The Film Comment Podcast

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  Venice 2026 #6, with Mariona Borrull, Leonardo Goi, Luke Hicks, and Öykü Sofuoğlu 14.09.2026 45dk

  For the past two weeks, Film Comment has been reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido di Venezia, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year.For our final Podcast from this year's edition, which wrapped over the weekend, Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish invited critics Mariona Borrull, Leonardo Goi, Luke Hicks, and Öykü Sofuoğlu to discuss three late-festival premieres: Ali Asgari's A Bit of Light (4:30); Casey Affleck's Company (8:42); and Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor's NAZA (15:25). The group closed things out by shouting out their personal highlights from this year's Venice. Subscribe to Film Comment to explore all of our Venice 2026 coverage.
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  Venice 2026 #5, with Jordan Cronk and Öykü Sofuoğlu 11.09.2026 51dk

  This week, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido di Venezia, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year’s edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Werner Herzog, Lee Chang-dong, Tsai Ming-liang, and more.For our fifth Podcast from the fest, Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish invited critic and programmer Jordan Cronk and critic Öykü Sofuoğlu to discuss Theo Rollason's Queer Edward II (2:40), Jacqueline Lentzou's A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra (11:45), María Aparicio's Sometimes Sadness, Sometimes Rebellion (18:30), Luke Lorentzen's Boatbuilders (24:55), Ilya Khrzhanovsky's DAU (29:20), and Luca Guadagnino's Joie de vivre (42:00).Subscribe to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Venice 2026 coverage.
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  Venice 2026 #4, with Eva Sangiorgi and Paola Casell 10.09.2026 43dk

  This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido di Venezia, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year’s edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Werner Herzog, Lee Chang-dong, Tsai Ming-liang, and more.For our fourth Podcast from the floating city, Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish invited two native Italians and longtime festival attendees—Viennale Artistic Director Eva Sangiorgi and critic Paola Casella—to discuss how the festival has grown and changed over the last few decades as well as its broader significance within Italian cinema culture. The group also debated several notable premieres from this year's edition, including Rubaiyat Hossain's The Difficult Bride (11:00), Florian Zeller’s Bunker (17:45), Alex Gibney’s Musk (24:15), Mariano Llinás’s Life of Jorge Luis Borges (32:40), and more.Subscribe to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Venice 2026 coverage.
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  Venice 2026 #3, with Jonathan Romney and Tim Grierson 09.09.2026 48dk

  This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year’s edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Werner Herzog, Lee Chang-dong, Tsai Ming-liang, and more.For our third Podcast from the festival, Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish invited critics Jonathan Romney and Tim Grierson to share their reactions to The Pervert's Guide to Utopias (2:38), director Sophie Fiennes’s latest collaboration with philosopher Slavoj Žižek, as well as Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger (14:36), Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s concert documentary following the band's recent reunion tour. Finally, the three discussed one of the major standouts in the fest’s Competition section: May el-Toukhy‘s Woman Unknown (26:25).Subscribe to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Venice 2026 coverage.
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  Venice 2026 #2, with Bilge Ebiri and Guy Lodge 08.09.2026 43dk

  This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year’s edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Werner Herzog, Lee Chang-dong, Tsai Ming-liang, and more.For our second Podcast from the city of canals, critics Bilge Ebiri (New York / Vulture) and Guy Lodge (Variety) join Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish to discuss two standouts of the festival's Competition section: Danny Boyle's Ink (2:28) and Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love (12:05). Next, they discuss a highlight of the Horizons sidebar: Robert Greene's Too Much Sugar (27:30).Subscribe to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Venice 2026 coverage.
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  Venice 2026 #1, with Miriam Bale and Öykü Sofuoğlu 06.09.2026 45dk

  This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year’s edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Werner Herzog, Lee Chang-dong, Tsai Ming-liang, and more. To kick off our coverage, Film Comment Co-Editor Devika Girish invited critics Miriam Bale and Öykü Sofuoğlu to discuss some of the most highly anticipated premieres of the festival's first days, including Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine (2:45), Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard (10:10), Paul Schrader's The Basics of Philosophy (22:06), and Lance Oppenheim's Primetime (31:52).Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Venice 2026 coverage. 
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  Jane Schoenbrun on Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma 06.08.2026 37dk

  Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Jane Schoenbrun’s third narrative feature, opens in theaters tomorrow. Dizzyingly meta-textual and deliciously, well, campy, the film stars Hannah Einbinder as an emerging queer filmmaker tasked with directing a reboot of a fictional ’80s slasher franchise titled Camp Miasma. She decides to visit the final girl of the original movie who is now an eccentric middle-aged recluse, played by Gillian Anderson, who’s living on the campgrounds where the first movie was shot. What unfolds is, in the words of our critic Nathan Lee, a “gore-soaked, titty-bouncing, sexploitation fever dream girded by real conceptual brio.” Meditations on the perverse riddles of desire as well as the queer subtexts of many slasher films and the kind of strange identification they invite from the spectator are rendered with perfectly pitched horror theatrics and laugh-out-loud humor.  Film Comment Editor Devika Girish spoke with Schoenbrun about this very rich text, trying to unpack the film’s layers—but not too hard, because if there’s one thing you can take away from Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, it’s that analysis is a boner-killer and mystery is hot.Subscribe to Film Comment today for full access to new quarterly digital issues as well as our comprehensive archive of every Film Comment issue published since 1962. 
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  Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, with Genevieve Yue and Inney Prakash 24.07.2026 50dk

  Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, and more, is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated films of the year. Last week, FC Contributing Editor Genevieve Yue wrote about Nolan’s latest, calling it a “strangely bloodless” adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. Genevieve writes: “The film is shrouded in Nolan’s characteristic dourness, so that Homer’s lively world of men and gods is purged of lightness and humor. Odysseus’s homecoming brings relief, but not joy. A lot of people cry, but no one laughs except the suitors, whose sport is to insult beggars. Even the Sirens’ song, famed for its irresistibility, causes Odysseus to wail in grief.”For this week’s Podcast, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute invited Genevieve and fellow FC Contributing Editor Inney Prakash to discuss how the film fits within Nolan’s body of work, how it stacks up against other cinematic adaptations of The Odyssey, and more.
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  Karlovy Vary #3, with Robert Daniels and Guy Lodge 11.07.2026 36dk

  This week, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute is in the Czech Republic, reporting on the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Located in a picturesque spa town, the fest has long been the home of hidden gems in its Competition sections, as well as a mid-summer stop for major films making the international circuit. This year’s edition features many of both, as well as an excellent retrospective sidebar highlighting some favorites from the festival's past, stretching back to the days when it was located in Moscow every other year. For our third and final episode from the fest, Clint welcomed critics and FC Podcast veterans Robert Daniels (RogerEbert.com) and Guy Lodge (Variety) to discuss some of the highlights of the festival, beginning with two Bulgarian films: Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s dark comedy Black Money for White Nights (04:24), and Martina Buchelová’s debut feature Lover, Not a Fighter (13:28), the winner of the festival’s Proxima Competition Grand Prix award. Finally, Robert talks about Shuntaro Uchida’s drama Incinerator (20:49) and Guy and Robert dig into Hijamat (26:30), written and directed by Nader Saeivar​​ and edited by Jafar Panahi.  Subscribe to Film Comment today to stay up-to-date with all of our festival coverage.
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  Karlovy Vary 2026 #2, with Robert Daniels 09.07.2026 38dk

  This week, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute is in the Czech Republic, reporting on the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Located in a picturesque spa town, the fest has long been the home of hidden gems in its Competition sections, as well as a mid-summer stop for major films making the international circuit. This year’s edition features many of both, as well as an excellent retrospective sidebar highlighting some favorites from the festival's past, stretching back to the days when it was located in Moscow every other year. For our second episode from the fest, Clint welcomed critic and FC Podcast veteran Robert Daniels (RogerEbert.com) to discuss some of the highlights of the festival so far, beginning with Alain Gomis's family epic Dao (3:09) before turning to Joan Bofill Amargós's The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld (16:50), a documentary portrait of the legendary Hollywood film producer. Next, Clint shouts out Yashasvi Juyal​'s magical realist The Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb (25:42) and Robert praises Miroslav Terzić's tense portrait of childhood bullying, 3 Weeks After (31:40).Subscribe to Film Comment today to stay up-to-date with all of our festival coverage.
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  Karlovy Vary 2026 #1, with Pavel Sladký and Irena Kovarova 07.07.2026 36dk

