Spotlight
Under the Influence
In this ongoing series of videos, contemporary filmmakers talk to us about the movies that have had a lasting impact on their work.
The Current
A magazine of film culture past and present, with new articles, interviews, and videos published every day
Ain’t Nobody’s Business If the Lady Sings the Blues
In the 1970s, a decade when blaxploitation ruled, Lady Sings the Blues offered a rare tender vision of Black love and masculinity.
An Indonesian Classic in a New Light: A Conversation on the Landmark Restoration of After the Curfew
Two key figures in the pathbreaking project, Lisabona Rahman and Lintang Gitomartoyo, discuss its significance for Indonesian cinema, the challenges they faced while working on it, and the legacy of the film’s director, Usmar Ismail.
The Criterion Channel’s March 2021 Lineup
Giddy up, movie lovers! This month on the Channel, our Black Westerns series leads the charge, highlighting films that have challenged the myths of the Old West to tell the stories of African Americans on the frontier.
An Inside Look at Brooklyn-Based Artist Juan Miguel Marin’s Meditative Process
The man behind the artwork for our releases of The Cremator, Man Push Cart, and Chop Shop talks with us about how his Ecuadorian roots and his love of performance inform his enigmatic images.
Chop Shop: American Hustle
With novelistic intimacy, Rahmin Bahrani’s follow-up to Man Push Cart illuminates the economic desperation hiding in plain sight in contemporary America.
Man Push Cart: A Melancholy Pull
Set in a transient, post-9/11 New York City, Rahmin Bahrani’s feature debut follows the Sisyphean toil of a Pakistani immigrant whose life teeters on the verge of catastrophe.
Smooth Talk: Girl Power
A film that now plays like a harbinger of the #MeToo movement, Joyce Chopra’s first fiction feature shows how the myths that direct how girls come of age threaten their safe passage to womanhood.
Love’s Labors: The Killing Floor Illuminates the Dream of an Interracial Workers’ Movement
Bill Duke’s feature debut is a rarity in American cinema: a labor film, funded by unions and public money, that balances political urgency with emotional tenderness.
Jean-Claude Carrière, Harvester of Cinema
A close friend and collaborator of Carrière’s reflects on the late writer’s fearless approach to the creative process and the source of his staggering productivity.
Mandabi: Paper Trail
Ousmane Sembène’s second feature departs from his early-career critiques of colonial power, instead focusing on the oppressive forces manifested within postcolonial African society.
The Intricate Portraiture at the Heart of Our Mandabi Release
New York–based artist Ify Chiejina walks us through the multifaceted process of creating four new pieces inspired by Ousmane Sembène’s 1968 satire.
A Tendency Toward Dirty Laundry: Camille Billops and James Hatch’s Unflinchingly Personal Cinema
Rooted in their trailblazing work as archivists of Black culture, the duo’s transgressively candid documentaries combine revelations of family life with cultural analysis.
