When Barbie and Oppenheimer, two big-budget Hollywood films, opened in theaters on the same day, July 21, 2023, they merged into a cultural phenomenon known by the portmanteau “Barbenheimer.” Finally, […]
Film
INDIE SCREEN
Oscar Gets an International Itch
Three subtitled films are up for Best Picture
Making a film about the Holocaust is always problematic. How do you create something that properly represents or explains an atrocity so enormous it defies comprehension? The Nazis systematically exterminated […]
TELEVISION
The Curse Tells Unnerving Truths
The show on Paramount Plus paints a brutal portrait of two newlywed gentrifiers
The Curse, the latest wild-card creation from director Nathan Fielder now streaming on Paramount Plus, is a show about the two worst people in the world: newlyweds Whitney and Asher […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Truths and Untruths of Writers and Movies
In three films, their messages echo in surprising ways
Much of the efforts of the postwar civil rights and Black Power movements focused on restoring dignity to the Black male, who had been emasculated by slavery and the subsequent […]
CELEBRATIONS
An Encyclopedic Mind for People
Jill Stauffer, the first executive director of the Provincetown Commons, will retire in February
After four years as the first executive director of the Provincetown Commons, Jill Stauffer is retiring, set to leave the organization in late February. “She is so hard-working,” says Rebecca […]
INDIE SCREEN
Strange Journeys of the Child Within
Three new films track the price of wonderment
The key to Wonka is magic — movie magic. This new film, which recently played in local theaters, stars boy wonder Timothée Chalamet as young Willy Wonka. It’s the prequel […]
INDIE SCREEN
What’s the Point of Telling Stories?
In three films, they’re a blend of true and false
Promising Young Woman is a film by a woman that ostensibly empowers its victimized female lead through acts of vengeance, and that’s probably why the British actor Emerald Fennell won […]
MOVIES
One Year In, Solo Artists Find Strength in the Ensemble
Outer Cape filmmakers gather for the sake of the craft and for each other
PROVINCETOWN — Early this year, Ernest Martin was invited to show a sample of his unfinished work to fellow local filmmakers, most of whom he’d never met. Martin was working […]
INDIE SCREEN
Portraits of Liberation in the ’60s and ’70s
Three films look back without prejudice
Bayard Rustin is an important yet obscure figure of the civil rights movement, and his time has come. A close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. — it was Rustin […]
TV OR NOT TV
Another Season for Streaming
What to watch to get you through the holidays, again
Picks by Independent staff and contributors Thanksgiving might be all about tradition, but that doesn’t mean you need to get stuck in a viewing rut. If you’re looking for something […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Last Temptation of Martin Scorsese
His Killers of the Flower Moon is a modern classic
Throughout his illustrious career, filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been obsessed with the powerful pull of family, culture, and faith. Their power can be frustrating and repressive — leading to explosions […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Return of Two Festival Favorites
A case of LGBTQ movies going mainstream
When it comes to recent queer cinema, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Take, for example, the raunchy high-school […]
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS FEST
A Mad Pilgrimage of the Weird
Philadelphia’s Die-Cast Ensemble takes on a less-known Williams legacy
The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival is no stranger to the strange, but this year is something else. At the 18th annual festival this week, Williams’s lifelong love of science […]
PROVINCETOWN FILM FESTIVAL
Something Shocking This Way Comes
Bruce LaBruce is the latest Filmmaker on the Edge
“John Waters and Andy Warhol were two of my biggest influences when I was starting out,” says Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce. “At Warhol’s Factory there were a lot of drugs […]
PROVINCETOWN FILM FESTIVAL
Queendom Focuses on Subversive Performance Art in Russia
For the Provincetown-based producer, the film carries a special personal weight
Igor Myakotin first set foot in Provincetown in 2015 on a J-1 visa. At the time, he was an aspiring filmmaker with a job at Ptown Bikes. Now, eight years […]
