Mandel Maven's Nest Reel Life: Flicks Pix





Nora Lee Mandel is a member of New York Film Critics Online. Her reviews are counted in the Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter:
Complete Index to Nora Lee Mandel's Movie Reviews and Commentaries

My reviews have appeared on: Film-Forward; FF2 Media; Lilith, FilmFestivalTraveler; and, Alliance of Women Film Journalists and for Jewish film festivals. Shorter versions of my older reviews are at IMDb's comments, where non-English-language films are listed by their native titles.

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As of mid-2014, I am marking my own stricter application than others to fiction features of the Bechdel-Wallace Test
Originally suggested by Allison Bechdel, as inspired by her friend Liz Wallace (so her name was added to the symbol as of 2016), in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985 to note a film that features (1) at least two named female characters; (2) who talk to each other; (3) about something besides a man. Symbol first designed by the Swedish chapter of Women in Film and Television; thanks to The Hot Pink Pen for the updated image. But my own criteria consider a substantive interaction about substance and gender for when a film features more than female relationships.

TV Recommendations


My Best Films of 2023
My Best Films of 2022
My Best Films of 2021
My Best Films of 2020
My Best Films of 2019
My Best Films of 2018
My Best Films of 2017
My Best Films of 2016
My Best Films of 2015
My Best Films of 2014
My Best Films of 2013
My Best Films of 2012
My Best Films of 2011
My Best Films of 2010
My Best Films of 2009
My Best Films of 2008
My Best Films of 2007
My Best Films of 2006
My Best Films of 2005
My Best Films of 2004
My Best Films of 2003
My Best Films of 2002
My Best Films of 2001

Reviews by Nora Lee Mandel in my idiosyncratic categories of how I think of of flicks:
CHICK FLICKS
IF YOU’RE JONESING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THE WIRE
IMPACT OF 9/11 ON NYC THROUGH MOVIES
IMAGES OF DENTISTS AND PREVENTIVE TOOTH CARE IN MOVIES (carrying on the work of Dr. Irwin D. Mandel z”l)
JEWISH WOMEN IN (and missing from) THE FLICKS
MASTERPIECE THEATER: MOVIES AS MEDICINE
For the MIDDLE-AGED AT HEART: HURRAH FOR GROWN-UPS!
For the MUSIC (and/or the dancing)
NEW YORK NEW YORK: IT'S A HELLUVA TOWN
NOIR NIGHT OUT
OGLING TEENS AND '20SOMETHINGS
POPCORN EATERS
ROMEO AND JULIET (and friends) ACROSS THE ETHNIC DIVIDE
SCI-FI and FANTASY from A DISTAFF POV
And then there's RUSSELL CROWE (with commentary on the actor)


Friends don't let friends watch bad movies! -- John Ridley

It is not enough to like a film. You must like it for the right reasons. -- Pierre Rissient

Mothers of America/let your kids go to the movies! -- Frank O’Hara, Ave Maria


MY BEST FILMS of 2023 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
Let It Be Morning (previewed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival/ theatrical release by Cohen Media)
Labyrinth of Peace (Frieden) (mini-series) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum/ Menemsha Films release/ begins streaming on ChaiFlicks April 2023)
R.M.N. (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival/ courtesy of IFC Films)
Concerned Citizen (Ezrah Mudag) (at 2023 Israel Film Center Festival)
200 Meters (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings/ in 2021 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center/ 2023 “Contemporary Arab Cinema” at BAM)
The Owners (Vlastníci)

Runners-Up: MOVIES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Bruiser (courtesy of Hulu)
Bread and Salt (Chleb i sól) (at 2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Persian Lessons (Kudos to ensemble, cinematography, and use of languages) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ Cohen Media Group release)
Dirty Difficult Dangerous (in 2023 “Contemporary Arab Cinema” at BAM)


BEST FEMALE POV
My coverage of female filmmakers at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and of Nora Ephron Award winners.
Fiction
Alice, Darling (courtesy of Lionsgate)
Cinema Sabaya (previewed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival/ at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ theatrical release by Kino Lorber)
Alegría (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ shown at 2022 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Castles in the Sky (short) (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum)
Charlotte Salomon: Life and the Maiden (La Jeune Fille et La Vie) (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum)
Saint Omer (courtesy of Neon and Super Ltd.)
Cherry (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ Entertainment Squad theatrical release)
You Left Me Alone (short) (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Emily (courtesy of Bleecker Street Films)
Other People’s Children (Les Enfants des autres) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of Music Box Films)
Paris Memories (Revoir Paris) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of Music Box Films)
The Worst Ones (Les Pires) (Coming of Ager) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Mother and Son (Un petit frère) (Coming of Ager) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Rodeo (Kudos to Julie Ledru) (courtesy of Music Box Films at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Line (La Ligne) (courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Immaculate (Imaculat) (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival)
Family Time (Mummola) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
The Kidnapping of the Bride (El secuestro de la novia) (short) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Chile ‘76 (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Trenque Lauquen (at 2022 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of Cinema Guild)
Precious Ivie (Ivie wie Ivie) (streamed through German Film Office)
Clare (Chiara) (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Like Turtles (Come Le Tartarughe) (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Other Widow (Pilegesh) (at 2023 Israel Film Center Festival)
The Good Person (Ha'Nefesh Ha'Tova) (at 2023 Israel Film Center Festival)
The Future (Ha’Atid) (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Je’vida (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Smoking Tigers (Coming of Ager) (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Boca Chica (Coming of Ager) (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Marinette (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Let Liv (short at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Fish Out of Water (short at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Queens (Malikates) (at 2023 “Contemporary Arab Cinema” at BAM)
The Beasts (As Bestas) (Kudos to co-writer Isabel Peña) (courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Amiko (こちらあみ子) (Coming of Age) (“Next Generation” in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty (朝がくるとむなしくなる) (“Next Generation” in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
Klondike (courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Simone: Woman of the Century (le voyage du siècle)
Scrapper (Coming of Ager) (courtesy of Kino Lorber)
My Love Affair with Marriage (animation) (Kudos to writer/director/animator/designer/co-editor Signe Baumane; animator Yajun Shi; composer Kristian Sensini; and voice cast (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release by 8 Above)
Beautiful, FL and Maxine (shorts in “Disney Launchpad”)
Nightsiren (Svetlonoc) (Fear of Supernatural Division) (Kudos to actress Natália Germáni, and director/co-writer Tereza Nvotová) (courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures)

Documentary
Bella (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center/ theatrical release opens in L.A. by BAM Moves, LLC)
Transparent (short) (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Joanna d'Arc (short) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Taste of Mango (courtesy of the filmmaker at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters (O tahtai. Savendar tai seiandar) (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival)
Serafina (short) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Seven Winters in Tehran (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Big Sister (Koromousso) (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Anonymous Sister (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ theatrical release through Long Shot Factory)
Q (at 2023) Tribeca Film Festival)
The Gullspång Miracle (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Break The Game (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Black Birth (short) (in ”The Queen Collective Program” at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Breaking The News (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Invisible Beauty (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release by Magnolia Pictures)
Bella! (including Liz Abzug’s protest posts) (PBS’s American Masters)
Reality Winner (aka United States Vs.) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ theatrical release by Codebreaker Films)

Runners-Up: FEMALE POV I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Fiction
Haute Couture (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Woman on the Roof (Kobieta na dachu) (seen at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ 2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Fucking Bornholm (2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Illusion (Iluzja) (2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Maid (Camarera De Piso) (short) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Lost King (courtesy of IFC Films)
Petrol (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
The Face of the Jellyfish (El rostro de la medusa) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Princess (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Silent (HaShtika) (at 2023 Israel Film Center Festival)
Öte (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Silver Haze (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
I Am What I Am (そばかす) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
Between Two Worlds (Ouistreham)
Remembering Every Night (Subete no Yoru wo Omoidasu) (courtesy of Kim Stim at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Documentary
In The Company Of Rose (previewed at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ Greenwich Entertainment theatrical release)


BEST FEMALE VIEW OF MALES
Fiction
Saturn Bowling (Bowling Saturne) (Noir) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ theatrical release via Dark Star Pictures)
Shreds (Strzępy en) (2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Human Flowers of Flesh (courtesy of Cinema Guild)
The Eight Mountains (Le Otto Montagne) (courtesy of Janus Films Sideshow)
Mountains (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Lesson (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of Bleecker Street Media)

Documentary
Call Me Dancer (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Little Richard: I Am Everything (courtesy of Magnolia Pictures/ CNN Films/ HBO Max)
Blue Box (previewed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival/ DOC NYC Film Festival/ theatrical release by CinePhil at Film Forum)
26.2 To Life (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ theatrical release by San Quentin Marathon)


BEST ROMANCES
America (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ 2023 Israel Film Center Festival/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Three Nights a Week (Trois nuits par semaine) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
L’Innocent (courtesy of Janus Films at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Rye Lane (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures on Hulu)
Joyland (preview courtesy of Oscilloscope at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
The Hummingbird (Il Colibrì) (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
J005311 (Bromance) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
The Legend & Butterfly (レジェンド＆バタフライ) (1500’s era) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
Wandering (流浪の月) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
My Sailor My Love (courtesy of Music Box Films)

Runners-Up: ROMANCES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Love Life (preview courtesy of Oscilloscope at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Afire (Roter Himmel) (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST PANDEMIC RELATIONSHIPS AND LIFE
New Strains (Showcase Screening at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Human Nature (Natureza Humana) (short) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
A Strange Path (Estranho Caminho) (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Secret Art of Human Flight (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Plastic (Kudos to music by Ide Kensuke) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)


BEST ACTIONERS/THRILLERS/SUSPENSERS
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann (Adieu Monsieur Haffman) (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Kompromat (courtesy of Magnet Releasing/Magnolia Pictures)
Cairo Conspiracy (courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films/ at “Contemporary Arab Cinema” at BAM)
The Gravity (La Gravité) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Rhino (Nosorih) “Godfather of Ukraine” (courtesy of XYZ Films in 2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
To The North (Spre nord) (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival)
Once Upon A Time In Ukraine (courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Runners-Up: ACTIONERS/THRILLERS/SUSPENSERS I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Schächten—A Retribution (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Disco Boy (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)


BEST NEO-NOIRS
The Night of the 12th (La Nuit du 12) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ Film Movement)
Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA via Yellow Veil Pictures)
Autobiography (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Delta (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
One Night With Adela (Una noche con Adela) (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Madeleine Collins (preview at 2022 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ theatrical release by Greenwich Entertainment)

Runners-Up: NEO NOIRS I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Men of Deeds (Oameni de treabă) (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival/ Dekanalog theatrical release)


BEST COMING OF AGERS
Close (courtesy of A24 Films)
The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) (courtesy of Neon and Super Ltd.)
Burning Land (Adama Boeret) (courtesy of Seventh Art Releasing)
Tori and Lokita (courtesy of Janus Sideshow with 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
War Pony
Arnold Is a Model Student (Arnon pen nakrian tuayang) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Single8 (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind (ぬいぐるみとしゃべる人はやさい/ Nuigurumi to shaberuhito ha yasasii) (in 2023 “Next Generation” Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
Sanka: Nomads of the Mountain (山歌) (in 2023 “Next Generation” Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
The Roof (short in “Disney Launchpad”)


Runners-Up: COMING OF AGERS I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Story Avenue (Kudos to Luis Guzmán) (courtesy of Kino Lorber)


BEST COMING TO TERMS
Mars One (Marte Um) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings/ distributed by Array Releasing)
Nostalgia (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings/ VOD on Breaking Glass Pictures/ at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Rimini (Kudos to the original schlager songs) (courtesy of Big World Pictures)
Safe Place (Sigurno mjesto) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
48 Hours and Civic (shorts at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Everything Went Fine (Tout s'est bien passé) (courtesy of Cohen Media Group)
My Neighbor Adolf (at 2023 Israel Film Center Festival/ courtesy of Cohen Media Group)
The Graduates (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Fish Tale (さかなのこ) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
White Building (Bodeng Sar) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA) (KimStim digital/VOD release)


BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC
Mami Wata (at 2023 First Look Festival of Museum of the Moving Image/ theatrical release via Dekanalog)
The Goat and Her Three Kids (Capra cu trei iezi) (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival)
The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future (La Vaca Que Cantó Una Canción Hacia El Futuro) (courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Drought (Siccità) (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Best Wishes To All (みなに幸あれ) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
From the End of the World (Sekai no owari kara/世界の終わりから) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)

Runners-Up: BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPSE I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Huesera aka The Bone Woman (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release by XYZ Films)
Thaw (short at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Three Sisters of Tenmasou Inn (天間荘の三姉妹) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)


BEST MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries)
Moving Together (Kudos to the flamenco of Olivia Chacon and Isai Chacon, trumpet of Thaddeus Ford, and Boss Street Brass Band) (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Site-specific choreography shorts: Reminiscences (Réminiscences); I was waiting for the echo of a better day; and Mother Melancholia (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
I Thought the World of You (short) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Personality Crisis: One Night Only (Showtime)
Margins (Margini) (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Let The Canary Sing (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Anthem (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ Hulu)
Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History of Popular Music (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO)
All Up in the Biz (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ Showtime)
The Elephant 6 Recording Co. (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ theatrical release via Greenwich Entertainment)
Roots of Fire (courtesy of First Run Features)


Runners-Up: MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
This is National Wake (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum)
Top Nine: A Story of the B-Boy Crew (ДЕВЯТЬ ЛУЧШИХ. ИСТОРИЯ КОМАНДЫ Top Nine) (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Hans van Manen— Just Dance the Steps (at 2023 Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Uncharted (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Lost Soulz (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
North Circular (courtesy of Madhouse Films)
Elis & Tom - It just had to be you (só tinha de ser com você) (courtesy of Outsider Pictures)


BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation)
Shirey Mara, The Waltz, and My Parent, Neal (shorts) (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Lamya’s Poem (courtesy of Freestyle Digital Media)
iMordecai (courtesy of Femor Productions)
Deep Sea (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ Fortissimo Films theatrical release)
Nimona (Netflix)


Runners-Up: BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Elemental (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE
March (Marzec) ’68 (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Shttl (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
The Forger (Der Passfälscher) (courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Forever Young (Les Amandiers) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
For My Country (Pour la France) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Les/Harkis (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Back Then (Zupa Nic) (2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
All Our Fears (Wszystkie nasze starchy) (Bio-Pic) (Kudos to Dawid Ogrodnik) (2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Those Who Remained (Akik maradtak) (at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
The Strangeness (Las Stranezza) and Lord Of The Ants (Il signore delle Formiche) (preview at 2023 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
June Zero (at 2023 Israel Film Center Festival/ courtesy of Cohen Media Group)
Father of the Milky Way Railroad (銀河鉄道の父/ Ginga Tetsudo no Chichi) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
Winny (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
Simone: Woman of the Century (le voyage du siècle)


BEST OF THE CINEMA OF THE ABSURD:
The Origin of Evil (L'Origine du mal) (at 2023 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster (Sanki Her Sey Biraz Felaket) and Have You Seen This Woman? (Da Li Ste Videli Ovu Ženu?) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Proof of Concept (short at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Mondays: See you “this” week! (このタイムループ、上司に気づかせないと終わらない) (in 2023 Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at Japan Society)
The American (Amerikatski) (courtesy of Variance Films)


BEST DOCUMENTARY RE-ENACTMENTS/DOCU-DRAMA HYBRIDS
Exodus 91 (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum)
It’s What Each Person Needs (short) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
You Are Ceaușescu to Me (Pentru mine tu ești Ceaușescu) (in 2023 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival)
Maputo Nakuzandza (Maputo [Mozambique], I Love You) with Scarce (Escasso) (mockumentary short) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Dry Ground Burning (Mato seco em chamas) (at BAM courtesy of Grasshopper Films)
Playland (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES Better Than Their Movies:
Laura Linney, Kathy Bates, Maggie Smith, and Agnes O'Casey in The Miracle Club (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
I Am Not (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum)
Art Talent Show (Zkouška umění) (courtesy of Film Movement at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The River Is Not A Border (Mayo wonaa keerol/Le fleuve ne’st pas une frontière) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Silent Love (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Away; Growing Up Absurd; Light Signal (shorts at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Three Women (Drei Frauen) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Sam Now (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ PBS Independent Lens)
The Etilaat Roz (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Razing Liberty Square (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Theatre of Violence (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Richland (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Between The Rains (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Exposing Parchman (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ A&E)
Lakota Nation vs. United States (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release by IFC Films)
ElDorado: Everything The Nazis Hate (Eldorado - Alles, was die Nazis hassen) (Netflix)
20 Days In Mariupol (courtesy of PBS Distribution/Frontline/AP)
Fresh Water (short) (New York Times Op Doc)
Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ Netflix)
BS High (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO Max)
The League (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)

Runners-Up: Documentaries I Recommend Despite my Gripes
When Spring Came To Bucha (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Carpet Cowboys (courtesy of Memory)


BEST BIO DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or glosses:
Krzysztof Wodiczko: The Art of Un-War (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum)
The First Step (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Art of Silence (L’art du silence) (short version) (courtesy of Seventh Art Releasing)
Stan Lee (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of Disney+)
We Dare To Dream (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Your Fat Friend (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)
Robert Irwin: A Desert Of Pure Feeling (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ theatrical release via Greenwich Entertainment)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES FOR CINEPHILES:
Filmmakers For The Prosecution (aka The Lost Film of Nuremberg) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ Kino Lorber release) (supplements Nuremberg with my additional notes.)
I Like It Here (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
The Hamlet Syndrome (Syndrom Hamleta) (seen at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ 2023 Kino Polska at BAM)
Jill, Uncredited (short) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO)


EDUCATIONAL DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or flaws):
Yamna's Blessing (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Jews of the Wild West (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Who Cares About DC? The Case for Making DC the 51st State (at 2023 Workers Unite Film Festival)
The Narrow Bridge (at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Herbaria (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute/ at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Robb-ed (courtesy of director)
Letter to the Editor (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival/ 2023 DOC NYC selects)
A Common Sequence and Agrilogistics (short) (in “Science on Screen” at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Coconut Head Generation (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Center, Ring, Mall (short) (at 2023 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Slava Ukraini (courtesy of Cohen Media Group)
We Are Guardians (previewed in 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Transition (at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST REVIVALS/RESTORATIONS IN NEW PRINTS especially of films I hadn’t seen before
Joseph Green and Leon Trystand’s A Letter to Mother (A Brivele Der Mamen) (1939) (World Premiere of 35mm film restoration by the National Center for Jewish Film at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Shaul and Yitzhak Goskind’s Jewish Life In Lwow (1939) (short) (restoration by the National Center for Jewish Film at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
David Appleby, Allison Graham, and Steven John Ross’s At The River I Stand (1993) and Michael Honey and Errol Webber’s Love & Solidarity: Rev. James Lawson & Nonviolence in the Search for Workers’ Rights (short) (2016) (at 2023 Workers Unite Film Festival)
Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum’s A Life Apart: Hasidism in America (1997) (World Premiere of new 4K restoration celebrating 25th anniversary of the film at 2023 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Pamela Sporn’s Detroit 48202: Conversations Along A Postal Route (2018); Victorious DeCosta’s Digging for Weldon Irvine (2019); Alexander Johnston’s Dark Cell Harlem Farm (2022, short); Joel Fendelman’s Fireburn: The Documentary (2021, short); and, Sikivu Hutchinson’s Grinning Skull (2018, short) (“In Honor of Black History Month” 2023 at Workers Unite Film Festival)
Itzik Lerner’s God’s Messengers (Shlechei Ha El) (2015) and Charles Enderlin’s In the Name of the Temple (2014) (courtesy of Seventh Art Releasing)
Mohanad Yaqubi’s R 21 aka Restoring Solidarity (of 20 1964 – 1989 shorts) (at 2023 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Thomas Arslan’s Bright Nights (Helle Nächte) (2017); Leonie Krippendorf’s Cocoon (Kokon) (2020); Ilker Ҫatak’s I Was, I Am, I Will Be (Es Gilt Das Gesprochene Wort) (2019); Joya Thome’s Queen of (Konigin Von) Niendorf (2017); Tom Sommerlatte’s Summers Downstairs (Im Sommer wohnt er unten) (2015); Johannes Maria Schmitt’s Reconstruction (Neubau) (2021); Sven Taddicken’s The Most Beautiful Couple (Das Schönste Paar) (2018) (in German Film Office’s Sommerfilme)
Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road (2013) on Amazon Prime
Yui Kiyohara’s Our House (Watashitachi no ie) (2017) (from 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Donato Rotunno’s I Am Fine (Io Sto Bene) (2020) (courtesy of IndiePix Films)
George Sherman’s Sword in the Desert (1949) on TCM
Wolfgang Ettlich’s A German Journey: A Road Movie Between Yesterday and Today (Deutschlandreise: Ein Roadmovie zwischen Gestern und Heute) (2020) in ”Genrekino” of Goethe-Institut


MY BEST FILMS of 2022 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
The Good Boss (El buen patrón) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings/ via Cohen Media in theaters)
A Hero (Ghahreman) (preview courtesy of Amazon)
Reflection (Vidblysk) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Hit The Road (Jaddeh Khaki) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of Kino Lorber)
The Legionnaire (Il legionario) (preview at 2022 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Visitor (El Visitante) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
EO (courtesy of Janus Films)
No Bears (Khers Nist)
The Banshees Of Inisherin (courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)
Broker (courtesy of Neon)

