The First Year

Pico Iyer is the author of fifteen books, including The Lady and the Monk, about his first year in Japan, and twinned books, Autumn Light and A Beginner’s Guide to Japan, about his thirty-first.

Aug 18, 2022 — This week’s announcements from Toronto and New York promise tantalizing world premieres and other highlights of the season.

Mar 4, 2021 — Andreas Fontana’s Azor and Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s The Girl and the Spider are competing in the Encounters program at the Berlinale.

Jan 8, 2019 — A few lingering observations on the films of 2018 from Slate’s Movie Club, the New York Times, and more.

May 25, 2016 — For the past ten years, we’ve been proudly welcoming the Bronx-based school’s students into our Criterion family. As the 2016 school year ends, we’re thrilled to watch another class of young filmmakers express their vision and employ what they’ve learned...

Jul 17, 2025 — The festival will launch new films from Agnieszka Holland, Rian Johnson, Derek Cianfrance, and Paul Greengrass.

Dec 20, 2024 — Along with conversations with Jem Cohen and Johnnie To, the week brings fresh angles on the year that was.

Sep 24, 2024 — Emerging out of the mass death, cultural ferment, and semiotic tumult of the 1990s, this trio of deliriously profane films glares at American youth culture and gives zero shits if it looks back.

Sep 9, 2021 — Critics find Kristen Stewart to be “both such a counterintuitive and oddly apt choice” for the role of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Aug 12, 2021 — The competitive program will premiere new work from Laurent Cantet, Lucile Hadžihalilović, and Hany Abu-Assad.