Introduction

Welcome, dear Readers, to the 118th edition of the Internet’s most eclectic and serious discussion of cinema!

As ever, we open the Issue with a slate of original, timely, and impressively researched Features. Max Bowens and Candice Strongwater address The New Red Order’s Never Settle with political accuracy, establishing nodal points for a wider understanding of North American Indigenous audiovisual media. Salvador Carrasco microscopically revisits The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. Colette de Castro reflects on the complexities of sexual consent after encountering Dag Johan Haugerud’s Oslo Trilogy in France. Leonard Schwartz unpacks a 2013 painting by American artist Susan Bee that replicates the well-known and much-loved frame from Bresson’s Pickpocket (1959) of Jeanne and Michel reaching for each other through prison bars. Pritish Das establishes a genealogy of films dealing with possible revolution and analyses the outstanding Cuban movie Lucía (Humberto Solás, 1968), where revolution comes into being as a contingent everyday problem in permanent need of updating.

Whilst an eclectic range of interview subjects is presented in this issue, one throughline is key artists and filmmakers working in the Middle East, such as Wael Shawky, Sanaz Sohrabi, and Mahboobeh Kalaee. These discussions provide insight into artistic practices that occur in the context of contested and colonised lands. From the Middle East to the US, Arindam Sen caught up with American filmmaker Lee Anne Schmitt whose unique body of work was the focus of a retrospective at DOK Leipzig last year. Readers attending the upcoming Melbourne International Film Festival will appreciate Tùng Bạch Đăng’s interview with Time and Tide (2026) director Vee Shi and cinematographer/producer Nicholson Ren on their docu-fiction work depicting experiences of Chinese Australians. Other key interviewees include: Christian Petzold on his latest film, Miroirs No. 3 (2025); Giulio Bertelli on his debut Agon (2025); and Pierre le Gall on his debut Flesh and Fuel (2026).

A new batch of eye-opening reports from the circuit populates our Festivals section. Senses regular Marc Raymond returns to Jeonju to survey its mix of indie auteurs and newer, daring voices. While the Korean film industry may not have overcome the existential crisis wrought by the COVID pandemic, “this edition radiated a certain optimism for the future.” Dispatching from the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival, Maja Korbecka homes in on a few standouts and reflects on the festival’s improved treatment of its foreign press corps—prospective attendees will find her impressions navigating SIFF as an international journalist most useful. Back in Europe, Susana Bessa reflects on the 23rd IndieLisboa, and how the festival’s omnivorous, bludgeoning programming belies a crisis of confidence. Elsewhere on the continent, Japan was named Country of Honour at the 79th Festival de Cannes; in his astute report, Japanese critic and scholar Daichi Ogi focussed on what the recognition might mean for the country’s industry, before diving deep into new films from Koreeda, Hamaguchi, Fukada, and others. Last but not least, we’re thrilled to publish Stefan Solomon’s enthusiastic report from the 40th Cinema Ritrovato, a weeklong showcase of newly restored and rediscovered films that each year turns Bologna into a cinephile’s Mecca. 

Three heterogeneous and prolific Great Directors take the podium in Issue 118, all long-overdue entrants to our pantheon. Filipino imagemaker, muckraker, and showman extraordinaire Khavn De La Cruz is examined in an appropriately experimental text by Patrick F. Campos. The films of American agitator and underworld exegete Abel Ferrara are systematically unpacked and unlocked by Florian Zappe. Meanwhile, Japanese animator, director, and studio executive Yuasa Masaaki is the subject of Nicholas Buccheri’s enlightening close analysis.

Finally, we have three Book Reviews with strikingly dissimilar focuses. Mark Seton stresses the originality of the embodied yet conceptual approach of Karen Pearlman’s Cutting Rhythms, now in its third edition. Jiahan Olivia Lin scrutinises the productive hits and contradictions presented in Dorothy Wai Sim Lau’s ambitious East Asian Auteurism, Cinephilia and the Media Platform Era. Completing the lineup, Ragib Rahman studies (with fascination) the mind-blowing Seeing Things: Spectral Materialities of Bombay Horror by Kartik Nair.

Whether deep in winter, spring or ensconced in the worlds between, we hope you enjoy this Issue at least as much as we enjoyed creating it.