Runners-Up: MOVIES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Delicious (Délicieux) (Samuel Goldwyn Films release)
Întregalde (courtesy of Film Forum and Grasshopper Film)
Once Upon A Time In Calcutta (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
The Wedding Day (Wesele) (Kudos to the editing) (at 2022 Toronto Jewish Film Festival/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Paraclete (Paraclito), Desert Lights (Luces del desierto) and Fifth of June (Cinco de Junio) in “Latinx Shorts: Human Condition (Condicion Humana)” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Peace in the Valley (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
A Matter Of Trust (Ingen Kender Dagen) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Whale (courtesy of A24 Films)
The Fabelmans (courtesy of Universal)


BEST FEMALE POV
Coverage and Updates of Nora Ephron Award at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival

Fiction
The Shepherdess and The Seven Songs (Kudos to music and cinematography) (at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ Grasshopper release)
Shapeless (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Rose (kudos to writer/director/composer/singer Aurélie Saada and star Françoise Fabian) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ Cohen Media Group release)
Here Before (Kudos to writer/director Stacey Gregg, DP Chloë Thomson, and star Andrea Riseborough) (Saban Films release)
Affairs of the Art (short) (In “Best of Annecy 2021: Spotlight on Women Directors” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française/ The New Yorker ”Screening Room”)
How to Be at Home (short) (In “Best of Annecy 2021: Spotlight on Women Directors” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française/ in National Film Board’s The Curve series)
The World Within (Le Monde en soi) (In “New French Shorts” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Self Scratch (Je me Gratte) (In “New French Shorts” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Boobs (Lolos) (In “New French Shorts” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
The Crossing (La Traversée) (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Princesse Dragon (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Soumaya (courtesy of IndiePix Films)
We’re All Going To The World’s Fair (Coming of Age) (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA) (theatrical/VOD release by Utopia, then HBO Max)
Queen of Glory (Kudos to Nana Mensah) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release by Film Movement)
Secret Name (La Place d'une autre) (preview at 2022 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Limits of Vision (animated short) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Beans (Coming of Age) (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
Turning Red (Kudos to director/co-writer Domee Shi and female production team leaders) (animation) (Disney+)
Poppy (Kudos to Libby Hunsdale) (Coming of Age) (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York/ Indiepix)
Dos Estaciones (Kudos to Teresa Sánchez and Cinematographer Gerardo Guerra) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Rehana (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA) (courtesy of Grasshopper Films)
Happening (L’événement) (Kudos to Anamaria Vartolomei) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ courtesy of IFC Films)
You Resemble Me (Tu Me Ressembles) (brief review at FF2 Media) (Kudos to director Dina Amer and ensemble) (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center/ theatrical release by Willa Productions)
Nico (streamed through German Film Office)
We Might As Well Be Dead (Wir könnten genauso gut tot sein) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Hommage (오마주) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Persuasion (Netflix)
Robe of Gems (Manto De Gemas) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA) (courtesy of Visit Films)
The Justice of Bunny King (Kudos to Essie Davis) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ On Demand and Digital via Film Rise)
God’s Creatures (courtesy of A24 Films)
Corsage (Kudos to Vicky Krieps, Costume Designer Monika Buttinger, Hair Designer Helen Land) (courtesy of IFC Films)
She Said (courtesy of Universal Pictures)
Women Talking (courtesy of United Artists)
Rosaline (Kudos to Kaitlyn Dever) (Hulu)
Call Jane
The Eternal Daughter (Kudos to Tilda Swinton and “Moel Famau”) (courtesy of A24 Films)

Documentary
The Conductor (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Raymonde El Bidaouia (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Untitled (Tania Project) (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
It Rains (Llueve) (short) (In “Best of Annecy 2021: Spotlight on Women Directors” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Liberated! (Libres!) (docu-shorts series) (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Penelope My Love (Pénélope mon amour) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Petite Maman (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Neon)
My Two Voices (Mis dos Voces) (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Children of the Mist (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA /Film Movement release/PBS’ POV)
Midwives (brief review at FF2 Media) (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
The New Greatness Case (brief review at FF2 Media) (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Up To G-Cup (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
The Janes (HBO/ in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Fly So Far (streamed in “The War on Reproductive Choice: Virtual Film Series” of Women Make Movies)
Beba (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of https://neonrated.com/films/beba)
Hidden Letters (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Four Winters (at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ courtesy of Film Forum)
The Super 8 Years (Les Années Super 8) courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Geographies of Solitude (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Everything Wrong And Nowhere To Go (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
The Artists (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
The Forgotten Ones (Mizrahim - Les Oubliés de la Terre Promise) (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Leonor Will Never Die (Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago) (courtesy of Music Box Films)
Jeanette Lee Vs. (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ ESPN 30-30)
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ PBS American Masters)
Idina Menzel: Which Way To The Stage? (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ Disney+)
Queen Of The Deuce (at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Roberta (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
The Return Of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlile (at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Maya and the Wave (Opening Night at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Wisdom Gone Wild (Kudos to score) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
For Your Peace Of Mind, Make Your Own Museum (Para su tranquilidad, haga su propio museo) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)


Runners-Up: FEMALE POV I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Fiction
Mazel Tov (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Anaïs In Love (Les amours d'Anaïs) (at 2022 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
What Resonates in Silence (Ce qui résonne dans le silence) (short) (In “Best of Annecy 2021: Spotlight on Women Directors” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Deadly Cuts (preview courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment)
Murina (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Husek (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Beatrix (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Other Tom (El Otro Tom) (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Swing Ride (Calcinculo) (preview at 2022 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
She Will (Supernatural Division) (courtesy of IFC Films)
Hatching (Pahanhautoja) (Horror Division) (courtesy of IFC Films)
Baby (Bébé) in “Juneteenth Shorts Portraits and Performances” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Good Girl Jane (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
To Leslie (Kudos to Andrea Riseborough) (courtesy of Momentum Pictures)
Watcher (Thriller Division) (courtesy of IFC Films)
Pleasure (courtesy of Neon)
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (Hulu)
Lady Amar (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
Catherine Called Birdy (Amazon)
Joyride (courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

Documentary
Alone Together (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
AA (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Cow (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ IFC Films release)
Above Water (Marcher Sur L'eau) (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
Clarissa’s Battle: Growth of A Movement (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Queen (HaMalka) Shoshana (preview at 2022 Israel Film Center Festival)
Sinéad O'Connor: Nothing Compares (Showtime)
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of Neon)
Finding Her Beat (previewed at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Category: Woman (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Skate Dreams (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Art Of Rebellion (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Cesária Évora (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Fati’s Choice (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)


BEST FEMALE VIEW OF MALES

Fiction
Warsha (short) (at Sundance Film Festival)
The Ark (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Aftersun (courtesy of A24 Films)

Documentary
A Cops and Robbers Story (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Greenwich Entertainment release)
We Were the Others (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Bunker (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight/ at Science On Screen of Museum of the Moving Image)
What We Leave Behind (Lo que dejamos atrás) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ then on Netflix)
The Wild One (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
It Runs In The Family (Lo Que Se Hereda) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
How To Save A Dead Friend (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Kash Kash – Without Feathers We Can’t Live (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Hermit Of Treig (Kudos to the score by Cameron McLellan & Mischa Stevens and Ken Smith’s photographs) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)


BEST PANDEMIC ROMANCES AND LIFE
The End of Love (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
7 Days (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST ROMANCES
Compartment No 6 (Hytti nro 6) (Sony Classics release)
Air Doll (Kûki Ningyô) (2009) (Dekanalog release)
Great Freedom (Grosse Freiheit) (courtesy of MUBI)
The/L’Horizon (preview at 2022 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
The White Fortress (Tabija) (Courtesy of Game Theory Films)
We Dance in “Juneteenth Shorts Portraits and Performances” (preview at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Dogfriend (Hundefreund) in “LGBTQIA+ Shorts: See Me, Feel Me” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Breaking The Ice (Wenn wir die Regeln brechen) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)

Runners-Up: ROMANCES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Sin La Habana (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
The Sky Is Everywhere (Apple TV+)
Two Sisters and a Husband (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Bones and All (courtesy United Artists Releasing)


BEST ACTIONERS/THRILLERS/SUSPENSERS
Catch The Fair One (Kudos to Kali Reis) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release via IFC Films)
Free Country (Freies Land) (re-make of Marshland (La isla mínima)) (streamed through German Film Office)
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic (Sokea Mies Joka El Halunnut Nähdä Titanicia) (Kudos to Petri Poikolainen) (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Onoda - 10,000 Nights in the Jungle (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Plan A (at 2022 Toronto Jewish Film Festival/ courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Huda’s Salon (courtesy of IFC Films)
RRR (courtesy of Variance Films)
The Woman King (Kudos to the music) (courtesy of Sony Pictures)

Runners-Up: ACTIONERS/THRILLERS I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Ghosts Of The Ozarks (XYZ Films release)


BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC
Freaks Out (Kudos to production design) (preview at 2022 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Everything Everywhere All At Once (Kudos to Michelle Yeoh) (courtesy of A24 Films)
After Yang (courtesy of A24 Films)
Coming Out With The Help Of A Time Machine in “LGBTQIA+ Shorts: See Me, Feel Me” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Attachment (Natten Har Øjne) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Land of Dreams (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Prey (Kudos to Amber Midthunder) (Hulu)
Karmalink (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)

Runners-Up: BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC I Recommend Despite My Gripes
White Noise (Netflix)
The Innocents (De Uskyldige) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ courtesy of IFC Films)


BEST NEO-NOIRS
Pilgrims (Piligrimai) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA
The Code of Silence (Una femmina) (preview at 2022 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Decision to Leave (courtesy of MUBI)
God’s Country (courtesy of IFC Films)
Stars At Noon (Kudos to the chemistry between Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn) (courtesy of A24 Films)
Emily the Criminal (Kudos to Aubrey Plaza) (courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
Holy Spider (Kudos to Zar Amir Ebrahimi)

Runners-Up: NEO NOIRS I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Sundown (Bleecker Street release)
Darkling (Mpak) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Night Ride (Nattrikken) (short) (streaming via The New Yorker)


BEST COMING OF AGERS
The Whaler Boy (Kitoboy) (Film Movement release)
The Zone (Faritra) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Scenes From The Glittering World (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
The Cathedral (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA) (courtesy of Visit Films)
Nitram (courtesy of IFC Films)
The Swimmer (HaSahyan) (preview at 2022 Israel Film Center Festival/ courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Carajita (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
My Name Is Sara (courtesy of Strand Releasing)


BEST COMING TO TERMS
Phantom of the Open (courtesy of Sony Classics)
Africa (courtesy of Strand Releasing)
The Inner Cage (Ariaferma) (preview at 2022 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Pink Moon (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris
Causeway (Apple TV+)
A Man Called Otto (courtesy of Sony Pictures)


BEST MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries):
Firestarter - The Story of Bangarra (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
The Moment Remains (An Kalir) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Eileen (short) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
The Nangiarkoothu Artist (short) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Junior (short) (in “Remaking The World” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Annea Lockwood: A Film About Listening (short) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Song Searcher: The Times and Toils of Moyshe Beregovsky
HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Take Me To The River New Orleans (courtesy of 360); Jazz Fest : A New Orleans Story (courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics); Music Pictures: New Orleans (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Rewind & Play (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Approaching Dawn (Weckuwapok) (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Brave (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Dusty & Stones (Kudos to Gazi Simelane and Linda Msibi) (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Ellis (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Lee Fields: Faithful Man (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Immediate Family (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Lazaro and The Shark (at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Cabin Fever (at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)


Runners-Up: MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Cyrano (kudos to Peter Dinklage and production design)
A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Beregovsky #136 (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Creation Stories (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ RLJE Films release)
Mahålang: A Love Letter to Guam (short) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
You Who Never Arrived (short) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Firebird Rising (short) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
Places, Please (short) (at Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association and Film at Lincoln Center)
A Body in Fukushima (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Imperfect (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Bernie Krause, A Life with The Great Animal Orchestra (at CinéSalon for the Climate of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Elvis
Moonage Daydream (courtesy of Neon)
Sheryl (Showtime)
Songbirds (courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)
Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues (at 2022 DOC NYC Festival/ Apple TV+)


BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation)
A Kaddish for Selim (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Home (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
The Violin Upstairs (short) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Belle (GKids release)
My Neighbors' Neighbors (Les voisins de mes voisins sont mes voisins) (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily (La Fameuse invasion de ours en Sicile) (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Maalbeek (In “New French Shorts” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
The Mysteries of Paris (Les Mystères de Paris) (2020) (40-shorts serial) (Kudos to narration à la serial novelist Eugène Sue) (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Petit Vampire (Little Vampire) (at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française/ on Amazon)
Phonos (Fonos) in “Latinx Shorts: Human Condition (Condicion Humana)” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Sea Beast (Netflix)
Eternal Spring (courtesy of Deadline Hollywood’s “For the Love of Docs” and Lofty Sky)
Unsinkable Ships (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Somebody’s Hero (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Belongings (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Patouille and the Parachute Seeds (des Grains) (short) (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (courtesy of A24 Films)
Holy Holocaust (short) (New Yorker)
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Ice Merchants (short) (streaming via The New Yorker)
Black Slide (short) (streaming via The New Yorker)
The Flying Sailor (short) (streaming via The New Yorker)
The Garbage Man (O Homem do Lixo) (short) (streaming via The New Yorker)

Runners-Up: Animation I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Me To Play (Use of Animation - Coming to Terms) (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Netflix)
The Bad Guys (courtesy of Universal)
Charlotte (Amazon)
A Language of Shapes (short in “Avant-Garde Micrographia” at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
Of Wood and There’s A Bison on the Prairie (shorts in “Visionaries & Revisions” at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
The Conspiracy (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)


BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE
Neighbours (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Till (Kudos to Danielle Deadwyler) (courtesy of United Artists
A New Old Play (Jiao Ma Tang Hui) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ courtesy of Icarus/dGenerate Films)
Image of Victory (preview at 2022 Israel Film Center Festival)
1982 (courtesy of Tricycle Logic)
The Survivor (HBO Max)
January (Janvaris) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Murmurs Of The Jungle (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Memories Of My Father (El Olvido Que Seremos) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
All Quiet On The Western Front (Im Westen Nichts Neues) (Netflix)
Argentina, 1985 (Amazon)
Devotion (Kudos to Jonathan Majors) (courtesy of Sony Pictures)
The Inspection (Kudos to Jeremy Pope) (courtesy of A24 Films)
Living (Kudos to use of Scottish ballad “Rowan Tree”) (courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)


BEST FOR THE CINEMATOGRAPHY/STYLE/SOUND or PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Ahed's Knee (Ha'berech) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ seen at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival)
Last and First Men (Metrograph Pictures release)
Bardo: False Chronicle Of A Handful of Truths (Falsa Crónica de unas Cuantas Verdades) (Amazon Prime)
Babylon (courtesy of Paramount Pictures)


BEST OF THE CINEMA OF THE ABSURD:
Brighton 4th (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Petrov’s Flu (Petrovy v grippe) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Feathers (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ courtesy of Grasshopper Film)
Semiotic Plastic (short) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image
Flux Gourmet (Kudos to celiac story, Gwendoline Christie and her costumes) (courtesy of IFC Films)
Triangle of Sadness (courtesy of Neon)
Employee Of The Month (L'Employée du mois) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Babysitter (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Menu (courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)
Glass Onion (Netflix)


BEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES better than their movies:
Manny Perez in La Soga: Salvation (Screen Media release)
Birthe Neumann in The Pact (Pagten) (Juno Films release)
Juliette Binoche in Both Sides Of The Blade aka Fire (Avec amour et acharnement) (at 2022 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of IFC Films)
Anna Diop in Nanny (Amazon)
Cate Blanchett in Tár (courtesy of Focus Features)
Léa Seydoux in One Fine Morning (Un beau matin) (courtesy of Sony Classics)
Olivia Colman in Empire of Light (courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)


BEST DOCUMENTARY RE-ENACTMENTS/DOCU-DRAMA HYBRIDS
Ted K (courtesy of Neon and Super Ltd.)
107 Mothers (Cenzorka) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Donbass (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ Film Movement theatrical and digital release)
Day After…(Anyadin) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Camouflage (Camuflaje) (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Plains (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
The City and the City (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Blue Island (憂鬱之島) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ courtesy of Icarus Films The dGenerate Films Collection)
Mother Lode (at 2022 DOC NYC Festival)

Runners-Up: Documentary Re-Enactments/Docu-Drama Hybrids I Recommend Despite my Gripes
Afterwater (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Courtroom (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Terrain Vague (short in “The Researcher’s Revelations” at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
The Jump (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ Topic release)
We Need to Talk About Cosby (docu-series on Showtime)
The Automat (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
I Had a Dream (Bir Rüya Gördüm) (streamed in 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu (streamed in 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Spirit to Soar (Mashkawi-Manidoo Bimaadiziwin) (streamed in 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Where Are We Headed (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
1970 (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Mariner of the Mountains (Marinheiro das motanhas) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Myanmar Diaries (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight/ Icarus Films release)
The Earth Is Blue As An Orange (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight/ Film Movement theatrical and digital release)
Babi Yar. Context (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Mr. Landsbergis (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Balcony Movie (Film Balkonowy) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Night (short) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Attention All Passengers (Cestujúcim do pozornosti) and In Shallow Water (V plytkej vode) (shorts) in “Two by Marek Moučka” (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Pushed Up the Mountain (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
Fire of Love (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival and at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Singing In The Wilderness (旷野歌声) (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Riotsville, USA (at 2022 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center and Museum of Modern Art)
Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (HBO/Max)
Lucy & Desi (Amazon)
The Andy Warhol Diaries (docu-series) (Netflix)
Dangerous (Delikado) (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
George Carlin’s American Dream (docu-series) (HBO)
For Love And Legacy and Paint and Pitchfork in “Juneteenth Shorts Portraits and Performances” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
A Rising Fury (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Endangered (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO)
Of Medicine and Miracles (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
Lowndes County And The Road To Black Power (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Navalny (CNN)
The Territory (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Foragers with Dapaan (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
When the LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Those Yet to Come (Weckuwapasihtit) (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Masks (Masques) (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Deerfoot Of The Diamond (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute/ ESPN 30 for 30)
Sealed With Blood (short) (at 2022 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Into the Weeds (at 2022 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Hold Your Fire (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of IFC Films)
Freedom On Fire: Ukrainians Fight for Freedom (courtesy of Deadline Hollywood’s “For the Love of Docs”/ at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Time Theorem (Teorama de Tiemp) (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
Into the Ice (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
A Letter from Yene (Part 1 of Trilogy) (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival/ MUBI)
Medusa (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
H6 (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
No Time To Fail (courtesy of Arch + Bow Films)
Three Minutes - A Lengthening (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of Neon – Super Ltd.)
The Pez Outlaw (courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)
The Soldier's Opinion (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
A House Made Of Splinters (courtesy of Deadline Hollywood’s “For the Love of Docs”/ at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
1341 Frames Of Love And War (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
White Night (Pobo ‘Tzu’) see with Chichonal volcano footage in The Fire Within: Requiem For Katia And Maurice Krafft (2016) (Kudos to both for cinematography and scores) (both at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
In Search Of Bengali Harlem (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Grab (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Killing Of A Journalist (courtesy of Deadline Hollywood’s “For the Love of Docs”/ at 2022 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
I Didn’t See You There (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Loan Wolves (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ MSNBC)
All That Breathes (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of HBO)
After Sherman (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ PBS POV)
Descendant (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Netflix)
Bad Axe (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of IFC Films


Runners-Up: Documentaries I Recommend Despite my Gripes
No Straight Lines: The Rise Of Queer Comics (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ Compadre Media Group release)
Shtetlers (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum/ Film Movement release)
So Late So Soon (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview courtesy of Oscilloscope at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Chuj Boys of Summer (short) (streamed in “Survivance” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
First Time Home (short) (streamed in “Survivance” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
The Still Side (El Lado quieto) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
The United States of America (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
A Thousand Fires (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Wild Romania (România Sălbatică) (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
The Crab Season (La Saison des Tourteaux) (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
Any Given Day (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
No U-Turn (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Battleground (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ Abramorama)
My Imaginary Country (Mi país imaginario) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Matter Out Of Place (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Eami (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Burial (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
This Much We Know (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Terranova (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Pacaman (short) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
The Flagmakers (short) (Left out #ESOP!) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute/National Geographic Documentary)
Young Plato (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Last Flight Home
Cat Daddies (courtesy of Gray Hat Productions)
8 Days At Ware, Strands of Resistance, and The Other Little Black Book (shorts) (at 2022 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Wrought (short in “Avant-Garde Micrographia”) (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
The Last Human (Siunissaq Det Sidste Menneske) (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
Zoo Lockdown (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
Pony Boys (New York Times Op-Doc)
The Devil’s Drivers (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
Tantura (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival/ courtesy of Reel Peak Films)
1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted A Culture (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Coldwater Kitchen (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Super Eagles '96 (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Casa Susanna (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of PBS American Experience)
Closed Circuit (Bema’agal Sagoor) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of Go2 Films)
Path Of The Panther (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Our American Family (courtesy of Deadline Hollywood’s “For the Love of Docs”)
The Elephant Whispers (short) (Netflix)


