may wonder why this iconic screen and stage musical is being remade, they should consider that this highlights this generation’s talent in tackling this beloved musical of rivalry, love and loyalty amongst its New York setting. With standout performances galore from the likes of Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose, and Rita Moreno (Anita in the 1960s version), they tackle such beloved musical numbers, with lyrics from the late Stephen Sondheim, that brings this Romeo-and-Juliet-esque story to a modern movie-going audience. It might take a while to get used to the choreographed numbers rather than the gritty realism that most contemporary cinema goers usually endure, but this version of West Side Story is a great screen musical from an era that needs such melodic escapism more than ever before.

Freebird (Joe Bluhm/ Michael Joseph McDonald/ Nick Herd, 2021)
This North American animated short in less than 5 minutes portrays the highs and lows of growing up with Down’s syndrome in a melodic and heart-warming manner. With a clever colour palette, and tackled with great sensitivity, Freebird proves that everyone can be who they want to be without their disability getting in the way of their dreams, which is an uplifting message that such troubled times need.

Dad is Gone (Pere Ginard, 2021)   
Shown online via the Leeds International Film Festival, Dad is Gone is presented abstractly, with macabre imagery and quirky sound bites. This may not be for everyone, but it is certainly a memorable experience for those that endure abstract animation.

Lucid (Deanna Milligan; 2021)
Following the antics of an art student with a psychotic past, Lucid is a very entertaining short period drama. Filled with memorable set pieces and a score that puts you into the 1990s period straight away, it is a short worth watching.

The Fourth Wall (Mahboobeh Kalaee, 2021)
Show online via the Leeds International Film Festival, where it gained an Honourable Mention within the World Animation Competition category, The Fourth Wall presents an Iranian family going through everyday life, such as giving birth to a baby to escaping into the imagination of the eldest child. Told with the parents as a fridge and a washing machine, this short is present in a very creative manner and is a pleasant surprise for those that happen to see this film.

Darragh O’Donoghue

ARCHIVIST AT TATE; CONTRIBUTING WRITER FOR CINEASTE; COMPLETING A PhD ON THE STEPHEN DWOSKIN ARCHIVE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF READING.

Atrocity and Anguish bookended by Sparks and Broadway is an inadvertent but nifty allegory for another toxic year:

Annette (Leos Carax, 2021)
Babi Yar. Context (Sergei Loznitsa, 2021)
Claude Lanzmann was wrong. These snuff movies can still get you.
Bodeng sar (White Building, Kavich Neang, 2021)
Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Film About a Father Who (Lynne Sachs, 2020)
Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse (Mr. Bachmann and His Class, Maria Speth, 2021)
Historya ni Ha (History of Ha, Lav Diaz, 2021)
We are in danger of taking Diaz’s annual masterpieces for granted.
Un Monde (Playground, Laura Wandel, 2021)
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, 2019)
tick, tick…BOOM! (Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2021)
If this wonderful adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s has a flaw, it is taking its subject too often at his own estimation. But when that subject produces energy this invigorating, music this beautiful, and affords Andrew Garfield the multi-faceted role his talents have long deserved, it is hardly a flaw at all. Shame Miranda declined to direct the film of In the Heights (John M. Chu, 2021), which, while always enjoyable, gets everything wrong tick, tick gets right, and displays less visual imagination than the average Ariana Grande video.

Babu Yar. Context

I wanted to include Ira Sachs’ Frankie (2019), a sublime and unaccountably neglected homage to Rohmer and Rivette with several beloved actors, but felt that a 20% Sachs-count would probably unbalance my list. So with all due critical rigour and solemnity, I flipped a coin.

Query: am I missing something, or is acclaimed The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021) a homophobic return to the kill-off-the-transgressor mode of old Hollywood melodramas?

Rediscovery of the year: Europa (Franciszka & Stefan Themerson, 1931).
Presumed lost in the sinkhole of history that it predicted, and unhappily reconstructed by its creators several times before the original was found on a forgotten archive shelf, this fierce yet joyous Dada cine-poem is a precious addition to the history of the European avant-garde, of experimental film, and of film full stop.

Best home entertainment release: Powell & Pressburger’s still-underrated ‘……one of our aircraft is missing’ (1942) on BFI Blu-ray, supplemented with fantastic curios by the Archers and others.

