Interview: Award-winning documentarians Julie Cohen and Betsy West take on the culture-changing and original celebrity chef Julia Child with ‘Julia’
When Julia Child’s “The French Chef” premiered on the Boston public television network in 1963, celebrity chefs were unheard of, and French cuisine in America... Read More
Maria Garcia
Maria Garcia is a New York City-based film critic and feature writer, and the author of two books, most recently Cinematic Quests for Identity: The Hero’s Encounter with the Beast (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015). She is the cinema columnist for Ambassador magazine, and a frequent contributor to Cineaste. Her reviews and features have appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including the LA Times, Film Journal International, The Brooklyn Eagle and The Progressive, and on Biography.com. Maria is a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic.
NYFF Review: ‘Unclenching the Fists’ in an uncompromising tale of female resistance from Cannes winner Kira Kovalenko [Grade: B]
Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching of the Fists is set in North Ossetia, in the Russian Caucasus, the site of the horrific Beslan School attack of 2004.... Read More
NYFF Review: Not everything is black and white in ‘Passing,’ the feature directorial debut of Rebecca Hall [Grade: B-]
Passing, Rebecca Hall’s debut film as a writer-director, is a studied adaptation of Nellallitea “Nella” Larsen’s eponymous 1929 novel set in Harlem, New York. The... Read More
NYFF Review: Engrossing ‘Prism’ doc examines how photographic technologies favor white skin, questions the “neutral camera” [Grade: A]
Eléonore Yameogo, An van Dienderen, Rosine Mbakam’s Prism may spark an entirely new conversation about racial bias in filmmaking, namely the “problem” of calibrating non-white skin tones.... Read More
TIFF Review: With ‘Julia,’ Julie Cohen and Betsy West whip up a charming confit of cooking’s most fearless and unlikely personality [Grade: A]
Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s Julia opens with a clip of Julia Child introducing her TV audience to “the chicken sisters,” the six headless fowl... Read More
Interview: ‘Respect’ director Liesl Tommy on Aretha Franklin, celebrating Black women and her Hitchcock moment
AwardsWatch spoke with director Liesl Tommy earlier this week via Zoom, a lover of Black people, a longstanding Aretha Franklin fan, and the first Black,... Read More
‘Respect’ review: Jennifer Hudson honors Aretha Franklin and belts out another Oscar-worthy performance
Liesl Tommy’s Respect opens in Detroit, in the home where Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) lived for much of her childhood. It is 1952, and “Re,” the family’s sobriquet... Read More
‘Ailey’ review: Well intended and researched, but ultimately reveals little of the most influential Black dancer/choreographer of the 20th century
Jamila Wignot’s Ailey celebrates its subject, the late modern dance iconoclast Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), in his own words and through his sublime choreography. The documentary... Read More
‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists 
‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards 
Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award 
National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10