The Film Comment Podcast

Is it possible to pinpoint what is so scary about an unsettling moment of a well-made horror film? It could be the image itself, but it could also be an unexpected sonic flourish, or an abrupt cut, or a lingering long take. A truly frightening horror film often derives its power from the uncanny specificity of its techniques or mise en scène, instilling a fundamental sense of unease that can't easily be shaken. With Halloween on the horizon, Film Comment Digital Editor Violet Lucca is joined by a panel of FC mainstays to reminisce about the haunting appeal of (often uncomfortably) memorable cursed images. Guests include Michael Koresky, Editorial Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center; Margaret Barton-Fumo, author of FC's Deep Cuts column; and Ina Archer, FC contributor and student at NYU's Moving Image Archive and Preservation Program.

Photography is by nature bittersweet: a warm moment with a loved one is captured forever, a reminder of an instant in time that can never be repeated. These conflicting feelings are deftly explored in Errol Morris’s latest documentary, The B-Side, which traces the career of Elsa Dorfman. Never seeking fame, Dorman forged lifelong friendships with counter-culture giants like Alan Ginsberg, and shot everyone from Bob Dylan to Jonathan Richman. A perfect expression of the challenges female artists have faced without overstating them, the film is a significant departure from Morris’s other work. However, when Film Comment Digital Editor Violet Lucca spoke with him the day after the second presidential debate, many of the themes that have run throughout his work—namely, the nature of truth—naturally arose. The director also talks about his upcoming Netflix series, documentary technique, and a few of his dream collaborations with heads of state.

The fanfare of the 54th New York Film Festival may have officially wrapped on Saturday, but the films themselves live on—so let's talk about them. As part of an aptly named "Festival Wrap" free talk, several of Film Comment's frequent contributors and editors recently came together before a live audience to reflect on the highlights of a robust NYFF slate. Listen below to the full conversation before these films make the rounds in the coming months. The panel includes FC columnist Margaret Barton-Fumo, critic K. Austin Collins, MOMI programmer and FC columnist Eric Hynes, and Metrograph programmer Aliza Ma, as well as Film Comment Digital Editor Violet Lucca and Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold.

The September/October issue of Film Comment re-envisioned the magazine’s style and sharpened its focus, celebrating the vibrancy of cinema as well as delving into tough critical issues. As part of the 54th New York Film Festival’s free talks series sponsored by HBO, critics whose work appears in the current issue—Farihah Zaman, Nick Pinkerton, Imogen Sara Smith, and Shonni Enelow—joined Film Comment Editor Nicolas Rapold and Film Society Editorial Director Michael Koresky before a live audience to discuss their ideas and find points of comparison between the big films of the season and the pressing issues facing the medium.

Aside from search engines, the most visited sites in the world are social media: the old mainstays Facebook and Twitter. Their impact on film culture and cinephilia has been profound, giving voice to people who were formerly outside of the established critical conversation, but also providing a new outlet for seasoned critics. However, not all of the changes fostered by social media have been positive: hasty and reductive festival “takes,” the performative nature of “callout culture,” and straight-up trolling, to name but a few. To discuss and elaborate upon ideas from Nick Pinkerton’s feature on social media and criticism in the September/October issue, Digital Editor Violet Lucca was joined by Pinkerton, Kameron Collins of The Ringer, and Mark Harris of Vulture for this episode.

Great works of art transcend the passage of time, but the cinema of years past has its own special qualities of transcendence and immersion. This episode of The Film Comment Podcast explores how we relate to older films in the modern era, and examines the culture that surrounds their appreciation in an era of revival runs, film festivals, and restoration efforts. The discussion, led by Film Comment Digital Editor Violet Lucca, touches on modern audiences' emotional distance from older works, the enduring power of the film medium, and the particular experience of younger generations of cinephiles. Rounding out the panel are Vulture critic Mark Harris; FC columnist Farran Smith Nehme; and critic Imogen Sara Smith, whose September/October feature on classical cinema and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival inspired this conversation.

How do you approach political filmmaking in a meaningful way? And, in this politically charged era, where are the dissenting voices in film? In this episode, two very different filmmakers—Charles Burnett, the director of Killer of Sheep and To Sleep with Anger, and Oliver Stone, the director of Born on the Fourth of July and Snowden—speak about their films and their thoughts on contemporary media and politics.

Hosting over 300 films, many of which are world or North American premieres, the Toronto International Film Festival is a frequently overwhelming experience even for veteran attendees. To help cut through—or at least acknowledge that there will be—hype, this episode features a roundtable of critical voices discussing (and debating) key films from the festival. Participants: Film Comment podcast regulars Nick Pinkerton and Eric Hynes; Toronto-based critic Adam Nayman; Metrograph programmer Aliza Ma; Film Society of Lincoln Center Editorial Director Michael Koresky; and the Editor of Film Comment, Nicolas Rapold.

This episode is the first of three to dive into features from our newly redesigned September-October issue, which asks "What Is Cinema Now?" Shonni Enelow, author of Method Acting and Its Discontents: On American Psycho-Drama and assistant professor of English at Fordham University, wrote a feature about an emerging trend in contemporary American acting, characterized by restraint and withholding emotion. Digital Editor Violet Lucca was joined by Enelow and regular contributor Ashley Clark to discuss the article as well as explore changing trends in training and conceptions of what makes an actor (or performance) great.

Last month, the final VCR rolled off the line at the Funai plant in Japan, officially signaling the end of an era. Although there have been numerous sea-changes in media since the end of VHS’s supremacy, there's something special (and, in a way, lost to time) about the formative cinephilic experiences fostered by video store communities. In this episode of the podcast, FILM COMMENT Editor Nicolas Rapold, Digital Editor Violet Lucca, FSLC Editorial Director Michael Koresky (Video Room), and New York Film Festival Director Kent Jones (New Video) discuss their relationships with those once-precious tapes.