Best old films (etc.) new to me in the last year:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harry A. Pollard, 1927)
Abschied (Robert Siodmak, 1930)
Tonari no Yae-chan (Our Neighbour, Miss Yae, Yasujiro Shimazu, 1934)
Bank Holiday (Carol Reed, 1938)
Dizzy Detectives (Jules White, 1943)
The Strange Woman (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1946)
Hachi no su no kodomotachi (Children of the Beehive, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1948)
The Fan and Exodus (Otto Preminger, 1949 & 1960)
Flesh and Blood (Anthony Kimmins, 1951)
Raintree County (Edward Dmytryk, 1957)
The Vikings (Richard Fleischer, 1958)
Midareru (Yearning, Mikio Naruse, 1964)
Alice in Wonderland (Jonathan Miller, 1966)
Coming Apart (Milton Moses Ginsberg, 1969)
Shinjuku Dorobō Nikki (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, Nagisa Ōshima, 1969)
Moonwalk One (Theo Kamecke, 1971)
Os Inconfidentes (The Conspirators, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1972)
“Giliap” (Roy Andersson, 1975)
A Perfect Couple and O.C. and Stiggs (Robert Altman, 1979 & 1985)
Pieces I Never Did (David Critchley, 1979)
Altered States (Ken Russell, 1980)
Modern Romance and Lost in America (Albert Brooks, 1981 & 1985)
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Christopher Petit, 1982)
The Firm (Alan Clarke, 1989)
Mother Love (Simon Langton, 1989)
Monsters in the Closet (Jennifer Reeves, 1993)
Iruvar, Kannathil Muthamittal and Kaatru Veliyidai (Mani Ratnam, 1997, 2002 & 2017)
Hey Ram (Kamal Haasan, 2000)
Maelström (Denis Villeneuve, 2000)
Chalte Chalte (Aziz Mirza, 2003)
Horrible Histories (Chloe Thomas et al, 2003-present)
Forty Shades of Blue (Ira Sachs, 2005)
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2012)
Dear Steve…and Thank You (Michèle Fuirer, 2013)
The Goldbergs (Seth Gordon et al, 2013-present)
Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho, 2013)
0.5 miri (0.5 mm, Momoko Andô, 2014)
Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
45 Years (Andrew Haigh, 2015)
Schitt’s Creek (Jerry Ciccoritti et al, 2015-2020)
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (Karan Johar, 2016)
The Good Place (Drew Goddard et al, 2016-2020)
Posto Avançado do Progresso (An Outpost of Progress, Hugo Vieira da Silva, 2016)
Ad Astra (James Gray, 2019)
The Climb (Michael Angelo Covino, 2019)
Honey Boy (Alma Har’el, 2019)
Downhill (Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, 2020)
This was lambasted as a pointless and inept clone of Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund, 2014), with some justification, but the performances by Julia-Louise Dreyfus and Will Ferrell are among the rawest I have seen in American film since Cassavetes.
Emma (Autumn de Wilde, 2020)
Mogul Mowgli (Bassam Tariq, 2020)

Best retrospective: the Covid-postponed Japan 2021 at the BFI, London.

Best online cinematic experience in 2021: Lynne Sachs: Between Thought and Expression, Museum of the Moving Image, New York (January 2021). One of our greatest living filmmakers. Ideally Sachs’ medium-specific, audience-focused, unapologetically humanist work should be projected in a full cinema. Under the circumstances, however, the actual experience and later memories of this virtual retrospective in January gave me, and I’m sure others, recurrent comfort in an otherwise personally disastrous year.

Roberto Oggiano

FILM CRITIC AND PROGRAMMER. LONDON.

The Works and Days (Of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) (C.W. Winter & Anders Edström, 2020
DAU. Natasha (Jekaterina Oertel, Ilya Khrzhanovsky, 2020)
Diários de Otsoga (The Tsugua Diaries, Miguel Gomes & Maureen Fazendeiro, 2021)
Historya ni Ha (History of Ha, Lav Diaz, 2021)
Happy Valley (Simon Liu, 2021)
I comete (A Corsican Summer, Pascal Tagnati, 2021)
Earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto, 2021)
Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde (Fabian: Going to the Dogs, Dominik Graf, 2021)
Río Turbio (Tatiana Mazú, 2021)
Letter From Your Far-off Country (Suneil Sanzgiri, 2020)

The Works and Days (Of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)

Special mentions:

Fat Chance (Stephen Broomer, 2021)
La Saveur du Gingembre (Jean-Robert Thomann, 2021)
Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt? (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, Alexandre Koberidze, 2021)
Pebbles (P. S. Vinothraj 2021)
Nous (We, Alice Diop, 2021)
A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces (Zhu Shengze, 2021)
A Tale of Love and Desire (Leyla Bouzid, 2021)
France (Bruno Dumont, 2021)
I Giganti (The Giants, Bonifacio Angius, 2021)
Babardeala cu bucluc sau porno balamuc (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, 2021)

Old Movies:

