VMDIFF 2019: Treat Me Like Fire

Director: Marie Monge Starring: Stacy Martin, Tahar Rahim Running Time: 105 minutes It’s common practice for films in France to have very different titles in their native tongue than in the translated English. Marie Monge’s Treat Me Like Fire goes by the more straightforward Joueurs (“Players”) when shown at home, as it was during last year’s Cannes Film Festival. They seem like…

VMDIFF 2019: Rafiki

Director: Wanuri Kahiu Starring: Samantha Mugatsia, Sheila Munyiva Running Time: 82 minutes One of 2018’s more underseen and personable films in a collection of new romantic comedies was Love Simon , a queer teen romance that managed to jog where other films had once walked, allowing itself to focus funly, freely and  matter-of-factly on the romance of its gay lead in…

Does On the Basis of Sex Uphold RBG’s Legacy?

Director: Mimi Leder Starring: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer Runtime: 120 minutes With the close of 2018 having put the integrity of the United States Supreme Court seats in the spotlight, the story of the remarkable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is something that has been a notable cinematic feature of early 2019. This feature length adaptation of Ginsberg’s formative legal years…

Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019: 5 things to watch out for

The Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019 has begun! Already the year’s seminal celebration of cinema in the fair city of film has held numerous exciting events. Just this morning, Irish filmmaker Paddy Breathnach hosted a workshop with Sean Bailey of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, engaging Irish industry professionals with one of…

If Beale Street Could Talk; Beautiful, romantic volumes spoken

Director: Barry Jenkins Starring: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King Running Time: 117 minutes “I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass.” The words of James Baldwin, from a character that sadly knows that plenty have had to look at someone they love through glass, or through some restriction or another, few,…