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Valerie Thompson

Valerie Thompson, Editor

Posts tagged with "Film"

  • The Andromeda Strain
    Robert Wise, director

    Film

    “The Andromeda Strain”’s oft-invoked fictional outbreak continues to offer context for considering possible futures

    Fifty years ago, the blockbuster du jour was The Andromeda Strain, a film based on a new kind of biomedical thriller that depicted a plague of putatively extraterrestrial origins. The film—directed, perhaps incongruously, by Robert Wise of The Sound of Music fame—would in time be hailed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America as the… Read More

  • Son of Monarchs
    Alexis Gambis, director

    Film

    Son of Monarchs

    Science and spirituality unite in Son of Monarchs, a new semi-autobiographical film by director Alexis Gambis that tells the story of Mendel, played by Tenoch Huerta Mejía, a butterfly scientist from the small mining town of Angangueo in Michoacán, Mexico. Since childhood, Mendel has been enthralled by monarch butterflies, which arrive in Angangueo by the… Read More

  • A Glitch in the Matrix
    Rodney Ascher, director

    Film

    A Glitch in the Matrix

    A Glitch in the Matrix, a new film ostensibly about simulation theory—the notion that what we perceive as reality is nothing more than a convincing computer simulation—features no scientific experts. If it had, such individuals might have offered counterarguments to the testimony of the film’s “eyewitnesses,” whose ardent belief that they are living in a… Read More

  • Taming the Garden
    Salomé Jashi, director

    Film

    Taming the Garden

    In Taming the Garden, a surreal documentary from director Salomé Jashi, the evocative images speak for themselves. Colossal trees uprooted from rural communities in the Republic of Georgia creep down narrow village lanes and float across the open sea. But as work crews labor around the clock to remove, transport, and transplant the region’s most… Read More

  • All Light, Everywhere
    Theo Anthony, director

    Film

    All Light, Everywhere

    The ideal of achieving complete observational objectivity seems to have been around for at least as long as the idea that such a feat might be possible to achieve. But both the idea and the ideal are dismantled in Theo Anthony’s new documentary, All Light, Everywhere, a film about human perception and its limits, police… Read More

  • Bring Your Own Brigade
    Lucy Walker, director

    Film

    Bring Your Own Brigade

    In 2018, California experienced the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season on rec­ord. The most devastating of the fires that year was the Camp Fire, which took an unexpected turn when it rapidly engulfed the working-class town of Paradise. Residents had little to no warning, and those lucky enough to escape their properties by car… Read More

  • Luzzu
    Alex Camilleri, director

    Film

    Luzzu

    Luzzu, directed by Alex Camilleri (Fahrenheit 451, Icarus), is the first film from Malta to be screened at Sundance and is among only a handful of films that have been made on the Mediterranean island. Local fishermen, most with no previous acting experience, make up the majority of the cast. The scripted film takes a… Read More

  • In the Earth
    Ben Wheatley, director

    Film

    In the Earth

    Against the backdrop of a raging pandemic, scientist Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) sets out for a remote research site to join a colleague who is studying a complex root system deep in the forest. While being led to the site by park guide Alma (Ellora Torchia), the pair are brutally attacked and robbed. They continue… Read More

  • Fire in the Mountains
    Ajitpal Singh, director

    Film

    Fire in the Mountains

    Amid breathtaking mountain views of the Himalayan foothills in Northern India, hardworking Chandra (Vinamrata Rai) manages her own household alongside a homestay for visiting tourists. When necessary, she carries her preteen son, Prakash (Mayank Singh Jaira), up and down the steep trail that serves as the remote village’s only means of access. Prakash remains wheelchair-bound… Read More

  • In the Same Breath
    Nanfu Wang, director

    Film

    In the Same Breath

    On 1 January 2020, the Chinese state news reported that eight doctors had been arrested for spreading rumors about a new form of pneumonia. This brief report would inadvertently become the first official acknowledgement of COVID-19. In the Same Breath, by filmmaker Nanfu Wang (One Child Nation), examines the impact that misinformation about the coronavirus… Read More

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