Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the New York Film Festival (NYFF) continues to rank as one of the most important film festivals in the United States. NYFF 2022 operates very differently from its early 60s origins and the expansive program reflects this. One of the co-founders of NYFF, Amos Vogel, quoted by Manohla  Dargis, emphasized in 1965 that the mission of the festival was to reflect the most interesting  trends and new works in global film making. For Vogel, the comme...

Documentary filmmakers can be very serious. It is a serious art. The Italian Consul-General of New York, Francesco Talo, aptly describes the Festival dei Popoli's New York Documentary Film Festival as "recognising social problems through documentary expression". But the most magical moments and memorable quotes of the festival were so refreshingly funny that I nearly fell off my chair.  Like the best of Italian cinema, the three distinguished Italian directors featured in tribu...

A great film festival, like a great film, raises questions. The New York Documentary Film Festival- Festival dei Popoli, from its opening film tonight, has posed a controversial one; Why has one of Italy's most awarded auteur films, 'Below Sea Level', (winner of 10 prestigious international awards including Best Documentary Venice Film Festival 2008, Grand Prix Cinema Du Reel 2008 & European Film Academy Awards 2009) not yet premiered in the United States? As Director Gianfranco Ro...