This article appeared in the November 23, 2022 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writingSign up for the Letter here.

Minamata: The Victims and Their World (Noriaki Tsuchimoto, 1971)

Named for the small coastal Kumamoto Prefecture city where it was first identified, “Minamata disease” subverts the myths of postwar Japan’s economic miracle, revealing the brutality of capitalism on a human scale. While the Chisso Corporation expanded chemical production, including as a state-backed enterprise in colonized Korea, its Minamata factory disposed of industrial wastewater from 1932 to 1968, contaminating fish and shellfish around Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea. Local communities that had depended on the sea for nourishment and livelihood were severely impacted by this neurological disease caused by methylmercury poisoning.

The filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto—who passed away at the age of 79 in 2008—made a series of urgent documentaries

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Humans have been telling stories for all of our existence; today, many creatives tell stories through movies and film.

What often starts as a hobby can quickly become a lifelong passion, especially as technology becomes more accessible. If you’re a new filmmaker, check out these tips to help you get started:

1. Invest in Versatile Tech

Film equipment is expensive—but it’s an investment. You want good quality equipment that will perform well and last a long time. But, as anyone who’s ever ventured into film production knows, projects can take you to unexpected places. Be sure the equipment you’re investing in is versatile enough to meet your needs, whatever they are—you don’t want your equipment to set limitations on your project before the camera starts to roll.

Nowadays, technology is pushing to be smaller, more powerful, and more portable. That goes for cameras, sound equipment, lighting, and even generators to

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British-Australian director Stephen Hopkins burst onto the scene in the 1980s when style was tantamount, and he had it to burn. But rather than becoming an icon of the era like, say, fellow British-Australian Russell Mulcahy (with whom Hopkins frequently worked, eventually taking the assistant director role on his hit Highlander), Hopkins’ career has bounced around in a variety of fascinating directions, with the director moving from big screen horror and genre flicks through to much more serious-minded work in film and television. And though he’s made big franchise pictures and other high profile works, Stephen Hopkins remains decidedly under-celebrated for his behind-the-camera skills.

After making his start designing album covers and directing music videos (with clips for the likes of Icehouse and Eurogliders), Stephen Hopkins debuted with the highly effective Australian thriller Dangerous Game in 1987. Grafted out on a low budget, the film stars Marcus Graham as

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This is the fifteenth year that I have tracked and presented [on other media in the past] an annual round up of the international theatrical performance of Australian Feature Films. Here, we cover films released outside Australia or acquired in the period from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.

After 2 years of COVID delays, this is the year in which cinemas have endeavoured to reclaim their place in the film ecosphere, nonetheless battling the continued rise of streamers and the reluctance of senior audiences to return to regular cinema attendance.

In addition to theatrical releases, I will also mention certain titles that have bypassed theatrical and were released directly (day and date) or virtually directly to VOD and SVOD in the US and/or streamers worldwide or on pay TV only outside Australia. The number of these titles especially in the US is increasing. Unfortunately, there is still very

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Swiss-born filmmaker Marc Forster has been making movies in Hollywood ever since his second film, death row drama Monster’s Ball, broke through, garnering Halle Berry an Oscar in 2002. Since then, he’s worked with everyone from Kate Winslet (Finding Neverland), Brad Pitt (World War Z) to Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction); as well as becoming the youngest ever filmmaker to direct a James Bond movie, with 2008’s Quantum of Solace.

Forster now returns with A Man Called Otto, an American remake [and adaptation of the Fredrik Backman novel) of the life-affirming 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove directed by Hannes Holm, which was nominated for two Oscars. In it, Tom Hanks plays Otto, a curmudgeonly widower who seemingly has nothing left to live for. Until, that is, new neighbours and a stray cat come into his life…

How did you

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