FREE CINEMA NOW

Edward Berger 's All Quiet on the Western Front had a surprisingly successful night at the Oscars earlier this year, winning 4 Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography. My latest mashup reimagines a different -- if not more "wondrous" -- threat than the French Saint-Chamond Assault Tanks that were seen in the film.

When documentary filmmaker Steve James hits the red carpet at tomorrow night's 90th Academy Awards , it will, in my eyes at least, have been a long overdue moment. James was previously nominated for Best Editing for his 1994 masterpiece Hoop Dreams but that great documentary was inexplicably not nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Now James returns to the Oscar race with the Kartemquin Films production Abacus: Small Enough To Jail , a dark horse contender in the doc feature category. Abacus tells the story of the Sung family, owners of the Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York, who were wrongfully accused of mortgage fraud by the Manhattan District Attorney, as part of the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. James sat down with Free Cinema Now to talk about his new film and being recognized by the Academy. Free Cinema Now: How did this project come to you? Steve James: It came to my attention through Mark Mitten, one of the producers, who has kno...

Some people should never get married. Likewise, some people should never become parents. Crudely enough, the protagonists of  Andrey Zvyagintsev 's new film Loveless fit both of those descriptions. The Leviathan helmer returns with another bleak and unflinchingly honest portrayal of family dysfunction and social politics. Loveless is also a commentary on modern Moscow. Zvyagintsev uses the car radio as the film's cultural master of ceremonies, informing the audience of the state of Russia, the political climate and expected societal norms. In fact, the only other time the car radio isn't used for exposition, is when a character turns it into an aural weapon to antagonize another character, by blaring loud metal rock during an inappropriate time. The coal-hearted characters in Loveless listen to the radio, but hardly to each other. Early in the film we learn that Zhenya ( Maryana Spivak ) and Boris ( Aleksey Rozin ) are in the final steps of finalizing their divorc...

Documentary filmmaker and writer Laura Checkoway 's already exciting life is about to get a whole lot more crazy, in a good way. After her documentary short Edith+Eddie premiered at last year's True/False Film Fest , it went on to a year of positive reception and exhibition that culminated with an Academy Award nomination in January 2018 for Best Documentary (Short Subject) . The documentary short, a Kartemquin Films production that's executive produced by Cher (yes, THAT Cher), follows the country's oldest interracial newlywed couple (Edith and Eddie) as they are faced with a family dilemma that'll forever change their lives. Checkoway caught up with Free Cinema Now while she was in Chicago, not too long after the Oscar nominations were announced. Free Cinema Now: How did the project of Edith+Eddie  come together? Laura Checkoway: A friend texted me a photo of the couple [Edith and Eddie] that was circulating online when they got married at age 95 and...

Here are the nominees for the 2018 Academy Awards (aka 90th Oscars) , which will be handed out on Sunday March 4, 2018. Guillermo del Toro 's The Shape of Water leads the pack with a whopping 13 nominations, followed next by Christopher Nolan 's Dunkirk with 8 nominations. Some big surprises were the inclusion of Denzel Washington for Best Actor for his work in the critically ill-received Roman J. Israel, Esq. which no doubt was a slot many were expecting for James Franco to take for his turn as Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist . Although Martin McDonagh 's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won big at the SAG Awards and the Golden Globe Awards , McDonagh failed to earn a Best Director nod this morning, which will be crippling for the film's chances to win Best Picture (thankfully). Next to Three Billboards ' 7 nominations are Joe Wright 's Darkest Hour and Paul Thomas Anderson 's Phantom Thread , each with 6 nominations. Phantom Thre...