The Haunting of Pennhurst — Nathan R. Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak [Tribeca ’26 Review]

Nathan R. Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak’s The Haunting of Pennhurst is an archival and verité look at the transformation of the notorious Pennhurst State School and Hospital from a real-life house of horrors that warehoused the disabled for nearly 80 years to what could be considered a form of problematic dark tourism. But what sets today’s Pennhurst Asylum — which consists of “haunted attractions” as well as history and ghost tours — apart from the usual capitalistic ventures designed to profit from tragedy is that its marquis fright nights are sustained and run by a group of performers with a wide variety of disabilities. And they’re all as firmly dedicated to making visitors question why the unfamiliar often feels so threatening as they are to scaring them. In fact, Stenberg, a multidisciplinary artist and disability scholar who assumed he’d be documenting an “entertainment attraction commodifying atrocity,” has said that he instead discovered something far more nuanced — folks finding “community on grounds once designed for their death.”

To read the rest visit In Review Online.

Cannes Film Festival 2026: Lila Pinell’s ‘Shana’ and Pierre le Gall’s ‘Flesh and Fuel’

Lila Pinell’s narrative feature debut, Shana, playing in the Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s Cannes, revolves around a twentysomething with no filter, endless chutzpah, and nonstop boyfriend problems. From the film’s disorienting opening—in which Shana (Eva Huault), who appears to be the only white face in a diverse group of friends, storms out of a game involving werewolves—we’re thrown into the day-to-day life of a one-woman, slow-motion train wreck, as Shana approaches every delicate situation with hurricane force.

To read the rest visit Slant Magazine.

A Conversation With Nicole Bazuin And Andrea Werhun (MODERN WHORE)

Modern Whore, which world-premiered at TIFF, is the latest sex-work-destigmatizing project in an unusual multiyear collaboration between director Nicole Bazuin and the hybrid doc’s co-writer and star Andrea Werhun (who also served as a consultant on EP Sean Baker’s Anora). It’s based on Werhun’s book Modern Whore: A Memoir, which features Bazuin’s photos, and comes on the heels of Bazuin’s 2020 shorts Modern Whore and Last Night at the Strip Club, which likewise center on Werhun. In other words, this prolific pair have long been on a fierce artistic mission to bring the oldest and perhaps most misunderstood profession in the world out of the closet, and simultaneously slay some tired tropes in an inventively stylish and often cheeky manner along the way. A few days after the film’s May 1st VOD release (via Quiver Distribution), Hammer to Nail caught up with the Canadian duo to learn all about the productive partnership, along with what they’ve dubbed the “Modern Whore Cinematic Universe.”

To read my interview visit Hammer to Nail.

Humboldt USA

NATURE / Across fractured American landscapes, Alexander von Humboldt’s forgotten legacy links endangered species, damaged infrastructure and the technological urge to measure nature into disappearance. Alexander von Humboldt is likely the most ubiquitous name that very few have ever heard of. Indeed, the «father of ecology,» who came up with nature’s theory of interconnectedness, is both everywhere – with more species and places named after him than anyone else – and yet nowhere in the public imagination. It’s an oversight, director-writer (and producer, DP, and editor) G. Anthony Svatek hopes to correct with his subtly head-spinning, Visions du Réel – and MoMI’s First Look-debuting Humboldt USA.

To read the rest visit Modern Times Review.

Visions du Réel 2026: ‘Jaripeo,’ ‘Ghost Town,’ and ‘Humboldt USA’

Like CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel has long been an island in the sea of content slop that gluts far too many festivals these days. Indeed, for the big U.S. streamers seeking to nab the usual nonfiction comfort food, this renowned fest in Nyon, Switzerland, is probably not the event for their acquisitions execs (though there is a VdR-Industry component). But if you’re a docuphile like me in the market for artistic discoveries that challenge and surprise, then the 2026 lineup has much to recommend—especially with guest of honor Kelly Reichardt and special guest Sergei Loznitsa both getting fêted with retrospectives.

To read the rest visit Slant Magazine.

Little People problems: The Tallest Dwarf review

The title of Julie Forrest Wyman’s The Tallest Dwarf is a reference to the filmmaker and performer herself, who grew up questioning why her body didn’t share the proportions of those of her classmates. To which her loving parents, who gamely appear throughout the thought-provoking film, always reassured, “It doesn’t matter what you look like.” (Which is different from, “You have a big butt and it is fantastic!” as Wyman confesses to her older sister, whose own body never attracted outsized scrutiny.) But of course looks matter in every society, particularly today, a time when both Big Tech and Big Pharma are hard-selling, and lucratively profiting from, solutions to problems we never even knew we had.

To read the rest of my review visit Global Comment.

CPH:DOX 2026: Winners And Winners

This year’s edition of CPH:DOX (March 11–22) was as usual jam-packed with exciting discoveries. And unlike the Oscars, which aired the first weekend of the fest, many of the eventual doc award winners, competing in six categories, were well-deserving of those accolades. (Sorry Denmark, but I’ll choose The Perfect Neighbor or The Alabama Solution over Mr. Nobody Against Putin any day.) And three sections in particular showcased runaway stunners: the flagship DOX:AWARD, the emerging filmmakers-focused NEXT:WAVE, and the prestigious (International Federation of Film Critics-awarded) FIPRESCI.

To read the rest visit Hammer to Nail.