BEST BIO DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or glosses:
Coral Ghosts (at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
Promised Lands (Petah Tikva/Kinder der Hoffnung) (preview at 2022 Israel Film Center Festival)
Shut Up and Paint in “Juneteenth Shorts Portraits and Performances” (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Lucky (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
We Feed People (Disney+/seen courtesy of National Geographic Films)
Crows Are White (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Lady Of The Gobi (short) (via The Guardian)
Sidney (Apple+)
Razzouk Tattoo (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
Who Is Stan Smith? (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Kobra Self-Portrait (Auto-Retrato) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (CNN)
Turn Every Page: The Adventures Of Robert Caro & Robert Gottlieb (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of Sony Classics)
The Adventures of Saul Bellow (PBS American Masters)


EDUCATIONAL DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or flaws):
Expedition Content (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ Cinema Guild theatrical release)
Who We Are: A Chronicle Of Racism In America (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ at 2022 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival/ seen courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Breaking Bread (Kudos to the music) (My commentary on the Jewish woman participant) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival/ Cohen Media Group release)
Xueta Island (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum and shown at 2022 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival/ Menemsha Films release)
Futura (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Grasshopper Film release)
Ex Aequo! (docu-series) (shorts at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
The Return (Tian) (short) (streamed in “Survivance” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Helena From (Manta) Sarayaku (at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Memoryland (Miền ký ức) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Constant (short) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Listen to the Beat of Our Images (Écoutez le battement de nos images) (short) (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Only I Can Hear (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Here. Is. Better. (at 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Polar Bear (DisneyNature on Disney+)
Rebellion (previewed in 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Handbook (Handbuch) (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
Boycott (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
Naya (Der Wald hat Tausend Augen), Nuisance Bear, and Haulout (in ”Great Escapes” shorts at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival/ The New Yorker)
The Invisible Extinction (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
The Human Trial (at 2022 Imagine Science Film Festival)
A Reel War: Shalal (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
H2: The Occupation Lab (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Samaritans: A Biblical People (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
Dead Sea Guardians (preview at 2022 Other Israel Film Festival)
African Moot (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Aftershock (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Corridors Of Power (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Showtime)
The End of the World (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Quiet Epidemic (preview at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Theater Of Thought (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
A Decent Home (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Gravitas Ventures)
A Witch’s Story (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Wind Blows The Border (Vento na Fronteira) (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Martha Mitchell Effect (Netflix)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES FOR CINEPHILES:
Claydream (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ Oscilloscope release)
From Where They Stood (À pas aveugles) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Omar Amiralay: Sorrow, Time, Silence. (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Nazarbazi (short) (streamed at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Jane by/par Charlotte (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Utopia)
A Man and A Camera (at 2022 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Veteran (El Veterano) (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Train Again (short) (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Footnote (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Fiddler’s Journey To The Big Screen (courtesy of Zeitgeist Kino Lorber)
Swerve (short) (BAMcinemaFest/ (at 2022 Camden International Film Festival of Points North Institute)
The Last Movie Stars (docu-series) (HBO Max)
Light & Magic (docu-series) (Disney+)
Fragments Of Paradise (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Splice Here: A Projected Odyssey (at 2022 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Mickey: The Story of A Mouse (Disney+)


BEST COMIC RELIEF from Depressing Movies:
Official Competition (Competencia oficial) (at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of IFC Films)
Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney +)
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Roku)


BEST REVIVALS/RESTORATIONS IN NEW PRINTS especially of films I hadn’t seen before
Steve Brand’s Kaddish (1984/2022 restoration in 4K) (preview at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
James Blue’s The Olive Trees Of Justice (Les oliviers de la justice) (1962/2020 restoration in 4K) (courtesy of Kino Lorber release)
”Spotlight on Florence Miailhe” at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française: Shorts: Hammam (1991); Les oiseaux blancs, les oiseaux noirs (2003); Meanders (Méandres) (2013); Urban Tale (Conte de quartier) (2015); 25, Passage des oiseaux (2016); and, A Summer Night Rendez-vous (Au premier dimanche d'août) (2020)
Laurène Braibant’s The Ogre (L'ogre) (2017) and Bastien Dubois’s Madagascar, a Journey Diary (Madagascar, carnet de voyage) (2012) in “Pictanovo Presents” especially, among eight 2009 – 2021 shorts at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française
The NEF Animation International Residency at the Royal Abbey of “Fontevraud Presents” six 2019 – 2020 shorts at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Kristóf Deák’s Captives (Foglyok) (2019) (streamed via Liszt Institute - Hungarian Cultural Center, New York)
Mariona Lloreta’s The Moon Never Dies (A lua nunca more ) (2018, short) (in “Centering Women’s Voice” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Arun Wolf’s The Cloth of the Mother Goddess (2015, short) and The Making of Creation (2015, short (in “Remaking The World” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Shawara Maxakali and Charles Bicalho’s Mãtãnãg, a Encantada (2019, animated short) (in “Remaking The World” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Maria Lino’s Ancestral Rhythms (Ritmos Ancestrales) (2014, short) (in “Remaking The World” at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Aleksei Vakhrushev’s The Book of the Sea (Книга моря) (2018) (at 2022 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Daniel Gamburg and Benjamin Goldman’s Eight Nights (2020, New Yorker short)
Vitaly Mansky’s Close Relations (2016) (streaming in ”Stand With Ukraine Film Series” of Camden International Film Festival)
Sergey Loznitsa’s Maidan (2014) (streaming in ”Stand With Ukraine Film Series” of Camden International Film Festival)
Helena Maksyom and Adrian Pirvu’s Everything Will Not Be Fine (2020) (streaming in ”Stand With Ukraine Film Series” of Camden International Film Festival)
Alina Gorlova’s No Obvious Signs (2018) and This Rain Will Never Stop (2020) (streaming in ”Stand With Ukraine Film Series” of Camden International Film Festival)
Vadym Ilkov’s My Father Is My Mother's Brother (2018) (streaming in ”Stand With Ukraine Film Series” of Camden International Film Festival)
Oleksandr Techynskyi, Aleksey Solodunov, and Dmitry Stoykov’s All Things Ablaze (2014) (streaming in ”Stand With Ukraine Film Series” of Camden International Film Festival)
“A War Begins: The WW2 Documentaries of Herbert Kline”: Crisis: A Film of the Nazi Way (1939) and Lights Out In Europe (1940) (streamed from Museum of Modern Art collection)
Roman Bondarchuk’s Ukrainian Sheriffs (2015) (streamed from Taskovski Films to Support Ukrainian Filmmakers)
István Szabó’s Age of Illusions (Álmodozások kora) (1965/restored 2018) in “The 60s in Hungarian New Wave Cinema” (streamed via Liszt Institute - Hungarian Cultural Center, New York)
Alice Diop’s On Call (La Permanence) (2016) and Towards Tenderness (Vers la tendresse) (short) (2016) (at 2022 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Luc Jacquet’s Ice and the Sky (La Glace et le ciel) (2014) (at CinéSalon for the Climate of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Samy Szlingerbaum’s Brussels Transit (Bruxelles-transit) (1980/restored 1991 by Cinematek – Royal Film Archive of Belgium)
Kate Kirtz and Nell Lundy’s Jane: An Abortion Service (1996) (streamed in “The War on Reproductive Choice: Virtual Film Series” of Women Make Movies)
Lori Hiris’s With A Vengeance (1989) (short) (streamed in “The War on Reproductive Choice: Virtual Film Series” of Women Make Movies)
Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Mike Attie’s Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa (2019) (short) (streamed in “The War on Reproductive Choice: Virtual Film Series” of Women Make Movies)
Deeyah Khan’s America’s War on Abortion (2020) (streamed in “The War on Reproductive Choice: Virtual Film Series” of Women Make Movies)
Rebecca Haimowitz’s 62 Days (2017) (short) (streamed in “The War on Reproductive Choice: Virtual Film Series” of Women Make Movies)
András Kovács’s Cold Days (Hideg napok) (1966) in “The 60s in Hungarian New Wave Cinema” (streamed via Liszt Institute - Hungarian Cultural Center, New York)


MY BEST FILMS of 2021 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
Night of the Kings (La nuit des rois) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Minari
Never Gonna Snow Again (Sniegu juz nigdy nie bedzie) (Kino Lorber)
Atlantis (Kudos to writer/director/cinematographer Valentyn Vasyanovych) (at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ preview courtesy of Grasshopper Film)
Judas and the Black Messiah (Kudos to Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield) (HBO Max)
Limbo (preview courtesy of Focus Features)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Kudos to Welket Bungué) (preview courtesy of Kino Lorber)
High Ground (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Luzzo (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ Kino Lorber release)
There Is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad) (seen courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Charlatan (Šarlatán) (seen courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Stories from the Chestnut Woods (Zgodbe Iz Kostanjevih Gozdov) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Killing Of Kenneth Chamberlain (Kudos to Frankie Faison) (HBO)
A Son (Un Fils/Bik Eneich) (preview courtesy of ArtMattan Films)

Runners-Up: MOVIES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Broken Keys (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
The White Tiger (Netflix)
The Mauritanian (preview courtesy of STX Entertainment)
The Father (preview courtesy of Sony Classics)
The Sign Painter (Pilsēta pie upes) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Final Set (Cinquième set) (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Big Hit (Un Triomphe) (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Looking For A Lady With Fangs and A Moustache (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release Abramorama)
About Endlessness (Om det oändliga) (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
Mass (seen courtesy of Bleecker Street)


BEST FEMALE POV
My coverage of female filmmakers at 2023 Tribeca Film Festival
My coverage of female filmmakers at 2021 New York Film Festival
Fiction
Beginning (Dasatskisi) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Nomadland (Kudos to Frances McDormand and cinematography by Joshua James Richards) (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Herself (Kudos to star/co-writer Clare Dunne) (Amazon)
Buladó (Coming of Age Division) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Identifying Features (Sin señas particulares) (seen courtesy of Kino Lorber at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Two of Us (Deux) (Kudos to Barbara Sukowa) (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Skater Girl (Netflix)
My Little Sister (Schwesterlein) (Kudos to Nina Hoss) (preview courtesy of Film Movement
The Mad Women's Ball (Le bal des folles) (Kudos to writer/director/star Mélanie Laurent) (Amazon)
And Tomorrow The Entire World (Und morgen die ganze Welt) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Tove (streamed with 2021 Nordic Women in Film/ Juno Films)
Land (Kudos to star/director Robin Wright, cinematographer Bobby Bukowski, and score) (preview courtesy of Focus Features)
Test Pattern (courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Hope (Håp) (Kudos to Andrea Bræin Hovig) (preview courtesy of KimStim)
My Zoe (Kudos to writer/director/star Julie Delpy) (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment and Museum of Moving Image)
And Breathe Normally (Andið eðlilega) (Netflix) (with 2021 Nordic Women in Film)
Kuessipan ("to you" in the Innu language) (seen at 2020 Athena Film Festival /streamed in virtual cinema)
Spring Blossom (Seize printemps) (Kudos to writer/director/star Suzanne Lindon) (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center courtesy of KimStim Films)
My Wonderful Wanda (Wanda, mein Wunder) (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ seen courtesy of Zeitgeist Films)
The Perfect Candidate (courtesy of Music Box Films)
Bipolar (只是一次偶然的旅行) (Kudos to the editing) (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Gull (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Als Hitler Das Rosa Kaninchen Stahl) (Coming of Age) (at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Gipsy Queen (Kudos to Alina Seban) (streamed courtesy of Goethe Institute Pop-Up Houston/KINO! Germany NOW! 2021 Discover New Talent)
Souad (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Novice (Kudos to Isabelle Fuhrman) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ IFC Films)
Perfume De Gardenias (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Ballad of a White Cow (Kudos to Maryam Moghaddam) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Our Own (Les Nôtres) (courtesy of Oscilloscope Films)
Holler (courtesy of IFC Films)
Mama Weed (La Daronne) (Caper Division) (preview courtesy of Music Box Films)
Passing (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Netflix)
Lost Daughter (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Netflix)
Spencer (courtesy of Neon)
Prayers for the Stolen (Noche de Fuego) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Netflix)
Hive (Zgjoi) (courtesy of Zeitgeist Films)
Freeland (Kudos to Krisha Fairchild) (courtesy of Dark Star Pictures)
Giraffe (seen through German Film Office/ at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Margrete: Queen Of The North (Den Første) (courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Pictures)

Documentary
A Woman's Work: The NFL's Cheerleader Problem (PBS’s Independent Lens) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Her Socialist Smile (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (seen courtesy of director John Gianvito and Grasshopper Film)
Purple Sea (Das Purpurmeer) (streamed in German Film Office/ Anthology Film Archives 2021German Documentary Showcase)
A Portrait in Red (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Ecstasy (Êxtase) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Delphine's Prayers (Les Prières De Delphine) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight/ theatrical premiere at BAM)
The Witches of the Orient (Les Sorcières De L’orient) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight/ theatrical release at Film Forum)
Night Shot (Visión Nocturna) (Kudos to filmmaker Carolina Moscoso) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
”Four Portraits by Paige Taul”: 10.28.30; 7-7-94; It makes me wanna; and It’s a condition (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
For Paradise (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Still Processing (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival/ also at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Radiograph Of A Family (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Apart (streamed in 2021 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Daughter Of A Lost Bird (streamed in 2021 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Spirit Women (Mujeres Espíritu) (short) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Rebel Hearts (seen courtesy of Discovery+)
Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ seen courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
Sisters on Track (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ Netflix)
LFG (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/HBO Max)
The Queen of Basketball (short) (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ New York Times “Op-Doc”)
Playing With Sharks (Disney+)
End Of The Line: The Women Of Standing Rock (Fuse)
Jacinta (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ Hulu theatrical and streaming release)
Found (Netflix)
A Rifle And A Bag (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival)
A Night of Knowing Nothing (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
My Name Is Pauli Murray (Amazon Prime)
All About My Sisters (Jia ting lu xiang) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ seen courtesy of Icarus Films)
Elena (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ also at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Luchadoras (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Writing With Fire (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ at at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Julia (courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Love It Was Not (Ahava Zot Lo Hayta) (courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Be My Voice (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
Walchensee Forever (streamed through German Film Office)


Runners-Up: FEMALE POV I Recommend Despite My Gripes

Fiction
Preparations To Be Together For An Unkown Period Of Time (Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) (preview courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
14 Days, 12 Nights (14 Jours, 12 Nuits) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Scales (Sayidat Al Bahr) (Allegorical Division) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Agnes Joy (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Tahara (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Slalom (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Ema (seen courtesy of Music Box Films and MUBI)
El Planeta (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA/ theatrical release by Utopia)
Short Vacation (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Bebia, à mon seul désir (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Stop-Zemlia (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA/ theatrical release by Altered Innocence)
Moon (Selene), 66 Questions (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
India Sweets and Spices (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Anne at 13,000 Ft. (Kudos to Deragh Campbell) (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Comets (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
180 Degree Rule (Khatte farzi) (Kudos to Sahir Dolatshahi) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
QueenPins (Comedy Division) (preview courtesy of STX films)
Bergman Island (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ seen courtesy of IFC Films)
Titane (Horror Division) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Souvenir Part II (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Intruder (El prófugo) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Mayday (courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
The Unforgiveable (Netflix)

Documentary
Duty Free (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Ahead of the Curve (streamed at 2021 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York/ theatrical release by Wolfe Video)
Knots: A Forced Marriage Story (courtesy of Global Digital Releasing)
Little Girl (Petite Fille) (at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/ courtesy of Music Box Films)
Rebel Dykes (courtesy of 2021 Newfest)
Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ CNN)
No Ordinary Life (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
RIP Seni (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Since You Arrived, My Heart Stopped Belonging To Me (Desde que llegaste, mi corazón dejó de pertenecerme) (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Unrelinquished (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Cusp (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ Showtime)
Exposure (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
Subjects of Desire (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
The Business of Birth Control (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)


BEST FEMALE VIEW OF MALES


Fiction
Here We Are (Hine Anachnu) (Kudos to writer Dana Idisis and cast) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Circus of Life (Zindagi Tamash) (Kudos to writer Nirmal Bano and cast) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Cowboys (at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Lucky One (2019) (streamed with 2021 Nordic Women in Film)
I Carry You With Me (Te Llevo Conmigo) (Kudos to cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez and editor Enat Sidi) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ at 2020 and replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ theatrical release by Sony Picture Classics)
Should the Wind Drop (Si le vent tombe) (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Between Dog And Wolf (Entre perro y lobo) (docu-fiction) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
Panquiaco (docu-fiction) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
Do Not Hestitate (Kudos to writer Jolein Laarman) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tragic Jungle (Selva Trágica) (Kudos to cinematographer Sofia Oggioni) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ on Netflix)
The Power of the Dog (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ Netflix)

Documentary
Grandfather (Tote/Abuelo) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
The Calm After The Storm (Como El Cielo Despues De Llover) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Taming The Garden (streamed in 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ MUBI)
The Legend of the Underground (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/HBO)
The Rifleman (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Speer Goes To Hollywood (at Film Forum)
Slow Hustle (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ HBO)
Mr Bachmann and His Class (Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse) (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Silence Of The Mole (El Silencio del Topo) (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)


BEST ROMANCES
Little Fish (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Leona (preview at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum and shown at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
The Killing of Two Lovers (Kudos to Clayne Crawford) (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Undine (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ IFC Films release)
I Am Afraid To Forget Your Face (short) (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Heaven Reaches Down to Earth (short) (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Glob Lessons (Friendship Division) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
I’m Your Man (Ich Bin Dein Mensch) (courtesy of Bleecker Street)
Golden Voices (Kolot Reka'a)
Gaza Mon Amour (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Gûzen to sôzô) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (Kudos to score by Arthur Sharpe with theremin, electric saw, and pedal steel) (Amazon)
Oasis (Oaza) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Pig (courtesy of Neon)

Runners-Up: ROMANCES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
À l’abordage! (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Long Story Short (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Sublet (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ 2021 Israel Film Center Festival/ courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Mark, Mary & Some Other People (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
God’s Waiting Room (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Benedetta (17th-Century Lesbian Nuns Division) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Worst Person in the World (Verdens verste menneske) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Shiva Baby (HBO)
Falling for Figaro (courtesy of IFC Films)


BEST PANDEMIC ROMANCES AND LIFE
as of yet (My coverage of this Nora Ephron Award winner at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
7 Days (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Together (preview courtesy of Bleecker Street Films)
The Year Of The Everlasting Storm (preview courtesy of Neon)


BEST COMING OF AGERS
The Crossing (Flukten over grensens) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Pebbles (Koozhangal) (Kudos to landscape cinematography) (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Surviving You, Always (short) (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Summer of 85 (Été 85) (at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Sweet Thing (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Concrete Cowboy (Netflix)
C’mon, C’mon (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Licorice Pizza (Kudos to Alana Hiam) (preview courtesy of MGM/United Artists)
The Tender Bar (Amazon)


Runners-Up: COMING OF AGERS I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Better Days (Shaonian de ni) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Masel Tov Cocktail (short) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Minyan (at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum/ seen courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Ibrahim (preview at 2021 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Giants Being Lonely (Boo sexism) (preview courtesy of Metrograph)
One in a Thousand (Las mil y una) (Kudos to legible subtitles) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
Shepherd: The Story Of A Jewish Dog
A Chiara (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Shelter (Foscaḋ) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)


Runners-Up: COMING TO TERMS
Swan Song (Senior Division) (courtesy of 2021 Newfest/ theatrical relaease by Magnolia Pictures)
Moffie (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Cry Macho (Kudos to cinematographer Ben Davis) (HBO Max)
Drive My Car (Doraibu mai kâ) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center
Red Rocket (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Son Of Monarchs (Hijo de Monarcas) (HBO Max)
Jockey (Kudos to Clifton Collins Jr. and cinematographer Adolpho Veloso) (preview courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)


BEST ACTIONERS/THRILLERS/SUSPENSE
First Date (Comic Division) (preview courtesy of Magnet Releasing)
Candyman (Horror Division) (courtesy of MGM/United Artists)
No Time To Die (Sad farewell to Daniel Craig’s “James Bond”) (courtesy of MGM/United Artists)
The Guilty (Kudos to Jake Gyllenhaal) (Netflix)


Runners-Up: ACTIONERS/THRILLERS I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Blizzard of Souls (Dveselu putenis) (Kudos to cinematography) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Crisis (preview courtesy of Quiver)
Khorfakkan (streamed courtesy of NYU Abu Dhabi Institute)
The God Committee (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ Vertical Entertainment)
Black Widow (Kudos to Florence Pugh) (Disney+)
Settlers (Kudos to Brooklynn Prince and Ismael Cruz Córdova) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, courtesy of IFC Films)
No Sudden Move (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO Max)
A Quiet Place Part II (courtesy of Paramount)
Yakuza Princess (preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
My Son (Peacock)
Old Henry (courtesy of Shout Factory)
7 Prisoners (7 Prisioneiros) (Netflix)


BEST NEO-NOIRS
Azor (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Riders of Justice (Retfærdighedens ryttere) (courtesy of Magnet Releasing)
No Man of God (courtesy of RLJ Entertainment)
The Dry (courtesy of IFC Films)
Naked Singularity (courtesy of Screen Media)
The Card Counter (Kudos to Robert Levon Been’s score & songs) (courtesy of Focus Features)
Nightmare Alley (courtesy of Searchlight Pictures) I Care A Lot (Netflix)

