Frank X Walker | Film Festival Today

Film Review: Fascinating, Complex “Hillbilly“ Champions Truth over Stereotypes

August 14, 2019

“Remembering Every Night” Dreams On
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 15, 2023
Remembering Every Night (Yui Kiyohara, 2022) 3 out of 4 stars. The camera and narrative both drift amiably from frame to frame in Remembering Every Night, the second feature from Japanese writer/director Yui Kiyohara (Our House). There are three protagonists, though it takes the viewer a while to meet each of them. As if in a dream, their separate stories intersect and diverge in sometimes oblique ways, all the while leading to a conclusion of ... >>
Interviews Save “King on Screen”
By Matt Patti
September 4, 2023
King on Screen (Daphné Baiwir, 2022) 2½ out of 4 stars. World-renowned author Stephen King has a knack for writing intriguing stories that make for memorable adaptations on the big screen. His books have gone on to be the source material of countless films, from The Shining to It (and so much more). Every year it seems we get a new batch of movies that use King in their advertising, à la “inspired by the mind of Stephen King.” Have one author’s ... >>
New/Next “Carpet Cowboys” Interview
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
August 26, 2023
Documentary directors Emily Mackenzie and Noah Collier just premiered their debut feature, Carpet Cowboys, at Baltimore’s inaugural New/Next Film Fest (where I reviewed it). The film examines the carpet industry in Dalton, Georgia, the “carpet capital of the world,” following a fascinating cast of characters, foremost among them designer Roderick James. I chatted with Mackenzie and Collier at the festival, and now here is that interview, edited ... >>
“Carpet Cowboys” Weaves Strong Threads
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
August 22, 2023
Carpet Cowboys just had its world premiere at the inaugural run of the New/Next Film Fest, located in Baltimore, MD. Carpet Cowboys (Emily Mackenzie/Noah Collier, 2023) 3 out of 4 stars. Here’s a fun fact that many, if not most, people probably don’t know: the city of Dalton, Georgia, is the “carpet capital of the world,” producing nearly 50% of the world’s carpets, at least for now. It’s a position it has grown into since ... >>
“King Coal” Triumphs
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
August 10, 2023
King Coal (Elaine McMillion Sheldon, 2023) 4 out of 4 stars. From Appalachian filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Recovery Boys) comes King Coal, a complex ode to her regional roots—here represented by Southwest Pennsylvania, Eastern Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia, Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and the entirety of West Virginia—in which the history of coal exploitation mingles with ethnography and reflections on the present. ... >>

5 Films to See at TIFF 2023
September 6, 2023
The Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) ...>>
Six at New/Next 2023
August 30, 2023
This year’s inaugural New/Next Film Fest ran August ...>>
What’s Next? Baltimore’s New/Next!
August 17, 2023
This year’s Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) never ...>>
Christopher Llewellyn Reed’s Look Back at Tribeca 2023 Immersive Offerings
June 27, 2023
Back at SXSW 2023, they called it XR (for enhanced ...>>
That’s a Wrap at DC/DOX 2023
June 21, 2023
As advertised in my curtain raiser last week, I ...>>