Tag: history
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Slamdance 2026: ZUMECA: A FIRE LIT IN THE FIRST DAWN OF THE AMERICAS
Zumeca transforms a true story into a lyrical meditation on conquest, faith, and forbidden love. Through the bond between Miguel and the Taíno cacique Zumeca, the film reveals the intimate human cost of the first collision of cultures in the Americas.
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Hamnet: A Son in the Air: Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet and the Birth of Shakespeare’s Grief
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet offers a radiant reimagining of Shakespeare’s family life and the origins of Hamlet. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal lead a cast that brings Stratford and London to vivid, emotional life. The film becomes a moving portrait of love, lineage, and the creation of art from the deepest human experiences.
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Nuremberg: The Weight of Judgement
James Vanderbilt’s Nurenberg, starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, revisits the historic tribunal that sought justice after the Holocaust. Both courtroom drama and history lesson, the film wrestles with the weight of judgment, offering a mixed yet powerful portrayal of survival, denial, and consequence.
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The World Will Tremble: But Not Always for the Right Reasons
The incredible, untold true story of how a group of prisoners attempt a seemingly impossible escape from the first Nazi death camp in order to provide the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
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The New Boy: The Light That Would Not Stay Buried
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy opens with a wound and closes with a silence. In between, it breathes through the dust and fire of mid-1940s Australia, where the land seems to mourn the children taken from it. The film is not a history lesson—it is a reckoning. It does not explain the Stolen Generations; it…
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The Birds Remember Everything
A lyrical meditation on city birds, memory, and instinct. This poem honors the quiet rituals of return, grief, and the histories we refuse to name.
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Eden: The Garden That Would Not Bloom
Ron Howard’s Eden is a fevered meditation on the fragility of paradise, a film that dares to ask whether utopia can survive the weight of human desire. It opens with a promise—a couple fleeing the corrosion of modernity, seeking purity on an island untouched by the world’s noise. Yet what unfolds is not a cleansing,…
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Harvest: The Land Was Never Ours
Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest is a film of slow erosion, where the soil of a village is not merely tilled but stripped of its memory. Adapted from Jim Crace’s novel, the story unfolds in a remote Scottish hamlet, its medieval rhythms disrupted not by monsters but by the quiet arrival of enclosure, surveillance, and suspicion.…
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Vermiglio: A Love Letter to the Shadows of Memory
The mountains cradle secrets, their silence deeper than the valleys they carve. *Vermiglio* is not merely a film—it is a whispered confession, a love letter to the ghosts of history, penned in the language of longing and loss. Maura Delpero crafts a cinematic poem, delicate yet unflinching, where love is not a fleeting embrace but…
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Small Things Like These: A Hearth Against the Bitter Chill of Silence
In the wintry stillness of 1985, where unspoken truths burden frost clings to the earth and hearts, Small Things Like These emerges as a film of quiet defiance and deep humanity. Directed by Tim Mielants, the film features a hauntingly resonant performance by Cillian Murphy. It weaves a story that feels more like an excavation…
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Queer: A Lament for Love and Loss in the Shadows
Luca Guadagnino’s *Queer*, now streaming on Max, transcends traditional storytelling to offer a poignant meditation on themes of longing, obsession, and the subtle, often painful, intricacies of unfulfilled relationships. Drawing inspiration from William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novel, the film delves into the complexities of identity and human connection, presenting them through an intimate yet unflinchingly…
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The Alto Knights: Shadows and Echoes
The criminal underworld has always been a rich source of inspiration for films. However, expectations can become a double-edged sword when two legendary figures come together. Barry Levinson’s *The Alto Knights*, featuring Robert De Niro in dual roles, offers an ambitious exploration of fraternal bonds complicated by power, greed, and betrayal. The film is suspenseful…