Runners-Up: NEO NOIRS I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Rage (Kudos to score/sound design) (courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)
Ghosts (Los fantasmas) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
Waikiki (at Mother Tongue Film Festival/ Seattle International Film Festival)


BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC
La Llorona (Kudos to sound design and Gaby Moreno’s version of traditional title song) (courtesy of Shudder)
A Machine To Live In (hybrid doc-fiction) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Last Night In Soho (courtesy of Focus Features)
Lamb (Dýrið) (courtesy of A24 Films)
They Say Nothing Stays The Same (Aru Sendo No Hanashi) (Kudos to cinematographer Christopher Doyle) (courtesy of Film Movement)
The Matrix Resurrections (HBO Max)


Runners-Up: BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Apples (Mila) (streamed at 2021 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Dune (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Green Knight (courtesy of A24 Films)
Soul (Roh) (courtesy of Film Movement)
Swan Song (Apple TV+)
Sleep (Schlaf) (seen through German Film Office)


BEST MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries):
The Disciple (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (Netflix)
The Cantor’s Last Cantata (short) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
STTLMNT Laura Ortman (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Perfect Fifths (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Tiny Tim: King For A Day (Kudos to the animation) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival) (Theatrical release via Juno Films)
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man In The Waters (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ theatrical release via Kino Lorber)
Forbidden Strings (documentary) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Best Summer Ever (Kudos to cast and crew) (streamed at 2021 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Tina (HBO)
In The Heights (Kudos to the choreography) (preview at 2021Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO Max)
Ailey (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of Neon)
Framing Britney Spears and Controlling Britney Spears (The New York Times Presents on FX)
The Sparks Brothers (courtesy of Focus Features)
Songs That Flood The River (Cantos que inundan el río) (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival) /see with Edna (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
The Velvet Underground (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ AppleTV+)
Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ courtesy of Searchlight)
Jagged (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ seen courtesy of HBO Music Box)
Life of Crime 1984-2020 (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ HBO)
The Job of Songs (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson (The New York Times Presents on FX)
The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+ docu-series)
tick, tick…BOOM! (Netflix)
West Side Story (Kudos to dancing) (HBO Max)


Runners-Up: MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Don't Rush (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Ronnie’s (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ Greenwich Entertainment release in 2022)
In My Own Time: A Portrait of Karen Dalton (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Annette (Amazon)
Respect (Kudos to Jennifer Hudson) (courtesy of MGM/UA)
Listening to Kenny G (at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival courtesy of HBO Music Box)
The Nowhere Inn (courtesy of IFC Films)


BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation)
Play, Pause, Repeat (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Luca (On Disney+)
Navozande, The Musician (short) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Cryptozoo (Kudos to Animation Director Jane Samborski) (preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
Archipelago (Archipel) (documentary essay) (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Vivo (Netflix)
Flee (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis (Netflix)
The Summit of the Gods (Le sommet des dieux) (Netflix/ at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
Encanto (Kudos to the music) (Disney+)
Inner Wound Real in “LGBTQIA+ Shorts: See Me, Feel Me” (preview at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival)
Greta Thunberg Has Given Up On Politicians (short) (NY Times Op Doc)


Runners-Up: Animation I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Number 7 Cherry Lane (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Blush (short) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE
One Night in Miami (at 2021 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
Dear Comrades! (Dorogie tovarishchi) (Boo to white on white subtitles) (preview courtesy of Neon and Film Forum)
Monsters (Arracht) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Quo Vadis, Aida? (Kudos to Jasna Djuricic) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
Adventures of a Mathematician (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Dara of Jasenovac (preview courtesy of 101 Studios)
Wojnarowicz: F**k YOU F*ggot F**ker (Kudos to the documentary editing) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Good Traitor (Vores mand i Amerika) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
All The Dead Ones (Todos os Mortos) (Boo to white on white subtitles) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
Liborio (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
A Crime on the Bayou (documentary) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ theatrical release by Shout Studios)
Oslo (HBO)
12 Mighty Orphans (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Wife of A Spy (seen courtesy of Kino Lorber)
The Many Saints of Newark (HBO Max)
King Richard (HBO Max)
The Hand of God (È stata la mano di Dio) (Netflix)
Belfast (Kudos to cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos) (seen courtesy of Focus Features)
Betrayed (Den største forbrytelsen) (courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Being the Ricardos (Amazon)


BEST SATIRES:
Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn (Babardeala cu bucluc sau porno balamuc) (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Don’t Look Up (Netflix)


BEST COMIC RELIEF from Depressing Movies:
French Exit (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
New Red Order (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Friends and Strangers (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Werewolves Within (Kudos to Sam Richardson) (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ courtesy of IFC Films)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
Acasă, My Home (Kudos to the associated Social Project) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
My Darling Supermarket (Meu Querido Supermercado) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Assassins (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Truffle Hunters (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
‘Til Kingdom Come (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)/ see with: Kings of Capitol Hill (HaLobby) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Victory Day (Den’ Probedy) (2018) (streamed in German Film Office/ Anthology Film Archives 2021 German Documentary Showcase)
SPK Complex (SPK Komplex) (2018) (streamed in German Film Office/ Anthology Film Archives 2021 German Documentary Showcase)
Winter Journey (Kudos to Bruno Ganz) (docu-drama) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Who’s Afraid of Alice Miller? (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
The Red Orchestra (Die Rote Kapelle) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Enemies of the State (at 2020 and replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival) (IFC Films release in theaters and On Demand)
Miracle Fishing: Kidnapped Abroad (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
In The Same Breath (seen at 2021 MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight/ in 2021 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center) (HBO)
Cane Fire (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight/ then streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Nemesis (Kudos to cinematography and editing) (seen at 2021 MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Inside The Red Brick Wall (seen at 2021 MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Shared Resources (Kudos to collaborators Deborah & Albert Lord) (seen at 2021 MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
When You’re Lost in the Rain (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Last Days Of Spring (La Última Primavera) (hybrid) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (preview courtesy of Grasshopper Film/ at 2020 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue (Yi zhi you dao hai shui bian lan) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ theatrical release by Cinema Guild)
State Funeral (ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЕ ПОХОРОНЫ/Gosudarstvennyye Pokhorony) (seen at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ theatrical release at Film Forum and MUBI stream)
Five Years North (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ theatrical release by Optimist)
Searching For Ana Velford (Buscando Ana Velford) (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Too Long Here (Aqui Demasiado Tiempo) (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Nitrate (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Annotated Field Guide of Ulysses S. Grant (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival/ Anthology Film Archives in The Films of Jim Finn)
The Meaning of Hitler (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ IFC Films release)
Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street (preview courtesy of Screen Media Films/ HBO)
We (Nous) (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Ancient Woods (Sengire) (Kudos to director Mindaugus Survila) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival/ seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ Film Forum)
Final Account
The Lost Leonardo (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ Sony Pictures Classics theatrical release)
Ascension (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tigre Gente (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
The American Sector (preview courtesy of Grasshopper Film)
The Neutral Ground (at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ on PBS POV) See with Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are) (Peacock/MSNBC/ M Tuckman Media release)
Faya Dayi (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA/ theatrical release by Janus Films)
Missing in Brooks County (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ at 2021 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival/ 2021 theatrical release) (PBS’s Independent Lens)
Sabaya (preview courtesy of MTV Documentary Films)
Usedom: A Clear View Of The Sea (Der freie Blick aufs Meer) (preview courtesy of Big World Pictures)
In the Shadow of 9/11 (PBS Frontline) and The Forever Prisoner (HBO Max)
The Seer and The Unseen (preview courtesy of Utopia Media) – pair with “the invisible hand” in Oeconomia (streamed in German Film Office/ Anthology Film Archives 2021 German Documentary Showcase)
The Velvet Queen (La panthère des neiges) (Kudos to director Marie Amiguet and score by Warren Ellis) (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival courtesy of Oscilloscope Labs)
After Antarctica (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
A Cop Movie (Una película de policies) (docu-drama) (at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ and 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Netflix)
The Rescue (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Courtroom 3H (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
3212 Un-Redacted (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Attica (at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Showtime)
Nothing But The Sun (Apenas El Sol) (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Newtok (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ at 2022 DC Environmental Film Festival)
My Garden of A Thousand Bees (on PBS’s Nature)
Uppercase Print (Tipografic Majuscul) (docu-drama) (preview courtesy of Big World Pictures)
President (preview courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Meltdown in Dixie (MSNBC Meet the Press Film Festival/ at 2022 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
Puff: Wonders of the Reef (Kudos to underwater cinematrography) (Netflix)


Runners-Up: Documentaries I Recommend Despite my Gripes
Kindertransports to Sweden (Dem Leben entgegen – Kindertransporte nach Schweden) (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
17 Blocks (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Stray (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Central Airport THF (Zentralflughafen THF) (2018) (streamed in German Film Office/ Anthology Film Archives 2021 German Documentary Showcase)
What Remains/Re-visited (Was bleibt/Šta ostaje) (streamed in German Film Office/ Anthology Film Archives 2021 German Documentary Showcase)
Gunda (seen courtesy of Neon/ at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Bicentenario (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
On a Clear Day You Can See the Revolution from Here (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Everything That Is Forgotten In An Instant (Todo Lo Que Se Olvida En Un Instante) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
No Ordinary Man (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival) (Theatrical release via Oscilloscope)
A Demonstration (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Dark Red Forest (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
A Once and Future Peace (streamed in 2021 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
The Dark Hobby (seen courtesy of Paradise Filmworks)
All These Sons (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Ascension (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Scars Of Ali Boulala (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Simple As Water (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ HBO)
Bring Your Own Brigade (CBSN/ at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Dream (Nofinofy) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
My Body (Il Mio Corpo) (documentary/fiction hybrid) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Zinder (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Silent Voice (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Transnistra (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Phases of Matter (Maddenin Halleri) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
There Will Be No More Night (Il n'y aura plus de nuit) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Don’t Touch Me (Noli Me Tangere) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Finding Kendrick Johnson (Starz)
Roots (Koreni) (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival)
Ostrov – Lost Island (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival)
Underdog (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival)
Eagles (Águilas) (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ POV Shorts/New Yorker)
Nonstop (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Storm Lake (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ at at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Accepted (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
They Won’t Call It Murder (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Box (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Dial Home (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Facility (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ also at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Meet the Press Film Festival)
To Be Reconciled (short) (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Convergence: Courage In A Crisis (Netflix)
The First Wave (seen courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films/ at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Four Hours at the Capitol (HBO Max)/ with Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol (New York Times Visual Investigations)
And I Was There (short) (previewed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival)
Skies Above Hebron and Mission Hebron (shorts) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (New York Times Op Doc) (both at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Bubble (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Mole (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
100 Up (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
We Are Russia (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Forest For The Trees (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ at DC Environmental Film Festival)
Try Harder! (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
A Broken House (short) (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ New Yorker/ POV Shorts)
Procession (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Netflix)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES FOR CINEPHILES:
Paris Calligrammes (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival/ theatrical release via Icarus Films)
Terra Femme (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
”Four By Bill Morrison”: Sunken Films; Curly Takes A Bath By The Sea; Wild Girl; and The Ring (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival) Plus Buried News (short) (streamed in 2021 Kronos Festival) [Full The Village Detective: A Song Cycle seen courtesy of Kino Lorber]
Image And Memory (Yaõkwá) (short) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival).
Stuntman (Disney+)
What We Left Unfinished (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village, and the World…(Le fils de l'épicière, le maire, le village et le monde) (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Bottled Songs 1-4 (streamed at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Faithful: The King, The Pope, The Princess (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival)
Our Memory Belongs To Us (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival)
Val (Amazon Prime)
Prism (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ seen courtesy of Icarus Films)
Mr. Saturday Night (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of HBO Music Box)
Film, The Living Record Of Our Memory (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Alien On Stage (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Dean Martin: King Of Cool (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ TCM)
Adrienne (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ HBO)
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks (at 2021 DOC NYC Festival/ HBO/ at 2022 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)


BEST BIO DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or glosses:
Irmi (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
Shooting the Mafia
Francesco (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Bill Traylor Chasing Ghosts (preview courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Greenwich Entertainment release)
The New Bauhaus: The Life and Legacy of Moholy-Nagy (seen courtesy of Opendox)
City Of Ali (seen courtesy of Abramorama)
Wolfgang (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Death Of My Two Fathers (preview at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Fauci (courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films & Disney+)
Becoming Cousteau (at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ seen courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films)
Citizen Ashe (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ seen courtesy of CNN Films/ at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Torn (at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ seen courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films/ also at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Fourth Window (HaChalon HaReviee) (My commentary on the Jewish women) (streamed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Man Who Paints Water Drops (L'homme qui peint des gouttes d'eau) (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ courtesy of IFC Films)
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Netflix)


EDUCATIONAL DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or flaws):
MLK/FBI (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and at 2021 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
The Reason I Jump (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Human Factor (preview courtesy of Sony Picture Classics/Dogwoof)
On Broadway (preview at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Still Life in Lodz
A Glitch In The Matrix (courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
Rock Bottom Riser (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA/ Cinema Guild release)
All Light, Everywhere (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA/ also at at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Under Siege (Bajo Fuego) (streamed in 2021 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Our Resistance (Kawsakunchik) (short) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
The Celine Archive (streamed via Women Make Movies: Stories of Asian and Asian-American Women)
Inhabitants:An Indigenous Perspective
Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street (CNN)/ Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre (History Channel)/ Rise Again: Tulsa and The Red Summer (National Geographic)
Misha and The Wolves (Netflix)
A Space In Time (Amazon)
The Outsider
America After 9/11 (PBS’s Frontline)
No Responders Left Behind (Discovery+)
The Mushroom Speaks (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ at DC Environmental Film Festival)
15 Minutes of Shame (HBO Max)
Burning (streamed at 2021 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival courtesy of Amazon/ at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
What If? Ehud Barak on War and Peace (previewed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival)
The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ streamed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival)
With No Land (previewed at 2021 Other Israel Film Festival/ at 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ The Jewish Museum)
River's End (seen courtesy of Giant Pictures)
The Alpinist (Netflix)
Boycott (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Refuge (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Keep It A Secret (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
F@ck This Job (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Festival)
The Gig Is Up (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Art of Making It (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
End of the Line (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Photograph (preview at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Algren (seen courtesy of First Run Features/ VOD in 2022)


BEST FOR THE CINEMATOGRAPHY/STYLE/SOUND or PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Samichay: In Search of Happiness (Samichay: En busca de la felicidad) (Kudos to cinematographer Hugo Carmona) (preview at 2021 Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center/Cinema Tropical)
”Two By Rajee Samarasinghe”: The Eyes of Summer (Gimhanaye Netra) (2020) and Imitation of Life (Jeevithaye Mayawa) (2020) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival) and “An Evening with Rajee Samarasinghe” in Modern Mondays at MoMA: Show Me Other Places (2021); everyday star (2021); The Queen of Material (2014); FOREIGN QUARTERS / 异乡居所 / YI XIANG JU SUO (2017); Misery Next Time (2021); The Spectre Watches Over Her (2016) the past (2021); The Exile / පිටුවහලයා / Piṭuvahalayā (2018); If I Were Any Further Away I’d Be Closer to Home (2016); Untitled (2019); black widow summer set (2015) (shorts)
Madalena (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Mighty Flash (Destello Bravío) (streamed at New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Last Days at Sea and No Kings (Sem Deus Sem Demônio) (streamed at 2021 Camden International Film Festival/ at MoMA’s 2022 Documentary Fortnight)
Məmoria (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The French Dispatch (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


BEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES better than their movies:
Emma Stone in Cruella
Saul Williams in Akilla’s Escape (courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
Alexis Louder in CopShop (courtesy of Open Road Films)
Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)
Taylour Paige in Zola (courtesy of A24 Films)
Troy Kotsur in Coda (Apple TV+)
Lady Gaga in House of Gucci (courtesy of MGM/United Artists)
Léa Seydoux in France (at 2021 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


BEST REVIVALS/RESTORATIONS IN NEW PRINTS especially of films I hadn’t seen before
Ellen Friedland and Curt Fissel’s Flory’s Flame: The Story of Flory Jagoda (2015) (In memoriam streamed through Museum of American Jewish History)
Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Light Ahead (Fishke der Krumer) (1939) (4K digital restoration by The National Center for Jewish Film) (premiere at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Chung Mong-hong’s The Doctor (2006) (in Non/Fiction: 20 Years of Doc Fortnight at MoMA)
Eryk Rocha’s Sunday Ball (Campo de Jogo) (2014) (in Non/Fiction: 20 Years of Doc Fortnight at MoMA)
Zhang Yimou’s To Live (1994) (with novel by Yu Huah in NEA Big Read Program through Museum of the Moving Image)
Mostafa Derkaoui's About Some Meaningless Events (De Quelques Événements Sans Signification) (1974) (2018 4K digit restoration by Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona and the Atelier de l'Observatoire (Art et Recherche) of Casablanca) (seen at 2020 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ also at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Pantelis Voulgaris’s Little England (Mikra Anglia) (2014) (courtesy of Corinth Films VOD)
Arlene Bowman’s Navajo Talking Picture (1985) (seen at MoMA’s 2021 Documentary Fortnight)
Deborah Gee’s Slaying the Dragon (1988)/ with Elaine H. Kim’s Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded (2011) (seen via Women Make Movies Stands With the AAPI Community)
Christopher Harris’s Reckless Eyeballing (2004) (short) (new 2K digitization) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Anand Patwardhan & Jim Monro’s A Time To Rise (1981) (short) (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
Lisa Miller’s Country Noise (Landrauschen) (2018) (streamed courtesy of German Film Office)
Wim Wenders’s The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter) (1972) (2014 restoration by Wim Wenders Foundation) (streamed in New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective in MoMA)
Chantal Akerman’s The Meetings of Anna (Les Rendez-vous d'Anna) (1978) (streamed in New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective in MoMA)
Horace Ové’s Playing Away (1986) (Digitally remastered by British Film Institute) (streamed in New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective through MoMA)
Mani Kaul’s Duvidha (1973) (streamed in New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective in MoMA)
Humberto Solás’s Lucía (1968) (2017 restoration by Cineteca di Bologna) (streamed in New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective through MoMA)
Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy (1999) (streamed in New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective in MoMA)
Óscar Catacora’s Eternity (Wiñaypacha) (2017) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Sergio M. Rapu’s Eating Up Easter (Haka Puai te Kainga) (2019) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Martin Witz’s Gateways To New York: Othmar H. Ammann And His Bridges (2018) (streamed at 2021 Architecture & Design Film Festival)
David Nawrath’s Atlas (2018) (streamed through German Film Office)
Andrew Williamson’s The Land of Eb (2012) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Jacqueline Hazen’s Island To Island (2017) (documentary short) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Curtis Taylor and Nathan Mewett’s Until The End (Yulubidyi) (2017) (narrative short) (streamed in 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Terrah Guymala’s The Greedy Emu (Ngalkangila Ngalwurrburn) (2017) (narrative short) (streamed at 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Wieland Schulz-Keil’s The New Deal for Artists (1981) (40th anniversary re-master seen courtesy of Corinth Films)
David Riker’s La Ciudad (1998) (streamed at Mexico on the Hudson of Cinema Tropical, the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute, and Oscilloscope Laboratories Virtual Cinema)
Holly Fisher’s Deafening Silence (2012) (streaming in 3 X HOLLY FISHER at Anthology Film Archives Vimeo Showcase)
Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street (1975) Restoration (2020) (at 2021 New York Film Festival/ courtesy of Cohen Film Collection)
Ulrich Köhler’s In My Room (2018) and Bungalow (2002) (streamed through German Film Office)
Andreas Dresen’s Gundermann (2018) (streamed through German Film Office)
Andreas Goldstein’s Adam & Evelyn (2018) (streamed through German Film Office)


NOTABLE FILM-RELATED EXHIBITS
at Museum of the Moving Image - through 9/26/2021, with weekly screenings of 2001: A Space Odyssey (organized by DFF - Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum): Genesis and 50th Anniversary Exhibition in Queens, where it was conceived:



MY BEST FILMS of 2020 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
Martin Eden (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Les Misérables
Corpus Christi (Kudos to Bartosz Bielenia)
Sorry We Missed You (preview at Film Forum)
Bad Education (HBO/ preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Homemade (collection of 17 shorts on Netflix by Covid-19 quarantined directors)
Stump the Guesser (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Foreigner (Extranjero) (short) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)

Runners-Up: MOVIES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
All Rise (seen at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival) (Kudos to Kevin Harrison Jr.)
Run This Town (preview courtesy of Oscilloscope Films)
Red Moon Tide (Lúa vermella) (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Chun Jiang Shui Nuan) (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Pacified (Pacificado) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Gets Good Light (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Notes, Imprints (On Love): Part I (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Exile (Exil) (streamed courtesy of German Film Office)
News of the World
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Another Round (Druk) (Kudos to Mads Mikkelsen) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Sound of Metal (Kudos to Riz Ahmed)
A Sun (Yangguang puzhao) (Netflix)
Tigertail (Netflix)
Monsoon (VOD)
Nafi's Father (Baamum Nafi) (at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)


BEST FEMALE POV
My coverage of female filmmakers at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival

Fiction
Invisible Life (A Vida Invisível) (Kudos to co-writers Murilo Hauser & Inés Bortagaray & director Karim Aïnouz, and cinematographer Hélène Louvart)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) (Kudos to cinematography and writer/director Céline Sciamma) (capsule review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Seberg (Kudos to Kristen Stewart)
Proxima (Kudos to Eva Green) (preview at 2020 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Kudos to Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder, writer/director Eliza Hittman, cinematographer Hélène Louvart, and Planned Parenthood)
Rocks (Coming of Age Division) (seen at 2020 Athena Film Festival)
Red Fields (Mamy) (Music Division) (seen at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Pause (Pafsi) (Kudos to Stella Fyrogeni) (Always on Sunday of Hellenic Film Society USA with NY Women in Film & Television at Museum of the Moving Image)
Ankebût (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival) The Tiger Who Came to Tea (animated short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Cru-Raw (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Grey Zone (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Shadows (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tapes (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Toto (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Vera (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Lucky Grandma (Kudos to Tsai Chin and the music) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Radioactive (Kudos to Rosamund Pike) (Amazon)
Miss Juneteenth (Kudos to writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples and star Nicole Beharie) (VOD)
Song Without A Name (Canción sin nombre) (Kudos to actress Pamela Mendoza, music by Pauchi Sasaki, and cinemographer Inti Briones) (seen courtesy of Film Movement)
Point and Line to Plane (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Promising Young Woman (Kudos to writer/director Emerald Fennell and Carey Mulligan)
Saint Frances (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope)
Premature (Young Black Romance Division) (seen courtesy of IFC Films)
The Forty-Year Old Version (Kudos to Radha Blank) (Netflix)
Cuties (Mignonnes) (Netflix)
Ammonite (seen courtesy of Neon)

Documentary
Woman Make Film: A New Road Movie through Cinema (docu-series seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight/ then shown on TCM in Fall)
Sunless Shadows (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Welcome To The Jungle (trilogy of shorts) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
That Which Does Not Kill (Sans Frapper) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Delphine and Carole (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Personhood (premiered at 2019 DOC NYC Festival/ seen at 2020 Athena Film Festival)
Feminism is a browser (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Video Blues (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
In Her Boots (animation) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
I Dream of Vietnam (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
City Dreamers (Rêveuses de villes) (U.S. Premiere at 2019 ADFF NY/ seen streamed at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women)
Yours in Sisterhood (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
Girl from God’s Country (2015) (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
Through The Night (previewed at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ also shown at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The State of Texas vs. Melissa (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Call Your Mother (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Picture A Scientist (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Blood and Glory (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Charlotte Perriand, Pioneer In The Art Of Living (seen at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival at NeoConnect)
#Anne Frank – Parallel Stories (on Netflix)
My Mexican Bretzel (documentary/fiction hybrid) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Correspondence (Correspondencia) (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Extractions (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Plastic House (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
See You in My Dreams (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Time (Kudos to editor Gabriel Rhodes and composers Jamieson Shaw/Edwin Montgomery) (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ “Short List” at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival) (on Amazon Prime)
A Thousand Cuts (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ “Short List” at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival) (PBS Frontline)
Belly of the Beast (So, nu: re: comments by the Jewish woman director) (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival) (PBS Independent Lens)
Lessons of Love (Lekcja miłości) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
The Letter (Kudos to co-director Maia Lekow’s score) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
The Self-Portrait (Selvportrett) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Women in Blue (preview at 2020/ replay 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
On The Record (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ HBO Max)
Love & Stuff (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival/ with Absolutely No Spitting (short) at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film Society of Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Hysterical Girl (short) (NY Times Op Doc)


Runners-Up: FEMALE POV I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Fiction
Buffaloed (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Beanpole (Dylda) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Zombi Child (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Assistant
Troop Zero (Coming of Age Division) (Amazon Prime)
Murmur (Depressing Division) (preview courtesy of Houseplant Films at Slamdance Film Festival)
Bull (Coming of Age Division) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Ordinary Love (Depressing Division)
The Garden Left Behind (Kudos to Carlie Guevara) (Depressing Division) (preview courtesy of Queens Pictures)
Kinetics:The Desire To Move (seen at 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Asia (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ at 2021 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum/ theatrical release at Film Forum)
Military Wives (seen courtesy of Bleecker Street Films)
On The Rocks (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Pieces of A Woman (Netflix)
Once Upon A River (seen courtesy of Film Movement)
Fourteen (VOD)
Let Them All Talk (HBO)
Selah and The Spades (Amazon)
To The Stars (VOD)
Documentary
Advocate (Lea Tsemel, Orehet Din) (seen at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center/IFC Center, and Q & A at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
Vitalina Varela (Ethnographic Re-Enactment Division) (Kudos to cinematography) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Toxic Beauty (preview courtesy of White Pine Pictures)
We Are The Radical Monarchs (at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (Netflix)
Aggie (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema (2017) (seen at Forest Hills Jewish Center Cinematek)
Beyond The Visible: Hilma Af Klint (preview courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Sisters Rising (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
The Undocumented Lawyer (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Athlete A (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ on Netflix)
The Go-Go’s (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Glimpses from a Visit to Orkney in Summer 1995 (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Finding Yingying (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Big vs. Small (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
For the Love of Rutland (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Once Upon A Time In Venezuela (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival) (streams on Topic)
Lost In Face (Kudos to animation by Frédéric Schuld) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
The Viewing Booth (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival/ showing at 2021 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Calendar Girl (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Nasrin (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival) (on Hulu 2021)
I Am Greta (“Short List” at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival/ Hulu)
A Love Song For Latasha (short) (Netflix)


BEST FEMALE VIEW OF MALES
First Cow (Kudos to John Magaro and Orion Lee, cinematography, score, and incorporation of indigenous culture) (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Roads Not Taken (Kudos to Sally Potter’s directing, editing, and score, with guitar by Fred Frith)
Twelve Thousand (Douze mille) (Kudos to Arieh Worthalter) (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Fever (A Febre) (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Grandad Was A Romantic (animated short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Umbrella (animated short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Cypher (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Jack and Jo Don't Want To Die (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Father Soldier Son (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival) (documentary) (Netflix)


BEST ACTIONERS/THRILLERS/SUSPENSE
The Traitor (Il traditore) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Bacurau (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Whistlers (La Gomera) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Wild Goose Lake (Nan Fang Che Zhan De Ju Hui) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Balloon (preview courtesy of Distrib Films US)
Escape from Pretoria (preview courtesy of Momentum Pictures)
Resistance
Wonder Woman 1984

Runners-Up: ACTIONERS/THRILLERS I enjoyed despite quibbles
The Old Guard (on Netflix)
The True History Of The Kelly Gang (Kudos to Essie Davis and production design) (on VOD)
Invisible Man (on HBO) (Kudos to Elizabeth Moss)
Greyhound (on Apple+)
The Outpost (on VOD)


BEST NEO-NOIRS
A Patient Man (preview courtesy of Commuter Productions)

Runners-Up: NEO NOIRS I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Night Clerk (Kudos to Tye Sheridan) (preview courtesy of Saban Entertainment)
You Go To My Head (preview courtesy of First Run Features) (Kudos to Morocco mise en scène)
Spellbound (Les envoûtés) (preview at 2020 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Last Ferry from Grass Island (島嶼故事) (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
A White, White Day (Hvítur, hvítur dagur) (courtesy of Film Movement)
I’m Your Woman


BEST ROMANCES
Top End Wedding (Indigenous/Aussie Rom Com Division) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Simple Wedding (Iranian/American Rom Com Division) (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
Olympic Dreams (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Babyteeth (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Catch (El Salto) (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
A Better You (sci fi division) (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Farewell Amor (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Sister of the Groom

Runners-Up: ROMANCES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Weathering With You (Animation) (preview courtesy of GKids)
José
Inside the Rain (Mental Illness Division) (preview courtesy of Act 3)
Half Of It (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ Netflix)
Shithouse (Kudos to writer/director/star Cooper Raiff) (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Wild Mountain Thyme (seen courtesy of Bleecker Street)


BEST COMING OF AGERS
Waiting for Anya
Wendy
Abe (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Witch Hunters (Zlogonje) (seen at 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Ainu Mosir (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Black Ghost Son (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Ham On Rye
Buoyancy (seen courtesy of Kino Lorber)
The Life Ahead (La Vita davanti a Sé) (Netflix)
Funny Boy (Netflix)
The Grizzlies (Netflix)
I’m No Longer Here (Ya No Estoy Aqui) (Netflix)
The Brat (Natkhat) (short) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)


BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC
Carmentis (short) (Kudos to writer/director Antony Webb and crew) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Light Side (satirical short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Look Then Below (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The End of Suffering (a proposal) (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Humongous! (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
August 22, This Year (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Vast of Night (Kudos to cinematography and production design) (Amazon)
His House (Netflix)
Two Distant Strangers (short) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)
New Order (Nuevo orden) (Dystopian Division) (courtesy of Neon)
Speed of Life (Romantic Division)
System Error (Humor Division) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Labor of Love (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Possessor (courtesy of Neon)
Bad Hair (horror satire) (Hulu) (seen courtesy of Neon)


BEST MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries):
And Then We Danced (Kudos to Levan Gelbakhiani and Bachi Valishvili, and cinematographer Lisabi Fridell)
Throat Singing in Kangirsuk (Katatjatuuk Kangirsumi) (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
My Father The Mover (short) (Kudos to Stoan Move Galela) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Welcome To A Bright White Limbo (short) (Kudos to Oona Doherty) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Hamilton (On Disney+)
David Byrne’s American Utopia (on HBO)
Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane Mcgowan (Kudos to the editing) (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Crutch (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Zappa (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Kudos to Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, ensemble, and director George C. Wolfe) (Netflix)


Runners-Up: MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Felix in Wonderland (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Crescendo! (bio-doc short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Motorcycle Drive By (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
When I Write It (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
In the Air Tonight (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Shut Up Sona (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Universe (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Mr. Soul!


BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation)
Memoirs of Vegetation (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
MOTH (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
The Flounder (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Freeze Frame (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Chronosync (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Central Square (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Rain (Deszcz) (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Candy Shop (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Bathwell in Clerkentime (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Beyond Noh (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Friends (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Kapaemahu (short) (Kudos to Ana Tuisila) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ streamed at 2021 Smithsonian Mother Tongue Film Festival)
Wolfwalkers (Kudos to the music) (Preview courtesy of Apple+)
The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo) (see with Songs of Repression documentary)
Soul (Kudos to the music)
Grab My Hand: A Letter To My Dad (short) (streamed at The Wrap International Awards Screenings)


Runners-Up: Animation I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Over The Moon
Onward


BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE
The Three Christs
Incitement (Yamim Noraim) (at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
A Story from Africa (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Liliu (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Endless Trench (La Trinchera Infinita) (Netflix)


Runners-Up: BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Joan of Arc (preview at 2020 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Sefarad (docu-drama) (seen at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Mank (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman)
The Glorias (Amazon)


BEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES better than their movies:
Simon Pegg in Inheritance (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Andra Day in The United States vs Billie Holiday (seen courtesy of Hulu)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
Earth (Erde) (preview courtesy of KimStim and Anthology Film Archives)
Heimat Is A Space In Time (Heimat Ist Ein Raum Aus Zeit) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Booksellers (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (seen at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Always In Season at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
Thirst For Justice at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
The Young Observant (L'apprendistato) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Zero (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Wilcox (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Speak So I Can See You (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Take The Horse To Eat Jalabis (Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon) (Hybrid Division) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Ma’Abarot (at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum and seen at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Film About A Father Who (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Rewind (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Boys State (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA/ “Short List” at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Ridge (Säsong) (Hybrid Division) (seen at 2020 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
If We Say That We Are Friends (short) (streamed with 2020 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Home in the Woods (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival/ also streamed at (streamed at 2021 Prismatic Ground Film Festival)
The Lake And The Lake (Kere mattu Kere) (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Faire-Part (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Louie's Antiques (short) (with animation) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Winter's First Moons (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Perdikaki (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
T A R T A M U D E O (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Kanockatonanok (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Our Time Machine (seen at 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Conscience Point (2019) (PBS’s Independent Lens) (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
P.S. Burn This Letter Please (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Stateless (Apátrida) (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ PBS POV 2021)
Spaceship Earth (seen through Neon and Museum of the Moving Image)
Sixth of June (Le Six Juin) (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Solitary (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tā Moko – Behind The Tattooed Face (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tall Tales With True Queens (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tangled Roots (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
USA v Scott (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Vote Neil (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Painter and the Thief (seen through Neon and Scandinavia House)
Elephant (seen on Disney+)
Her Name Was Europa (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Here and There (Aquí y allá) (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Sanfield (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Why? (Apiyemiyekî?) (short) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Notturno (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Year of the Discovery (El año del descubrimiento) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Totally Under Control (courtesy of Neon; available on Hulu October 20)
Collective (Colectiv) (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ “Short List” at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Mole Agent (non/fiction hybrid) (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival) (available on Amazon Prime Video) (PBS’s POV)
Agents of Chaos with The Perfect Weapon (HBO)
Dope Is Death (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
9/11 Kids (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Off The Road (Kudos to the score and the corridos) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Songs of Repression (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Neither Confirm Nor Deny (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Red Heaven (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival)
Things We Dare Not Do (Cosas Que No Hacemos) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival) (PBS POV 2021)
Two Gods (Kudos to score and cinematography) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Festival) (PBS Independent Lens 2021)
The Dissident (preview courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)
The Way I See It (Peacock)


Runners-Up: Documentaries I Recommend Despite my Gripes
Slay The Dragon (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and shown at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
Afterward (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.)
The All-Americans (seen at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
The Cordillera of Dreams (La cordillera de los sueños) (completes Patricio Guzmán's landscape and memory trilogy) (courtesy of Cinema Tropical and Icarus Films)
Every Pulse Of The Heart Is Work (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Some Kind Of Heaven (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight/ then on Hulu) (see with follow-up short The Paradise Next Door)
1275 Days (preview courtesy of FilmRise)
Shoot To Marry (preview courtesy of Northern Banner at Slamdance)
The Last Sermon (streamed at 2020 Queens World Film Festival)
Crip Camp (Netflix) (at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight and 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Landfall (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ PBS POV 2021)
499 (preview at 2020/replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Echoes in the Arctic (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Pray Away (preview at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Welcome to Chechnya (HBO) (at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
76 Days (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ “Short List” at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival) (MTV)
537 Days (HBO)
Since I Been Down (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Smog Town (Yao Wang Fan Xing) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Last Out (preview at 2020/replay at 2021 DOC NYC Film Festival)
The Walrus and The Whistleblower (preview courtesy of Gravitas Ventures at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival) (streams on Discovery+ as of 3/4/2021)
The Infiltrators (doc/re-enactment docu-drama) (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope
Red Penguins
Dick Johnson Is Dead (Netflix)
Coup (hybrid) (streamed courtesy of German Film Office)


EDUCATIONAL DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or flaws):
Peshmerga (preview at 2017 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Citizen K (at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival) (preview courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment and Film Forum)
Quezon’s Game (docu-drama) (preview courtesy of ABS CBN)
American Muslim (at 2019 DOC NYC Festival and seen at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
Picture of His Life (preview at 2020 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
The State Against Mandela and the Others (preview at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Straight Flush/Corpse Cleaner (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Traveling While Black (360/VR) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Resonance (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Reiwa Uprising (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Immortal (Surematu) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
I Am A Town (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Arguments (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
During Revolution (Fi al-thawra) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Romaniotes: The Greek Jews of Ioannina (seen at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
The Final Hour (seen at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Viral Antisemitism In Four Mutations (preview courtesy of So Much Film)
Epicentro (seen at 2020 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Harvesters (short) (seen online through 2020 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
If We Say That We Are Friends (short) (seen online through 2020 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Bedlam (PBS’s Independent Lens) (seen at 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Waging Change (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
She Walks With Apes (on BBC America)/Jane Goodall: The Hope (on National Geographic)
Wake Up On Mars (Réveil sur Mars) (preview at 2020/ replay 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Banksy Most Wanted (preview at 2020/replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
Fatitude (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
AKA Jane Roe (on FX)
Seahorse (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
City Hall (at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Influence (seen at 2020 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Our Social Dilemma (Netflix)
Origin of the Species (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
In Silico (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Rebuilding Paradise (Hulu)
The Fight (as ACLU PR)
Coded Bias
My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)


BEST BIO DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or glosses:
The Times of Bill Cunningham (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words (recommending first half only) (preview courtesy of Manifold Productions/Blue Fox Entertainment.)
Raymond Pettibone: A Collection of Lines (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Why Can't I Be Me? Around You. (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (PBS’s American Masters) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/ seen at 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Still Burn (Algo Quema) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Councilwoman (streamed at 2020 LALIFF Connect of Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival)
And The Brave Shall Rise (short) (streamed at 2020 LALIFF Connect of Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival)
James Hubbell - Between Heaven and Earth (World Premiere at 2019 ADFF NY seen streamed at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival)
Harley (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2020/replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival)
La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla (at 2020/replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ on Peacock) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
With Drawn Arms (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ Starz)
Mr. Somebody (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
My Brother's Keeper (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Gloves Off (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Jørn Utzon - The Man & The Architect (at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival online)
Goff (at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival online)
Truus' Children (De Kinderen Van Truus) (streamed through De Sousa Mendes Foundation)
John Lewis: Good Trouble (at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival/ seen on Amazon Prime/ and at 2021 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
The Vasulka Effect (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Soros (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview courtesy of Abramorama)
Moments Like This Never Last (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival courtesy of Vice Media)
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (Netflix)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES FOR CINEPHILES:
The Lonedale Operator (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Makeshift (For Mekas) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
A Month of Single Frames/So Many Ideas Impossible To Do All (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
Code of the Freaks (seen at 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
10 Years With Hayao Miyazaki (NHK docu-series: Ep 1: “Ponyo is Here”, Ep 2: “Drawing What’s Real”, Ep. 3 “Go Ahead - Threaten Me”, Ep 4: “No Cheap Excuses”) (then shown on PBS channels)
Disclosure (on Netflix)
There Are Not Thirty-Six Ways of Showing a Man Getting on a Horse (No existen treinta y seis maneras de mostrar cómo un hombre se sube a un caballo) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Hopper/Welles (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Blue Code of Silence (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Television Event (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival/ at 2020/replay at Tribeca Film Festival)
Landfall (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show (at 2020/ replay at 2021 Tribeca Film Festival/ on Peacock)


BEST COMIC or OTHER RELIEF from Depressing Movies Despite Nonsense:
Deerskin (Le Daim) (preview at 2020 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Echo (Bergmál) (seen at MoMA’s 2020 Documentary Fortnight)
The Climb
12 Hour Shift (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Abducted (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Egg (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
I Can Change (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
John Bronco (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
A Piece Of Cake (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)
Dear Santa (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview at 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival)
Palm Springs (Kudos to Cristin Milioti) (Hulu)
The Trip to Greece (seen courtesy of IFC Films)
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Kudos to “Maria Bakalova”/whoever she is) (So, nu: my comments on the Jewish woman) (Amazon)
Kajillionaire
I Used to Go Here (via Gravitas Ventures)
The Twentieth Century (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope Films)
We Are Little Zombies (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope Films)


BEST FOR THE CINEMATOGRAPHY/STYLE:
Los Conductos (preview at 2020 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Mirage (short) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)


BEST for the SCENERY
Unnúr (short) (preview at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival)