Cesare Pavese. Turin – Santo Stefano Belbo (Renate Sami, Petra Seeger, 1985) (Open City Documentary, London)
The Cherry Tree with Gray Blossoms (Sumiko Haneda ,1963) (Open City Documentary, London)
Lady Lazarus (Sandra Lahire, 1991) (ICO Archive Screening Days; BFI London)
Fluchtweg nach Marseille (Escape Route to Marseilles, Ingemo Engström and Gerhard Theuring, 1977) (Essay Film Festival, London)
The Deer (Masud Kimiai, 1974) (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
The Cow (Dariush Mehrjui, 1969) (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
An Actor’s Revenge (Kon Ichikawa, 1963) (Japanese Season, BFI London)
Dragnet Girl (Yasujirō Ozu, 1933) (Japanese Season – Arnolfini, Bristol)
Kummatty (Govindan Aravindan, 1979) (ICO Archive Screening Days, BFI London)
Lumière d’été (Jean Grémillon, 1943) (Ciné Lumière, London)

Nous

Wilfred Okiche

FIPRESCI, NIGERIA.

Bad Trip (Kitao Sakurai, 2021)
Brighton 4th (Levan Koguashvili, 2021)
Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Dune (Denis Villeneuve, 2021)
Eyimofe (This is my Desire) (Arie and Chuko Esiri, 2020)
House of Gucci (Ridley Scott, 2021)
I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch, Maria Schrader, 2021)
v, 2021)
Lingui, the Sacred Bonds (Lingui, les liens sacrés, Mahamat Saleh-Haroun, 2021)
Night of the Kings (La Nuit des rois, Philippe Lacôte, 2020)
Madres paralelas (Parallel Mothers, Pedro Almodóvar, 2021)
Passing (Rebecca Hall, 2021)
President (Camilla Nielsson, 2021)
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Questlove, 2021)
The Last Shelter (Ousmane Samassekou, 2021)
The Legend of the Underground (Giselle Bailey and Nneka Onuorah, 2021)
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)
Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021)
The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski, 2021)

Festivals of note:
Sundance Film Festival – For the smooth experience it provided while transitioning online for the first time. Most if not all the titles were available no matter the geographical location, which, looking back, now feels like a radical achievement

Berlinale – The program, the first by the new team led by the duo of Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, was great in terms of the quality of films presented and the diversity of titles. Also the festival did make impressive attempts to ensure the titles were visible to international press regardless of geographical region. 

Andreea Patru

FILM CRITIC AND PROGRAMMER, SPAIN / ROMANIA.

Petit Maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021)
Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier, 2021)
Re Granchio (The Tale of King Crab, Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis, 2021)
The Card Counter (Paul Schrader, 2021)
Seperti dendam rindu harus dibayar tuntas (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, Edwin, 2021)
Das Mädchen und die Spinne (The Girl and the Spider, Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher, 2021)
Diários de Otsoga (The Tsugua Diaries, Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes, 2021)
Obshchaga (The Dorm, Roman Vasyanov, 2021)
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia, 2021)
All Light, Everywhere (Theo Anthony, 2021)

Older film encountered for the first time in 2021:
Sanatorium pod klepsydrą (The Hourglass Sanatorium, Wojciech Jerzy Has, 1973)

Festivals:
While literally everybody went online or chose a hybrid form for their event, making everything more available yet exhaustive and challenging to follow, a special shout-out should be given to the programs curated by the online platform DAFilms. To mention just one of them: Trinh T. Minh-ha: There Is No Such Thing As Documentary, a beautifully put together program that brings to light the freeform cinema of this Vietnamese classic.

Andrew F Peirce

HEAD WRITER, THE CURB

Released in Perth, Western Australia in 2021:

  1. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
  2. 2. Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier, 2021)
  3. The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski, 2021)
  4. The Moogai (Jon Bell, 2020)
  5. The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)
  6. The Killing of Two Lovers (Robert Machoian, 2021)
  7. Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Josh Greenbaum, 2021)
  8. Laura’s Choice (Cathy Henkel, Sam Lara, 2020)
  9. Nitram (Justin Kurzel, 2020)
  10. The Truffle Hunters (Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, 2020)

First time watches:

  1. Vacant Possession (Margot Nash, 1995)
  2. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
  3. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939)
  4. Bean Film (Ottó Foky, 1976)
  5. Three Colours Red (Kryzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
  6. The Beach (Warwick Thornton, Dylan River 2020)
  7. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)
  8. Matinee (Joe Dante, 1993)
  9. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
  10. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)

Living in Western Australia during a pandemic has created a fascinating confluence of events for the film world. While most of Australia’s cinemas were either closed or operating at a severely reduced capacity, the seemingly COVID-free ‘oasis’ of Perth allowed for cinemas to run with a relaxed freedom. The difficulties came when Hollywood-fare was removed from the release schedule, leaving operating cinemas without their assured blockbuster flick to come. The absence of the monthly superhero flick meant that Australian films were allowed to flourish, and indie films were given the breathing space to exist and find an audience that they may otherwise have been stifled from reaching.

