American History

Nov 15, 2019 — This week’s highlights take us from post-apocalyptic cityscapes to the deepest jungles of Southeast Asia, from the sound stages of Hollywood to the coal mines of West Virginia.

Oct 28, 2019 — With his fifth feature, the coal-mining saga Matewan, independent filmmaker John Sayles gathered an impressive group of collaborators—among them cinematographer Haskell Wexler and actors James Earl Jones, Chris Cooper, and Will Oldham—to make a drama on a subject that had...

Oct 2, 2019 — Retrospectives in New York and on the Criterion Channel mark the hundredth birthday of the pioneering filmmaker.

Aug 6, 2019 — The groundbreaking filmmaker had a hand in inventing—and then reinventing over and again—the modern documentary.

Mar 19, 2019 — A few weeks after Barbara Loden, the writer, director, and star of Wanda, died at age forty-eight after a long battle with cancer, Elia Kazan, her widower, was interviewed by Marguerite Duras for Cahiers du cinéma. It was 1980, and...

Feb 25, 2019 — Turns out, not everyone loves a winner.

Dec 12, 2018 — Selection to the registry ensures that “these films will be preserved for all time.”

Sep 17, 2018 — Once called “the great directorial genius of Hollywood” by Carole Lombard, Gregory La Cava struck comedy gold with this mix of madcap high jinks, irresistible romance, and social commentary.

Jan 15, 2018 — On Saturday, Fireflies founding editors Annabel Brady-Brown and Giovanni Marchini Camia will launch Issue 5 at Wolf Studio in Berlin. The event will feature live performances from artists Sam Smith (video), Puck Vonk (sound), and Eli Cortiñas (lecture), all of...

Sep 15, 2017 — Our first order of business here is to catch up with an item or two you’ve most likely already heard enough about. But there’s no getting around at least a mention of the replacement of Colin Trevorrow as director of...