BEST REVIVALS/RESTORATIONS IN NEW PRINTS
D.W. Griffith, Isn't Life Wonderful (1924, silent, with piano accompaniment) (at 2020 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Paulette McDonagh & Sisters, Those Who Love (1926 silent short) and The Cheaters (1929 silent feature), both with piano accompaniment (at 2020 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (50th anniversary DCP restoration by Christopher Nolan at Museum of the Moving Image)
Alice Guy-Blaché’s The Consequences of Feminism (Les résultats du feminism) (1906, Gaumont) and Algie the Miner (1912); Harold M. Shaw’s The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912); and Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant (1917) (accompanied by world premiere of Alexis Cuadrado Group’s score in Silent Films/Live Music at the Winter Garden of Brookfield Place)
James Searle Dawley’s Frankenstein (1910) and Tod Browning’s The Unknown (1927) (accompanied by world premiere of Vernon Reid Ensemble’s score in Silent Films/Live Music at the Winter Garden of Brookfield Place)
Horace B. Jenkins’ Cane River (4k restoration created by IndieCollect, in association with the archive of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, seen courtesy of Oscilloscope Films)
Rel Dowdell’s Train Ride (2000) (preview of 20th anniversary DVD courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures)
Luchino Visconti’s L’Innocente (1976) (preview of Film Movement Classic’s new digital HD restoration at Film Forum)
István Szabó’s Mephisto (1981) (new 4K digital restoration by the Hungarian National Film Archive and Hungarian Filmlab via Kino Lorber at Film Forum)
Manfred Kirchheimer's and Walter Hess’s footage in Free Time (at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center then Film Forum)
Elem Klimov’s Come And See (1985) (preview of new Mosfilm restoration via Janus Films at Film Forum)
Hassan BenJelloun’s Where Are You Going Moshé? (Où vas-tu Moshé?) (2007) (seen at 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Lisa Steele + Kim Tomczak’s The Afternoon Knows What the Morning Never Suspected (2017) (streamed at 2020 Ann Arbor Film Festival)
Jorge Thielen Armand’s La Soledad (2016) (streamed at 7 Days of Cinema of Filmatique
Natalia Cabral andOriol Estrada’s You and Me (Tú Y Yo) (2014) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Eliza Hittman’s It Felt Like Love (2014) (streamed at 7 Days of Cinema of Filmatique
Matías Meyer’s Yo (2015) (streamed in “FICM Presenta en Linea” of Morelia International Film Festival)
Anna Muylaert’s Don’t Call Me Son (Mãe Só Há Uma) (2016) (streamed at 7 Days of Cinema of Filmatique
José María Avilés’s The Death Of The Master (La Muerte Del Maestro) (2018) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Alexandre Rockwell’s Little Feet (2014) (streamed at 7 Days of Cinema of Filmatique
Miguel Hilari’s The Corral and The Wind (El Corral Y El Viento) (2014) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Javier Fesser’s Champions (Campeones) (2018) (seen with 2020 ReelAbilities Film Festival New York)
Leandro Listorti’s The Endless Film (La Película Infinita) (2018) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Agnes Varda’s The Little Story of Gwen From French Brittany (short) (streamed courtesy of American Cinematheque)
Lisandra I. Rivera and Manolo Sarmiento’s The Death of Jaime Roldós (La Muerte De Jaime Roldós) (2013) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Vladimir Durán’s So Long, Enthusiasm (Adiós Entusiasmo) (2017) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Yulene Olaizola’s Shakespeare and Victor Hugo´s Intimacies (Intimidades Entre Shakespeare Y Víctor Hugo) (2008) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Raoul Ruiz’s The Golden Boat (1990) ) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Boris Benjamin Bertram’s The Human Shelter (2018) (streamed at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival)
Catherine Hunter’s Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place (2017) (streamed at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival)
Julio García Espinosa’s The Adventures Of Juan Quin Quin (Las Aventuras De Juan Quin Quin) (1967) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Eduardo Coutinho’s A Man Marked For Death - Twenty Years Later (Cabra Marcado Para Morrer) (1984) (streamed in The Cinema Tropical Collection)
Diego Ros’s El Vigilante (The Nightguard) (2016) (streamed in “FICM Presenta en Linea” of Morelia International Film Festival)
Laura Mulvey’s Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) and Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti (1983) (short) (seen at Film Interrupted Series: Virtual Film Festival of Women Make Movies)
Marco Orsini’s Gray Matters (2014) (seen at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival online)
Elizabeth Federici and Laura Harrison’s Space Land Time: Underground Adventures with Ant Farm (2011) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (seen at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival online)
Nuria Ibáñez’s Wild Stream (Una Corriente Salvaje) (2018) (streamed in “FICM Presenta en Linea” of Morelia International Film Festival)
Katherine Knight and Marcia Connolly’s Strange and Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island (2014) (seen at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival at NeoConnect)
Loretta Dalpozzo and Michèle Volontè’s Mario Botta: The Space Beyond (2018) (seen at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival at NeoConnect)
Francesca Molteni’s SuperDesign: Italian Radical Design 1965-75 (2017) (seen at 2020 Architecture & Design Film Festival at NeoConnect)
Mohammad Reza Aslani’s The Chess Game of the Wind (Shatranj-e baad) (1976) (seen at 2020 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


MY BEST FILMS of 2019 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
To Dust (Kudos to Géza Röhrig) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Transit (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Never Look Away (Werk ohne Autor) (Kudos to writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and score by Max Richter)
Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben)
Rojo (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Nightingale (Kudos to writer/director Jennifer Kent, and Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr) (seen courtesy of IFC Films)
Birds of Passage (Pájaros de verano) (preview at Film Forum)
La Flor (Parts 1, 2, and 3) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Long Day’s Journey Into Night) (Kudos to writer/director Bi Gan, cinematographers Yao Hung, Dong Jinsong and David Chizallet, production and sound design) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center
Kiss of the Rabbit God (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians (Îmi este indiferent daca în istorie vom intra ca barbari) The Dead Nation - Fragments of Parallel Lives (Țara moartă) (at 2018 Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema)
Ága (Kudos to music, cinematography and scenery)
Parasite (Gisaengchung) (Kudos to director/co-writer/lyricist Bong Joon-ho) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Saturday Fiction (Lan xin da ju yuan) (Kudos to cinematography and editing) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Irishman (Kudos to Steve Zaillian’s script, Robbie Robertson’s score with use of period music, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, plus casting director for the supporting cast) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Marriage Story (Kudos to writer/director Noah Baumbach) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
A Hidden Life (Kudos to August Diehl and Valerie Pachner)
Brotherhood (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Live-Action)


Runners-Up: MOVIES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
A Tramway in Jerusalem (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
The Pluto Moment (Ming wang xing shi ke) (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Wild Pear Tree (Ahlat Agaci) (Kudos to the use of scenery)
High Flying Bird (Kudos to André Holland) (on Netflix)
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind (on Netflix)
Manta Ray (preview at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Unorthodox (Ha-Bilti Rishmi'im) (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (seen at 2019 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Dogman (Kudos to Marcello Fonte)
The Public (preview courtesy of Universal Entertainment)
Driveways (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Back Fork (Kudos to Josh Stewart)
Luce (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Noah Land (Nuh Tepesis) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Black Hat (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Lost Bayou (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Limestone Cowboy (seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Dive (Ha Tzlila) (at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival)
Three Peaks (Drei Zinnen)
Jirga (Kudos to Afghan landscape, music, and sound design) (preview courtesy of Lightyear Entertainment)
Peanut Butter Falcon (Kudos to Zack Gottsagen and the music)
Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood (Not seen in 35 nor 70mm)
The Moneychanger (Así habló el cambista) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Fire Will Come (O que arde) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Motherless Brooklyn (Kudos to cinematographer Dick Pope, score by Daniel Pemberton for Wynton Marsalis on trumpet) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Laundromat (satirical version of the documentary The Panama Papers)
By The Grace Of God (Grâce à Dieu)
Adopt A Highway [“Dedicated to Anyone Who Ever Made A Mistaker”] (preview courtesy of RLJE Films)
Dark Waters
The Lighthouse (Kudos the cinematography, sound design, Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe)
Uncut Gems (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.)


BEST FEMALE POV
Fiction
Adult Life Skills (reviewed at FF2 Media) (preview at 2016 Tribeca Film Festival)
Little Woods (Kudos to writer/director Nia Dacosta; Tessa Thompson and Lily James) (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Daughter of Mine (Figlia mia) (Kudos to Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, and Sara Casu) (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Slut In A Good Way (Charlotte a du fun) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Promise of Dawn (La promesse de l'aube) (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Sunset (Napszállta) (Way Back Division) (at 2019 Film Comments Selects of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Heiresses (Las Herederas) (Lesbian Division)
Invisibles (Les Invisibles) (preview at 2019 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Clemency (Kudos to Alfre Woodard and writer/director Chinonye Chukwu) (preview at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Flawless (Haneshef) (Kudos to Stav Strashko) (My commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Weekend (Romantic Division) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
House Of Hummingbird (Beol-sae) (Coming of Age Division) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Red Joan (Way Back Division) (So, nu: My commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Mary Magdalene (Way Back Division) (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Girls of the Sun (Les filles du soleil) (Kudos to Golshifteh Farahani) (at 2019 Rendez-Vous With French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center) (preview courtesy of Cohen Media Group)
Wild Nights With Emily (Comic Docu-Drama Way-Back Division) (Kudos to writer/director Madeleine Olnek) (preview courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Hook Up 2.0 (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Pearl (Kudos to Julia Föry) preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Blow The Man Down (Noir Division) (Kudos to David Coffin’s chorus) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Jebel Banat (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
37 Seconds (Kudos to Mei Kayama) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Mademoiselle Paradis (Licht) (Kudos to Maria Dragus) (Way Back Machine Division (seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
3 Days in Quiberon (3 Tage in Quiberon) (Kudos to Marie Bäumer) (seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
One Day (Egy Nap) (Kudos to Zsófia Szamosi) (seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Several Conversations About a Very Tall Girl (Cateva conversatii despre o fata foarte inalta) (Lesbian Division) (seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Aniara (Sci Fi Division) (seen courtesy of MagnoliaPictures)
Mouthpiece (Kudos to director Patricia Rozema with co-writers Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava)
The Farewell (Kudos to writer/director Lulu Wang and Awkwafina)
Red Cow (Para Aduma) (Kudos to Avigayil Kovary) (at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival)
The Sweet Requiem (Kyoyang Ngarmo) (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Charlie Says (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Share (HBO/ at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Operative (Thriller Division)
Official Secrets (Thriller Division) (Preview courtesy of IFC Films)
Them That Follow (Kudos to Alice Englert) (preview courtesy of 1091)
Burn (Noir Thriller Division) (preview courtesy of Momentum Pictures)
Judy (Music Division) (Kudos to Renée Zellweger)
La Mala Noche (The Longest Night)(Kudos to score by Quincas Moreira and writer/director Gabriela Calvache) (at 2019 New York Latino Film Festival)
Harriet at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival (Kudos to Cynthia Erivo)
Bombshell (Kudos to Charlize Theron)
Little Women (Kudos to adaptor/director Greta Gerwig; Saoirse Ronan; costume and production design)
Girl on a Bike (short) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open (Netflix)
Henrietta Bulkowski (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation)
Daughter (Dcera) (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation)
Saria (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Live-Action)


Documentary:
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The 5 Browns: Digging Through The Darkness (preview courtesy of Plow Productions at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Period. End Of Sentence. (short) (on Netflix)
Afghan Cycles (preview courtesy Gunpowder & Sky)
Maiden (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Ask Dr. Ruth (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Scheme Birds (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Little Miss Sumo (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Leftover Women (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Circus of Books (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding New York Underground (Nu - Note on this Jewish woman) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (preview courtesy of Juno Films)
In Search… (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
One Child Nation (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Wonder About Merri (at 2019 Dance on Camera Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Brigitte (short) (Kudos to director Lynne Ramsay) (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Waiting for Tearah (short) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
For Sama (On “Short List” at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
The Kingmaker (Showtime) (On “Short List” at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)


Runners-Up: FEMALE POV I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Fiction
Moko Jumbie (Inter-Ethnic Romance Division) (preview courtesy of IndiePix)
Holiday (preview courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures)
Woman At War (Kona fer í stríð) (Kudos to Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir)
Greta (Horror Division)
The Wind (Frontier Horror Division) (courtesy of IFC Films)
Gloria Bell (re-make of Gloria - 2013)
Juanita (on Netflix)
Wild Rose (preview) (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Rafiki (Lesbian Division) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Flesh Out (Il Corpo Della Sposa) (Arranged Marriage Division) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Good Posture (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
East of the River (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
I Think She Likes You (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Night Swim (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Lady Hater (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Third Wife (Kudos to cinematographer Chananun Chotrungroj) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Ladies in Black (preview courtesy of Sony Pictures)
The Chambermaid (La camarista) (at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA) (preview at Film Forum)
Ophelia
Ever After (Endzeit) (Zombie Division) (preview courtesy of Juno Films)
Shelter (Thriller Division)
The Ground Beneath My Feet (Der Boden unter den Füßen) (preview courtesy Strand Releasing)
Otherhood (Rom-Com Division) (Netflix)
Edie (Kudos to Mt. Suilven) (Preview courtesy of Music Box Films)
Sister Aimee (preview courtesy of Obscured Pictures)
Atlantics (Atlantique) (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
To The Ends Of The Earth (Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
A Girl Missing (Yokogao) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Sibyl (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Paradise Hills (Satirical Sci Fi Division)
Miss Virginia (preview courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
Dilili In/à Paris (Animation Division) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
The Warrior Queen Of Jhansi (Way Back Division) (preview courtesy of Roadside Attractions)
Queen of Hearts (Dronningen) (Kudos to Trine Dyrholm) (preview courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures)
The Souvenir (Kudos to cinematography)
Hustlers (Kudos to Constance Wu)
Booksmart (Kudos to Beanie Feldstein)


Documentary:
Serendipity (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight and also shown at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Born in Evin (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Raise Hell: The Life & Times Of Molly Ivins (Preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
#FemalePleasure (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (Preview courtesy of Abramorama)


BEST ROMANCES
Ash is the Purest White (Jianghu Ernü) (Kudos to Zhao Tao) (at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Trouble with You (En liberté!) (at 2019 Rendez-Vous With French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Art of Seduction (Mademoiselle de Joncquiéres) (Kudos to the costumes by Pierre-Jean Larroque) (preview at 2019 Rendez-Vous With French Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center)
Photograph
Non-Fiction (Doubles Vies) (at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Aamis (Ravening) (Cannibalism Division) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Distances (Las Distancias) (Kudos to cinematographer Julián Elizalde) (seen at 2019 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Tomorrow Man
Always Be My Maybe (Netflix)
Plus One (Kudos to Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid) (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
In The Aisles (In den Gängen) (preview courtesy of Music Box Films)
The Reports on Sarah and Saleem
Arabic Friday (short) (Other Israel Film Festival)
I Lost My Body (J'ai perdu mon corps) (Animation - Netflix - dubbed)


Runners-Up: ROMANCES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Untogether (previewed at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women)
Berlin I Love You (”Transitions” features a Jewish woman) (Preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Lost & Found (”The Tent” features a putative Jewish woman) (Preview courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)
Brittany Runs A Marathon
Ode To Joy (Preview courtesy of IFC Films)
The Sun Is Also A Star


BEST COMING OF AGERS
All These Small Moments (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Amanda (preview at 2019 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Giant Little Ones (Preview courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
Too Late to Die Young (Tarde para morir joven) (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Place of No Words (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Piranhas (La paranza dei bambini) (preview at 2019 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Jojo Rabbit (Kudos to writer/director/star Taika Waititi)
Nefta Football Club (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Live-Action)


Runners-Up: COMING OF AGERS I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Genesis (Genèse) (preview at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Roads (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Shooting Life (HaSusita Shel Herzl) (seen at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival)
Young Ahmed (Le jeune Ahmed) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Waves


BEST ACTIONERS/THRILLERS
Arctic (Kudos to Mads Mikkelsen)
The Standoff At Sparrow Creek (Kudos to Jackson Hunt’s cinematography)
Hotel Mumbai
The Golem (Kudos to The Paz Brothers) (Preview courtesy of Epic Pictures)
The Hummingbird Project (Kudos to Kim Nguyen’s script & direction)
Monos (preview at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/ MoMA)
Us (Kudos to Lupito Nyong'o)
Gasoline Thieves (Huachicolero) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Shadow (Ying) (Kudos to music, costumes, production design, and battle choreography)
Skin (Kudos to actors Jamie Bell and Danielle Macdonald, and writer/director Guy Nattiv) (Preview courtesy of A24 Films)
Fractured (on Netflix)
Joker (Kudos to Joaquin Phoenix, director Todd Phillips and score by Hildur Guðnadóttir)
The Aeronauts (Kudos to steam punk Felicity Jones, cinematography, production and costume design)
Queen & Slim (Kudos to Jodie Turner-Smith)
1917 (Kudos to cinematographer Roger Deakins)
The Report


Runners-Up: ACTIONERS/THRILLERS I enjoyed despite quibbles
American Hangman (preview courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
The Vanishing (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Buffalo Boys (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
An Acceptable Loss (preview courtesy of IFC Films)
In Like Flynn (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
Polar (For Mads Mikkelsen only) (on Netflix)
Velvet Buzzsaw (Art World Horror Division) (on Netflix)
Yardie (Kudos to the music)
Paul Sanchez Is Back! (Paul Sanchez est revenu!) (Kudos to score by John Cale) (preview at 2019 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Styx (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Sobibor (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2018 Russian Film Week) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Super Deluxe
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (for action choreography only) (preview courtesy of Well Go Entertainment USA)
Domino (Kudos to score by Pino Donaggio) (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
The Outsider (Very Violent Division) (Kudos to Jon Foo) (preview courtesy of Cinedigm)
The Command (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Screwdriver (Mafak) (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center/ IFC Center and at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
Cold Blood (preview courtesy of Screen Media (Kudos to the scenery)
15 Minutes of War (L'intervention) (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
Spider in the Web (preview courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
Wasp Network (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Parts You Lose (Kudos to cinematographer Evans Brown) (preview courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Crown Vic (preview courtesy of Screen Media Films)
Red Sea Diving Resort (Netflix) (My commentary on the Jewish woman.)


BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC
High Life (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Only (Romance Division) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Shipment (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
See You Yesterday (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Little Joe (Kudos to co-writers/director Hausner and Géraldine Bajard, music/sound and production design) (preview at Jessica Hausner Retrospective: The Miracle Worker at Film at Lincoln Center)


Runners-Up: BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC I Recommend Despite My Gripes
School’s Out (L’Heure de la sortie) (preview at 2019 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Changeover (preview courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
White Chamber (kudos to Oded Fehr) (preview courtesy of Dark Sky Films)
Cold Brook (preview courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
In Fabric


BEST NEO-NOIRS
Smaller and Smaller Circles (preview courtesy of Uncork’d Entertainment)
Never Grow Old (Western Division) (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Naples in Veils (Napoli velata) (Kudos to Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Naples) (preview courtesy of Breaking Glass Pictures)
The Wedding Guest


Runners-Up: NEO NOIRS I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Echo (Hed) (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Belonging (Aidiyet) (preview at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Initials SG (Iniciales SG) (Kudos to the music, especially Serge Gainsbourg) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Low Tide (Kudos to young cast and Jersey Shore setting) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Into the Ashes (Kudos to Luke Grimes, cinematographer John W. Rutland, and composer James Curd) (preview courtesy of RLJ Entertainment)
Oh Mercy! (Roubaix, une lumière) (Policier Division) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Good Liar
Sequestrada (preview courtesy of Strand Releasing)


BEST MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries):
A Tuba To Cuba (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
Satan & Adam (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Inna Da Yard: The Soul of Jamaica (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Gay Chorus Deep South (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Stuck The Musical
Devil’s Pie – D’Angelo (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
All I Can Say (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Nureyev (preview at Film Forum)
The Black Godfather (on Netflix)
Yesterday (Kudos to Himesh Patel and script by Richard Curtis)
Seven Leagues (Siete Leguas) (at 2019 Dance on Camera Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Rocketman (Kudos to Taron Egerton, costume designer Julian Day, choreographer Adam Murray, and editor Chris Dickens)
Fiddler: A Miracle Of Miracles (preview courtesy Roadside Attractions & Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Blinded By The Light
Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool (preview courtesy Abramorama Films/American Masters)
Cunningham in 3D (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash (YouTube Original)


Runners-Up: MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Her Smell (Kudos to Elisabeth Moss) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center
Redemption (Geula) (seen at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum / also shown at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival)
The Quiet One (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Apollo (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Teen Spirit
Guava Island (on Amazon Pime)
Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Echo In The Canyon (Kudos for attention to Jacques Demy’s 1969 Model Shop) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival/ preview courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)
Other Music (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Pavarotti
The Other Story (Sipur Acher) (at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival) (preview courtesy of Strand Releasing)
The Rolling Thunder Revue (on Netflix)
The Lion King (in 2D) (For the music only)
David Crosby: Remember My Name
Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival/PBS)
ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band From Texas
Marianne & Leonard: Words Of Love (Nu - Exhibition and Documentary)
Fiddlin’ (preview courtesy of Utopia)
Mountaintop (preview courtesy of Abramorama in partnership with Shakey Pictures and Reprise/Warner Records)
Playing With Fire: Jeannette Sorrell and the Mysteries of Conducting (preview courtesy of Cinema Flix Distribution)
Western Skies
Bluebird (preview courtesy of Cleopatra Entertainment)
The Apollo (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival/HBO)


BEST FEMALE VIEW OF MALES
Mapplethorpe (Gay Division) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Mustang (Kudos to the horses and scenery)
Honey Boy (Kudos to Shia LaBeouf)
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Kudos to Tom Hanks)


BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE
Peterloo
The Aftermath
All Is True
Dirty Bomb (short) (preview of Manhattan Film Festival)
Tolkien
One Nation, One King (Un peuple et son roi) (preview courtesy Distrib Films US)
Downton Abbey (Kudos to ensemble)
The Current War: Director’s Cut (Kudos to production design)
Just Mercy
Mob Town (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Midway (according to my husband The World War II Buff)
Richard Jewell
The Great War (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
The King
The Two Popes (glossing over abuses)
Dolemite Is My Name (Netflix)


BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation)
The Pure Necessity (Die Reine Notwendigkeit) (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Rezo (preview at Film Forum)
Penguin Highway (ペンギン) (at 2019 New York International Children’s Film Festival) (preview courtesy of Eleven Arts)
My Mother’s Eyes (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Funan (preview courtesy of GKids)
Another Day of Life (English dub)
Lady and the Tramp (Disney+) (CGI as animation)
Away (Projām) (at 2019 CineCina Film Festival)
Frozen 2 (2D) (Kudos to songs)
The Swallows of Kabul (Les Hirondelles de Kaboul) (Kudos to artistic director Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec) (seen at French Cinema Week NYC/Fi:AF Animation First)
The Tower (Wardi) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival/ at 2022 Animation First Festival of French Institute/Alliance Française)
White Snake (Baishe: Yuanqi) (dubbed) (preview courtesy of GKids)
Marona's Fantastic Tale (L'extraordinaire voyage de Marona) (preview courtesy of GKids)
This Magnificent Cake! (Ce magnifique gâteau!) (short) (preview courtesy of GKids)
Mémorable (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation)
Kitbull (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation)


