#docufiction

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Independent films
fromInsideHook
1 day ago

Did an Unexpected Culprit Hurt Modern Filmmaking?

American cinema faces a paradox of thriving box office revenues while struggling with the decline of mid-budget films and the impact of YouTube.
fromIndependent
2 days ago

'By looking in their eyes, you can really see what war does to a person, it kills a part of you' - A Kilkenny filmmaker's journey into Ukraine

As the minute hand crept towards midnight, Shane Hatton lay awake in his hotel room in Lviv in Ukraine as sleep continued to escape him.
Russo-Ukrainian War
Film
fromThe Independent
1 day ago

The 19 most problematic movies of all time

Filmmakers often desire public engagement, but some films face scrutiny for problematic content due to evolving social standards.
#steven-soderbergh
Independent films
fromPortland Mercury
6 days ago

The Christophers Is Another Small Masterwork by Steven Soderbergh - Portland Mercury

Steven Soderbergh has directed 11 films since 2017, showcasing a prolific and controlled creative process.
Independent films
fromPortland Mercury
6 days ago

The Christophers Is Another Small Masterwork by Steven Soderbergh - Portland Mercury

Steven Soderbergh has directed 11 films since 2017, showcasing a prolific and controlled creative process.
#filmmaking
Photography
fromwww.nytimes.com
3 days ago

How Technology Has Transformed Cinematography

The MiniDV camera revolutionized filmmaking by enhancing accessibility and enabling a raw visual language, leading to significant industry shifts.
Writing
fromThe New Yorker
2 weeks ago

Lena Dunham on Falling in Love with the Movies

A young filmmaker's journey begins with a short film, leading to acceptance at Slamdance and a memorable festival experience.
Film
fromABC7 Los Angeles
1 week ago

Beyond breaking news: local reporter follows his passion for film making

Sean Au emphasizes the emotional connection movies create between characters and audiences, inspiring his journey as a filmmaker.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 days ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Cal Hooper investigates a suspicious death in a small Irish town, revealing deep-rooted connections and conflicts among its residents.
History
fromWIRED
4 days ago

The Online Fiction Boom Reimagining China's History

Chinese alt-history fiction allows readers to rewrite history using modern knowledge to improve China's past.
Television
fromThe Atlantic
1 week ago

Seven Documentaries for Fans of Fiction

Documentaries can effectively tell engaging stories, appealing even to those typically averse to the genre.
Artificial intelligence
fromwww.nytimes.com
6 days ago

Video: Why Is Everyone Spooked by Claude Mythos Preview?

Claude Mythos Preview by Anthropic can identify zero-day exploits in software faster than human teams, raising significant implications for cybersecurity.
fromVulture
3 days ago

The Masterful Blue Heron Uses Cinema As a Seance

"It's true I spent most of my life being angry at him. The older I get, the more I feel like I never even knew him at all. My image of him now, I know, falls flat compared to reality."
Independent films
fromThe New Yorker
3 days ago

The Calculated Uplift of "I Swear"

The film's title, an obvious reference to profanity, also alludes to an incident dramatized later on, when John, on trial after inadvertently triggering a pub brawl, must give sworn testimony in court.
Film
Graphic design
fromdesignyoutrust.com
1 week ago

Breathtaking Cinematic Illustrations That Will Make You Rethink Sci-Fi Concept Art

Katerina Belikova is a renowned Ukrainian digital illustrator known for her work in science fiction and dark fantasy, particularly with the Star Wars franchise.
Relationships
fromInsideHook
2 weeks ago

What Men Can Learn From 17 Unforgettable On-Screen Proposals

Real-life proposals differ from romantic comedies, but lessons from memorable on-screen moments can guide men in crafting meaningful proposals.
fromAnOther
4 days ago

Five Groundbreaking Dream Sequences From Silent Cinema

Film is like that. It developed from [the silent era] into Fellini and Bergman, Buñuel and David Lynch. [They] took these ideas and created a film that was really like a dream.
Film
Independent films
fromIndieWire
3 days ago

How the 'Blue Heron' Editor Turned the Director's Childhood Into One of 2026's Best Films

The film 'Blue Heron' explores time and memory through the lens of a family's emotional journey on Vancouver Island.
Film
fromThe Independent
4 days ago

Josh O'Connor's hot streak comes to an end with the stilted Rebuilding - review

Josh O'Connor portrays Dusty, a cowboy grappling with identity loss after a wildfire, in Max Walker-Silverman's film 'Rebuilding'.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
2 weeks ago

