I interviewed the directors of the best film of 2026 so far, CHRONOVISOR
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
11.03.2026 22:35
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I interviewed the directors of the best film of 2026 so far, CHRONOVISOR
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
a V Mortensen travel show called Viggo In Italia
on Not Reconciled, I wrote notes on seven of the best short films I saw from the 2026 IFFR program
notreconciled.substack.com/p/rotterdam-...
In 1970 he got in trouble for a Navy Times article critical of the Vietnam war effort (that was the year he had 20 years of service and soon retired with career benefits to become a high school principal)
Apparently I’m wrong and the first entry was 1950, when he was 19 years old and first joined the Navy, and the cover page was added later in ‘57
My dad growing up in Japan where his dad was based as a Navy officer
My grandpa on Mt Vesuvius in 1960
First and last entries from a notebook my grandpa maintained for 67 years
“We reject that our programmers have intimidated filmmakers, that we’ve silenced filmmakers,” says Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle, and that’s why she’s going to individually contact filmmakers who signed this letter to intimidate and silence them into removing their names
RIP Simeon Fields, elder statesman of east Kentucky folk music, fingerpicker and bridge player extraordinaire, mortal enemy of Bush and Trump, immortal UK basketball fan, grandpa (and great-great grandpa) to a legion of us
they’re telling me this is a sports team mascot. no. this is the murderer in a giallo film
someone on the opposite side of the world in Melbourne organized a screening of avant garde Christmas films based on the list I made a couple years ago, and mailed me a copy of the program
Fred Wiseman was born two months before my grandpa in 1930; two men of a very different generation who fundamentally shaped my view of art, one through film and one through music
Now Wiseman is gone and my grandpa has terminal stomach cancer and probably days or weeks to live
for those celebrating the weekend’s holiday (or those who just like flowers)
boxd.it/t2Fhe
Josephinenhütte white wine glass, my all time favorite glass
drinking Fritz Lang’s favorite Riesling tonight
Just learned that Aaron Paul is not the brother of Jake and Logan Paul
Next you’re gonna tell me that John Paul II ain’t their dad
I’ve already seen a number of very good films this year courtesy of the IFFR program. CHRONOVISOR is the best of them but also:
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
Happy fifth birthday to my dog Waylon and happy twenty-fifth birthday to the song “Drops of Jupiter” by Train
ICE agents aren’t law enforcement who make mistakes or cross lines. They’re fascist thugs whose entire purpose is violence against racial and political enemies
Yeah, not gonna name the responsible party but distributor didn’t tell her. Which I get not communicating about every single rental but Rotterdam? Lol
Racism, safety for kids and migrant workers, the right of people to be in public without being assaulted by brownshirts, are all very obviously union issues
Solidarity with the strikers in Minnesota, and may we all rise to the occasion when the time comes (which it will soon, if it hasn’t already)
I asked an artist about a screener for her film at IFFR and she told me that’s how she found out her film is screening at IFFR
You can also read my review of Morgenkreis here: notreconciled.substack.com/p/morgenkrei...
I was very happy to interview Palestinian film and video artist Basma al-Sharif, who has been one of my favorite contemporary avant-garde artists for about as long as I’ve followed this stuff, and who made one of my favorite films of 2025, Morgenkreis
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
Apparently my slightly silly and fully shameless effort to get people to watch some avant garde films was the second most popular list on Letterboxd of 2025
A filmmaker friend sent an email introducing me to another filmmaker as “one of the most important contemptible critics of experimental film”
He blames autocorrect but I may add it to my byline…I would not have called myself either important or contemptible but if it’s a package deal, I’ll take it
In response to mass popular demand I’ve resumed my project of listing the best country albums by decade
The best country albums of the 1980s:
Reasonable people can disagree about which states or political programs count as socialist or democratic, but the bottom line is there can be no stable form of socialism or democracy anywhere in the world until the American empire is dismantled
Cheers to opacity, anachronism, interruption, and the impossible thought of revolution.
My favorite films of 2025, and a few words on each:
notreconciled.substack.com/p/my-favorit...