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.

SXSW 2026: Unsigned Gems

When it came to the nonfiction slate, SXSW 2026 was less packed with artistry than with “content.” The golden age of documentary has now firmly given way to the not-so-golden age of streaming slop. Such a turn at SXSW shouldn’t come as a surprise since the massive event has long taken its home state’s “everything is bigger in Texas” slogan as a mission statement. Over the past decade, the cross-media festival (which bills itself as bringing music, film, tech, and comedy together) has increasingly turned toward building partnerships with an untold number of even more massive corporations that care less about “keeping Austin weird” than keeping safe, comfort-food content king. Yet despite all this, as I noted in last year’s dispatch, the Austin event remains a worthwhile festival for small discoveries, especially American-made ones.

To read the rest visit Documentary magazine.

Fungal Cinema: Otilia Portillo Padua on Profiling Two Indigenous Mycologists in her SXSW And CPH:DOX Doc ‘Daughters of the Forest’

Otilia Portillo Padua’s Daughters of the Forest is crafted with artistry that simply demands the big screen. Indeed, with a kaleidoscope of eye-popping colors, and an otherworldly sound design that feels both foreign and familiar, the film is truly mesmerizing — and more than lives up to its “immersive sci-fi documentary” hype. Set in Mexico’s magical forests (for now, as the logging industry is fast-decimating what’s left of the territory), Daughters of the Forest is guided by a pair of young female mycologists, Lis and Juli, both hailing from Indigenous communities where generational knowledge, from language to the secrets of fungi, is fast-vanishing as well. “Behind every mushroom there is a story,” as one scientist puts it, and the Mexican director is determined to follow not just the two humans on a mission to restore culture to science, but engage with the cinematically stunning fungi as well (some of which seem birthed from the Alice in Wonderland underground).

To read my interview visit Documentary magazine.