It’s been ten years since a Kelly Reichardt film screened in Perth (Meek’s Cutoff at the Revelation Film Festival), and to almost celebrate the occasion, we were gifted with a deep discussion from First Cow’s co-lead, Orion Lee, who has found himself in WA. What eventuated was the finest cinematic experience that I was lucky to immerse myself in this year was getting to see Kelly Reichardt’s pure and empathetic First Cow in a cinema. There’s a tenderness, a kindness, and a level of compassion that comes with Reichardt’s films that are rarely found elsewhere, and those aspects are found in abundance in First Cow. It came at a time where a feeling of despair was washing over me, and the experience of watching it on the big screen was supremely cathartic.

I understand that for many, First Cow was a 2020 release, but things move slowly here in the West, meaning we sometimes get films later than usual, however in 2021, thanks to the internet and the rise of online film festivals, the immediacy of new films being made available digitally afforded an opportunity to watch and immerse myself in films in a way I never thought possibly. Pre-pandemic, I would have to drop thousands to attend the Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, or TIFF, but in 2021 I was able to watch and appreciate films in a digitally communal space, discussing them online afterwards in a way that didn’t entirely reflect the authentic festival experience, but certainly accommodated it as best as possible.

Watching the forgotten Aussie gem Vacant Possession or discovering the tangible fear within Jon Bell’s The Moogai was made all the more better knowing that in any other time, I would struggle to engage with these kinds of festivals without financial strain. While the wealth of major online festivals was a treat, the death of prominent genre festivals like the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival were a reminder of how much of the arts is on the precipice of collapse. It’s a sad loss for Australian documentary fans.

In a mask-wearing environment, and outside of the digital realm, Perth’s Revelation Film Festival provided a rare cinematic outing for Warwick Thornton and Dylan River’s contemplative ‘slow-cinema’ experience, The Beach. Shimmering on the iconic ‘Cinema 1’ of Luna Leederville, The Beach washed over the reduced audience in a comforting glow, with Thornton’s isolation-conjured internal anxieties reflecting our own tangible fears of a rapidly changing world. It makes sense that A24 would pick this up for a US release.

Where First Cow calmed, Joachim Trier’s glorious, smile-inducing The Worst Person in the World resonated in a way that few films have done in recent years. As a millennial anxiety film writ large, it stands as an instant classic. The queer-text of The Matrix Resurrections reinforced the trans-allegory into an exhilarating, emotional blockbuster entry. Jane Campion’s return to cinema with The Power of the Dog worked as a lesson to other filmmakers how to craft layered, complex films. Robert Machoian emerged as yet another American indie filmmaker to keep an eye on with his narratively crippling The Killing of Two Lovers, a film that echoes Kelly Reichardt like no other. Glee and humour were required in spades, and no film delivered laughter more than Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar. The sight of Jamie Dornan dancing on a beach with seagulls is seared into my mind as my ‘go to happy place’. Equally pleasing and calming was The Truffle Hunters, a visual trip to a foreign land, a cinematic holiday.

Australian cinema thrived with genre-defining pieces. Jon Bell reminded that the strength and power of a film doesn’t need to be contained by its length, with his short The Moogai acting as a testament to terror. Cathy Henkel and Sam Lara’s deeply emotional voluntary assisted dying doc Laura’s Choice was an impressively open film that celebrated a mother’s life with laughter and tears, possibly the most essential documentary this year. Justin Kurzel’s Nitram stirred controversy and fuelled anger but stated its purpose as an anti-gun film by its shaken conclusion.

The Power of the Dpg

Antoni Peris-Grao

WRITER.

MIRADAS DE CINE, CULTURACA

2021, year of the disappointment.

In such an uneasy year, quarantines have threatened cinemas’ survival and online platforms grow with algorithms substituting viewers’ criteria. We have, nonetheless, enjoyed many films.

Fantasy, comedy and drama

Fantasy takes us to The Green Knight (David Lowery, 2021), in a mythical world and a mystic journey, and to the sixties swinging London, where, through songs and production design, Cruella (Craig Gillespie, 2021) and Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright, 2021) mix comedy and thriller. The entrance of Wright’s main characters in the Café de Paris is not only powerful but also one of the best sequences of this year.

