“I’ve learned that my voice, it means something.” Each year, thousands of high school students around the country take part in speech and debate contests. ( I did a few myself in high school.) The goal is to make it to the Nationals of the National Speech and Debate...
Most of the films that we see about the Russia-Ukraine War focus on the people in Ukraine. I’ve seen documentaries and narrative films dealing with life in the war and refugees from the war. But what’s happening in Russia while this is going on? Mr. Nobody Against...
“I want to tell you a story. A story thousands of years old. A story of men fighting for their land.” AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov, who won an Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol, brings us another harrowing experience of the Russia-Ukraine War with 2000 Meters to...
All the talk coming out of Sundance is usually about films that will soon find their way into theaters, but there are other things that show there, including shorts. I was invited to screen Death Education, directed by Yuxuan Ethan Wu. It may not find its way into the...
“This is a story about power.” The Oscar®-nominated documentary No Other Land is a collaboration between Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor, two are Israeli and two Palestinian. It is not a far-reaching in depth look at the Israeli-Palestinian...
It’s time again for my sharing some noteworthy films from last year. Best? Some are; others just need to be brought to your attention. Some will win awards; some will never be nominated. Some you’ll thank me for; some will make you think I’m an idiot. These are films...
Okay, class. Open your history books to the chapter on the Cold War. We’ll be focusing on the role new African nations played in that era. While we discuss it, I’m going to put on this jazz record for context. Welcome to today’s class, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,...
“The one thing Nickel taught me was how not to die.” Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross, is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead. The story centers on a young man sent unjustly to a reformatory in the Jim Crow South. The...
We have gotten used to the idea of a post-apocalyptic world filled with violence and greed. The animated film Flow, from director Gints Zilbalodis, is a different (and delightful) kind of post-apocalyptic vision. It is a new way of understanding the lifeboat ethics...