My Courses

Famous faces pop up in three very different films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, all of them doing their best to anchor stories of complex characters struggling through difficult chapters in their lives. These three projects couldn’t be more distinct in terms of ultimate success with one being high on my list of the…

Three of the absolute best films of Sundance 2023 came from filmmakers who seemed eager to look in the mirror. Or at least a funhouse one. Of course, none of these are direct memoirs, but they all feel inspired by the lives and concerns of the people who made them, leading to projects that resonate with…

Three films found in this year’s World Dramatic Competition find themselves examining interpersonal relationships through very distinct means. In Marija Kavtaradze’s Lithuanian romance “Slow” two lovers strive to meet each other’s needs. In Adura Onashile’s “Girl” the closeness of an immigrant mother and daughter living in Scotland is threatened by unprocessed trauma. Lastly, in “Mami…

The most gratifying aspect of exploring a program as unique as the World Dramatic competition arises from approaching voices and experiences that are so far removed from your own that they manage to challenge your outward perspective. The three titles collected here aren’t totally unified by a single theme (though two of them very clearly…

Knowledge of the 1619 Project first piqued my attention in 2020, when I learned that legislators and citizens alike were pushing to have its content banned from public education. Created and spearheaded by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, “The 1619 Project” is a hub of crucial information regarding the history of Black people in America, both as an…