  This week, Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute is in the Czech Republic, reporting on the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Located in a picturesque spa town, the fest has long been the home of hidden gems in its Competition sections, as well as a mid-summer stop for major films making the international circuit. This year’s edition features many of both, as well as an excellent retrospective sidebar highlighting some favorites from the festival's past, stretching back to the days when it was located in Moscow every other year. To kick off our coverage, Clint welcomed critic Pavel Sladký and programmer Irena Kovarova to discuss the festival’s history and present, and to hear about some highlights from this year’s selection. The group began by discussing two Czech highlights from the festival's retrospective section: Věra Chytilová's Tainted Horseplay (8:16) from 1988, and Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos's The Defendant (14:40) from 1964. Next, they dig into standouts among the new films, including Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov's Black Money for White Nights (17:50); Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz's The Friend's House is Here (22:00); Mads Mengel's The Guest (27:02); and more.Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our festival coverage. 
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  John Early on Maddie’s Secret 17.06.2026 44dk

  Listeners might know John Early as a very funny comedian and actor—but last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, John debuted a new role: an auteur. His first feature, Maddie’s Secret, takes cues from TV movies, PSAs, erotic thrillers, internet videos, Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, and more to craft a movie that, despite all these influences and parodic touches, feels wonderfully original and earnest. Early plays the titular Maddie, a food influencer who struggles with bulimia, with sincere commitment, somehow walking the tightrope between campy, laugh-out-loud wit and a profound empathy. Maddie’s Secret opens in cinemas on June 19. Keep your ears open for Part 2 of this conversation, which will be dropping soon as an exclusive for Film Comment subscribers. 
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  Cannes 2026 #9: Breaking Borders at Cannes Docs 02.06.2026 48dk

  On May 15, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish moderated a panel at Cannes Docs, an industry sidebar dedicated to nonfiction filmmaking. Titled "Breaking Borders," the conversation examined how, even as the film market has become increasingly globalized, traditional professional networks and production infrastructure are still structured around exclusionary ideas about countries and continents. Devika gathered three panelists who lead groundbreaking networks that are nourishing connections across borders, changing not just the terrain of cinema but also of our notions of power, place, and belonging. The speakers included Jason Ryle, the Chief Executive Officer of the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund; Mark Mushiva, a creative technologist and Research Fellow with Forensic Architecture; and Lisa Smith, a founder of the Romani Filmmakers Network.Subscribe today to Film Comment to catch up with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.Image courtesy of the Arctic Indigenous Film Fund.
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  Cannes 2026 #8, with Justin Chang, Tim Grierson, and Jessica Kiang 26.05.2026 1sa 5dk

  Cannes 2026 wrapped this past weekend, but the Film Comment crew has not slowed down one bit as we continue to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more.For our final Podcast from the Croisette, FC Editor Devika Girish gathered three of our favorite critics—Justin Chang (The New Yorker), Tim Grierson (Screen International), and Jessica Kiang (Variety)—to unpack the festival's final days. The group discussed three late-premiering Competition titles: Valeska Grisebach's Jury Prize–winning The Dreamed Adventure (4:00), Léa Mysius's The Birthday Party (21:58), and Lukas Dhont's Coward (35:09)—before turning to Ken Russell's newly restored The Devils (1971) (50:15), which screened in the Cannes Classics section.Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.
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  Cannes 2026 #7, with Thomas Flew and Neta Alexander 23.05.2026 55dk

