Filmmakers

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeIn every industry and walk of life, even the best of us sometimes fail to hit the mark.For professional filmmakers, however, mistakes can be costly. Unlike most people, their slip-ups can be witnessed by millions of people – a bad film can tar someone’s reputation for years or even decades.This isn’t just a list about bad films, however. This is a tribute to the rare instances when…

In the year of 2023, it would almost feel like some tasteless, ridiculous joke to learn that filmmakers Woody Allen and Roman Polanski are still somehow having their movies shown at larger film festivals. But as disastrous as that would sound as a mere joke, I regret to inform you that both men are actually receiving high honors for their latest films with the 2023 Venice Film Festival set to screen the projects. As per The Wrap, Allen’s French thriller Coup de Chance and Polanski’s black comedy The Palace are both…

This story was created in paid partnership with the Toronto Film School. “I can’t explain exactly what the decision was—I just knew writing was the one thing I haven’t tried, and it was so scary because it’s so vulnerable to share your story,” writer and producer Jen Bendle shared, recalling how she first got into film. “I wanted to get my hands dirty—to get into the industry and find the school that would give me the best chance. So that’s when I applied, and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in…

In the early 90s, according to a story that may now have become slightly mythologised in the retelling, the actor Sarah Polley – then aged 12 – was asked by Disney executives to remove a peace sign badge she was wearing. When she refused, Disney blacklisted her. This story lost a little of its potency last month with the announcement that Polley was set to direct the new “live-action” reboot of Bambi. For admirers of Polley’s determinedly independent career, the record-scratch noise could not be louder: this is somebody…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeIn every industry and walk of life, even the best of us sometimes fail to hit the mark.For professional filmmakers, however, mistakes can be costly. Unlike most people, their slip-ups can be witnessed by millions of people – a bad film can tar someone’s reputation for years or even decades.This isn’t just a list about bad films, however. This is a tribute to the rare instances when…

‘He always looked as though he was up to mischief’Stephen Frears, directorFrears in 2010. Photograph: Arun Nevader/WireImageHe’d come up to you at solemn occasions with some wonderful, deflating phrase. With his wickedly impish face, he always looked as though he was up to mischief.He wrote of My Beautiful Laundrette that it was “groundbreaking” and what he said changed my life and the lives of others. He was endlessly irreverent and yet absolutely committed to the best of cinema.‘He let us all speak, then told us which…

The highly anticipated DC superhero movie, 'The Flash,' has received a massive vote of confidence from none other than Hollywood icon Tom Cruise. After an exclusive advanced screening of the film, Cruise personally reached out to director Andy Muschietti and producer Barbara Muschietti, showering them with praise and giving the entire team a much-needed "confidence boost." After an exclusive advanced screening of the film, Cruise personally reached out to director Andy Muschietti showering with praise. In an…

The year is 2014. Warner Bros. makes a superhero-sized splash and announces not just that Justice League, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman movies are coming, but that a Flash movie is coming and the Flash will be played by Ezra Miller.How The Last Airbender Inspired Lisette OliveraFast-forward to today. Finally, after almost a decade, The Flash is finally coming to theaters. In that time at least three different teams of filmmakers tried to figure out how to bring the speedster to the big screen, just as the DC slate of films…

via Warner Bros Despite numerous reports of Ezra Miller‘s controversial actions in 2022, The Flash director Andy Muschietti, and producer Barbara Muschietti claimed that they were not worried about the film being canceled or boycotted. Both director and producer commented about the calls to cancel the film during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, and claimed that the film wasn’t in danger. According to Barbara, the fear was “never real.” Meanwhile, Andy pointed out that the real issue was about Miller’s…

Queer film exploded like a glitter cannon in the 1990s, sending sparkling product raining down in every direction. Trans lives hit the screen in Orlando and Boys Don’t Cry, alongside dynamic bulletins from the Black queer experience (The Watermelon Woman, Young Soul Rebels, Chocolate Babies). We had jubilant celebrations of drag with Paris Is Burning and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, provocations from New Queer Cinema in the shape of Poison, Swoon and Edward II; there were auteurist masterpieces (Beau…