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The Many Facets of Kyrgyz Womanhood—‘Jamilia’, dir. Aminatou Echard, 2018

Ethnography meets experimental film in a stunning, sprawling study of Kyrgyz femininity and its relationship to the culture's defining novella about a rebellious woman

February 26th, 2020|Country: France, Kyrgyzstan|

The Upset Stomachs and Egos of Colonialism—Tierno Monénembo, ‘King of Kahel’, 2008, trans. Nicholas Elliott

Guinean author subverts the traditional colonizer narrative by crafting a tragicomedy about a Frenchman who wanted to be an African king; offers an unflinching look into the mechanics of occupation

February 25th, 2020|Country: France, Guinea|

Wool Over the Eyes—‘This Magnificent Cake!’, dir. Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels, 2018

Whimsical felt puppet fantasy from filmmaking couple tackles colonization of Congo by Belgian King Leopold in a graceful satirical exploration of the chaos that ineptitude sows

February 6th, 2020|Country: Belgium, DR Congo, France, Netherlands, South Africa|

A Dog’s Heart—‘Marona’s Fantastic Tale’, dir. Anca Damian, 2019

Abstract art meets unconditional love in an animated film about a dog's history living with humans: a dazzling all-age feature from Romanian auteur and an international team of visual artists

February 4th, 2020|Country: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Romania, Spain|

6 Animated Shorts to See at New York City’s Animation First Festival 2020

Family memories, heart-wrenching puppets, thrilling technological advancements and a lot of dark, delicious humor from the world’s finest animators, including two Oscars nominees

February 2nd, 2020|Country: Argentina, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Tajikistan|

Shrouded in Hopelessness—‘The Swallows of Kabul’, dir. Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec, 2019

The lives of two couples waiting for their real-life to begin in Taliban-run Kabul are entwined in a heart-breaking animated adaptation of Yasmina Khadra's novel

January 30th, 2020|Country: Afghanistan, Algeria, France|

The Extremity of Loss—‘I Lost My Body’, dir. Jérémy Clapin, 2019

A severed hand seeks to be reunited with its body in a highly imaginative, morbid yet affable animated feature co-written by one of the authors of "Amelie" and nominated for the Oscars

January 29th, 2020|Country: France|

The Throbbing Heart of Unrest in the French Suburbs—‘Les Misérables’, dir. Ladj Ly, 2019

A meticulous fictional inquiry into the incendiary social politics of Parisian suburbs in feature debut from a man who has experienced the 2005 Paris uprising in his backyard

January 27th, 2020|Country: France|

DR Congo’s Urban Art Scene Is Pulsating with Politics and Perils—‘System K’, dir. Renaud Barret, 2019

The best art grows out of trash and danger: incendiary documentary profiles the courageous young artists making fierce political statements in the streets of Kinshasa

January 22nd, 2020|Country: DR Congo, France|

The Past, Present, and Future of Dance in the Muslim World—‘When Arabs Danced’, dir. Jawad Rhalib, 2018

Trailblazing performers from Arabic countries and Iran, as well as glimpses from the pre-hardline cultural landscapes in this tantalizing primer on the role dance plays in Islam-adjacent cultures

January 20th, 2020|Country: Algeria, Belgium, France, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco|

Daughters of Mujahideen in ‘Before Father Gets Back’, dir. Mari Gulbiani, 2019

An intimate portrait of two girls in a Georgian village who come of age and learn about the beauty of cinema, while their fathers are in Syria fighting for mujahideen groups

December 4th, 2019|Country: France, Georgia, Germany|

Film: Fabulous, dir. Audrey Jean-Baptiste, 2019

A transwoman who's made strides in New York and Paris returns to her home country to teach voguing to the locals in a fascinating study of gender and sexuality in French Guiana

December 3rd, 2019|Country: France, French Guiana|

A Dinner for Foodies and Cinephiles Alike: List of 5 Films About Food and Community That Pair Well With Meals

An international gourmet meal in five courses of cinema: diversity beer, weed soup, and protest tea, with plushies and spirits as guests—a tasting menu to nourish all senses

November 14th, 2019|Country: Aruba, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, USA|

Film: Taste of Hope, dir. Laura Coppens, 2019

Workers at a tea factory in the South of France fought their bosses in an almost 4-year strike and now run the place as a co-op: will they emerge victorious from the battles of competition?

November 7th, 2019|Country: France, Germany, Switzerland|

7 Fresh Animated Short Films Directed by Women From All Over the World

Topless supermarkets, museum exhibits riddled with anxiety, nature-loving robots, immigrant artists and albatross soup: there’s nothing that’s out of bounds for women at Animation Block Party

October 28th, 2019|Country: Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, USA|