Unconventional Novels About Conventional People

Aging revolutionaries and conformists share parallel narratives of disillusionment and the loss of youthful dreams in recent literature.
Independent films
fromDefector
3 days ago

Steven Soderbergh And Ed Solomon Talk About Their Best Collaboration Yet | Defector

The Christophers explores the complexities of art, legacy, and the artist's relationship with public perception through a unique narrative.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
3 weeks ago

Recently Published Book Spotlight: Aesthetics and Video Games

Video games possess unique aesthetic value that challenges traditional philosophical frameworks of games and fiction.
#lgbtq
fromQueerty
5 days ago
Film

Coming out goes off the rails in this taboo thriller that pushed the boundaries of queer Asian cinema - Queerty

Ethan Mao portrays the intense struggles of a queer Asian youth facing family rejection and the complexities of identity and revenge.
fromQueerty
2 weeks ago
Film

WATCH: This shocking camboy drama pushes queer cinema into provocative new territory - Queerty

Blue Film is a provocative camboy drama exploring taboo subjects and complex human relationships between a sex worker and his former teacher.
Film
fromQueerty
5 days ago

Coming out goes off the rails in this taboo thriller that pushed the boundaries of queer Asian cinema - Queerty

Ethan Mao portrays the intense struggles of a queer Asian youth facing family rejection and the complexities of identity and revenge.
Film
fromQueerty
2 weeks ago

WATCH: This shocking camboy drama pushes queer cinema into provocative new territory - Queerty

Blue Film is a provocative camboy drama exploring taboo subjects and complex human relationships between a sex worker and his former teacher.
Graphic design
fromItsnicethat
2 weeks ago

California Dreaming: The latest issue of A Rabbit's Foot is about the inventors and innovators of our movie-making culture

A Rabbit's Foot magazine celebrates the future of film and artistic craftsmanship while exploring California's innovative cultural landscape.
fromwww.nytimes.com
3 days ago

8 Essential Animated Films

The gunshot scene in Bambi allows the audience to build fear, making them feel as frightened as Bambi, with visuals that resemble looking through tears.
Independent films
Books
fromThe New Yorker
2 weeks ago

The Sci-Fi Novelist Who Disappeared for Decades

Cameron Reed's science fiction explores cognitive estrangement, revealing alien worlds that reflect and challenge our own societal norms and moral dilemmas.
Independent films
fromKqed
4 days ago

What is 'Trans New Weird'? An Emerging Film Genre Screens at YBCA

Both Poison and The People's Joker challenge traditional narrative forms while addressing contemporary social issues through innovative storytelling.
#romantic-comedy
fromInsideHook
2 weeks ago
Film

"The Drama" Has No Idea How to Handle Its Controversial Twist

The Drama presents a romantic comedy that takes a dark turn with a shocking revelation about a character's past involvement in a school shooting plot.
fromThe New Yorker
2 weeks ago
Film

"The Drama" Struggles to Justify Its Combustible Premise

Charlie and Emma navigate their relationship's challenges through humor and the concept of starting over.
Film
fromInsideHook
2 weeks ago

"The Drama" Has No Idea How to Handle Its Controversial Twist

The Drama presents a romantic comedy that takes a dark turn with a shocking revelation about a character's past involvement in a school shooting plot.
Film
fromThe New Yorker
2 weeks ago

"The Drama" Struggles to Justify Its Combustible Premise

Charlie and Emma navigate their relationship's challenges through humor and the concept of starting over.
Books
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

Fiction Is Indispensable to Life's Journey

Fiction is essential for emotional connection, learning, and social cognition, allowing us to escape reality and engage deeply with narratives.
#film-vs-literature
#werner-herzog
Film
fromVulture
2 weeks ago

The Twist in The Drama Is Not the Problem

The film features a controversial plot twist involving a character's past plan for a school shooting, sparking significant online speculation and backlash.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Shift That Happens When You Write a Non-Fiction Book

Writing a book transforms tacit knowledge into explicit frameworks, forcing experts to articulate intuitions they've developed through experience into clear, communicable ideas.
Independent films
fromFilmmaker Magazine
1 week ago

"Personal Storytelling, Experimentation, and a DIY Spirit": A Look Inside LAFM 2026

This year's festival showcases debut features emphasizing personal storytelling and experimentation from both international and local filmmakers.
Photography
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

Films Are Fantasies. Here Are Their Realities.

