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Fall 2017: Volume 71, Number 1
Syrian Cellphone Documentaries Rithy Panh’s Exiles Emiko Omori’s Camera Eye Virtual Reality: Beyond the Platform Casting JonBenet, Multiple Maniacs, Their Finest, The Jewel and the Crown, Bellas de noche, Plaza del la Soledad Reports from True/False, Full Frame, Orphans
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Emergency Cinema and the Dignified Image: Cell Phone Activism and Filmmaking in Syria
One of the most significant aspects of the wave of protests and uprisings that began in Syria in 2011 was the use of the cell phone camera as a tool of documentation, political activism, and creative expression. With professional journalists and major news networks barred from entering the country, Syrian citizens took it upon themselves to record their own protests as well as the...
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Of Stars and Solitude
By happy coincidence, Mexico in 2016 yielded two expert and moving documentaries on women, sex, and aging: María José Cuevas’s Bellas de noche (Beauties of the Night) and Maya Goded’s Plaza de la Soledad (Solitude Square). Both are first-time features by female directors. And both are attempts to reclaim previously neglected subjects: showgirls of the 1970s and sex workers in their seventies, respectively. Moreover,...
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The Seen and The Unseen
The idea that a struggle can be waged via cinema is an appealing one today, as so many other battlefields seem already lost. For me, there is always hope lurking in film and television and, increasingly, online media. Political obstacles may seem insurmountable, but as I am fond of declaring: nobody has to elect a film. You can buy your ticket or download the...
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Scandale! Dorothy Arzner in Paris
The Cinémathèque Française in Paris announced it would present a major retrospective of Arzner’s films in March and April. Whatever one might say about the many treasures of the Cinémathèque, one fact is incontrovertible: women film directors have never figured prominently. Could the Arzner program offer a refreshing change in the Cinémathèque’s offerings, perhaps even a sign that traditional French cinephilia is loosening its...
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Summer 2017: Volume 70, Number 4
James Baldwin: Vocalizing History Digital Sovereignty Online Billy Woodberry’s Return to Form Thriller’s Queer Feminist History Rotterdam & Sundance Festivals Writings on Juana Inés, Jackie, Earth and Kate Plays Christine RIP John Berger
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Billy Woodberry’s Return to Form
A long-view interview with filmmaker Billy Woodberry conducted by screenwriter and scholar Josslyn Luckett gives the filmmaker his due and reflects on his prolific career as an independent filmmaker. The unfolding of Billy Woodberry's career—both his own new work and the recent critical revaluations of his classic work, such as the naming of Bless Their Little Hearts (1983) to the National Film Registry in...
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The Discomforting Legacy of Deepa Mehta’s Earth
FQ Columnist Bilal Qureshi reflects on Deepa Mehta's film Earth at an important moment in Indian and global history. Writing from New Delhi, he had the opportunity to speak to Mehta in person about her life and work, and that discussion is woven into this column. Since making Earth almost twenty years ago, Deepa Mehta has seen her stature grow to include film festival...
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Under Duress
Editor B. Ruby Rich weighs in on the latest issue of FQ, new revivals in a time of duress, trends in distribution, FQ's approach to watching, writing, thinking about cinema and media in a time of ongoing political repression, and more.
Film Quarterly
Film Quarterly offers serious film lovers in-depth articles, reviews, and interviews that examine all aspects of film history, film theory, and the impact of film, video, and television on culture and society.