Runners-Up: Animation I Recommend Despite My Gripes
How To Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World (2D)
Aladdin (2D)
Muteum (short in 2019 Sundance Short Film Tour)
Missing Link (Recommended by my 5-year-old grandkid)
Toy Story 4
Klaus (Netflix)
Abominable
Children of the Sea (preview courtesy of GKids)
Sister (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation)
Hair Love (seen in Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
Communion (Komunia) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Invisibles (Die Unsichtbaren - Wir wollen leben) (Docu-Drama) (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
The Venerable W (Le Vénérable W.) (at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Putin’s Witnesses (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Crosses (Las Cruces) (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Disappeared (Hane’elam) (So, nu: my identification of the Israeli women.) (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Turtle Rock (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Uppland (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Who Will Write Our History (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Roll Red Roll (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and also shown at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Land Mine: The Other Side Of Silence (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
To See Again (Volver A Ver) (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
Samouni Road (Kudos to animation by Stefano Massi) (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
The Next Guardian (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
Apollo 11 (IMAX)
Island of The Hungry Ghosts (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Time for Ilhan (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women and on 9/11 Islamophobia) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Blowin’ Up (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Buddy (So, nu: inspired by a Jewish woman.) (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
It’s A Hard Truth Ain’t It (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Silence of Others (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (My commentary on 9/11 images) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
When Lambs Become Lions (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Brink
Framing John DeLorean (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Serengeti Rules (preview courtesy of Abramorama) (at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Walk Run Cha-Cha (short) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Angels Are Made Of Light (at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and seen at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Accept the Call (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
When We Walk (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
The Lavender Scare (PBS)
The Good, The Bad, The Hungry (On ESPN’s 30 For 30)
Sea of Shadows (preview courtesy of National Geographic)
Cold Case Hammarskjöld (preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
Los Reyes
Midnight Traveler (preview at Film Forum)
American Factory (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival) (Netflix)
Ghost Fleet (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
College Behind Bars (capsule review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (clips shown at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival (PBS)
Stuffed (DVD/VOD preview courtesy of Music Box Films)
Trouble (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Bully. Coward. Victim: The Roy Cohn Story (So, nu: My commentary on the Jewish women) (brief review at FF2 Media) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and shown at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Poppy Crash (short-in-progress) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Cave (Kudos to director Feras Fayyad) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Nightcrawlers (short) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival/ also at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Dark Suns (Soleils Noirs) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Guardian Of Memory (El guardián de la memoria) (at 2019 Margaret Mead Film Festival)
Narrowsburg (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
63 Up (at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


Runners-Up: Documentaries I Recommend Despite my Gripes
FYRE: The Best Party That Never Happened (on Netflix)
Hail Satan! (preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
Screwball (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Biggest Little Farm (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Inside My Heart (on Starz)
Wrestle (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope Films
Praise the Lard (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Misericórdia (short) (preview at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (on HBO)
Last Night I Saw You Smiling (Yub Menh Bong Keunh Oun Nho Nhim) (preview at 2019 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Walking on Water (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Free Trip To Egypt (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview courtesy Kindness Films)
Heavy Water (Kudos to the surfing cinematography)
Honeyland (at 2019 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Back to the Fatherland (So, nu: more commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview courtesy First Run Features)
Chasing the Moon (Part 1 – “A Place Beyond the Sky”; Part 2 – “Earthrise”; Part 3 – “Magnificent Desolation”) (On PBS’s American Experience)
Jawline (Hulu)
The Great Hack (on Netflix)
I'm Leaving Now (Ya Me Voy) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Heading Home:The Tale Of Team Israel (preview courtesy Menemsha Films)
What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire? (at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Bitter Bread (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
American Trial: The Eric Garner Story (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
In Dry Water (short) (seen at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival) The Pickup Game (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Love Child (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Blessed Child (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Scandalous: The Untold Story of The National Enquirer (My commentary on 9/11 references) (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
The Russian Five (on NBC SN)
Backwards (short) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
Feast of the Epiphany for second half on Roxbury Farm (Preview courtesy of Reverse Shot)
Ximei
The Hottest August (seen courtesy of Grasshopper Film)
Border of Pain (at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)


EDUCATIONAL DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or flaws):
Untouchable (preview of earlier version at 2016 Tribeca Film Festival)
Jihadists (Salafistes) (for original footage only)
The Trial (seen at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Green Book: Guide to Freedom (on Smithsonian Channel)
Where the Pavement Ends (Kudos to sunsets and use of FOIA) (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
Take Light (seen at MoMA’s 2019 Documentary Fortnight)
Wall (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at Film Forum)
General Magic (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman)
Black Mother (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
The Most Dangerous Year (preview courtesy of Passion River Films)
For They Know Not What They Do (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Changing the Game (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival/ on Hulu June 1, 2021)
Tigerland (on Discovery)
Decade Of Fire (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Bikes of Wrath (preview courtesy of Demand.Film)
Breaking Habits (preview courtesy of Good Deed Entertainment)
Chasing Portraits (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum) (preview courtesy of First Run Features)
Carmine Street Guitars (at New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (preview courtesy of Abramorama)
The Abortion Divide (On PBS’s Frontline)
If The Dancer Dances (preview courtesy of Monument Releasing)
The Dog Doc (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Proposal (at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Picture Character (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Cat Rescuers (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (This activity was also featured on Animal Planet’s The Cat From Hell)
Life Overtakes Me (short) (on Netflix)
Ice on Fire (HBO)
Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center and also shown at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and at 2019 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Está Todo Bien (It’s All Good) (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Everything Must Fall (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
On the President’s Orders (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
The Edge Of Democracy (on Netflix)
No Box for Me. An Intersex Story (Ni d’Ève ni d’Adam. Une histoire intersexe) (preview at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
American Heretics: Politics Of The Gospel (preview courtesy of Abramorama)
Aquarela (Kudos to the cinematography and score)
The Deported (on YouTube Premium)
Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist (HBO)
The Miracle of The Little Prince (Het Wonder van Le Petit Prince) (preview courtesy of (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Fantastic Fungi (Kudos to mushroom cinematography/fX) (preview courtesy of of Moving Art)
Don’t Be Nice (preview courtesy of Juno Films)
Born To Be (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish participants.) (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Who Is Afraid of Ideology? (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Pelourinho: They Don't Really Care About Us (short) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
PHX [X is for Xylonite] (short) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) dd>Receiver (short) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Liberty: Mother of Exiles (HBO)
Never Again Is Now
Saving Atlantis (Kudos to underwater cinematography) (preview courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)
Vas-Y Coupe! (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
The Longest Wave (Kudos to surfing footage) (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Capital in the Twenty-First Century (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Mr. Toilet: The World's #2 Man (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
The Lost Crown (HaKeter HaAvud) (at 2019 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival /seen at Forest Hills Cinematek)
A Reindeer’s Journey (preview courtesy of Screen Media Films)
Cause of Death (Sibat HaMavet) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
Moonlight Sonata: Deafness In Three Movements (HBO)
Chinese Portrait (preview courtesy of Cinema Guild)
Emanuel (Starz)


BEST BIO DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or glosses:
Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World Of Ben Ferencz (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Etgar Keret: Based On A True Story (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People (PBS’s American Masters) (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Jay Myself (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali (HBO Sports) (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Halston (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Watson (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Martha: A Picture Story (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Meeting Gorbachev (at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival) (History Channel production)
The River and The Wall (Kudos to the scenery) (preview courtesy Gravitas Ventures)
The Spy Behind Home Plate (preview courtesy of The Ciesla Foundation)
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (PBS’s American Masters)
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality (on HBO) (at 2020 Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival)
While I Breathe, I Hope (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
My Father and Me (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Golda (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Martin Margiela: In His Own Words (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Mai Khoi & The Dissidents (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
Lifeline: Clyfford Still (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Comrade Dov (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
Samaritan (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (seen at 2019 Other Israel Film Festival)
Disappearance of My Mother (Storia di B. - La scomparsa di mia madre) (preview courtesy of Kino Lorber)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES FOR CINEPHILES:
The Competition (Le Concours) (preview at 2016 DOC NYC Festival)
Instant Dreams (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Eyes Of Orson Welles (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (PBS’s American Masters)
Making Waves: The Art Of Cinematic Sound (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Love, Antosha
Friedkin Uncut (preview courtesy of Ambi Distribution)
I Am Patrick Swayze (for the dancing) (on Paramount Channel)
Buñuel In The Labyrinth Of The Turtles (Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas) (animated docu-drama seen with Buñuel’s Land Without Bread (1933) on DVD) (preview courtesy of GKids)
Varda par (by) Agnès (brief review at FF2 Media) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
He Dreams Of Giants (Pre/post, see with The Man Who Killed Don Quixote) (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)


BEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES better than their movies:
Ismael Cruz Córdova in re-make of Miss Bala
Rebecca Schull in The Last (preview courtesy of CAVU)
Wendell Pierce in Burning Cane (preview at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival)
Olivia Cooke in Katie Says Goodbye
Sienna Miller in American Woman
Richard Dreyfuss in Astronaut (preview courtesy of of Quiver)
Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in re-make of After the Wedding
Lee Pace in Driven (preview courtesy of Variance Films & Universal Pictures Content Group)
Peter Sarsgaard in The Sound of Silence
Tom Mercier in Synonyms


BEST FOR THE CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
The Bygone (Plus scenery and score) (preview courtesy of Gravitas Ventures)


BEST OF THE CINEMA OF THE ABSURD:
Pity (Oiktos) (previewed in 2019 Panorama Europe at Museum of the Moving Image)
Loro (preview at 2019 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Art of Self Defense (Kudos to Heather McIntosh’s score)
Give Me Liberty (Kudos to Lauren 'Lolo' Spencer)
It Must Be Heaven (seen at 2019 at CineCina Film Festival)


MOST DEPRESSING
The Family (Družina) (at 2019 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
An Elephant Sitting Still (Da xiang xi di er zuo) (Kudos to the cinematography) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Ray & Liz (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
All Creatures Here Below (preview courtesy Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Rosie (Kudos to Sara Greene) (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
At War (En Guerre) (Kudos to Vincent Lindon) (preview courtesy of Cinema Libre Studio)
Gwen (preview courtesy of RLJ Entertainment)
Sócrates (preview courtesy Breaking Glass Films)
The Load (Teret) (preview courtesy Grasshopper Film)
Mother (preview at 2019 DOC NYC Festival)
The Painted Bird (Nabarvené ptáce)
Tremors (Temblores) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)


BEST COMIC RELIEF from Depressing Movies Despite Nonsense:
Pig (Khook) (at Iranian Film Festival/preview courtesy of Daricheh Cinema)
Stuck (preview courtesy of North of Two)
Ghost Light (preview courtesy of Giant Pictures)
Being Frank (preview courtesy of Film Arcade)
Sword of Trust (Kudos to Marc Maron’s blues guitar music)
Phil (preview courtesy of Quiver Distribution)
Tel Aviv On Fire (Tel Aviv Al HaEsh)) (So, nu: My commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival)
The Day Shall Come (inspired by The Newburgh Sting)
Corporate Animals (Satire)
Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain) (Preview courtesy of Level Films)
Knives Out (Murdery Mystery Parody Division)


BEST REVIVALS IN NEW PRINTS
The Nun (La Religieuse) (1966) (preview of 4K DCP restoration at Film Forum)
Life According to Agfa (Ha-Chayim Al-Pi Agfa) (1992) (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Général Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (Autoportrait) (1974) (seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Journeys from Berlin/1971 (seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Fragment of an Empire (Oblomok Imperii) (1929) (USSR silent, with piano accompaniment seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Forbidden Paradise (1924) (Ernst Lubitsch's silent, with piano accompaniment seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Faust (1926) (Murnau’s German silent, with piano accompaniment seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Fad’jal (1979) (seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Histoires d’Amérique: Food, Family And Philosophy (1989) (seen at 2019 To Save and Project: MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation of Museum of Modern Art)
Underworld (1927) (Josef von Sternberg’s silent accompanied by Alloy Orchestra in Silent Films/Live Music at the Winter Garden of Brookfield Place)
War and Peace (Voyna i mir): “Part 1 Andrei Bolkonsky” (1965); “Part 2: Natasha Rostiva” (1966); “Part 3: The Year 1812” (1967); “Part 4: Pierre Bezukhov” (1967) (preview courtesy of Janus Films)
Tale of Tales (Skazka skazok) (1979) (preview at Film Forum)
Amazing Grace (preview of previously unreleased 1972 recording concert film at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Babylon (1980) (preview courtesy of Kino Lorber)
Glorious (Comme T’Y Es Belle!) (2006) (seen at 2019 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Christ Stopped At Eboli (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli) (Parts 1 – 4) (1979) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview of uncut restoration with new subtitles at Film Forum)
The Wandering Soap Opera (La telenovela errante) (preview courtesy of Cinema Guild)
Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank (My commentary on the Jewish women.)
Rage and Glory (1984) and Turn Left At The End Of The World (Sof Ha'Olam Smola) (2004) (in “Ari Nesher Retrospective” at 2019 Israel Film Center Festival)
The Profession of Arms (Il mestiere delle armi) (2001) (World Premiere of a New Digital Restoration) and The Fiancés (I Fidanzati) (1963) (seen in “Ermanno Olmi” retrospective by Istituto Luce Cinecittà at Film at Lincoln Center)
This Ancient Law (Das alte Gesetz) (1923) (E.A. Dupont’s silent accompanied with original score by violinist Alicia Svigals and pianist/composer and Donald Sosin, seen at FH QBPL and was at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum))
Chulas Fronteras (1976) & Del Mero Corazon (1979) (Preview of Les Blank restorations courtesy of Argot Pictures)
Mr. Klein (1976) (preview of restoration with new subtitles at Film Forum)
Cotton Club Encore (1984) (preview at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Soldier Girls (1981) (not new print) (director/cinematographer Joan Churchill included in tribute to the American Society of Cinematographers’ Centennial at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Sátántangó (1994) (Yes – all 432 minutes!) (at 2019 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


MY BEST FILMS of 2018 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
The Insult (Qadiat raqm 23)
Vazante (Kudos to director/co-writer Daniela Thomas, cinematographer Inti Briones and sound designer Vasco Pimentel) (at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Princess (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Scrap Dolls (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
See You Up There (Au revoir là-haut) (Kudos to cinematography by Vincent Mathias, music by Christophe Julien, masks by Hélène Defline, and costumes by Mimi Lempicka) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Final Journey (Leanders letzte Reise) (preview courtesy of KINO! 2018 Festival of German Films)
The Death of Stalin
The Seagull (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Dead Women Walking (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Gauguin - Voyage To Tahiti (Kudos to Vincent Cassel)
BlacKKKlansman (My additional notes.)
Happy As Lazzaro (Lazzaro felice) (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Shoplifters (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Favourite (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
At Eternity’s Gate (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Chore (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
God Never Dies (Dios Nunca Muere) (short) (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Life and Nothing More (seen courtesy of CFI Releasing)
Monsters and Men (seen courtesy of Neon)
Paddington 2 (as seen on HBO)
On the Seventh Day (En el Séptimo Día) (seen courtesy of Cinema Guild)
Thunder Road (Kudos to writer/director/star Jim Cummings)
The Citizen (Az állampolgár) (seen courtesy of ArtMattan)
Icebox (on HBO)


Runners-Up: MOVIES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
First Reformed (Kudos to Ethan Hawke) (special preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Colo (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image) (Kudos to cinematographer Acácio de Almeida)
Foxtrot (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
Ava (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Cocote (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Nothing Factory (A Fábrica de Nada) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Outside In (Kudos to Laurie Metcalf) (preview courtesy of The Orchard)
Smuggling Hendrix (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Kuleana (seen courtesy of Hawaii Cinema)
Bye Bye Germany (Es war einmal in Deutschland...) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Nigerian Prince (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Yellow Birds (preview courtesy of Lionsgate)
The Catcher Was A Spy (So, nu: my commentary on the putative Jewish woman.)
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot
The Captain (Derr Hauptmann) (My additional notes.)
Roma (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Burning (preview at New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Cousin (Ha Ben Dod) (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival/also shown at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
El Angel (Kudos to Lorenzo Ferro and production design)
Vice (Commentary on 9/11 treatment.) (Kudos to Amy Adams)
Ben Is Back (Kudos to Julia Roberts and Lukas Hedges)
Sollers Point (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)
The Family (La Familia) (seen on HBO; info courtesy of Film Movement)
Tyrel (preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
The Last Suit (El Último Traje) (seen courtesy of Strand Releasing)


BEST FEMALE POV
Fiction
In Between (Bar Bahar) (Kudos to writer/director Maysaloun Hamoud) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (seen in 2017 Film Movement 15th Anniversary Celebration at Museum of the Moving Image)
Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts (Marlina Si Pembunuh Dalam Empat Babak) (My additional notes.) (Western Division) (Kudos to director/co-writer Mouly Surya) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Game (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
The Guardians (Les Gardiennes) (Way Back Division) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Number One (Numéro une) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Sower (Le Semeur) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Custody (Jusqu'à la garde) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Closeness (Tesnota) (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Jellyfish (Kudos to Liv Hill) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Lemonade (Luna de Miere) (Depressing Romanian Division) (Kudos to Mălina Manovici) (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Beauty and the Dogs (La Belle et la Meute) (Kudos to Mariam Al Ferjani and writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania) (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope)
Everything Else (Todo lo demás) (preview at 2016 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Garden (Sommerhäuser) (preview courtesy of KINO! 2018 Festival of German Films)
The Impossible Picture (Das Unmögliche Bild) (preview courtesy of KINO! 2018 Festival of German Films)
Woman Walks Ahead (My historical commentary, previewed at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Mary Shelley (Celebrating the Bicentennial of Frankenstein) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Duck Butter (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (Lesbian Division)
Diane (Kudos to Mary Kay Place) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Party's Just Beginning (Kudos to Writer/Director/Star Karen Gillan) (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Dead Women Walking (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tully (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
When She Runs (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Bao (animated short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Late Afternoon (animated short) (preview at 2018
Mirette (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Love Letter (Michtav Ahava Lam ‘em Sheli) (short) (My commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Paper Roof (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
So You Like The Neighborhood (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Miracle (Stebuklas) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Summer 1993 (Estiu/Verano 1993) (Coming of Ager) (preview courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Adrift (Adventure Division)
Dark River (Kudos to Ruth Wilson)
The Wife (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.)
Memoir of War (La douleur) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Support The Girls (Kudos to Regina Hall and writer/director Andrew Bujarski)
Skate Kitchen (preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
I Am Not A Witch
Colette (Kudos to Keira Knightly, the costumes and music)
Lizzie (Kudos to Chloë Sevigny, Kristen Stewart, and the sound design)
Wildlife (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (Kudos to production design and cinematographer Diego Garcia)
3 Faces (Se rokh) (Kudos to writer/director Jafar Panahi and actress Behnaz Jafari) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Private Life (preview and capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Mahogany Too (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Working Woman (Isha Ovedet) (Kudos to Liron Ben Shlush) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (preview at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Kudos to Melissa McCarthy, co-writer Nicole Holofcener, and director Marielle Heller)
A Private War (Kudos to Rosamund Pike, cinematographer Robert Richardson, editor Nick Fenton, and director Matthew Heineman) (see with Under the Wire
Becoming (Unga) Astrid (Previewed at Scandinavia House (almost) on the birthday of Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren)
Mary, Queen of Scots (Kudos to Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, score by Max Richter, cinematographer John Mathieson, and the scenery)
Destroyer (Noir Division) (Kudos to Nicole Kidman)
Liz and the Blue Bird (Animation)
Night Comes On
Eighth Grade (Coming of Age Division)
On The Basis Of Sex (So, nu: On my commentary on the Jewish women - see with RBG) (My additional Note on a real lawyer.)