Mad God (Phil Tippet, 2021) and Junk Head (Takahide Hori, 2021) are praiseworthy stop-motion experiences set in dystopic underground worlds. Tippet and colleagues were creating its work along three decades and the overwhelming result is a transposition of El Bosco into moving image. Hori created by himself a world less baroque and more comic during 15 years.

On a more dramatic note, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi presented two of 2021’s best movies. Drive My Car is a brilliantly built story about lonely characters, using Uncle Vanya’s structure to transform Chekhov into the current situation. With a lighter tone, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a delicate insight into feminine souls.

In The Woman Who Ran (2020) the tireless Korean director Hong Sang-soo looks again into the world of women with his nonchalant tone. Much more dramatic is Voices in the Wind (Kaze no denwa, Nobuhiro Suwa, 2020), where a young girl and a man meet themselves and phantom memories that haunt them after the Fukushima catastrophe.

 Other movies of note: The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021), Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021), Las niñas (The Girls, Pilar Palomero, 2020), Karen (María Pérez, 2020), Sis dies corrents (The Odd-Job Men, Neus Ballus, 2021), Ham on Rye (Tyler Taormina, 2019), The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021), À l’abordage! (All Hands on Deck, Guillaume Brac, 2020), The Execution (Lado Kvataniya, 2021), Limbo (Soi Cheang, 2021), Hand Rolled Cigarette (Chan Kin-long, 2020), The Taking (Alexandre O. Philippe, 2021), Fireball: Messages from Dark Worlds (Werner Herzog, 2021) / Into the Inferno (Werner Herzog, 2016)

 Social conflicts

Gender violence has been key in some of most remarkable films of the year. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman, 2020) builds a moving drama on obstacles to abortion for a young girl, El diablo entre las piernas (Devil Between the Legs, Arturo Ripstein, 2019) describes a confrontation in an old couple, Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell, 2020) works on a dark revenge comedy, Violation (Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer, 2021) poses questions about rape and revenge, Seperti dendam rindu harus dibayar tuntas (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, Edwin, 2021) puts Indonesian masculinity at stake, Trei piani (Nanni Moretti, 2021) offers diverse stories triggered by a fear of pedophilia and Annette (Leos Carax, 2021) uses a puppet to reflect parental abuse. Child abuse appears, also, in Belle (Mamoru Hosoda, 2021) and in the enigmatic Earwig (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 2021).

The Card Counter (Paul Schrader, 2021) is a harsh search for redemption for an accomplice in an Abu Graib prison, Titane (Julie Ducournau, 2021) plunges the viewer into the most surprising melodrama on sex, gender and love, and Nitram (Justin Kurzel, 2021) points to the familial and social structures that enabled a massacre.

 The painful reality around on homosexuality and hatred appears in Câmp de maci (Poppy Field, Eugen Jebeleanu, 2020), Întregalde (Radu Muntean, 2021) reflects on poverty and social hypocrisy, and Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu, 2020) searches for historic data that might explain today’s Europe. Bloody Noses, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross, 2020) and Residue (Merawi Gerima, 2020) provided an insight into social poverty and marginality.

Governmental violence in the post-Stalinist purges appears in Dorogie tovarishchi (Dear Comrades!, Andrei Konchalovsky, 2020), and Night of the Kings (La nuit des rois, Philippe Lacôte, 2020), mixes fantasy and reality in an Ivory Coast prison to represent the country’s political and social situation. My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan (Phil Grabsky, Shoaib Sharifi, 2021) is the most painful of the lot, presenting the coming-of-age of a child, from the arrival to the departure of the US troops.

Using images taken from control cameras, PC and cell phones, Zeros and Ones (Abel Ferrara, 2021) is a grim look at government power and citizens control, always seeking the dark corners, preventing the viewer from fully understanding what is going on.

Science fiction?

Other movies considered the end of the world as we know it. Silent Night (Camille Griffin, 2021) shifts from dark comedy to apocalyptic drama, and La terra dei figli (The Land of the Sons, Claudio Cupellini, 2021) is a tale of an illiterate boy who sets out to find a being who can decipher the notes taken by his dead father in a world full of ogres. A nuvem rosa (The Pink Cloud, Iuli Gerbase, 2021) puts the viewer in a too-real situation when toxic clouds force everyone into confinement, the film focusing on human relations in such a situation (fortunately it was not screened until the pandemic appeared to be improving, because in the movie confinement lasts more than 15 years). The most innovative sci-fi was Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth (2021). This winding story relates deranged scientists and nature, showing the latter’s capacity to heal far better than humans do, and conveys the evolution of the protagonists through a mixture of genres and its use of loud sounds and light flashes.

