“The world needs a hermit in the woods as much as a preacher in the pulpit.” What is the meaning of a life? That is the underlying question in Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams. The film is a based on a Denis Johnson novella. While it is the story of a single person, set...
As this edition of AFIFest Presented by Canva comes to a close, I want to share my appreciation of the AFIFest staff for allowing me to take part in the festival again this year. I also want to mention the wonderful work done by volunteers who take care of all of us...
The T-shirt for this year’s AFIFest Presented by Canva has a quotation from the Guest Artistic Director Guillermo del Toro, “The love of films heals you.” It points to the way that in film we can see ourselves and others in ways that can bring us together. The...
Welcome back to Hollywood and AFIFest Presented by Canva. Today I encountered the first film that didn’t really work for me. For some reason this is a day that didn’t really have much that appealed to me for scheduling. So I kind of went with potluck. Of course,...
“Welcome, film lovers. You’re in good company.” These words come up on the screen before every screening at AFIFest presented by Canva. That is not just a way of welcoming those who are attending, but noting what it means to be at a film festival. Festivals are always...
Time again for AFIFest Presented by Canva—five days of some of the best films of the year. This is AFIFEst’s 39th year. There are over 160 films, representing 56 countries, including 19 that are Official Best Foreign Language Oscar submissions. Over the next few days,...
Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is a study in contradiction. From the title card that opens the films with two contrasting comments about Lorenz Hart, it pushes and pulls viewers various directions at the same time. But it is only through that frenzy that we can...
Most stories we see about the Holocaust focus on the noble actions or withstanding of suffering in the midst of such a dark evil. Stella: A Life, from director Kilian Riedhof, provides a more ethically challenging view. To what extent should we judge someone who was...
The challenge of career and family is something that is familiar to many. It seems that women are often seen as the focal point of this challenge, because (in a masculine-centric world) they are supposed to focus on family, even if it means giving up a career. There...