Pedro Lima 
In 2018, the couple Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin made a splash at the Telluride Film Festival with their film, Free Solo. At that time, they were known for their 2015 Meru, another documentary about mountain climbing. However, Solo changed everything for them. It was a massive hit at the …
Šarūnas Bartas is one of the most prominent Lithuanian directors. Over three decades, the filmmaker has produced films such as Few of Us, The House, Peace to Us in Our Dreams, Frost, and In the Dusk. Those films would premiere at the world’s principal film events, such as the Cannes …
Documentary filmmaking is a tool for encapsulating time. Actually, all films are, but the non-fiction frames a specific portrait of an individual in a particular period. Despite the apparent manipulations, such as camera angles and editing, the documentary features a level of realism that fiction fails to reach. Therefore, we …
In modern Ukrainian filmmaking, Valentyn Vasyanovych is one of the best-known names on the festival circuit. His films Atlantis and Reflection premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In this sense, the director has already been discussing the Russia-Ukraine conflict in his work. Reflection narrates the kidnapping of a Ukrainian surgeon …
Few documentary filmmakers analyze the political landscape as well as Raoul Peck. Born in a country historically attached to Colonialism and imperialism, the Haitian filmmaker has a broad range of work, from narrating the transatlantic slavery trade and its impact on structural racism to the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. In …
The Costa Rican filmmaker Kim Torres is one of the most exciting emerging voices of Latin American cinema. In her short-film efforts, she presented Atrapaluz at Locarno and Luz Nocturna at Cannes. Yet, she made a splash in the festival circuit with her Solo La Luna Comprenderá (The Moon will Contain Us), a beautiful …
Melodrama is a constantly sub-genre appreciated by cinephiles. Historically, filmmakers like Douglas Sirk, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Pedro Almodovar earned admiration from the lovers of the seventh art, predominantly because their work approaches the structures of the melodramatic conventions. In this sense, another contemporary filmmaker admired for his oeuvre in …
Few countries in the world have invested in documentary filmmaking as much as Spain. In recent years, films like Tardes de Soledad by Albert Serra have impacted the festival circuit with their gut-wrenching observations of bullfighting. Also, there are new names in the Spanish non-fiction community, such as Patricia Franquesa in My Sextortion Diary. …
Annemarie Jacir is a crucial filmmaker to understand modern Palestinian cinema. In 2003, she made history with her short film, Like Twenty Impossibles, the first Arab short selected at the Festival de Cannes, and later earned an Academy Award nomination. In her subsequent efforts, Jacir reached the principal international stages. …
The Romanian director Radu Jude is one of the most prolific filmmakers of our time. A member of the Romanian New Wave, a group of new voices in the mid-2000s, which generated great works from Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, and Alexander Nanau. Since 2020, Jude has released 11 …
Documentary filmmaking is probably the cinematic medium that benefits the most from technological improvements in the arts. Each new tool used in production allows the directors to fill gaps caused by the lack of archival footage and the limitations of interviewing subjects. Hence, in recent years, we have observed the …
The animation medium allows a plenitude of experimentation. In this sense, it is possible to represent and narrate any story the writer’s head wishes to, using the technique and animation conventions to develop that specific story. One of the most popular and eccentric subcultures in the world is the furry …
The Malaysian/Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang is one of the most prominent figures in slow cinema. This philosophy of filmmaking contradicts the modern postulates of the commercial cinema, where the film features multiple cuts and plenty of scenarios to compose its story. As the name suggests, this form of filmmaking contemplates …
The Brazilian director Daniel Nolasco has been creating a trademark for himself as a filmmaker. Drawing inspiration from his personal interests and his academic path, his films approach the stories of the LGBTQIA community in a conservative state. In his debut feature, Vento Seco (Dry Wind), he approaches the monotonous …
Few authors from the 20th Century are more influential than Franz Kafka. The Czech writer did not receive the recognition he deserved throughout his life, as detailed in the introductions to his books. Each new edition of his masterpieces, such as Metamorphosis, gets a deep explanation of how Kafka’s success …
When discussing modern experimental electronic music, Daniel Lopatin, also known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is a prominent name in the conversation. Despite releasing acclaimed solo records, OPN also produced artists like FKA Twigs, Charli XCX, The Weeknd, and Soccer Mommy, musicians who bring electronic elements to mainstream pop. …
Dolores Fonzi is a veteran actor in Argentina, working in both television and films. She appeared in works like The Summit, Paulina, and others. In 2023, she released Blondi, which she also wrote and acted in. Two years later, she released her new feature, Belén. Based on the famous case …
For the last forty years, the Sundance Film Festival has been a crucial festival to highlight American independent cinema. Each year, when the event unveils its lineup, cinephiles, audiences, and sales agents dive into the programming to guess which of the selections will join films like Little Miss Sunshine, Memento, …
The young Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan is already a well-loved personality in the arthouse community. Despite his brief filmography, the director has already produced remarkable works in his career, such as Kaili Blues, Long Day’s Journey into Night, and his short film, A Short Story. Employing a poetic approach to …
Since his debut feature in 2006 with Reprise, Joachim Trier has become a relevant author in the arthouse circuit. His films gathered attention for the humanity, but centered on the use of Oslo, Norway, as a prominent character. Hence, Trier is mainly associated with his “Oslo Trilogy”, composed by Reprise, …