I’d like also to acknowledge the director’s ability to make the viewer believe in the unbelievable in Old (M. Night Shyamalan, 2021). On the contrary, the grandiosity of Dune (Denis Villeneuve, 2021) feels reduced when compared to the imagined version that was to be produced by Alejandro Jodorowsky, as presented in the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich, 2013). Lastly, I’d also like to mention Zora (The Dawn, Dalibor Matanić, 2020), Luzifer (Peter Brunner, 2021), De uskyldige (The Innocents, Eskil Vogt, 2021), Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021), The Trouble with Being Born (Sandra Wollner, 2020), and Freaks Out (Gabriele Mainetti, 2021).

Andréa Picard

SENIOR FILM CURATOR, TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL; INDEPENDENT WRITER ON FILM & ART.

New Films (alphabetical order):

AGHDRA (Arthur Jafa, 2021)
Ahed’s Knee (Nadav Lapid, 2021)
Annette (Leos Carax, 2021)
A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces (Shengze Zhu, 2021)
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude, 2021)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2021)
The Capacity for Adequate Anger (Vika Kirchenbauer, 2021)
Diários de Otsoga (The Tsugua Diaries, Maureen Fazandeiro & Miguel Gomes, 2021)
Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Das Mädchen und Die Spinne (The Girl and the Spider, Ramon and Silvan Zürcher, 2021)
earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto)
France (Bruno Dumont, 2021)
El Gran Movimiento (Kiro Russo, 2021)
Hygiène Social (Denis Côté, 2021)
Întregalde (Radu Muntean, 2021)
Inner Outer Space (Laida Lertxundi, 2021)
In Front of your Face (Hong Sang-soo, 2021)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021)
Neptune Frost (Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams, 2021)
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia, 2021)
Polycephaly in D (Michael Robinson, 2021)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)
Querida Chantal (Nicolás Pereda, 2021)
Serre moi fort (Hold Me Tight, Mathieu Almaric, 2021)
The Souvenir Part 2 (Joanna Hogg, 2021)
Ste-Anne (Rhayne Vermette, 2021)
The Tale of King Crab (Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis, 2021)
Vortex (Gaspar Noé, 2021)
Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt? (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, Alexandre Koberidze, 2021)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier, 2021)

Repertory (online as Cinematheques were closed for so long):

Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973) Criterion Channel
The French (William Klein, 1982) Metrograph
Le Navire Night (Marguerite Duras, 1979) Metrograph
Les Prostituées de Lyon parlent (Carole Roussopoulos, 1975) Another Gaze
The Touch (Ingmar Bergman, 1971) Criterion Channel

Neptune Frost

Milan Pribisic

TEACHER MEDIA HISTORY, THEORY AND CRITICISM, SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO.

At the time of this writing, I am still eagerly awaiting to see few new titles (e.g. Memoria and The Souvenir Part 2) so here are my favourites of 2021 as of now:

Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021)
Annette (Leos Carax, 2021)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)
Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021)
Ich bin dein Mensch (I’m Your Man, Maria Schrader, 2021)
La nuée (The Swarm, Just Philippot, 2020)
Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Gûzen to sôzô (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Labyrinth of Cinema (Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, 2019)

Encountered for the first time in 2021:

The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg, 2019)
Le daim (Deerskin, Quentin Dupieux, 2019)
Saint Maud (Rose Glass, 2019)

Catherine Putman

UK-BASED WRITER ON FEMINIST FILMMAKERS SUCH AS CAROL MORLEY, CLIO BARNARD, ANDREA ARNOLD, KELLY REICHARDT AND LUCRECIA MARTEL.

Cinema Rediscovered 2021:
July 2021, I was chosen alongside 10 inspirational writers to take part in the Cinema Rediscovered Film Critics’ Workshop, as part of their annual film festival. For its first time the workshop, led by film critic, Tara Judah, took place online, offering myself and other out of towners to Bristol, UK, the chance to participate.

I was initially drawn to Mark Cosgrove’s ‘1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent’ season, because it is the year of my birth. However, once I discovered which films were to be celebrated for turning fifty, I was inspired. The films were as follows:

Five Easy Pieces
(Bob Rafelson,1971)
Klute (Alan J.Pakula, 1971) 
The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
McCabe & Mrs Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971).

Reflecting the time in the USA, these films were made under the backdrop of political upheaval, race riots, the Vietnam war and second wave feminism. Yet, these films were heavily credited to white men. Thus, Cinema Rediscovered gave me the opportunity to challenge and reframe one of these films as part of the workshop. I chose to critique Klute, which for the most part is credited to Pakula or the male protagonist, Donald Sutherland. Taking lead from Pamela Hutchinson, who suggested in her Philip French Memorial Lecture that film critics place a female name in front of a film, I also re-claimed this film as Jane Fonda’s Klute, whom, I would argue, is the main protagonist of the film. 

