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December 9, 2019

Letter from the editor:

Our recent film coverage tackles some of the biggest titles hitting theaters as the year winds down. The brilliant Justine Smith looks at Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a historical lesbian romance which underwent heavy research to accurately portray the lives and craft of female artists in the 1700s. Meanwhile, Sue Gruder uses 63 Up, the latest installment in the storied Up series of British documentaries, to talk about its unique long-form experiment in following the lives of ordinary people in real time. We also have dispatches from festivals in both Montreal and Amsterdam. Retrospectives currently running in New York include documentaries by Martin Scorsese at Film Forum and contemporary Brazilian cinema at Lincoln Center. Keep out of the cold with any of these wonderful titles. See you in the theater!

How Martin Scorsese Seeks Revelation in Documentary

Film Forum’s new series Scorsese Nonfiction brings an under-discussed facet of the director’s career into focus.

Michael Joshua Rowin

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a Queer Homage to the Labor of Women Artists

More than being one of the greatest lesbian romances, Céline Sciamma’s latest is a beautiful film about artistic labor and the social contexts that uplift some artists above others.

Justine Smith

The Documentary Project That’s Followed the Same Subjects for Over 50 Years

63 Up is the latest installment in the Up series, which has revisited a set of British people every seven years since they were children, tracking their lives and development.

Susannah Gruder

A Showcase of Boundary-Crossing Brazilian Cinema

Kicking off today at Film at Lincoln Center, the series presents a body of work that’s particularly heartening when one considers the encroachments on freedom that Brazilian cinema must now confront.

Ela Bittencourt

Rethinking Villains in Documentary Film

At the 2019 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the programming strand “The Villain” looked for new ways to depict unsavory subjects.

Andrew Northrop

How Humans Betray the Environment and One Another Throughout History

Some of the best films at the Montreal International Documentary Festival explored themes of wasted potential and the relationship between humanity and the planet.

Jake Pitre

“DIY or Die”: Brooklynites Face the Apocalypse in Empty Metal

We might think of Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer’s latest as a cyborg film — both its subject matter and formal approach depend on unifying across difference, a fuck-you to essentialized binaries.

Adina Glickstein

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