Our questions to Nicole Medvecka
Joshua Polanski interviews the director of Ukrainian rave documentary Who If Not Us; they discuss music subcultures, resistance through art, alternative spirituality, survival mechanisms, and more - from ArteKino 2025 [Read More...]

Glorious Summer
Polish woman are forced to "enjoy" perpetual summer inside the confines of a palace, in a film with a modern twist on an ancient tale - from the 25th REC Tarragona International Film Festival [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Austeja Urbaitė 
Joshua Polanski interviews the director of multilayered adoption drama Remember to Blink; they discuss absent parenting, "emotional blindness", not trusting casting agencies, Gorgons, her passion for France, and more - as part of ArteKino 2025 [Read More...]

Who if Not Us?
Intimate, non-narrative documentary explores the subculture life of the SHUM Rave DJs and artists, in Eastern Ukraine - watch it for free this December only with ArteKino [Read More...]

Holy Destructors (Biodestruktoriai)
Exquisite Baltic doc reveals the "unique and unrepeatable" beauty of microorganisms, with a very poetic sensibility - from the Doc@PÖFF Baltic Competition at the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Tallinn Baltic Competition: high production standards and women’s voices
Joshua Polanski delivers his verdict of the Baltic Competition, at the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival; the remembers the hidden gems and reveals his dirty favourites [Read More...]

Renovation (Renovacija)
Gabrielė Urbonaitė’s latest film is an aching and poetic detour into the bewilderment of turning 30, desire, and other sentiments - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Borderline (Siena)
An ornithologist is forced into the world of crime, in Lithuania's weird and porous border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart
Woman in her 30s struggles with physical image, health and love, in this Latvian film drawing parallels the collapse of the body and of the country - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Becoming
Teen swimmer finds peculiar way of getting a hormonal boost and fulfilling her career ambitions, in this slow and patient coming-of-age tale from Kazakhstan - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Red Code Blue (Tumšzilais Evaņģēlijs)
Latvian thriller points to heavenly justice, as a guilt-ridden police officer fails to deliver its earthly version - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

New Money (Uus Raha)
Estonians wake up filthy rich and imbecilically squander their fortune, in a comedy featuring some of country's finest actors - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Fränk
First loves go unrequited and impossible, in this utterly vile "coming-of-age" tale from Estonia - in the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Hunger Strike Breakfast (Badautojų Namelis)
Media workers go on a awkwardly uncomfortable hunger strike after the Soviet Union attacks a newly independent Lithuania - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Therapy (Terapia)
Two relationship therapists watch their own marriage break into pieces, in this amusing Finno-Estonian co-production - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

The Activist (Aktyvistas)
The final instalment of Romas Zabarauskas's queer trilogy is a multifaceted and inventive crime thriller - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Happiness is Living in our Land (Õnn on Elada me Maal)
Appropriately messy and entertaining doc about Estonian punk band that supposedly helped to trigger the demise of the USSR lacks in historicity - Doc@PÖFF Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

The Baltic Competition reveals 11 titles
Baltic film enthusiast Joshua Polanski looks at the newly announced Baltic Film Competition, from the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Divia
Drone-shot, technology-infused "silent" film offers an intriguing register of Russian devastation on Ukrainian soil - from the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Dmytro Hreshko
Joshua Polanski interviews the director of Karlovy Vary entry Divia, a "hypnotic" doc about Russian aggression; the Ukrainian filmmaker reveals the secrets of filming with a drone, music as "the ghost of nature", Netflix support, and combining military service and creativity [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Catherine Argyrople
Joshua Polanski interviews the American director of "well-meaning" feature film Growing pains; they discuss truthful stories about women, setting up your own production company rooted in social advocacy, universal pieces of adolescence and... rowing! [Read More...]

Growing Pains
American indie dissects a vast spectrum of issues plaguing ordinary Americans, but the poor artistry prevents the film from reaching its full potential - from the Boston International Film Festival [Read More...]

Out dirty questions to Jack Serra
Joshua Polasnki interviews the director of Generation Well, a powerful short film about about substance abuse, trauma and distorted reality; they discuss hockey, words that don't fit together, constraints that create a unified world, and much more [Read More...]

Generation Well
Substance abuse and addiction, grief, and trauma distort reality, in Jack Serra's powerful short film - from the LA Shorts International Film Festival [Read More...]

Valley of Peace (Dolina Miru)
Black American pilot, Slovenian boy and German girl seek the elusive Valley of Peace, in this heartwarming war drama from Yugoslavia - watch it now with ArteKino Classics [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Francisco Guijarro
The director of filthy genius doc Moses, about an "invisible" homeless man, talks about 6,000 people on the streets of San Francisco, watching the subject of his movie take his last breath, lifelong friendships, communicating through music, and more - read our exclusive interview [Read More...]