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September 5: Navigating Tragedy Through the Lens of Media: A Reflection on “September 5
Movie Info: During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes Review: September 5,” directed by Tim Fehlbaum and starring Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin, presents a hauntingly eloquent portrayal of a tragic event, tinged with grief and introspection. The film delves deep…
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I’m Still Here: A Symphony of Resilience and Love
Movie Info: Eunice Paiva investigates her husband Rubens’ disappearance while maintaining family stability. Rubens is a former PTB deputy who has gone missing. Review: Walter Salles‘ “I’m Still Here” is a poignant and lyrical exploration of love, loss, and the indomitable human spirit set against the backdrop of Brazil’s military dictatorship. The film, adapted from…
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The Brutalist: An Epic Tale of Resilience and Vision
MOVIE INFO: Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison…
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The Girl with the Needle: A Dark Fairy Tale of Survival and Redemption
MOVIE INFO: A standout selection from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE is a dark fairy tale about one woman’s search for tenderness and morality in a cruel world. Both eerie and exquisite, writer-director Magnus von Horn’s latest film tracks young factory worker Karoline as she struggles to survive in post-WWI…
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The Six Triple Eight: A Triumph of Courage and Unity
MOVIE INFO: The Six Triple Eight is inspired by the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to serve overseas in WWII. Despite facing racism and sexism — and grueling working conditions — they were committed to serving their country with honor and distinction. Given an extraordinary mission and united in their determination,…
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The Return: A Modern Odyssey with Stellar Performances and Bold Direction
MOVIE INFO: After 20 years away, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has returned from the Trojan War, but much has changed in his kingdom. His beloved wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is a prisoner in her own home, hounded by suitors vying to be king. Their…
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On My Father’s House
On my father’s housethree slaves and six horsesdied when the old stable blazeda century and a half ago, and three union and two confederate soldiersslayed each otherin a forgotten skirmisha few years later.Their skeletons were foundtwo years after the war under an uprooted white pine.The county let the field return to forest,except for the old…
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The Apprentice: Trump and Cohn: A Toxic Alliance
MOVIE INFO: A young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), eager to make his name as a hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé…
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“‘Saturday Night’: A Nostalgic Dive into the Chaos and Comedy of SNL’s Origins”
MOVIE INFO: At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television — and culture — forever. Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Gil Kenan & Reitman, Saturday Night is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to…
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Wicked Little Letters: Primly, Properly, Profane
MOVIE INFO: A 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a farcical and occasionally sinister scandal in this riotous mystery comedy. Based on a stranger than fiction true story, WICKED LITTLE LETTERS follows two neighbors: deeply conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When Edith and fellow residents…
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The Pond
The pond was a quarry first, a blast furnace to the colonies where trains ran across its field.“Iron Ore Bed” map points called it.It was left to the rain when it dried up.When his parents bought the land twenty- five years before he was born, the field was overgrown and the pond was weedy and…
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The Long Game : Raising the Game for Minority Equality
MOVIE INFO: In 1956, JB Peña and his wife moved to the small town of Del Rio, TX, partly for a job as a school superintendent, but mostly to fulfill JB’s dream of joining the prestigious, all-white Del Rio Country Club. So when JB is rejected on the basis of his skin color, he is…
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Fly Me to the Moon: Faking It Until You Make It.
