Fall 2025 Festivals

Illustrations by Franz Lang.

Throughout the fall festival season, we'll be publishing a wide array of interviews, dispatches, and ballots from Venice, Locarno, Toronto, and New York.

Interviews

“A Celebration of Disobedience: Alejo Moguillansky” by Leonardo Goi

^{The Argentinian filmmaker and El Pampero Cine cofounder discusses his playful and subversive take on Samuel Beckett’s Endgame.} 

“Double-Edged Intervention: Ulrich Köhler on Gavagai” by Mark Peranson

^{The filmmaker’s latest is a deeply personal exploration of race and power relations at a European film festival.}

“Time Present and Time Past: Pietro Marcello on Duse” by Leonardo Goi

^{A biopic of a legendary theater actress swells into a portrait of Italy on the brink of collapse.}

“Manhattan in Retrospect: Kent Jones on Late Fame” by Jordan Cronk

^{The late-arriving artist reflects on his second feature, in which an aging poet is rediscovered.}

From Venice

“In the Time of Monsters” by Leonardo Goi

^{A tradition of ghouls, blue bloods, and despots continues on the Lido.}

“Open Your Eyes” by Leonardo Goi

^{Troubled times and earnest reckonings: on The Voice of Hind Rajab, The Testament of Ann Lee, and more.}

“The Real Thing” by Chloe Lizotte

^{Under the marble, the brick: on The Smashing Machine, The Wizard of the Kremlin, and more.}

From Locarno

“That Obscure Object of Desire: On Becoming” by Botagoz Koilybayeva

^{In her debut feature, Zhannat Alshanova reveals that transgression lies not only in desire, but in the systems that seek to suppress it.}

“Tasteless Tables: On Donkey Days” by Sonya Vseliubska

^{In a film where food is rarely appetizing, Rosanne Pel transforms the table into a site of maternal trauma and a subtle commentary on taste.}

“Trapped in the Machine: Impressions of Switzerland and Virtual Reality” by Olivia Popp

^{In a VR restoration of a “Swissorama” project, we peer into the past across a technological divide.}

“When the Sick Rule the Fest” by Jason Tan Liwag

^{As the festival improves its accessibility measures, filmmakers continue to treat disability as a metaphor.}

“TIFFty, Shifty, and Striving” by Daniel Kasman

^{Tensions and delights in Toronto’s 50th edition, including Wavelengths gems and films by Kenji Tanigaki, Steven Soderbergh, and John Early.}

“The Time Machine” by Maxwell Paparella

^{Blue Heron, The Secret Agent, Magellan, and others play upon cinema’s transtemporal powers, staging fantasies of repair and return.}

“The Posters of the Thirteenth New York Film Festival” by Adrian Curry

^{As the 63rd NYFF kicks off, a look back half a century to the films and posters of the 1975 edition.}