QT8: The First Eight

Feb 5, 2026 — In a collection of behind-the-scenes documentaries now playing on the Criterion Channel, legendary female performers assert their agency over their screen personae and find freedom in the glamour and artifice of their profession.

Dec 19, 2025 — This week: Kubrick conspiracies, Malickian movies, Spike Lee’s musical moments, and a talk with Rebecca Hall.

Oct 24, 2025 — We’re revisiting work by Ken Russell, Chantal Akerman, Billy Wilder, and Abel Ferrara.

Aug 28, 2024 — United by a meditative approach that captures the spiritual bounty of the natural landscape and the tolls of physical labor, this Mexican director’s films challenge stereotypical depictions of his country’s rural communities.

Mar 1, 2024 — This week offers David Bordwell on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s evolution, Jean Eustache on Ernst Lubitsch, and two must-read reviews of About Dry Grasses.

Sep 8, 2023 — We’re celebrating Ousmane Sembène’s centennial, reading interviews with Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Kasi Lemmons, and watching soundies.

Jul 25, 2023 — In his five collaborations with actor Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown, Boetticher presents an unsentimental vision of honor-bound men competing and banding together in a desolate landscape ruled by chance.

Nov 11, 2022 — This week we’re celebrating Scorsese, rediscovering Noriaki Tsuchimoto, and doing a little close reading with Frederick Wiseman.

Feb 9, 2022 — Restorations and revivals of works by two unjustly overlooked filmmakers are now underway.

Jul 20, 2021 — Pedro Almodóvar will open Venice, and Toronto will bring several Cannes favorites to North America.