Runtime: 83 minutes Directed by: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu Written by: Maddie Dai Starring: Erana James, Manaia Hall, Rima Te Wiata, Nathalie Morris By Sarah Manvel “We Were Dangerous” is a pleasing fantasy movie about three girls – two in their late and one in their early teens – who finds themselves trapped in an unpleasant situation designed to break their spirits. Other movies on this … Continue reading BFI Flare 2024 review: We Were Dangerous
Year: 2024 Runtime: 67 minutes Written and directed by: Mati Diop By Sarah Manvel “Dahomey” is an unusual hybrid documentary about the return to the nation of Benin 26 treasures looted by French soldiers from the kingdom of Dahomey. It’s a hybrid documentary because writer-director Mati Diop does something unusual but very much in keeping with the common theme of the movies this year’s Berlinale, … Continue reading Berlinale 2024 review: Dahomey
Year: 2024 Runtime: 97 minutes Directed by Agnes Lisa Wegner and Cece Mlay By Sarah Manvel 1907 was a long time ago, but the hanging trees are still there. Trees where Tanzanian men were hung by the German army, or German men, during a war long forgotten in the west. And the great-grandchildren of those murdered men are able to touch the very place where … Continue reading Berlinale 2024 review: The Empty Grave
Runtime: 90 minutes Written by: Erica Tremblay, Miciana Alise Directed by: Erica Tremblay Starring: Lily Gladstone, Isabel Deroy-Olson, Shea Whigham, Audrey Wasilewski, Ryan Begay By Sarah Manvel Lily Gladstone has two movies doing the festival circuit this year. “Fancy Dance” is the less glamorous of the two but it’s as important for three reasons. Firstly, it’s partially shot in Cayuga, a critically endangered Native language … Continue reading LFF 2023 Review: Fancy Dance
Film Critic Calum Cooper continues his coverage of the London Film Festival, this time reviewing one of the festival’s greatest films, the newest from legendary director Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon. Continue reading LFF 2023 Review: Killers of the Flower Moon
Film critic Calum Cooper reviews the documentary The Mission, a part live action part animated retelling of John Chau’s final missionary journey, for London Film Festival. Continue reading LFF 2023 Review: The Mission
By Valerie Kalfrin See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me, And no one knows how far it goes. If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me, One day I’ll knowIf I go, there’s just no telling how far I’ll go. – “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” Life sends us on journeys. At just sixteen, Moana … Continue reading ITOL’s Adventurous Women #5: Moana, a Voyager Who Reaches for a Greater Destiny
Year: 2023 Runtime: 93 minutes Director: Irene Lusztig By Joan Amenn Early on in the documentary “Richland” (2023), a Hanford energy worker somewhat defensively declares that viewing the creation of the atomic bombs that were used against Japan in WWII as a bad thing was an “outsider’s” way of thinking. He says that the residents of Richland see it as an accomplishment to be proud … Continue reading Richland: Tribeca Film Festival 2023 Review
Year: 2023 Runtime: 123 minutes Directors: João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora Writers: João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora, Henrique Ihjãc Krahô Actors: Ilda Patpro Krahô, Henrique Ihjãc Krahô, Luzia Cruwakwyj Krahô, Solane Tehtikwji Krahô, Debora Sodre By Sarah Manvel This is an unusual film, seemingly a hybrid documentary but also clearly acted in parts, about an unusual group of people, the Krahô tribe, a group of about … Continue reading Crowrã/The Buriti Flower: Cannes Film Festival 2023 Review
Year: 2023 Runtime: 87 minutes Writer/Director: Ramata-Toulaye Sy Actors: Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Binta Racine Sy, Moussa Sow By Sarah Manvel First-time director Ramata-Toulaye Sy has struck gold with her first feature, “Banel & Adama,” and has also made history as the first French woman (and only the second black woman; she is also Senegalese) to have her debut film be selected for the main … Continue reading Banel & Adama: Cannes Film Festival 2023 Review
In Their Own League 