Atsushi Nishijima, an on-set stills photographer, has documented major films over the past decade and a half, capturing candid moments between takes on sets directed by prominent filmmakers.
fromThe New Yorker
2 weeks ago

In Film, Sometimes the Greatest Drama Is Offscreen

"Cinematic Immunity" offers a workers'-eye view of Hollywood on the Hudson, revealing the intricate dynamics of filmmaking in New York City from 1954 to 9/11.
Independent films
fromwww.npr.org
3 weeks ago

Sofia Coppola turns the lens on designer Marc Jacobs for her first documentary

Coppola stated, 'It was scary at first for me to take on the challenge of making a documentary. It was different because there was no script, so I didn't have a map of where we were going.'
Film
Film
fromOregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
3 weeks ago

FilmWatch Weekly: 'Marc [Jacobs] by Sofia [Coppola],' an animated 'Magnificent Life,' and more * Oregon ArtsWatch

Cinematic extremes are evident in new films, contrasting dark horror and documentaries with light-hearted comedies and animated features like A Magnificent Life.
fromAnOther
3 weeks ago

10 Reinvigorating Spring Films to Add to Your Watchlist This Season

Set on the blossom tree-lined fringes of Hyde Park in London, Herbert Wilcox's black-and-white rom-com blows in like a fresh spring breeze. The film charts the will-they-won't-they romance between Richard (Michael Wilding), a wealthy lord masquerading as a butler, and Judy (Anna Neagle), the niece of the family who employs him.
Film
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

If you loved 'Train Dreams,' here's what to watch next

Train Dreams depicts early 20th-century American working-class life through poetic cinematography, earning four Academy Award nominations for its portrayal of loggers and railroad workers.
World news
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Photographers documented the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ramadan in Gaza, Russian airstrikes in Odesa, and severe flooding in France.
fromHer Campus
2 months ago

The Space Between Then and Now: Modern Storytelling

Storytelling is shaped by the way we engage with it. In the past, narratives unfolded slowly, giving the audience time to reflect and analyze at their own pace. Classic games, podcasts, and films provided the audience with time to settle into the narrative, and for emotions to build up gradually. These slower forms of media created room for reflection and engagement, allowing audiences to process narratives thoughtfully.
Digital life
fromFilmmaker Magazine
4 weeks ago

From Fables to Forensics: Five Documentaries from CPH:DOX 2026

De Pue's Mariinka strikes a rare balance between artfulness and urgency, capturing the lives of orphaned children affected by the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Independent films
US politics
fromFilmmaker Magazine
2 months ago

How Phone-Camera Verite Defeated Action-Flick Propaganda in the War to Define Minneapolis

Minneapolis residents document and resist an ongoing heavy ICE presence, using cellphone videos to expose operations while daily life and businesses are disrupted.
Film
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

Sofia Coppola Stays in the Shallow End with the New Marc Jacobs Documentary

Marc Jacobs's Fall/Winter 2026 presentation showcases a cultural collage of influences, emphasizing the designer's unique approach to fashion.
#photojournalism
fromApaonline
1 month ago

Recently Published Book Spotlight: Anticolonialism, Ontology, and Semiotics: A Cinematic Exploration

Anticolonialism, Ontology, and Semiotics draws upon Africana anticolonial philosophy-especially the work of Frantz Fanon and two of his most influential interpreters, Eldridge Cleaver and Sylvia Wynter-to develop a basic analytical model for doing anticolonial political theory. I wanted to show that there is something distinctive, something special, to be found in this tradition of thought that has not been fully appreciated by philosophers and theorists in other fields.
Philosophy
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

We Must Do More Than Simply Depict Our Lives

The Bronx Museum biennial spotlights representational works that center urban youth and marginalized identities, challenging mainstream narratives through sincere, everyday portrayals.
Independent films
fromIndieWire
1 month ago

Indie Film Has an Architecture Problem

The indie film model is structurally designed to fail, with misaligned incentives between investors, filmmakers, distributors, and audiences, resulting in only 0.025% of screenplays achieving profitable theatrical outcomes.
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

A Biography Without 'The Boring Bits'

Sophia Stewart poses a choice that many biographers struggle with: "what to do with the boring bits."
Books
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

For filmmaker Chloe Zhao, creative life was never linear

Director Chloe Zhao brings a sensitive, ritualistic approach to filmmaking, using meditation, breathing exercises, and dance to create intentional moods during production and premieres of her Oscar-nominated film Hamnet.
Film
fromenglish.elpais.com
1 month ago

Insult or adaptation? Why films still struggle to adapt novels

Film adaptations of literature often transform source material through cinematic techniques, sometimes sacrificing literary depth for visual spectacle and narrative restructuring.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Is listening to an audiobook as good as reading?