The workshop also gifted its participants a year’s subscription to MUBI which I have embraced and will absolutely resubscribe to.

Highlights on MUBI thus far:

Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021)
Finding Vivian Maier (John Maloof, Charlie Siskel, 2013)
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)
Highlife (Claire Denis, 2018)
Limbo (Ben Sharrock, 2020)
National Gallery (Fredrick Wiseman, 2014)
New Order (Michel Franco, 2020)
The Recorder Exam (Kim Bora, 2011)
Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman, 2020)
Sweat (Magnus von Horn, 2020)
Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018)
Undine (Christine Petzold, 2020)
Volver (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006)
White God (Kornél Mundruczó, 2014)
Yella (Christian Petzold, 2007)

I recommend all these films, but lists can be daunting for many. So, if I were to suggest just one new film to watch, it would be Censor by Prano Bailey-Bond. As an ardent supporter of female British filmmakers, I look forward to following Prano Bailey-Bond’s works, and perhaps one day critiquing them.

Stuart Richards

LECTURER, SCREEN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA; FILM CRITIC, RADIO ADELAIDE.

Television:
Allen v. Farrow (Kirby Dick & Amy Ziering 2021)
Hacks (Lucia Aniello, Desiree Akhavan & Paul Downs, 2021)
Mare of Easttown (Craig Zobel, 2021)
Pose Season 3 (Janet Mock, Steven Canals and Tina Mabry, 2021)
Ojing-eo Geim (Squid Game, Hwang Dong-hyuk, 2021)
WandaVision (Matt Shakman, 2021)
White Lotus (Mike White, 2021)

Film:
Dune (Denis Villeneuve, 2021)
The Father (Florian Zeller, 2020)
I Carry You with Me (Heidi Ewing, 2020)
Nitram (Justin Kurzel, 2021)
Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021)
Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021)
Tick Tick Boom (Lin Manuel-Miranda, 2021)
Woodlands Darks and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (Kier-La Janisse, 2021)

Peter Rinaldi

WRITER, FILMMAKER, FILMMAKER MAGAZINE’S BACK TO ONE PODCAST HOST. NEW YORK CITY.

Anne at 13,000 Ft. (Kazik Radwanski, 2020)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2021)
Billie Eillish: The World’s A Little Blurry (R. J. Cutler, 2021)
C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills, 2021)
Flag Day (Sean Penn, 2021)
Our Friend (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2021)
Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021)
Sheytan vojud nadarad (There is no Evil, Mohammad Rasoulof, 2021)
Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2021)
Verdens verste menneske (The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier, 2021)

Peter Rist

PROFESSOR OF FILM STUDIES, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL. REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR TO OFFSCREEN

I wrapped-up my 2020 list on 10th December, but, I have decided to only include films this year that I saw in cinemas in 2021 (with the notable exception of three shorts), and cinemas were not re-opened until late February in Montreal. The first film I saw (at Cinéma du Parc) on 27th February is the first film on my list. Since then, I have visited cinemas on 107 occasions, most notably including attendance at 31 screenings of the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy, for by-far-and-away the best experiences I’ve had during the pandemic. In particular the festival was so safely organised and efficient (no late starts), and all of the musicians got up for the experience of playing to a live audience. The festival was also somewhat hybrid, so that my wife, Shelley, was able to enjoy watching some of the selections back in Montreal. However, I don’t consider “streaming” to be “cinema”, and I was also able to enjoy attending six in-person Fantasia film festival screenings in August at the Cinéma Impérial. That venue suffered a partial wall collapse during the Cinemania (Francophone) film festival in November, and, perhaps the finest, restored, “landmark” film theatre in Montreal won’t ever return to normal operations!

 So, my top twenty films seen for the first time in 2021 includes 12 new(ish) feature films, three programs of shorts and five silent films seen for the first time in Pordenone (listed in the order in which I saw them, and on DCP, unless otherwise specified):

