Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Chi-Kin Kwok | Clement Sze-Kit Cheng
Starring: Kuan Tai Chen | Siu-Lung Leung | Teddy Robin Kwan | You-Nam Wong
Jason says: “According to the director, GALLANTS took about ten years to get financing, so one has to wonder – if it had been made then, would it have been giving late-career tributes to different old-school actors, or would Bruce
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Lawrence Michael Levine
Starring: Aubrey Plaza | Christopher Abbott | Sarah Gadon
Michael says: “When I perused the listings for this year’s festival, BLACK BEAR jumped out immediately because of lead actor, and two time Chlotrudis nominee, Aubrey Plaza. In fact, I had the privilege of presenting Aubrey with PIFF’s first ever
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Shalini Kantayya
Michael says: “This film couldn’t have been released at a better time as it explores the problematic uses and misuses of facial recognition, applied algorithms, artificial intelligence, and bias. But best of all it introduced me to Joy Buolamwini, a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Amanda McBaine | Jesse Moss
Chris says: “I’m often drawn to documentaries that focus on a subculture or an event that I personally would never, ever want to participate in, like this conference of a thousand teenage boys from Texas who come together in state
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Banjong Pisanthanakun | Parkpoom Wongpoom | Paween Purikitpanya | Songyos Sugmakanan | Visute Poolvoralaks
Jason says: “The first PHOBIA (called 4BIA in festival programs) was a sort of sampler, offering up four short horror stories from four different directors, also tending toward different types of horror. The follow-up anthology brings the number of stories
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Yonfan
Starring: Guangxuan Zhu | Joseph Chang | Kenneth Tsang | Terri Kwan | Wing Fan
Thom says: “It happens in 1950s Taiwan, during the period known as White Terror, when an anti-Communist crusade swept the island and hysteria reigned. On one fall afternoon, two young sisters come back from class to find their home ransacked
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Alex van Warmerdam
Starring: Alex van Warmerdam | Annet Malherbe | Eva van de Wijdeven | Gene Bervoets | Gijs Naber | Marlies Hueur | Marwan Kenzari
Thom says: “This Dutch gem is so droll that I find myself still thinking about months after seeing it at T.I.F.F. A woman who supposedly is dying lives in a large country house where she has assigned servant roles (including
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Irving Rapper
Starring: Bette Davis | Emlyn Williams | Gary Merrill
Thom says: ” When some 20 years ago I started a must-see list for actors, the first actor I added to the list was Bette Davis, and upon doing so I realized that there were actually dozens of her films
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Michael Engler
Starring: Imelda Staunton | Lesley Nicol | Maggie Smith | Michael Fox | Michelle Dockery | Stephen Campbell Moore
Thom says: “This is an absurdly easy film to review because it’s nearly impossible to believe that anyone who loved the mega-successful television series from 2010 wouldn’t also praise this highly entertaining affair. Director Engler has done only one other
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sasha Joseph Neulinger
Thom says: “This film is so brave and so unnerving that I find myself thinking about it and the heinous presence of child sexual abuse in our society weeks after seeing it. The director Neulinger and his sister were targeted
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