Gotham Awards: "No Other Land"

by Nick Taylor

As part of The Film Experience’s coverage of this year’s Gotham Awards, I’ll be reviewing a handful of nomination films. Some of you may remember No Other Land from Cláudio Alves’s impassioned review from TIFF a month and a half ago. I hope you’ve been able to see it since then. If you haven’t, I hope you’re able to in the future. It's one of six films recognized by the Gothams for Best Documentary, and as per usual with this awards body, this could very well be another season where they have one of the year's strongest Doc lineups. Let my coverage of this be another endorsement for No Other Land as a staggering feat, “important” in every way a documentary like this could be, as well as a remarkably sturdy piece of filmmaking...

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NYFF: "Union" documents a worthwhile cause with insight and intimacy

by Nick Taylor

How is it that two of the year’s best documentaries currently have no major distribution team behind them? Actually, given the subject matter of both films, the logic for each case makes too much sense, but I’ll be using my little bully pulpit to rage against this. One of those films, the Palestinian documentary No Other Land, has already been covered by our beloved Cláudio Alves. The second film in this position is Union, Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s chronicle of the Amazon Labor Union’s grassroots campaign to be recognized by Amazon at the company’s Staten Island facilities in 2021. As an industrial giant whose tendons continue creeping deeper into every industry on the planet, it’s almost funny to watch them take such umbrage about this film when they might save more face by just letting it emerge into the world, rather than giving the ALU yet another chance to raise hell about Amazon silencing unions. In a very real way, the cooperative effort from so many of Union’s producers and backers to give it an Oscar-qualifying release mirrors the grassroots spirit of the film itself. Its release won’t be huge, but Level Ground is making sure it gets out into the world, and hopefully word of mouth praise for its timely subject should be enough to get butts in the theater.

If you want to hear more, join me under the cut . . . .

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NYFF '24: "bluish" paints post-COVID malaise in many shades

by Nick Taylor

A quick note of appreciation: I am so excited to have received press accreditation to digitally cover this year’s New York Film Festival. This is pretty amazing! Even if I’m sitting at home, nestling with my man and our cats for a good movie rather than sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Payal Kapadia and Mati Diop, this is a version of a dream fulfilled. Honestly, being able to appreciate a film festival without being separated from the kids might even be the preferable option? Much to consider.

But enough about me! Instead let’s talk about bluish, the very first film I watched as part of this NYFF coverage. Directed by Milena Czernovsky and Lilith Kraxner, bluish follows two unnamed young women played by Leonie Bramberger and Natasha Goncharova, navigating life in an Austrian metropolis that should feel more lively than it is. The city and the protagonists are stumbling through a post-lockdown balance of intimacy and isolation. There’s still noise and color and motion, but it all feels so fragile now, so much harder to participate in. bluish is a sad film, but it’s also one of the most evocative portraits of trying to reintegrate into society and full personhood in the wake of COVID (which is still happening, by the way!!) I’ve seen yet...

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TIFF '24: "I'm Still Here" is a staggering piece of political cinema

by Cláudio Alves

An absence is a scar. You might not see it like you would scarred flesh, but deep down, you feel it. Memories are both a salve and a burning touch that keeps the tissue raised, red and angry. Memories are all that's left in the absence, so they define it as much as they soothe the pain. People are covered in such scars, littered all over their spirit. Places have them, too, like the ghosts of paintings and photographs taken down from the wall, leaving faded patches within a home that is no more. Countries bear them, their history a story of scars. We can learn from them. We have to, for the alternative is forgetting and forgetting is the death of history, of justice. If a country forgets, new scars will come to pass, torn with impunity in a vicious cycle without end. So, treasure the memory and learn to acknowledge the pain of absence. For absence is a scar, and we are our scars.

In his latest film, I'm Still Here, Brazillian director Walter Salles weaves these notions into every frame, articulating a passionate plea. His is a cinema that fights for the national memory and cries, bloody and furious, against forgetting…

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Halfway Honors: The Gold Digger's 2024 Mid-Year Awards Have Been Announced!

by Nick Taylor

DUNE: PART TWO leads with 16 nominations, though CHALLENGERS is swaggering right behind it into that sauna with 15

As some of you may remember from last year, guest contributor Patrick Gratton has been spearheading a group known as the Gold Diggers Awards since 2018. Comprised of critics, cinephiles, festival circuit regulars and trusted besties around the globe, the organization is once again back with their Mid-Year Awards slate. As is tradition, these nominations are solely cultivated from films that received a US release in the first half of 2024. Also in keeping with tradition, these lineups are an eccentric mix of mainstream, arthouse, underground, and international cinema. Where else will you see Dune: Part Two duke it out with the likes of The People's Joker for Best Effects, or held up against Lea Seydoux's other sci-fi thrill The Beast? I love these nominations, and not just cuz I'm a member.

For the best of the best in 24 categories, follow me below the cut . . . .

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