The Film Comment Podcast

In a recent Film Comment Letter interview, Academy Film Archive preservationist Mark Toscano said: “to me, restoration has a variable definition, because it’s not embodying any specific technique or approach. It is more of a conceptual process by which you’re making sure that the film retains its qualities as a work that was made by a person—especially experimental work made by an individual.” Film Comment editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish wanted to dig a little deeper into Mark’s comments, and into the technically and philosophically challenging ins and outs of film preservation and restoration, so they invited two experts to join the podcast and guide them through the subject: critic and media conservator Ina Archer and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder and director of the Film Heritage Foundation. Both also provide details on some exciting projects they’re engaged in: Ina talks about preserving Robert Goodwin’s independent blaxploitation flick Black Chariot and Jessie Maple’s 1981 drama Will, while Shivendra breaks down the restorations of two major works by Indian filmmaker Govindan Aravindan, Kummatty and Thamp̄.

This week we’re celebrating the recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s 48th Chaplin Award, one of America’s preeminent actresses: Viola Davis, who has dazzled us for over three decades on the stage and the screen, and whose life story is as inspirational as her craft. A couple of days ago, I sat down with Davis to dig into some of the most memorable on-screen moments from her career, and how she shapes her formidable performances by being a keen observer of life. We discussed her iconic turns in Denzel Washington’s Fences, Steve McQueen’s Widows, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King, and some deeper cuts, like her early role in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight.

Over the years, the True/False festival (based in the college town of Columbia, Missouri) has grown into one of the most outstanding annual showcases for documentary film. This year, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold returned to moderate “Toasted,” the True/False festival’s very late-night wrap-up event, in front of a lively audience. Rapold was joined by a crew of filmmakers and programmers, including Brett Story, director of The Hottest August; Maíra Bühler, director of Let It Burn; Miko Revereza, director of No Data Plan; and Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, filmmaker and founder and director of the Third Horizon collective and the Third Horizon Film Festival.

In this unbelievable season finale, promises are broken, insults fly, and lives are forever changed...well, not really. New York Times co-chief film critic Manohla Dargis joins FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold in this final Cannes 2018 episode to discuss Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, snipers, Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro, why auteur love should stick around a bit longer, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Wild Pear Tree, interviewing Lars von Trier, Gaspar Noe’s Climax, and what it means to attend the festival.

The incomparable French director Claire Denis returns with Let the Sunshine In, a romantic comedy of sorts that stars Juliette Binoche. Denis’s fluid vision and singular sense of timing mixed with Binoche’s endearing performance make for a thoughtful glimpse into a woman’s quest for love on her own terms and, as Andrew Chan explains in his cover story about the film, “shows us not how we feel about love but how we look at it and talk about it—how it appears to us when experienced by others.” In this episode, FC Digital Producer Violet Lucca is joined by Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold to discuss Denis and Binoche’s film; then stay tuned for a live Q&A with Denis that followed a sneak preview of the film presented by Film Comment and IFC Films.