To be sucked into the universe of Julio Torres is to find oneself surrounded by worlds teetering on the cusp of the absurd and the real. Each world is adorned […]
Film
FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW
Provincetown Lights Up the Big Screen, and Vice Versa
Celebrating diversity and cinema on the Outer Cape
As the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) counts down to its 2023 launch next Wednesday, it feels bittersweet to recognize the 25th anniversary of this local extravaganza of screenings and […]
PRIDE
The Lesbian Seagulls That Revealed a History of Suppressed Science
'Radiolab' host Lulu Miller brings same-sex pairing in nature to the fore
WNYC Studios’ Lulu Miller had an idea for Pride Month: “a fun little science story about same-sex mating and relationships in nature.” But “The Seagulls,” the episode of Radiolab, which […]
FILM
Kit Zauhar’s Actual People Was Made by Actual People
The Twenty Summers resident wrote, directed, and acted in her debut film
When Kit Zauhar began marketing her debut feature film Actual People on the festival circuit, she referred to it as “mumblecore for people of color.” “I don’t regret many things […]
INDIE SCREEN
When Sex Is Beside the Point
Two new films explore the pain of loss in male friendships
At the beginning of the revelatory Belgian film Close, young Leo, whose parents own a flower farm, can think of nothing more than spending all his summer days with Remi, […]
DOCUMENTARY FILM
Spinnaker Brings a Fatal Entanglement to the Screen
The documentary short will be shown in an environmental film series at Waters Edge Cinema
Nadine Licostie has been in Provincetown long enough to know that scientific observation of its environment is just as much a part of life here as Carnival celebrations and the […]
TV OR NOT TV
Streaming Picks for a Soggy Springtime
What to watch while you’re waiting for the warmer weather to arrive
Picks by Independent staff and contributors The calendar says it’s springtime, but Outer Cape weather in April is a reminder of that old saw about what makes May flowers bloom. […]
INDIE SCREEN
Two Films That Take Young Girls Seriously
Streaming the genius of Aftersun and Playground
Amid the hoopla of the Oscars and award season, a couple of moving, astonishing, and beautifully crafted features by first-time woman directors slid by without much fanfare. One reason for […]
INDIE SCREEN
A Fassbinder Classic Gets a Meta Gender Flip
François Ozon’s Peter von Kant is a pas de deux auteurs
French filmmaker François Ozon is a bit of a chameleon. He’s best known for the film Swimming Pool, with Charlotte Rampling as a British mystery writer vacationing in Provence. But […]
TELEVISION
The Rhythmic Pleasures of ‘Poker Face’
Inspired by classic television crime procedurals, the Peacock original has been renewed for a second season
Rian Johnson specializes in satisfaction. The filmmaker behind Knives Out, Glass Onion, and the time-travel thriller Looper loves to construct narrative puzzle boxes where perfect solutions emerge in cathartic “aha!” […]
IN THE STUDIO
Yahna Harris and the Art of Family History
A FAWC fellow explores love, violence, and intergenerational dynamics in her recent film
In a scene from Yahna Harris’s current film-in-progress, the artist’s aunt sits regally in an armchair. Shot from a low angle, she commands a domestic space. There is no movement: […]
INDIE SCREEN
Oscar Contenders Fight the Good Fight
Three films take humanistic stances with uneven success
Canadian child actor turned writer-director Sarah Polley continues to prove she’s one of the great filmmaking talents of our time. Her four features — Away From Her (2006), starring Julie […]
INDIE SCREEN
When All That Glitters Is Not Gold
It’s Oscar season in the twilight of Hollywood
When the Covid lockdown happened back in March 2020, it accelerated shifts that were already in progress in the movie industry. Fewer people were seeing films in theaters, and streaming […]
INDIE SCREEN
Tales of Innocence and Experience
A gay fat man and a sweet donkey come undone
Director Darren Aronofsky — winner of the Provincetown International Film Festival’s 2011 Filmmaker on the Edge award — has never been known for subtlety. He wallows in garishly surreal psychological […]
QUEER ‘I’
Mapp and Lucia and Me
From coastal England to the shores of Provincetown, some things never change
At first glance, it’s a postcard-perfect seaside town, brimming with music, theater, and art. Look closer, though, and you’ll see that beneath the quaint village veneer lies a hotbed of […]
