MOTHER WOLF: A WOODSTOCK STANDOUT WITH MELISSA LEO AT ITS HEART

Suzi Yoonessi’s deeply personal feature brings a compelling portrait of motherhood, responsibility and reinvention to the festival where it made its world premiere. With its richly complicated central character, impressive ensemble and deeply personal roots, Mother Wolf stands out in Woodstock’s 2026 programme as a film with something meaningful to say about the women who hold families together. Starring Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Suzi … Continue reading MOTHER WOLF: A WOODSTOCK STANDOUT WITH MELISSA LEO AT ITS HEART

OSCAR SPOTLIGHT: Alex Lanipekun on ECHOES and the Silence Around Male Trauma

The writer-director behind the Oscar-qualified drama explores male mental health and childhood trauma with an acclaimed British cast led by Ashley Walters and Leo Gregory. Main photo by David Buttle For Alex Lanipekun, ECHOES began with conversations among male friends about something deceptively simple: why men can find it so difficult to say they need help. Those discussions became more personal when Lanipekun spoke to his father about … Continue reading OSCAR SPOTLIGHT: Alex Lanipekun on ECHOES and the Silence Around Male Trauma

VENICE – Saoirse Ronan’s Paper Plane — A Quiet, Tender Debut

★★★★★ (5/5) There is something wonderfully unforced about Paper Plane, Saoirse Ronan’s 15-minute directorial debut. Rather than announcing itself as the work of a celebrated actor stepping behind the camera, the film settles into its own modest rhythm: observant, tactile and quietly heartbreaking. The story follows a young girl who retreats to a treehouse in silent protest after her mother begins a new relationship with an abusive … Continue reading VENICE – Saoirse Ronan’s Paper Plane — A Quiet, Tender Debut

‘KING OF THE IRON WILL’ Puts Shakespearean Language Behind a Modern Power Struggle: Liam James Collins and Scott Vickers on Ambition, Tyranny and Making an Epic on an Independent Budget

The filmmakers behind the HollyShorts premiere discuss reinventing Shakespearean dialogue for a contemporary audience, building a medieval world inside historic Scottish castles and what happens when the man who defeats a tyrant is handed the crown. KING OF THE IRON WILL began with an ambitious proposition: tell a story about power, revenge and the consequences of overthrowing a tyrant, but do it through the language and … Continue reading ‘KING OF THE IRON WILL’ Puts Shakespearean Language Behind a Modern Power Struggle: Liam James Collins and Scott Vickers on Ambition, Tyranny and Making an Epic on an Independent Budget

‘CERTAIN THOMAS’ Writer-Director Henry K. Hwang on Algorithmic Supremacy, the Rise of “Dataism” and Why Sci-Fi Is the New Realism: “Our Future Won’t Just Be Shaped by Data, It Will Be Governed by It”

Ahead of the film’s HollyShorts Film Festival run, the filmmaker discusses building an algorithmic totalitarian world through restraint, using Thomas as a reflection of the system around him, the visual language behind The New State and the feature film now in development. Henry K. Hwang’s CERTAIN THOMAS drops audiences into a dystopian America governed by an algorithmic totalitarian regime, but rather than explaining the mechanics … Continue reading ‘CERTAIN THOMAS’ Writer-Director Henry K. Hwang on Algorithmic Supremacy, the Rise of “Dataism” and Why Sci-Fi Is the New Realism: “Our Future Won’t Just Be Shaped by Data, It Will Be Governed by It”