What do actors do when they act? Few aspects of film craft are as widely discussed—and as little understood.

Critics Imogen Sara Smith and Farran Smith Nehme explore the style and sensibility that Columbia Pictures brought to film noir.

In the following introduction, recorded in 2020, film critic Farran Smith Nehme discusses the evolution of Rita Hayworth’s career and her effervescent screen presence.

The following introduction by Oscar-winning special makeup effects creator and owner of the KNB EFX Group Inc. Howard Berger—whose prolific career has included everything from DAY OF THE DEAD, EVIL DEAD II, and THE WALKING DEAD to BOOGIE NIGHTS, CASINO, and KILL BILL— was recorded in 2024.

In this installment of our Spotlight series, critic and author Grady Hendrix examines the potent blend of emotional anguish and body horror that David Cronenberg tapped into for one of his most terrifying classics.

Observations on Film Art No. 34

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s haunting 1932 masterpiece VAMPYR has long occupied a singular place in film history, resting somewhere at the intersection of horror, avant-garde cinema, and waking nightmare. In this episode of Observations on Film Art, Professor David Bordw...

The following introduction by Mark Harris, author of “Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood,” was recorded in 2024

In the following introduction recorded in 2021, film scholar Racquel J. Gates explores Melvin Van Peebles’s sole foray into Hollywood filmmaking, an audacious satire that dissects America’s racist double standards with acerbic irreverence and radical insight.

In the latest installment of our Spotlight series, critic Imogen Sara Smith examines Mario Monicelli’s politically engaged comedy THE ORGANIZER, a film that asks whether comedy can find room for such serious subject matter as trade unionism and class struggle.

The following interview with scholar Imogen Sara Smith was recorded in 2024.

The following interview with scholar Richard Peña was recorded in 2024.

This conversation between actors Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio and author Isaac Butler was recorded in 2023.

Directed by Michael Chaiken • 2017 • United States
Get to know the siblings whose films have captured the frenetic pulse of New York’s city streets. An original documentary featuring footage from the making of their new thriller, GOOD TIME, along with several of the brothers’ early shorts.

The following conversation between Ron Magliozzi, film curator at the Museum of Modern Art, and Jacqueline Stewart, professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Chicago and former director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, was recorded in 2024.