Moses
Homeless San Francisco man disturbs the pattern of invisibility, in this incredibly humanistic and compassionate documentary - from the Malaga Film Festival [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Brit Hensel
Joshua Polanski interviews the Native American director of Thin Places, a film about the hidden powers of grief; they discuss the cost of deep love, John Cassavetes, working with her sister, collaborating with 14 tribal nations, and much more! [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Michael Lavine
Joshua Polanski talks to the acclaimed portrait photographer and director; they discuss the fear of dying, death as a release of pain, filming with an Alexa Mini, in 2k and out-of-focus, electric rock chords, working with Cat Power, and much more [Read More...]

The Wanderer
Well-known portrait photographer takes director's chair in order to a create visually impressive short film about death and the afterlife - from the Sydney Film Festival [Read More...]

The Little Brother (Bratan)
Train journey movie with political tones and a magnificent cinematography reveals the wonders of Tajik cinema to an unsuspecting audience - from ArteKino Classics [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Yuxuan Ethan Wu
Joshua Polasnki interviews the Chinese-born and US based director of intriguing Sundance documentary Death Education; they discuss a very peculiar ancient tradition, experiencing the concept of death in school, crafting a meditative film with little information and dialogue, and much more [Read More...]

Death Education
Chinese teacher introduces the topic of death education to his students... by experiencing it firsthand - poetic documentary premiered at Sundance [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Muneeb Hassan
Joshua Polanski interviews the queer American-Pakistani director of All The Men I Met But Never Dated; they talk about autobiographic cinema, shooting in one and a half day, the closet as a safe haven, showing his film to his family, and much more! [Read More...]

Carole & Grey
TikTok movie challenges the old frame ratio orthodoxy, while also diffusing instant gratification and maximum sensory overload with its black-and-white colour palette - from the 24th edition of REC Tarragona [Read More...]

All The Men I Met But Never Dated
Closeted queer Pakistani finds tender loving in the gym, in a short movie with a taste of more to come - from the Woodstock Film Festival [Read More...]

Contact Lens
Contact lenses become a proxy for both liberation and imprisonment, in this Chinese tribute to Chantal Akerman's most famous film - from the Rebels with a Cause section of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Life & Love
Romantic drama set during the Great Depression navigates the psychology of desire, power dynamics, and the pains of love - from the Baltic Competition of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Tesa Man
Highly audacious, experimental and "silent" film captures post-metal band from Latvia performing in the middle of nowhere - from the Rebels with a Cause section of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Touched by Eternity
Latvian vampires up the ante by combining immortality and livelihood, in Mārcis Lācis's blood-sucking comedy - from the Baltic Competition of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Never Alone (Ei Koskaan Yksin)
Finnish hero fights in order to stop authorities from handing Jews over to Nazis, in this very familiar battle of good versus evil - from the Baltic Competition of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Amanda Deering Jones
Joshua Polanski interviews the director of Little Mother Lies, a short film about two feuding sisters, a bowl of borscht, and an addicted son; they discuss fiction written from experience, Russian heritage, optimism, nostalgia and more! [Read More...]

Our dirty questions to Llaima Sanfiorenzo
Joshua Polanski interviews the director of And Still The Seed, a "decidedly anti-colonial" film about the bond between trees and people; they talk about Llaima's native Puerto Rico, trees older than Christopher Columbus, non-human life as film protagonists, and much more! [Read More...]

And Still The Seed (Todavia La Semilla)
Puerto Rican doc celebrates the bond between trees and people, while also peeling off the toxic layers of colonialism - from the Atlanta Film Festival [Read More...]

Two sides of the same coin?
Using Deborah Correa's The War Between as a case study, Joshua Polanski reflects about the dangers of bothsideism, the gaze of the white man, and romanticising soldiers [Read More...]

All We Imagine As Light
Filthy genius movie from India bludgeons the beauty standards of both Bollywood and Hollywood, while refreshingly allowing women to find pleasure in sex - On all major VoD platforms on Monday, March 17th [Read More...]

Natatorium
Icelandic family have a bizarre, borderline pathological and incestuous, relationship with their own swimming pool - creepy drama premieres at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam/also showing at Tiff Romania [Read More...]

Steppenwolf
Adilkhan Yerzhanov's quirky child organ theft drama is highly stylised, violent and visually arresting; it's almost a samurai film - from the 58th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Yohanna
Challenged by thieves, police raids and child exploitation, Catholic nun forsakes her own religious and moral principles - Indonesian drama premieres at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam [Read More...]