  Cannes 2026 is nearing its close, but the Film Comment crew has not slowed down one bit as we continue to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year’s edition has been packed with highly anticipated premieres from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.For our seventh Podcast from the Croisette, FC Editor Devika Girish invited Sight and Sound’s Thomas Flew and scholar Neta Alexander to discuss a trio of late-festival Competition premieres: Andrey Zvyagintsev's Palme d'Or–contender Minotaur (3:50); Ira Sachs's 1980s period drama The Man I Love (18:16); and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo's The Black Ball (La Bola Negra) (32:48), which received a rousing 20-minute ovation from the Cannes audience.Next, the group shout out highlights from other sections of the festival: Tom Fontenille's documentary A Secret Heart (41:52), which premiered in the ACID sidebar; Clio Barnard's youth-in-England fiction feature I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (45:20), in the Directors' Fortnight program; and John Abraham's newly restored Report to Mother (1986) (47:35), from the Cannes Classics section.Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.
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  Cannes 2026 #6, with Isabel Stevens and Neta Alexander 20.05.2026 40dk

  Cannes 2026 is in full swing and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, cutting through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year’s edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.For our sixth Podcast from the sun-dappled shores of the French Riviera, Sight and Sound's Isabel Stevens and scholar Neta Alexander join FC Editor Devika Girish to share their responses to two Competition titles that are sure to generate lots of chatter: Cristian Mungiu's legal thriller Fjord (3:15) and Pedro Almodóvar's self-reflexive drama Bitter Christmas (19:25). Next, they turn to two highlights from the festival's other sections: Austrian director Sandra Wollner's Everytime (26:00), which premiered as part of Un Certain Regard, and Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor's La perra (32:50), a selection in the Directors' Fortnight program.Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.
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  Cannes 2026 #5, with Jordan Cronk, Adam Piron, and Ruun Nuur 19.05.2026 49dk

  Cannes 2026 is in full swing, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year’s edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Pedro Almodóvar, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.For our fifth Podcast from the Croisette, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish is joined by critics (and programmers) Jordan Cronk, Adam Piron, and Ruun Nuur to dive into some mid-festival highlights: James Grey's buzzy crime drama Paper Tiger (3:15); Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s family road movie 9 Temples to Heaven (11:08); a selection of documentaries including Gabin, The Match, and The Story of Documentary Film (22:00); and the out-of-body experience that is Arthur Harari's thriller The Unknown (34:15).Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.
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  Cannes 2026 #4, with Öykü Sofuoğlu and Inney Prakash 18.05.2026 49dk

  Cannes 2026 is in full swing, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year’s edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Pedro Almodóvar, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.For our fourth Podcast from the Croisette, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish is joined by critic Öykü Sofuoğlu as well as FC Contributing Editor and Asia Society programmer Inney Prakash to debate their reactions to Clarissa (3:18), Arie and Chuko Esiri's Mrs Dalloway adaptation set in contemporary Lagos; Sheep in the Box (18:50), Hirokazu Kore-eda's parable about the dangers of AI; and Hope (33:09), Na Hong-jin's high-throttle monster movie.Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.
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  Cannes 2026 #3, with Robert Daniels and Inney Prakash 16.05.2026 41dk

  Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year’s edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Pedro Almodóvar, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.For the third of our daily Podcasts from the Croisette, critic Robert Daniels (RogerEbert.com) and FC Contributing Editor and Asia Society programmer Inney Prakash join FC Editor Devika Girish to discuss Radu Jude's The Diary of a Chambermaid (3:45), Marie Kreutzer's Gentle Monster (19:55), and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden (28:16).Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage. 
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  Cannes 2026 #2, with Katie McCabe and Alison Willmore 15.05.2026 42dk

  Cannes 2026 has arrived, and the Film Comment crew is on the ground, ready to cut through the noise with dispatches, interviews, Podcasts, a special Cannes Critics’ Grid, and much more. This year's edition is packed with highly anticipated premieres from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Valeska Grisebach, James Gray, Paweł Pawlikowski, and many more acclaimed filmmakers.On the second of our daily Podcasts from the Croisette, critics Katie McCabe (Sight and Sound) and Alison Willmore (New York, Vulture) join FC editor Devika Girish to talk over their recent festival viewing. They begin with Pawlikowski’s highly anticipated Fatherland (3:20), before moving to Kôji Fukada’s subtle Nagi Notes (11:30), Asghar Farhadi’s surprisingly soapy Parallel Tales (19:56), and Maxence Voiseux’s documentary Gabin (27:30) before wrapping up by revisiting Jane Schoenbrun’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (31:52). Subscribe today to Film Comment to stay up-to-date with all of our Cannes 2026 coverage.