Documentary
Tongue Cutters (Tungeskjærerne) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Lives of Thérèse (Les vies de Thérèse) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Instructions on Parting (Of white, Christian, middle-class NH/UT POV) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Mama Colonel (Maman Colonelle) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Call Her Ganda (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Judge (at 2017 DOC NYC Festival/PBS Independent Lens 2018)
The Bleeding Edge (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Girl and the Picture (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Birth Control Your Own Adventure (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
RBG (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (See with On the Basis of Sex)
A Woman Captured (Egy nö fogságban) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image and also shown at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
The Other Side of Everything (Druga strana suega) (seen at 2017 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
A Thousand Girls Like Me (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Facing the Dragon (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Worlds Of Ursula K. Le Guin (Kudos to animation by Molly Schwartz) (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (PBS’s American Masters)
In Her Footsteps (Acharayich) (preview at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
Over The Limit (seen courtesy Film Movement)
Bei Bei (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)


Runners-Up: FEMALE POV I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Fiction
Blame (Preview at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Boy Downstairs (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (Preview at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
My Art at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Half Magic (Satirical Comedy Division)
Montparnasse Bienvenüe (Jeune femme) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Milla (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Nervous Translation (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Sunday’s Illness (La Enfermedad del Domingo) (Depressing Division) (Kudos to Susi Sánchez) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
I Kill Giants (Girl/Animated Divisions)
Virgins (Vierges/Ein Betulot Bakrayot) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
All About Nina (Kudos to Mary Elizabeth Winstead) So, nu: My commentary on the Jewish women. (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Amateurs (Amatörer) (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Blue Night (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Radium Girls (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Salam (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Puzzle (remake of Rompecabezas)
What Will People Say (Hva vil folk si) (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
A Family Tour (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Tzeva Adom: Color Red (short) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (seen at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Hate U Give (Coming of Age Division)
Vox Lux (Kudos to Natalie Portman)
Madeline’s Madeline (Kudos to Helena Howard) (courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories
Dumplin’ (on Netflix)


Documentaries
Yellow Is Forbidden (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
Netizens (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Love, Gilda (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Women of the Venezuelan Chaos (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
On Her Shoulders (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Naila and the Uprising (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2017 DOC NYC Festival) (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center) (included in PBS’s Women War & Peace II)
Generation Wealth
Kusama – Infinity (bio-doc preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures and Film Forum)
Reversing Roe (seen on Netflix)
The Great Mother (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Heartbound (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Looking for Zion (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
China Love (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Under the Wire (see with A Private War)
Alicia (Depressing Coming-of-Age) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
We Are Not Princesses (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Hello Girls (short) (on PBS)
Brave Girls (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Commander Arian: A Story of Women, War & Freedom (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Feminist (Gudrun-konsten att vara människa) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Heat: A Kitchen (R)Evolution (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
See You Tomorrow, God Willing! (Hasta manaña, si Dios quiere) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Life Without Basketball (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Bad Reputation (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)


BEST FEMALE VIEW OF MALES
Zama (Re-Imagined Colonial Division) (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Rider (My capsule “Best of 2018” review) (at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Western (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
You Were Never Really Here (Very Violent Division)
O.G. (Violent Division) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Back Roads (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Knuckles (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Last Romantic (El Último Romántico) (Romantic Comedy Division) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Before Summer Ends (Avant la fin de l'été) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)


BEST COMING OF AGERS
A Ciambra
Ava (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Lean on Pete (Kudos to Charlie Plummer and the scenery)
Bag of Marbles (Un sac de billes) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women)
The Elephant and the Butterfly (Drôle de père) (previewed at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Life of Esteban (Het Leven van Estaban) (short) (previewed at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Breath (Kudos to Rick Rifici’s water cinematography)
Prickly Pear (Bajtra Tax-Xewk) (short) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Maltese Fighter (short) (Kudos to Malcolm Ellul) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Eve (Lejliet) (short) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
We The Animals (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Leave No Trace
Mid90s (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Capernaum (Chaos) (Kudos to director/co-writer Nadine Labaki)


BEST ROMANCES
Almost Paris (seen at 2016 Tribeca Film Festival)
Keep The Change (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (previewed at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Signature Move (Cross-Cultural Lesbian Division) (preview courtesy The Chicago Project)
Oh Lucy! (Dark Comedy Division) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
On Body and Soul (Testről és Lélekről) (seen on Netflix)
M (preview and coda at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Disobedience (previewed at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Cakemaker (Der Kuchenmacher) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women) (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum) (preview courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Cold War (Zimna wojna) (Kudos to the songs) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Write When You Get Work (NYC Division) (Kudos to writer/director Stacy Cochran and ensemble cast)
The Charmer (Noir Division) (preview at Film Forum)


Runners-Up: ROMANCES I Recommend Despite My Gripes
The Female Brain (preview courtesy IFC Films)
The Leisure Seeker
If Beale Street Could Talk (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Asako I & II (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Love, Simon


BEST ACTIONERS/THRILLERS
Goldstone
The Guilty (Den skyldige) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Stockholm (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Black Panther (streamed on VOD)
A Quiet Place
Searching


Runners-Up: ACTIONERS/THRILLERS I enjoyed despite quibbles
Gringo
Unsane
A Violent Life (Une vie violente) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
This Is Our Land (Chez Nous) (Political Division) (preview courtesy of Film Forum)
First Man
Widows
Creed II (AKA Rocky VIII)
The Sisters Brothers (Kudos to cinematographer Benoît Debie) (My note on its pro-preventive dentistry.)


BEST NEO-NOIRS
The Great Buddha+ (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Sicilian Ghost Story (preview at 2018 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Boys Cry (La terra dell'abbastanza) (preview at 2018 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Third Murder (Sandome No Satsujin) (preview courtesy of Film Movement)
Sweet Country (Kudos to director Warwick Thornton, cinematographer Dylan River, and ensemble)
American Animals


BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC
Cargo (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Night Eats The World (La Nuit A Dévoré Le Monde) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Slows (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Border (Gräns) (Kudos to music, sound design, make-up, and Eva Melander)


Runners-Up: BEST SCI FI/FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/APOCALYPTIC I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Zoe (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Dark (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Laboratory Conditions (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Sorry To Bother You (Social Satire Division)
Diamantino (Social Satire Division) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center)
Above All Things (Romance Division) (seen courtesy of Choice Studios)


BEST MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries):
Django (preview at 2017 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
The Opera House (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Mama Africa (re-issue) (briefly reviewed in Final Roundup of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival)
American Folk (Commentary on 9/11 treatment.)
Becks (Kudos to “lesbian folk rock” songs by Alyssa Robbins & Steve Salett) (Recommendation is not because the spouse of my 2nd cousin twice removed has a tiny part) (preview courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
Sing Song (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
The Day I Beat The Sky (Le jour où j'ai battu le ciel) (short animation) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Souvenir (preview courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Hybridos, the Spirits of Brazil (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Barbara (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Rock in the Red Zone (seen at 2018 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Azougue Nazare (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Howard (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Bathtubs Over Broadway (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
United Skates (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Homeless: The Soundtrack (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
The Velvet Underground Played At My High School (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Elvis Presley: The Searcher (seen on HBO)
The King (Music-related sections only)
Milford Graves Full Mantis (at 2018 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center) (preview courtesy of Cinema Guild)
Veslemøy’s Song (short) (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
A Star Is Born
Stranger of the Dunes (short) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman) (seen at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don't Know Me (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Maria By Callas
Mary Poppins Returns


Runners-Up: MOVIE MUSICALS (and music/dance bio-pics and documentaries) I Recommend Despite My Gripes:
Saturday Church (for the musical numbers) (preview at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Act & Punishment:The Pussy Riot Trials
Flip The Record (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Habaneros (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Untitled (Pow Wow) (short – part of the North Dakota Museum of Art’s “Songs for Spirit Lake” project) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Nico, 1988 (Kudos to Trino Dyrholm) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Jeannette, l'enfance de Jeanne d'Arc) (preview at 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
Flock of Four (preview courtesy of Abramorama)
Hearts Beat Loud (preview courtesy Gunpowder & Sky)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Kudos to Rami Malek)
Dennis & Lois (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Show's The Thing: The Legendary Promoters Of Rock (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Quincy (on Netflix)


BEST USE OF THE WAY BACK MACHINE
Journey’s End
The Young Karl Marx (Le Jeune Karl Marx)
The Forgiven (preview courtesy of Saban Films)
Chappaquiddick
Blood & Glory (Modder en Bloed) (preview courtesy of Cleopatra Entertertainment)
In Times Of Fading Light (In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts) (preview courtesy of KINO! 2018 Festival of German Films)
Shock and Awe
The Front Runner
Green Book
22 July (on Netflix)
Black ‘47 (Depressing Division)


BEST ANIMATION (and use of animation)
Mary and The Witch's Flower (preview courtesy of GKids)
Have A Nice Day (Chinese Noir Division) (preview courtesy of Strand Releasing)
Black Barbie (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Next Door Spy (Nabospionen) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Cat Days (Neko No Hi) (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm (Museum of Jewish Heritage/HBO documentary short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Tehran Taboo (preview at Film Forum)
KCLOC (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Liyana (Kudos to directors Amanda & Aaron Kopps, storyteller Gcina Mhlophe, and animator Shofela Coker) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight/also shown at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
Five Years After The War (Cinq ans après la guerre) (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Incredibles 2 (With Grandkid #1: First Movie in Theater – with big tub of popcorn)
Grand Bizarre (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Seder-Masochism (at 2019 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Ralph Breaks The Internet (NB: Rated PG) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish Princess.)
Mirai (preview courtesy of GKids)
Liz and the Blue Bird


Runners-Up: Animation I Recommend Despite My Gripes
Isle of Dogs
Lu Over the Wall (preview courtesy of GKids)
MFKZ (preview courtesy of GKids)


BEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES better than their movies:

Sir Ben Kingsley in An Ordinary Man and Operation Enemy


BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? (seen at 2017 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and also shown at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Last Days In Shibati (Derniers Jours a Shibati) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
A Taste of Cement (Kudos to cinematographer Talal Khoury and his short Mediterranean) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Railway Sleepers (Mon Rot Fai) (at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Playing Men (at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
You Have No Idea How Much I Love You (Nawet Nie Wiesz, Jak Bardzo Cie Kocham) (at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Polluting Paradise (Müll im Garten Eden) (preview courtesy of Strand Releasing)
The King of Twirl (De Majorette Koning van het Noorden) (short) (preview at 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival)
In The Intense Now (No Intenso Agora) (seen at Film Forum)
Ramen Heads (preview courtesy of Gunpowder & Sky)
Jesser and the Sugarcane (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Abbeville (short) (Kudos to Equal Justice Initiative) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Spirit Lake (short – part of the North Dakota Museum of Art’s “Songs for Spirit Lake” project) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Find Fix Finish (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
The Long Season (Kudos to Leonard Retel Helmrich and Ramia Suleiman) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
’63 Boycott (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Black Memorabilia (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Rio Verde: El tiempo de los Yakurunas (Green River: The Time of the Yakurunas) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Leaning Into The Wind – Andy Goldsworthy
The Ancestral Sin (Sallah, Po Ze Eretz Yisrael) (seen at 2018 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival/ also screened at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
Makala (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
House Two (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Tanzania Transit (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Feeling of Being Watched (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and also shown at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Nana (preview courtesy of First Run Features)
After Auschwitz (preview courtesy)
Studio 54 (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Charm City (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Home + Away (preview at 2018 Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival)
The River of the Kukamas (The El Rio de los Kukamas) (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Into My Life (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Wendy’s Shabbat (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
5 October (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Hey Ronnie Reagan (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (My capsule “Best of 2018” review) (Commentary on 9/11 reference.)
What Haunts Us (seen on Starz)
The Distant Barking of Dogs (preview at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Voices of the Sea (Voces del Mar) (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Angkar (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
It Will Be Chaos (seen on HBO)
This is Home: A Refugee Story (seen on Epix)
Cielo (kudos to the night sky) (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Three Identical Strangers (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
Minding the Gap (My capsule “Best of 2018” review) (preview courtesy of Hulu and Kartemquin Films)
Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (Docu-Series preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, then on Paramount Channel)
Science Fair (preview courtesy of National Geographic)
Monrovia, Indiana (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Waldheim Waltz (Waldheims Walzer) (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (So, nu: my commentary on the director as a Jewish woman.)
Valeria Street (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Eye of the Needle (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Chooka (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Labyrinth (El Laberinto) (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
jeny303 (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Of Fathers And Sons (at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and also shown at 2018 DOC NYC Festival )
People’s Republic of Desire (seen at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and also shown at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
False Confessions (at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and also shown at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Panama Papers (seen at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival) (on Epix)
Out of Omaha (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Kleptocrats (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Cracked Up (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Laila at the Bridge (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Crime + Punishment (seen courtesy of “Short List” at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (available on Hulu)
Megiddo (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (seen at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
Free Solo
Bisbee ‘17 (seen in 2018 Contenders MoMA)
They Shall Not Grow Old (and Peter Jackson’s accompanying “Making of”)
306 Hollywood (Kudos to filmmakers and devoted grandchildren Elan and Jonathan Bogarín) (seen courtesy of El Tigre Productions)
The Sentence (“Shortlist” at 2018 DOC NYC Festival/HBO)
The Rescue List (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Patrimonio (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Of Fish and Foe (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Elephant Path (Njaia Njoku) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Grit (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Providers (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Fire on the Hill: The Cowboys Of South Central LA (Kudos to cinematography and score.) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Our New President (Amazon stream)


Runners-Up: Documentaries I Recommend Despite my Gripes
Tinselwood (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Mr. Gay Syria (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
Starting Over Again (seen at 2018 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Hale County This Morning, This Evening (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Meteors (Meteorlar) (preview at 2018 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
Workers Cup (preview at 2017 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Momentum Generation (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Crossroads (preview at 2018 Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival)
Far From The Tree (preview at 2017 DOC NYC Festival)
The Steel Mill Café (Buffet Željezara) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Beyond The One (Al Di Là Dell'uno) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Anote’s Ark (preview at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
The Unafraid (brief review at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center and updated Q & A at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
American Jail (seen on CNN)
Dark Money (preview courtesy of PBS Distribution/POV)
Fahrenheit 11/9 (preview courtesy of Film at Lincoln Center)
93Queen (as seen on PBS’s POV)
The Truth About Killer Robots (at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and also shown at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Foreign Land (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
City of Joel (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Be/longing (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
A Murder in Mansfield (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival/ Investigation Discovery)
The World Before Your Feet (Commentary on 9/11 memorials) (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Dawn Wall
Distant Constellation (seen courtesy of Grasshopper Film )
The Last Resort (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival /preview courtesy of Kino Lorber)
The Last Race (seen courtesy of Magnolia)
16 Bars (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Other Rio (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Blessing (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (Kudos to director/cinematographer Hunter Robert Baker and music by Kevin Kiner and David Russell, especially lead guitar)


BEST BIO DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or glosses:
The Peacemaker (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
Seeing Allred (seen on Netflix)
Western Wild…or how I found wanderlust and met Old Shatterhand (short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
13, a ludodrama about Walter Benjamin (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
George (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
When Paul Came Over The Sea: Journal of an Encounter (Als Paul über das Meer kam – Tagebuch einer Begegnung (preview courtesy of KINO! 2018 Festival of German Films)
McQueen (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Gospel According to André (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment and Film Forum) (PBS’s American Masters)
Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center and Capsule, also shown at 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival)
Last Stop Coney Island: The Life and Photography of Harold Feinstein (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists (HBO) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (Commentary on 9/11 reference.) (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Witkin & Witkin (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Artist & The Pervert (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)


BEST DOCUMENTARIES FOR CINEPHILES:
Filmworker (at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Prototype (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Room H.264: Brooklyn, NY, June 2016/Room H.264: Astoria, NY, January 2018 (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Exiled (L'Exilé) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Other Episodes/Missing Episode (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Measuring Change/L. Cohen/Readers (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Get Up and Go/A Spin Through Night City/Along The Elevated (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Hitler’s Hollywood: German Cinema In The Age Of Propaganda: 1933 - 1945 (preview courtesy of Film Forum)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival) (Note on 9/11 reference)
Cosmic Debris (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Saving Brinton (Bravo Mike Zahs)

- NYC Opening Night panel on women directors: Director Amy Adrion; interviewees Mary Harron & Chris Hegedus, and Women & Hollywood’s Melissa Silverstein. (I attended courtesy of FF2 Media)
Half the Picture
King Cohen (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2017 DOC NYC Festival)
A Whale of A Tale (Okujirasama) (Preview courtesy Fine Line Media)
Introduzione All'Oscuro (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Searching for/Auf Der Suche Ingmar Bergman (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival and Capsule of Film at Lincoln Center)
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/Netflix)
Creating A Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Hal (seen courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Shirkers (on Netflix)
Jane Fonda in Five Acts (on HBO)
The Greenaway Alphabet (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Insufferable Groo (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)


EDUCATIONAL DOCS you can learn from despite gaps and/or flaws):
In The Land Of Pomegranates (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
Ghost Hunting (Istiyad Ashbah) (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
West Of The Jordan River (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Out of My Head (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight) (also shown at 2018 Reelabilities Film Festival - NY)
Why Do They Hate Us? (Pourquoi nous détestent-ils) (seen at 2018 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival)
Eating Animals (preview at 2017 DOC NYC Festival)
Into The Okavango (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (preview at 2018 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center)
The Man Who Stole Banksy (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish woman) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
King in the Wildersness (on HBO)
The End of Fear (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Maineland (Kudos to Sean Price Williams’ cinematography) (preview courtesy of Abramorama)
Pressing On: The Letterpress Film
Five Seasons - The Gardens Of Piet Oudolf (preview courtesy of Argot Pictures)
The Cleaners (preview at 2018 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Hope Against the Haze (VR short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
I Am The Revolution (preview at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Piripkura (seen courtesy of Cinema Libre)
The China Hustle (seen courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
Perfect (Parfaites) (seen courtesy of Upstream Flix)
Cooked: Survival By Zip Code (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Inside Lehman Brothers (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
The Smartest Kids In The World (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Stars In The Sky: A Hunting Story (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Harvest Season (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (PBS Independent Lens)
Exit: Leaving Extremism Behind (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival) (also available in German Film Office/Anthology Film Archives 2021 German Documentary Showcase)
Boys Who Like Girls (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
Bleed Out (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival/HBO)
Memory Games (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)
North Pole, NY (at 2018 DOC NYC Festival)


MOST DEPRESSING
Nostalgia
Where Is Kyra?


BEST COMIC RELIEF from Depressing Movies Despite Nonsense:
The Saint Bernard Syndicate (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Welcome Home (Velkommen til oss) (short) (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
Under the Tree (Undir trénu) (Dark Comedy Division)
Ocean’s 8
Crazy Rich Asians


THEME OF THE YEAR: POETRY
Scary Mother (Sashishi deda) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
The Dreamed Ones (Die Geträumten) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image/ at 2016 Art of the Real of Film at Lincoln Center) (poets Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan)
Correspondences (Correspondências) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image) (poets Sophia de Mello Breyner and Jorge de Sena)
Gavagai (Kudos to the cinematography and Tarjei Vesaas’s poetry) (preview courtesy of Shadow Distribution
I Hope I'm Loud When I'm Dead (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Mixed Signals (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Luminous Shadow (Sombra Luminosa) (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Death of a Poetess (Mot HaMeshoreret) (So, nu: commentary on the Jewish woman.) (preview at 2018 Other Israel Film Festival)
The Kindergarten Teacher (preview from Netflix) (American re-make of the Israeli The Kindergarten Teacher (Haganenet) - So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2015 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)


BEST for the SCENERY
Let The Summer Never Come Again (at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Dérive Veneziane (long short) (seen at MoMA’s 2018 Documentary Fortnight)
In the Last Days of the City (Akher ayam el madina) (preview at 2016 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Djon Africa (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Drift (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Arcadia (short) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Ada Kaleh (short) (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


BEST for the CREATIVE CINEMATOGRAPHY:
24 Frames (seen at Film at Lincoln Center)
Winter Brothers (Vinterbrødre) (preview at 2018 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA
Obey (preview at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)


THANKS TO THEATRICAL REVIVALS/RESTORATIONS for my first-time viewings on big screens of:
Avanti Popolo (1966) (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Late Summer Blues (Blues Lahofesh Hagadol) (1988) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Siege (Matzor) (1969) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (at 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center/The Jewish Museum)
Room 666 (seen at 2018 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Case For The New Hangman (Prípad pro zacinajíciho kata) (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Illiac Passion (seen at 2018 Panorama Europe Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
Wanda (restored print) (preview courtesy of Janus Films)
Rendez Vous in July (new 4K restoration) (centerpiece of Jacques Becker: Complete Retrospective at at Film Forum)
The Other Side Of The Wind (preview at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center) (See on Netflix with Morgan Neville’s making-of documentary They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead)
Ericka Beckman shorts restored: Cinderella and You the Better (preview and Capsule at 2018 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)


MY BEST FILMS of 2017 (By theatrical release date, then the order I saw them, many reviews yet to be written, particularly of festivals-viewed, non-theatrically distributed films):
Chapter & Verse (preview at 2016 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center)
Sincerely (Atentamente) (seen in 2017 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
After the Storm (Umi yori mo mada fukaku) (seen in 2017 First Look Festival at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Odyssey (preview at 2017 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center)
White Sun (Seto Surya) (preview at 2017 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
Graduation (Bacalaureat) (preview at 2016 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Nakom (preview at 2016 New Directors/New Films of Film at Lincoln Center/MoMA)
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (Hymyilevä mies)
Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.)
Holy Air (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish women.) (preview at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Newton (preview at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Sambá (briefly reviewed at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Phone Calls (short) (briefly reviewed at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Suitcase (short) (briefly reviewed at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
World in Your Window (short) (briefly reviewed at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
Pineapple (short) (briefly reviewed at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival)
King of the Belgians (seen in 2017 Panorama Europe at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Stuff Of Dreams (La Stoffa Dei Sogni) (seen in 2017 Panorama Europe at Museum of the Moving Image)
1945 (My capsule “Best of 2017” review) (seen in 2017 Panorama Europe at Museum of the Moving Image)
The Journey (My additional note.) (Note on 9/11 reference)
Pop Aye (preview at Film Forum)
Columbus (Kudos to Haley Lu Richardson, writer/director Kogonada, and architecture in Indiana)
The Fencer (Miekkailija)
I Dream In Another Language (Sueño en otro idioma) (preview courtesy of Film Rise)
Crown Heights
The Teacher (Ucitelka) (My capsule “Best of 2017” review) (preview at Film Forum)
Woodpeckers (Carpinteros)
The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected) (So, nu: my commentary on the Jewish (?) women.) (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
BPM (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Last Flag Flying (preview at 2017 New York Film Festival of Film at Lincoln Center)
Mudbound (Kudos to writer/director Dee Rees, cinematographer Rachel Morrison, and ensemble) (within