Harlan County U.S.A. | Film Festival Today

TIFF Review: “Union Town”

September 10, 2026

TIFF Review: “Union Town”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 10, 2026
Union Town (Barbara Kopple, 2026) 4 out of 5 stars The great documentarian Barbara Kopple began her cinematic career with the 1976 Harlan County U.S.A., which took home the Oscar that year in its category. The movie gave audiences an on-the-ground look at a work strike among hard-scrabble Kentucky coal miners and was a model of observational filmmaking. Now, in Union Town, Kopple returns to labor issues, setting her latest opus among the ... >>
Interview with “Franz” Director Agnieszka Holland
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
August 28, 2026
Polish director Agnieszka Holland first came to my attention with her 1990 masterpiece Europa Europa, about a young Jewish boy during World War II who hides from the Nazis by joining the Hitler Youth, with nobody suspecting his true identity. She has remained on my cinematic radar ever since. Now, with Franz, she crafts a remarkable biographical portrait of one of the 20th century’s most important writers, Franz Kafka, who died of tuberculosis ... >>
“Leviticus” Pairs Heartbreak and Horror
By Hannah Tran
July 4, 2026
Leviticus (Adrian Chiarella, 2026) 4½ out of 5 stars Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut, Leviticus, is many things at once. It’s as much a horrific tale of demonic entities as it is a thorny coming-of-age story, and it does a wonderful job at living in both those registers. Chiarella confidently renders the horror that emerges from denying who you are and who you want. Because above all, Leviticus is a love story, and this is where it truly ... >>
DC/DOX Review: “School for Defectors”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
June 22, 2026
School for Defectors (Jeremy Workman, 2026) 5 out of 5 stars After its occupation by Japan from 1910 to 1945, the Korean peninsula was divided between its northern and southern halves, the former under Soviet rule and the latter under the United States. Over the ensuing 5 years, each half pursued different forms of government, until in 1950, Kim Il Sung—leader of North Korea—decided to invade South Korea, beginning a war that would last 3 years ... >>
Tribeca Interview: “Funk” Director Aly Muritiba
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
June 12, 2026
With Funk, Brazilian director Aly Muritiba (Private Desert) crafts a love letter to “putaria,” the kinky funk music of the favelas surrounding Rio de Janeiro. That genre is unabashedly sexual in its lyrics and themes, often in very explicit fashion. With gleeful abandon, its practitioners—at least as we see them here—rap and sing about all kinds of pleasurable acts, moving their bodies to the rhythm in ways that leave no doubt as to what they’re ... >>