In the opening scene of "The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs" we see an elderly, short Peruvian woman cutting the bark off a mahogany tree. Her name is Sara Flores and the wood is an ingredient she collects to create intricate designs on textiles, following a traditional Peruvian geometrical design system called kené. Flores is unique in becoming internationally famous for her kené artwork; her...
I had never heard of Uppaluri Gopala (or "U.G.") Krishnamurti before seeing the new documentary "The Natural State," which just had its premiere at this month's 2026 Telluride Film Festival. U.G. was famous for being an "anti-guru" who, after a long search for enlightenment, decided that such a mission was misguided and even fatuous. Even so, he was sought out the rest of his...
After 14-year-old Aurora Mardiganian escaped from the Armenian genocide in 1917 and moved to the U.S., a newspaper serialised her amazing story and two...
(above: still from "Mickey Dogface," a short film directed by Zach Fleming, from the "Local Invasion" showcase.)
It’s October which means pumpkin in everything: pies,...
Before Japanese film director Mamoru Oshii made his international hit 1995 animated cyberpunk thriller “Ghost in the Shell,” he made “Angel’s Egg,” a mysterious...
This Friday, October 7, the Japan Society of New York City will screen Hideo Nakata’s 1998 j-horror classic “Ringu” in their "monthly classics" series...
In 1986 Juliet Bashore made a genre-defying documentary about the a lesbian couple working in the porn industry in San Francisco. “Kamikaze Hearts” has...
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos’ “Stanleyville,” which opens today (April 22) at the Metrograph in Manhattan, is a satire with elements of stunt/dare challenge TV shows, “The...
