This interview was published in conjunction with the screening of Tabu: A Story of the South Seas and other titles at SFSFF 2026 Wayne Barker has no reason to be modest. By any measure he’s been wildly successful, with credentials that include a Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination for Peter and … [Read more...] about Wayne Barker: Something Witty This Way Comes
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
Nearly a hundred years ago, F.W. Murnau, cinema’s great fatalist, and Robert Flaherty, cinema’s great naturalist, left for the South Seas to make a movie. The impetus came from their mutual disaffection with Hollywood, and a legend that Flaherty had heard during his stint unsuccessfully working on … [Read more...] about Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
The Caveman
Screwball comedy delighted in frolicking in those effervescing spaces that supposedly exist between the classes: William Powell’s “forgotten man” discovered by bored rich girl Carole Lombard; Jean Arthur’s simple secretary dropped upon by a sable coat; Gary Cooper’s Mr. Deeds learning that high … [Read more...] about The Caveman
Born to Be Bad
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of Hula at SFSFF 2026 VAMPING IT UP The vamp craze took the movies by storm in the tumultuous mid-1910s, with Theda Bara, Louise Glaum, and Valeska Suratt driving men to lust, madness, and heresy for the very good reason of “they felt … [Read more...] about Born to Be Bad
Japanese Paper Film Project
“Film” has been synonymous with “cinema” since W.K.L. Dickson used George Eastman’s Kodak Transparent Film to make pictures move on the Edison Kinetoscope in 1895. A roll of photosensitive emulsion coated on a flexible base of nitrate cellulose, Kodak Transparent Film had been introduced for still … [Read more...] about Japanese Paper Film Project
Hula
In 1927, Paramount Pictures reteamed Clara Bow, who had just been dubbed Hollywood’s first “It Girl,” with Paramount’s “just doesn’t miss” director, Victor Fleming, in Hula, the follow-up to their smash sex comedy Mantrap (1926). The duo managed to brew the same erotic white lightning they had … [Read more...] about Hula
The White Trail
Poland had regained its statehood following the end of the First World War and set about rebuilding itself politically and economically, as well as culturally. The reborn nation’s film industry was part of its renewal. In his 2002 book, Polish Cinema: A History, Marek Haltof notes that Poland’s … [Read more...] about The White Trail
Gordon Conway
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of High Treason at SFSFF 2026 It was the dawn of a new era and Gordon Conway had arrived in time to represent. Illustrating for top fashion magazines in New York, London, and Milan, designing theater sets, window displays, and ad … [Read more...] about Gordon Conway