The First Year

Feb 8, 2022 — This year’s round has given us plenty of firsts (and seconds).

Mar 13, 2020 — Maybe in tough times we can draw strength from our passion for great cinema.

Jan 6, 2015 — Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom is likely to strike the unalerted viewer as an exercise in absurdist violence, tracking the career of a nihilistic swordsman from his gratuitous murder of a defenseless old man to his final descent into...

Sep 18, 2012 — Marcel Carné’s theatrical spectacle set in early nineteenth-century Paris is an operatic work about passion and artifice.

Dec 16, 2008 — More than a year ago, Peter and I were in the midst of discussions about how we wanted to launch the Criterion cinematheque. Over time, those discussions expanded to include every department at Criterion. We wanted to have a single...

May 31, 2019 — Cannes 2019 Cannes has been top dog in the festival world as long as anyone can remember. It was originally set to launch in 1939 as a conscious political reply by liberal democracy to the success of Mussolini in establishing...

Jun 17, 2019 — Renowned for his adaptations of Shakespeare and great operas, the director was also a controversial Italian senator and stood accused of sexual misconduct.

Sep 28, 2016 — “King of the Nudies” Russ Meyer injects his transgressive exuberance into this big-studio send-up of Hollywood debauchery.

Jun 11, 2015 — The author recalls the two great cinematographers and their work.

Apr 15, 2025 — This year’s edition features Laura Wandel’s follow-up to Playground and the first feature from Sean Baker collaborator Shih-Ching Tsou.