The Film Society of Lincoln Center is pleased to introduce the new Film Comment, featuring a fresh design, updated departments, and a variety of new columns for the magazine’s September-October issue.  

“The redesigned Film Comment invites readers to be curious about the many facets and faces of filmmaking and film culture, and shines a light on the best in cinema, past and present,” says Nicolas Rapold, named the magazine’s Editor in May. “Film Comment’s unparalleled commitment to smart criticism, excellent writing, and film history remains more vital than ever in an age of increasing choice and complex change. Whether you’re asking ‘What is cinema?’ or ‘What should I watch tonight?’, accept no substitutes!”

The new logo and redesign by consulting art director Kevin Fisher, who also works as Creative Director at National Audubon Society and was integral in the recent redesign of Audubon magazine and its website, brings a refreshing and stylish update to the magazine, providing a sleek new showcase for its writing. The fall issue is the first of two back-to-back issues to ask the question “What Is Cinema Now?” To answer, contributors look at film from a variety of angles, starting in the September-October issue with articles on such topics as the subtle and marked shift in the vanguard of American acting; the plight of film criticism in the age of social media; and the experience of being an inveterate lover of classic movies in a rapidly advancing digital age.

This edition also shines a light on the work of three important and exciting filmmakers you might not know: Maren Ade, the magazine’s cover star and the director of the revolutionary new German comedy Toni Erdmann; Barry Jenkins, whose soulful drama Moonlight everyone will be talking about this autumn; and Kirsten Johnson, whose singular nonfiction work Cameraperson is one of the most original visions from an American filmmaker this year. Features in this issue also focus on new work by Ava DuVernay, whose devastating documentary The 13th opens this year’s New York Film Festival; Pedro Almodóvar (Julieta); and Bertrand Tavernier (all part of the special NYFF54 section), as well as the great American director Charles Burnett on the occasion of a new restoration of his To Sleep with Anger.

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A host of new, recurring columns will look at film from a variety of angles, and are all featured in the 96-page September/October issue. These include Art and Craft (written by cinematographers, editors, and other below-the-line craftspeople); Inside Stories (on virtual reality and different forms of immersive new media storytelling); Playing Along (about soundtracks and the use of music in film); Finest Hour (a close reading of a specific performance by one actor); Off the Page (on the art of the book-to-film adaptation); and Scare Tactics (appreciations of the craft of horror filmmaking). The magazine’s documentary focus column, Make It Real, will continue. Refreshed and reimagined departments are also spread throughout the magazine. Meanwhile, filmcomment.com will publish supplementary digital content for select columns and podcasts dedicated to topics and articles covered in the new issue, to be posted throughout September and October.

To coincide with the magazine’s redesign, the new Film Comment app has launched and is free to download on iTunes. It includes all articles from the magazine’s current print edition, plus weekly digests of web content with links to the popular Film Comment podcast. A yearly digital subscription is $9.99, which includes a free 60-day trial period (30 days for subscribing and an additional 30 by signing up for the Film Comment newsletter). Individual issues are available for purchase prior to subscription for $1.99. The app will also be released as a free download for Android users on Google Play. Print subscribers to Film Comment will have full access to the app. For more information, click here.

“I’m incredibly excited and proud about this new direction for Film Comment, which is accessible and fresh without sacrificing any of the intellectual rigor one expects from the most prestigious film magazine in the U.S.,” says Michael Koresky, who began his new position as Editorial Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center in May. “There is a wealth of beautifully written, provocative content in the September-October issue and this attention to quality will continue in our future issues. The Film Comment team—Nicolas Rapold, Laura Kern, Vicki Robinson, Violet Lucca, and our indefatigable designer, Kevin Fisher—really pulled out all the stops to help make this possible.”

Film Society Deputy Director and Co-Publisher of Film Comment Eugene Hernandez added, “Film culture is evolving. The way we watch and talk about movies has changed. However as witnessed in the September-October edition of Film Comment, cinema is absolutely alive. With the expansion of Film Comment into a multi-platform publication (in print, online, and via mobile) under the new editorial leadership, we aim to reach a wider audience of smart moviegoers.”

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Below is an overview of Film Comment’s September-October issue:

Special Section on the New York Film Festival:

  • Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann by Amy Taubin
  • Interview with Ava DuVernay (The 13th) by Ashley Clark
  • Essay on Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight by Farihah Zaman, plus interview with Jenkins by Nicolas Rapold
  • Interview with Pedro Almodóvar (Julieta) by Carlos Reviriego
  • Interview with Bertrand Tavernier (My Journey Through French Cinema) by Joan Dupont

Essays on film and film culture

  • The new restraint in American film acting, by Shonni Enelow
  • Nick Pinkerton on the social media crisis in criticism
  • Imogen Sara Smith on living in cinema’s past

New columns:

  • Art and Craft: cinematographer Sean Price Williams on the importance of gaffers
  • Inside Stories: Tyson Kubota on the cinematic qualities of VR
  • Playing Along: Andrew Chan on movie theme songs
  • Finest Hour: Sheila O’Malley on Dean Stockwell in Compulsion
  • Off the Page: Michael Koresky on Howards End
  • Scare Tactics: Don’t Breathe by Laura Kern
  • Make It Real: Eric Hynes on propaganda in documentary

Plus:

  • Michael Koresky on Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson
  • Ashley Clark on Charles Burnett’s To Sleep with Anger
  • Roger Corman on the industry, past and future
  • In Memoriam: Abbas Kiarostami
  • Sneak peek at Terence Davies’s A Quiet Passion
  • Kelly Reichardt on her artistic influences
  • Reviews of new releases Aquarius, American Honey, Birth of a Nation, Fire at Sea, The Handmaiden, The Apostate, and more
  • Restored films by the late Peter Hutton
  • Refurbished Critics’ Choice
  • New Home Movies section, featuring titles available on streaming and disc

Published since 1962, Film Comment magazine features in-depth reviews, critical analysis, and feature coverage of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Today a bimonthly print magazine and a website, the magazine was founded under the editorship of Gordon Hitchens, who was followed by Richard Corliss, Harlan Jacobson, Richard Jameson, Gavin Smith, and Nicolas Rapold. Past and present contributing critics include Paul Arthur, David Bordwell, Richard Combs, Manohla Dargis, Raymond Durgnat, Roger Ebert, Manny Farber, Howard Hampton, Molly Haskell, J. Hoberman, Richard Jameson, Kent Jones, Dave Kehr, Nathan Lee, Todd McCarthy, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Tony Rayns, Frank Rich, Andrew Sarris, Richard Schickel, Elliott Stein, Amy Taubin, David Thomson, Richard Thompson, Amos Vogel, Robin Wood, and many more.