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Film: The 30 Best LGBT Films of All Time

British Film Institute The Guardian
British Film Institute-Flare: London LGBT Film Festival is 30. Over 100 programmers, critics and filmmakers voted for the 30 greatest LGBT films of all time.

Film: "I, Daniel Blake" - Ken Loach's Shock at the 'Conscious Cruelty' of the Welfare State

Diane Taylor The Guardian
Ken Loach just became the first British director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes twice, when his welfare state polemic I, Daniel Blake picked up the prize. The 79-year-old film-maker had previously announced he was finished with directing but became so infuriated by the plight of the poor under the current Conservative government that he came out of retirement to make a new film, addressing the human cost of their policies. ‘Hunger is being used as a weapon.'

Dheepan Review - Tamil Tiger Lose in the Urban Jungle Makes Powerful thriller

Andrew Pulver The Guardian
It begins with a short sequence in Sri Lanka: the civil war is over, the Liberation Tigers are burning their dead comrades’ bodies and swapping fatigues for civilian clothes to try and melt into the general population. In a refugee camp, a young woman is looking for unaccompanied children to be part of a hastily thrown together fake family, to help one such fighter get clear of the battle zone and into Europe.

Film Review: 'Kaili Blues' A New Language for Chinese Film

J. Hoberman New York Review of Books
Kaili Blues, an eccentric, remarkably assured first feature by the young Chinese director Bi Gan, is both the most elusive and the most memorable new movie that I’ve seen in quite some time—“elusive” and “memorable” being central to Bi’s ambitions. - J. Hoberman

Film: Three Tribeca Narratives

Bill Meyer Hollywood Progressive
When arriving at a film festival like Tribeca, it’s pretty much a crap shoot when you scour the large catalog and read the brief descriptions of the films. Among the many choices, there were at least three narratives that passed the test and went on to win awards from the jury and the audience.

Film: ‘Daughters of the Dust,’ a Seeming Inspiration for ‘Lemonade,’ Is Restored

Mekado Murphy New York Times
In his praise of Julie Dash's “Daughters of the Dust” during its initial theatrical release in 1992 critic Stephen Holden called it “a film of spellbinding visual beauty.” Now restoration of the film aims to bring more of that beauty to the forefront. The Cohen Film Collection announced that it has completed a digital restoration of “Daughters of the Dust” and plans to release that version theatrically this fall.

He was a sexual outlaw - My love affair with Robert Mapplethorpe

Jack Fritscher The Guardian
The new Mapplethorpe film begins with the voice of Senator Jesse Helms exhorting everyone to, "Look at the pictures!" He was protesting an exhibit of Mapplethorpe's work that he viewed as pornographic, and we see the conservative politician waving what he viewed as smut, seeking to inflame the culture wars, despite the fact that Mapplethorpe had died just a few months prior at the age of 42 of AIDS. That protest turned out to solidify the artist's legend.

‘Junction 48’ Film Review: Permission to Rhyme

Khelil Bouarrouj Palestine Square
Udi Aloni's Junction 48 is a melodic drama set Isreal in the town of Lydd (Lod) with a nearly all-Palestinian cast that forcefully confronts anti-Arab racism in Israel by shining a light on the oft-forgotten Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCIs). (The title Junction 48 presumably refers to Lydd’s historic transit-point between Palestine and Egypt and the designation often applied to PCIs as “’48 Palestinians.”)

Anita Hill on HBO Film 'Confirmation,' Joe Biden's Legacy and Bill Cosby

Tessa Stuart Rolling Stone
"In the eyes of the Senate, it was about [Clarence Thomas'] gender. It was about male privilege. Who do you believe? You believe the guy who is a guy like you. Even the public -- 70 percent of the public when polled after the hearings, believed Clarence Thomas. They were willing to dismiss my experience as insignificant, both racially and in terms of gender... We've got to make the decision that we're going to reject people who behave badly, who are sexually abusive."