If you come away liking "The Goldfinch," a lavishly mounted art thriller adapted from Donna Tartt's 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, as I did, thank the casting gods.
That women are more than capable of directing feature films, including blockbuster hits — think Patty Jenkins and "Wonder Woman" — is not in doubt, but they're offered far fewer opportunities to do so than men.
In an age when virtually no one sees anything coming, film artists — gay, lesbian, straight, bi, trans, queer and decline-to-state — are among the most reliable tea-leaf readers.
Heading into the Fall awards season, film critics and fans alike have to scramble not only to locate the choicest viewing fare, but also to decide just how many film and video portals they must purchase to get the "good stuff."
Director Daniel Schechter's witty social comedy "Safe Spaces" had the Castro Theatre rocking with laughter at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
"One Child Nation" (opening Friday) feels like more than just the sad story of millions of Chinese couples desperate to forget the atrocities of the 60s Cultural Revolution and eager to start new families.
On August 29 and September 5, we'll present our annual two-part Fall Arts Preview issues. From the museums and galleries, to local theatre, -- our fall arts preview editions will cover it all.
It wouldn't seem like a promising premise for a film: a gay man from a poor Midwestern Mormon family, who is an LA cancer survivor, writer and comedian, converts to Judaism at age 31.
First released in 1968, Frank Simon's "The Queen" is an historic documentary about a drag pageant/beauty contest that took place in New York City in 1967. The film has rarely been screened since, but has now been fully restored by Kino Lorber.
