FILMS from AFAR

This article originally ran in PROVOKED magazine. When Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, as the accidental outlaws Thelma and Louise, clutched each other’s hands and accelerated off a cliff 35 years ago, female audiences were stunned. We’d never seen such a fierce female friendship on screen. We finally had our Redford and Newman. We’d also never seen such a simmering condemnation of modern male chauvinism in a mainstream movie. It pushed these women over the edge. Thelma & Lo

The memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran has many, many fans, and they should be pleased by this faithful film adaptation. Staying very true to its source material, former English literature professor Azar Nafisi’s 2003 memoir about hosting a secret weekly book club with female students in post-revolutionary Iran, means the film can sometimes feel overly episodic, like chapters in a book rather than visual sequences in a narrative arc. But filmmaker Eran Riklis and team have succe

A book both beloved (over 100 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list) and banned (in Iran), Iranian author Azar Nafisi’s memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, was adapted to screen in 2023 by Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis based on a script he co-wrote with American Marjorie David. In 2024, it won the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival, the city where it was filmed. Reading Lolita in Tehran is set to premiere in the US on July 10 through Greenwich

Three Films in Competition, a Thriving Box Office and the Envy of Europe: Spain Is Having Its Moment From Almodóvar to a new generation of auteurs, Spain has arrived at Cannes 2026 in historic fashion — and the industry behind it has never been in better shape: "Spanish cinema is in a very exceptional situation right now." Spaniards may not crowd the streets by the tens of thousands to celebrate their auteurs the way they do their futbolistas, but there has been a palpable se

For a young Spanish director to make her first feature film in English with a Euros 8 million ($9.4m) budget—more than double the Spanish average—and with internationally renowned actors like Rebecca Hall, Noomi Rapace, Gael García Bernal and Beanie Feldstein is unusual. For her film to be invited to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival is even more out of the ordinary. But that’s precisely what Maria Martínez Bayona has achieved with her debut feature, The End of It, invited

After 73 editions, SSIFF has quietly become one of the most respected names on the global film fest circuit, and as its longtime director prepares to step down, it has never looked stronger. If you’ve spent time on the film festival circuit, you’re probably aware of the “hidden gem” reputation of the San Sebastián International Film Festival. The “gem” part is easy to explain: global cinema, glittery stars, enthusiastic locals, a size that allows for real connections, world-r