FILMS from AFAR

Calle Málaga is a warm and surprising tale about aging, family and sense of place. Veteran Carmen Maura stars as an elderly Spanish woman, raised as part of an immigrant community in Tangier, Morocco, who steadfastly refuses to spend her sunset years doing anything other than living the life she desires. She is a quiet yet determined 70-something heroine. Tangier-born director Maryam Touzani, who co-wrote the script with regular collaborator (and husband) Nabil Ayouch, has co

This article was originally published by The Alliance of Women Film Journalists Non-English-language feature films received a record number of nominations to the Oscars this year. The nominations show the Academy is "Becoming a Citizen of the World,” The Hollywood Reporter proclaimed on Jan. 22, citing the #OscarsSoWhite backlash from a decade ago that prompted the Academy to diversity its membership, including now a full 25% of voting members from abroad. But there’s another

In some ways, the title of this film is misleading—it sounds like we are looking at another Nat Geo nature documentary, but this is something very different. First of all, Elephant Ghosts seems more focused on the humans than the animals, which makes sense considering how elusive the elephants are. Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog narrates the tale, reminding himself not to "romanticize" the native bushmen but still finding them endlessly fascinating—the cradle of humanity,

This emotional documentary deftly combines foot-tapping concert footage with heartbreaking individual stories of living with—and searching for a cure for—a rare disease. It would be difficult not to be moved by the stories in Matter of Time of children and families living with a rare genetic condition that can shorten life spans and involve significant pain. We find out two of the profiled patients died before the film even premiered. Vedder is still himself on stage, cursin

Published January 2026

Her 34-year-old son was inaugurated as New York City’s first Muslim, South Asian, and African-born mayor on New Year’s Day, following an election that shocked the old guard and thrilled a new generation. In mom Mira Nair’s words, Zohran Mamdani “more than won the weekend” with his election. Leave it to a filmmaker to draw the box office analogy. Nair, aka Momdani, may be trending now because of her son, but the India-born filmmaker, 68, has been blazing trails for decades. “I