In the small Copenhagen suburb of Hellerup, wild rumors circulated among the townspeople. Demonic visitors had arrived and wicked deeds ensued. Ghouls fraternized with terrifying inquisitors of centuries past. Young women drifted about possessed and frantic. And a coterie of windswept witches … [Read more...] about Häxan
Poker Faces
By 1926, the studio system with its assembly-line like production of celluloid products was firmly in place. Critics and historians love to celebrate visionary, passionate filmmakers, but the studio system thrived for a reason, as Poker Faces demonstrates. It’s a well-crafted, comic programmer with … [Read more...] about Poker Faces
Poil de Carotte
Precious few intertitles in the silent era, and just a handful of lines of dialogue across a near-century of “talkies,” are more portentous and heartrending than this: “François, the youngest son of the Lepic family, was born after the parents stopped loving each other.” And so we are introduced … [Read more...] about Poil de Carotte
East Side, West Side
“When you’re in New York, you’re in the whole world. There’s nothing you can’t find in New York,” Allan Dwan told interviewer Joe Adamson in 1979. “I always had a great respect for it. It’s a dirty place, it’s this and that, but it’s the place.” East Side, West Side was Dwan’s valedictory ode to … [Read more...] about East Side, West Side
Piano Man: Utsav Lal Lends His Virtuosity to Live Cinema
This interview was published in conjunction with the screenings of The Opportunist and I Was Born, But... at SFSFF 2024 Utsav Lal has crossed many borders, some of which you can hear in his voice. Speaking the Indian-accented English of his native Delhi, flecked with Americanisms from his adopted … [Read more...] about Piano Man: Utsav Lal Lends His Virtuosity to Live Cinema
The Opportunist
Like most filmmakers of his time, Mykola Shpykovskyi did not attend film school. He was born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, and studied in Odesa, where he earned a law degree in 1917. Despite this unlikely start to a film career, he eventually became a respected colleague of upstart Soviet filmmakers, … [Read more...] about The Opportunist
Gentlemen Gone Rogue
This feature was published in conjunction with the screening of The Sea Hawk at SFSFF 2024 Few characters are more beloved in adventure films than the aristocrat taking a walk on the wild side. As W.S. Gilbert put it, “They are no members of the common throng; They are all noblemen who have gone … [Read more...] about Gentlemen Gone Rogue
The Sea Hawk
What connection could there possibly have been between Rafael Sabatini and Buster Keaton? Sabatini was hailed as a brilliant writer of popular fare and, for the adaptation of his 1915 novel about a 16th century English nobleman who takes on a new identity as a fearsome corsair, Buster Keaton loaned … [Read more...] about The Sea Hawk