Dorogie tovarishchi (Dear Comrades!, Andrei Konchalovsky, 2020) Cinéma du Parc, February
Quo Vadis Aïda? (Jasmila Zbanic, 2020) Cinéma Moderne, April
Hygène Social (Denis Côté, 2021) Cinéma Moderne, July; a very interesting pandemic work
Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Questlove, 2021) Cineplex Forum, July; the best in a good year of music(al) films
Beans (Tracey Deer, 2020) Cineplex Forum, July; arguably, the First Nations film of the year
Qi ren yue dui (Septet: The Story of Hong Kong, Ann Hui “Headmaster”, Sammo Hung “Exercise”, Ringo Lam “Astray”, Patrick Tam “Tender is the Night”, Johnnie To “Bonanza”, Tsui Hark “Conversation in Depth”, Yuen Woo-Ping “Homecoming”, 2020): Fantasia FF, Cinéma Impérial, August; under-appreciated, very moving (yet uneven) tribute to Hong Kong and its 1980s “new wave”
The anomaly: three great experimental short films, shown on film in a Wavelengths program at TIFF, that I was unable to travel to see because of university commitments, but that I streamed on 12th September – Earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto, 2021), Train Again (Peter Tscherkassky, 2021), Le-deu-pil-teo-ga Cheol-hoe-doeb-ni-da (the red filter is withdrawn, Kim Minjung, 2021).
Aberglaube (Superstition, Georg Jacoby, 1919) 35mm, Pordenone, 3 October; John Sweeney, piano; arguably Ellen Richter’s best performance, and her best extant film
Cheongchun-eui Sipjaro (Crossroads of Youth, Ahn Jong-hwa, 1934) Pordenone, 4 October; Daan van den Hurk, piano; the revelation of the year; the oldest surviving Korean feature, ahead of its time in its emotional engagement and viscerality (youthful, male violence)
Miss Lulu Bett (William C. de Mille, 1921) 35mm, Pordenone, 6 Oct.; Maud Nelissen, piano
Erotikon (Gustav Machaty, 1929) 35mm, Pordenone, 6 Oct.; Orchestra of the Imaginary, Ljubliana
Max, der Zirkuskönig (Max, King of the Circus, Édouard-Émile Violet/Max Linder, 1924)
Pordenone, 8 Oct.; music by Neil Brand & Franck Bockius; an amazing restoration by Serge Bromberg and Lobster Films from 11 different sources
Introduction (Hong Sang-soo, 2021) Festival du nouveau cinéma, October
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2021) Cinéma du Parc, October
16mm short films by Jodie Mack: Posthaste Perennial Pattern (2010), Wasteland No. 1:
Ardent, Verdant (2017), Hoarders Without Borders (2018); La Lumière Collective, November
Bonne mère (Hafsia Hertzi, 2021) Cinemania film festival, November
Lingui (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2021) Cinemania, November
Rizi (Days, Tsai Ming-liang, 2020) Cinéma Public, November
A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces (Zhu Shengze, 2021) Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal, November: a great pandemic work
“No Place Like Home”: Ten experimental shorts (16mm, 35mm & video) by Louise Bourke; La Cinémathèque Québecoise, December
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021) Cinéma Moderne, December. The English-language fiction feature film of the year.

Julian Ross

PROGRAMMER, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM; ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, LEIDEN UNIVERSITY.

Ten feature films:

A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia, 2021)
Miền ký ức (Memoryland, Kim Quy Bui, 2021)
El Gran Movimiento (The Great Movement, Kiro Russo, 2021)
The Story of Southern Islet (Nan wu, Keat Aun Chong, 2020)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Gūzen to sōzō, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
Inside the Red Brick Wall (Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers, 2020)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021)
Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette, 2021)
White Building (Bodeng Sar, Kavich Neang, 2021)
Feast (Tim Leyendekker, 2021)

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Ten short films:

Song for dying (Korakrit Arunanondchai, 2021)
Surviving You Always (Morgan Quaintance, 2021)
Maat Means Land (Fox Maxy, 2020)
Manifesto (Ane Hjort Guttu, 2020)
Tellurian Drama (Riar Rizaldi, 2020)
One Thousand and One Attempts to be an Ocean (Wang Yuyan, 2020)
Polycephaly in D (Michael Robinson, 2021)
Isn’t it a beautiful world (Joseph Wilson, 2021)
Glass Life (Sara Cwynar, 2021)
earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto, 2021)

 Ten first views:

Includes two 35mm films, a 16mm double-projection performance and a digital restoration presented in a cinema, as well as online presentations by Another Gaze on Another Screen, Light Industry, MUBI, Thai Film Archive, Jeonju International Film Festival and @preservationinsanity.

Silent Light (Stellet Licht, Carlos Reygadas, 2007)
La Ciénaga (Lucrecia Martel, 2001)
The Round-Up (Szegénylegények, Miklós Jancsó, 1966)
Tongpan (Yutthana Mukdasanit, 1977)
The Zone of Total Eclipse (Mika Taanila, 2006)
Untitled 77-A (Han Ok-hee, 1977)
Lost Book Found (Jem Cohen, 1996)
Stendalì: Suonano ancora (Cecilia Mangini, 1960)
Vital Signs (Barbara Hammer, 1991)
Bhuvan Shome (Mrinal Sen, 1969)

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