The First Time

May 15, 2018 — The story of a family teetering on the edge of poverty scores a solid first round of reviews.

Jul 6, 2017 — Our very first DVD edition, Jean Renoir’s masterpiece Grand Illusion, streams on the Criterion Channel in celebration of the film’s eightieth anniversary.

Sep 27, 2024 — The times call for revisiting work by Robert Bresson, John Ford, Shu Lea Cheang, Brian De Palma, and Robert Towne.

Feb 15, 2022 — Films from Italy, Iceland, and the Central African Republic each map the dynamic between four friends.

Oct 26, 2020 — A handful of journals offer welcome diversion in anxious times.

May 9, 2019 — Studio Visits You’d be hard-pressed to find someone more passionate about movie posters, not to mention gifted at making them, than Nashville-based artist and musician Sam Smith. A lifelong cinephile and devotee of design history—today he even cohosts a podcast...

May 9, 2018 — Cannes’s Opening Night film is met with a first round of lukewarm reviews.

Apr 23, 2026 — Julio Torres is a writer, director, and comedian from El Salvador. He is a two-time Peabody Award winner for HBO’s Los Espookys and Fantasmas, and earned four Emmy nominations for his work on Saturday Night Live. Torres made his feature...

Aug 12, 2019 — Carlos Reygadas is a Mexican film director, writer, and producer. He studied law in Mexico City and later, in London, specialized in armed conflict law and the use of force. After quitting the Mexican foreign service he made four short...

Aug 19, 2025 — This month’s programming celebrates the centenary of the great American filmmaker Robert Altman, the career of Oscar-winning actor Jodie Foster, and much more.