Cela s’appelle l’aurore

Ela Bittencourt works as a critic and curator in the U.S. and Brazil and consults for a number of international film festivals. She also runs the film site Lyssaria.

The actor returns to the Criterion Closet, where he selects a few movies to watch with his kids, talks about his magical experience viewing Hobson’s Choice, and picks up a new edition of a film by his favorite director, Abbas...

The actor talks about his passion for Japanese cinema, champions fellow Canadian Allan King, and reminisces about movies he’s enjoyed with friends.

Jun 23, 2020 — In Céline Sciamma’s unabashedly romantic and fiercely political film Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), two women fall in love and set each other free, if for only a few glorious days or weeks. It is one of the...

Jan 31, 2026 — In the spotlight this week: Amir Naderi, Bahram Beyzaie, Hlynur Pálmason, Robert Aldrich, Reginald Hudlin, and the late Béla Tarr.

Apr 26, 2024 — This week offers reflections on the work of Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Béla Tarr, Satyajit Ray, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Joan Chen.

Oct 28, 2022 — The role of the vampire has given talented actors throughout film history—from Bela Lugosi to Catherine Deneuve—the chance to embody physical and moral extremity.

Feb 5, 2021 — This week we’re reading Nick Pinkerton on Fassbinder’s problems with Chabrol and revisiting films by Marguerite Duras, Lizzie Borden, and Béla Tarr.

Sep 18, 2020 — The late scholar Robert Bird’s final essay on Tarkovsky and fresh writing on Béla Tarr, Eric Rohmer, and more are among this week’s highlights.

Oct 18, 2019 — Maurice Pialat, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Béla Tarr, Robert Eggers, and Disney’s most notorious feature make for a rough and tumble week.