Film Comment Live: On the Critical Attitude

Taking its title from a poem by Bertolt Brecht, this talk will explore the role of critique and criticism in the arts and beyond. Does critique represent a negative attitude to the world, or is it in fact a deeply optimistic practice, one that allows us to imagine and work toward alternative and better realities? (Brecht, again: “Criticizing the course of a river means improving it, correcting it.”) Is criticism always a response to art, or can it be a form of art-making in itself? Can one effectively critique an institution or system while also living within it? Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute will delve into these questions with a roundtable of directors from the NYFF60 lineup whose films are as stunning as works of art as they are incisive as critiques—whether of history, society, or art itself. Panelists include Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), Elvis Mitchell (Is That Black Enough for You?!?), and Tiffany Sia (What Rules the Invisible).

Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is the Centerpiece selection of this year’s New York Film Festival, Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough for You?!? is a Spotlight selection, and Tiffany Sia’s What Rules the Invisible is a Currents selection. 

NYFF Talks are presented by:

Free tickets for NYFF60 Talks will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning one hour prior to each event at the corresponding box office. Tickets are limited to one per person, subject to availability. For those unable to attend, video from these events will be available online on Film at Lincoln Center’s YouTube channel at a later date.