MOVIE INFO: Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, Fly Me To The Moon is a sharp, stylish romantic comedy set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole…
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Origin: Trying to Get Beyond Just Black and White
MOVIE INFO: While grappling with tremendous personal tragedy, Isabel sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery. Despite the colossal scope of her project, she finds beauty and bravery while crafting one of the defining American books of our time REVIEW: Origin is Ava DuVernay’s ambitious adaptation of Caste, former New York Times…
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One Life: The Other Schindler’s List
MOVIE INFO: Based on the book If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton, ONE LIFE tells the incredible, emotional true story of Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton (Johnny Flynn), a young London broker who visits Prague in December 1938. In a race against time, Winton convinces Trevor Chadwick (Alex Sharp) and…
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Unfrosted: Pop Tarts Gets the Myth It Almost Desserts
MOVIE INFO: Michigan, 1964. Kellogg’s and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever. A tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar, and menacing milkmen, Unfrosted stars writer/director Jerry Seinfeld. REVIEW: Jerry Seinfeld on the big screen has only played the disembodied voice of an animated bee. In…
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The Settlers: The Terror of Tierra del Fuego…
MOVIE INFO VIS ROTTEN TOMATOES: Chile, 1901. Three horsemen embark on an expedition, tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is to violently “remove” the indigenous population. REVIEW: The Settlers is a grim violent…
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Shirley: Not Quite Capturing Her Multitudes
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: The story of the first Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, and her trailblazing run for president of the United States. REVIEW: Shirley Chisholm was a mold breaking politician who challenged the standard narrative of her time and blazed a trail for every women after her. Shirley on Netflix, gives short shift…
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The Zone of Interest: The Holocaust as Hidden Camera and Background Soundtrack
MOVIE INFO The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp. REVIEW: The Zone of Interest a Holocaust film about Rudolf Hoss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz, opens in idyllic blackness— to the sounds of…
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Society of the Snow: Getting Past Survival and Hunger to Know Life
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, crashed in the heart of the Andes. Only 29 of its 45 passengers survived the accident. Trapped in one of the most hostile and inaccessible environments on the planet, they have to…
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Ferrari: Racing to Reclaim a Dead Soul
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Ferrari is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950’s Formula 1, ex-racer, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for their one son. Ferrari…
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Rustin: Getting to the True Heart of the March on Washington
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: The architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in…
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Killers of the Flower: Scorsese Stays on the Reservation
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Based on David Grann’s broadly lauded best-selling book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror Review: Killers of the Flower…
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Blue Jean: Getting Pass the Girls Locker Room Perceptions of LGBTQ
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: England, 1988 — Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government is about to pass a law stigmatizing gays and lesbians, forcing Jean, a gym teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school catalyzes a crisis that will challenge Jean to her…
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El Conde: Living With the Vampire of a Nation’s Horror
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: El Conde is a dark comedy/horror that imagines a parallel universe inspired by the recent history of Chile. The film portrays Augusto Pinochet, a symbol of world fascism, as a vampire who lives hidden in a ruined mansion in the cold southern tip of the continent. Feeding his appetite for…
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Corsage: Tied and Undone By Odd Choices of Style.
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Empress Elizabeth of Austria is idolized for her beauty and renowned for inspiring fashion trends. But in 1877, ‘Sissi’ celebrates her 40th birthday and must fight to maintain her public image by lacing her corset tighter and tighter. While Elizabeth’s role has been reduced against her wishes to purely performative,…
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Golda: Choosing Life Over Ashes
Summary via IMDB: Focuses on the intensely dramatic and high-stakes responsibilities and decisions that Golda Meir, also known as the ‘Iron Lady of Israel’ faced during the Yom Kippur War. Review: Golda, is this year’s their finest and darkest hour movie. The 1973 Yom Kippur War was that for Israel and its prime minister, Golda…
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Chevalier: The Cock Crows So Sweetly Off
Storyline via IMDB: An opulent historical drama, Chevalier shares the story of Joseph Bologne, a Black composer and brings to light on a brilliant Black composer and violinist whose legacy has been woefully violin virtuoso who was a part of the court of Marie Antoinette. Seeming to surmount racial barriers, Bolonge, who was bestowed with…
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Flamin Hot: Cheetos Go Grande
Storyline via IMDB: In 1966 southern California, Richard Montañez grows up as a hardworking child with a strict father and supportive grandfather. He faces challenges in his youth and later becomes involved in a life of crime. However, when his wife Judy becomes pregnant, they decide to turn their lives around. Richard struggles to find…
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Babylon: Unable to Get Past the Partying into the Art of Moviemaking
Plot via IMDB; An original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled…
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America: The Motion Picture- Doesn’t Let Alternate Facts Get in the Way of Its Own Inane History Lesson.
When filmmakers fall asleep and flunk high school American History, America: The Motion Picture is what’s created years later- an animated, anarchic, free association lunacy that mixes up the American Revolution with the Civil War and shows that it respects America by disregarding its truth and hyping its memes. In this alternate America, George-Bon Jovi-Washington…
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visiting Smithsonian museums with my sister
by the third floor the weight of history had become too much that you wanted to release it to the sky by the fourth my sister still hadn’t enough of rolling in its ashes hearing the moans by the fifth there was nothing to see but the blue cinder terror so we…