The Film Stage

If period filmmaking’s credibility can be measured by the audience’s ability to imagine said person scrolling on an iPhone, Markus Schleinzer deserves recognition for his contributions to the genre. The Austrian director’s latest, a macabre, pseudo-folktale titled Rose, is set in 17th-century Germany. It’s a period to which Schleinzer travels with ease: after some introductory […]

The post Berlinale Review: Sandra Hüller Proves Magnificent In Markus Schleinzer’s Rose first appeared on The Film Stage.

Premiering in competition at Berlinale last year, Johanna Moder’s Mother’s Baby tells a Rosemary’s Baby-esque mystery with a cast featuring Marie Leuenberger, Hans Low, and Claes Bang. Ahead of a release from Dark Sky Films in select theaters and digitally beginning March 6, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new U.S. trailer. Here’s the synopsis: […]

The post Exclusive Trailer for Berlinale Standout Mother’s Baby Introduces a Strange Mystery first appeared on The Film Stage.

The Criterion Channel’s March lineup isn’t lacking for director retrospectives, but there’s unique pleasure to be found in their themed programming. Constituting its own cohesive vision is a seven-film Romanian New Wave series featuring work by Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristian Mungiu, and Radu Muntean, including the streaming premiere of Puiu’s 2016 film Sieranevada. Likewise, […]

The post March on the Criterion Channel Includes the Romanian New Wave, Ghost in the Shell, Who Killed Teddy Bear & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

One of the greatest directors working today, Christian Petzold is returning with another masterfully enigmatic, gripping drama. The Paula Beer-led Miroirs No. 3, which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight last year, will arrive stateside via 1-2 Special next month. Ahead of a March 20 release featuring the director in person, preceded by a retrospective at […]

The post Exclusive Poster for Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3, Arriving This March first appeared on The Film Stage.

Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’ve reviewed every short film in each category: Animation, Documentary, and Live Action. Below are the Best Documentary Short nominees: Butterfly | France | 15 mins As we learn at the end of seventy-year-old Florence Miailhe’s Butterfly, it was the brother of her subject that taught her how to swim. […]

The post The 2026 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed first appeared on The Film Stage.

Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’ve reviewed every short film in each category: Animation, Documentary, and Live Action. Below are the Best Documentary Short nominees: All the Empty Rooms | USA | 33 mins Steve Hartman embraces his role as the “feel good story” guy in his newsroom. After programs full of tragedy and suffering, […]

The post The 2026 Oscar-Nominated Documentary Short Films, Reviewed first appeared on The Film Stage.

Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’ve reviewed every short film in each category: Animation, Documentary, and Live Action. Below are the Best Documentary Short nominees: Butcher’s Stain | Israel | 26 mins Everyone at the Israeli supermarket where he works loves Samir (Omar Sameer) … or so it seems. Because if that were actually true, […]

The post The 2026 Oscar-Nominated Live Action Short Films, Reviewed first appeared on The Film Stage.

Eleven years ago, Tom Courtenay arrived at the Berlinale with Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, an exquisitely observed study of emotional dilemma in which the British actor played a doddery romantic whose selfish tendencies threatened to get the better of him. He returns to the German festival with a performance of similar weight and resonance in […]

The post Berlinale Review: Queen at Sea Sets Tom Courtenay and Juliette Binoche with a Thorny Moral Dilemma first appeared on The Film Stage.

A welcome annual tradition, the Directors Guild of America gathered their nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film—Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another), Ryan Coogler (Sinners), Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), and Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)––for an extensive conversation spanning nearly two-and-a-half hours, longer than the majority of the films […]

The post Watch a 2.5-Hour Conversation with Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Josh Safdie, Guillermo del Toro, and Chloé Zhao first appeared on The Film Stage.

Last week, the jury president of the Berlin Film Festival claimed that this year’s edition would provide an “opposite” to politics. If such a thing exists, it certainly doesn’t look anything like Faraz Shariat’s sophomore feature Prosecution—a narratively propulsive yet finely detailed procedural (all props to screenwriter Claudia Schaefer) that overflows with political statements, ideas, […]

The post Berlinale Review: Prosecution is a Propulsive Investigation Into Far-Right Violence first appeared on The Film Stage.