Audiobooks and comics are legitimate, effective forms of reading that expand access, boost literacy, and contribute significantly to the publishing industry.
Film
fromFilmmaker Magazine
1 month ago

ESG, Ross McElwee, and Other Exciting Artists Take Over True/False 2026

The True/False Film Festival's 23rd edition runs March 5-8 in Columbia, Missouri, featuring non-fiction films, musical performances, and art installations under the theme 'You Are Here.'
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

People feel like they're in on the joke': the new wave of pseudo-biopics

Filmmakers increasingly create pseudo-biopics that borrow recognizable elements from real people and events while changing names and details to avoid legal liability and maintain creative freedom.
Film
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

Nonprofessional Actors Are the Heart of the Movies

This year's Oscar contenders feature nonprofessional actors alongside established performers, creating authentic performances that distinguish these films in the new casting achievement category.
#frederick-wiseman
Film
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

Frederick Wiseman Always Made His Point

Frederick Wiseman transformed documentary cinema by exposing institutional operations and human consequences through observational films that revealed systemic failures and provoked censorship.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

I wasn't acting: that was me': how non-actors took over Oscar season

Directors often cast non-professionals to capture authenticity through lived experience and physical presence alongside trained actors.
Film
fromArs Technica
2 months ago

Why Darren Aronofsky thought an AI-generated historical docudrama was a good idea

Primordial Soup and Time released an AI-generated short-form series recreating 1776 scenes, drawing major criticism for flawed visuals while producers expect improvement.
fromFilmmaker Magazine
2 months ago

The Quirks of the Best Documentary Category

Best documentary has become the toughest Oscar category to predict in recent years, especially when it comes to nominations. The documentary branch has become famously quirky in recent years, passing over such populist, acclaimed, and decorated titles as Won't You Be My Neighbor? , American Symphony, and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story . Past performance is no guarantee of success-I've even heard rumors that some voters will refuse on principle to nominate a film by a previous Oscar winner-and geography is not destiny.
Film
fromKqed
2 months ago

'Arco' Is a Dystopian Tale Imbued With a Surprising Amount of Optimism

In all the dystopian visions of the future that the movies have trotted out over the last few decades, the one that sticks the most, surprisingly, is WALL-E. That's not just because of the chastening sight of an over-polluted Earth or those sedentary humans glued to their screens. It's because those quite plausible possibilities mean something different in a kids movie. It's their future, after all.
Film
fromThe Verge
2 months ago

Do you believe in magic?

Through the tiny window of short clips on Instagram and TikTok, Mary's world seems enchanting and vast. Bree's work exudes melancholic emotion and ethereal femininity, painting the surfaces of Mary's world in the vibrating style of stop-motion animation, dappled with sparkling light and computer-generated surfaces so convincing it feels like you could pose the model with your own hands. O'Donnell sat down with us to talk a bit about her process creating textures and her life's work making magic real.
Film
Film
fromQueerty
2 months ago

WATCH: Hope emerges through love (& in-the-buff modeling) in intimate indie drama Surfacing - Queerty

Surfacing follows a depressed, pill-addicted man whose recovery deepens as blurred therapeutic boundaries and new relationships compel him to open his heart.
Film
fromIndieWire
1 month ago

'Train Dreams' Cinematographer Adolpho Veloso Explains Why Digital Cameras Were the Key to Period Accuracy

Train Dreams presents a meticulously crafted, immersive period character study whose natural, low-light cinematography by Adolpho Veloso creates timeless authenticity and visceral emotional depth.
Film
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

The Real Secret to a Filmmaker's Success

Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg in the 1970s combined artistic daring with commercial ambition, reshaping Hollywood through auteurism and blockbuster filmmaking.
Film
fromInsideHook
2 months ago

In Defense of Movie Sex Scenes

Onscreen sex scenes can be narratively essential but are often gratuitous, harmful, or disruptive when objectifying participants, reinforcing stereotypes, or damaging a film's flow.
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