It’s not every day you go to a documentary film and the director, star, producer, and writer (along with Kerry Gilfillan) is A. in the room and B. plays a few songs after the movie is over. This multifaceted human, who is a pianist and the story’s main character, is James Carson. He was at […]
The first time I saw a film by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, I was probably in my early twenties; it was Todo Sobre mi Madre (All About my Mother), and I couldn’t get enough of the rawness, care, and comedy of it all. I remember thinking: This is so different from other movies I’ve seen, […]
Okay, so maybe “love” is a strong word, but I did thoroughly enjoy Love Me, the new rom-com sci-fi drama currently in theaters. When I watch a film, or engage in any storytelling medium, there’s a particular intersection that I yearn for, a sweet spot where both art and entertainment converge and meld. It’s in […]
There’s so much in this world that empowers women and brings women together; our shared experiences, our disdain for wired bras, our love of heating pads during our time of the month, our desire to be understood far more than we typically are, and much, much more. These shared experiences are highlighted in multiple forms […]
Under the waters of the New York Harbor, a bed of oysters quietly listens to the landscape of life on the surface. There is the dull roar of motorboats, of laughter and shouts and horns, a green-handed torch thrust towards the sun; things of little concern to the oyster, but unbeknownst to them, of utmost […]
In the intimate, shaggy sphere of Providence’s classic Avon Cinema, a row of college students sit in their winter parkas. They are taking ample time before the lights go down to talk; munching popcorn and biting off the heads of twizzlers with gloved hands. The heat in the cinema has turned off, and everyone’s breath […]
Ann Clanton has spent two decades contributing to Rhode Island’s thriving journalistic and creative communities, providing support to the state’s African-American, AfroCaribbean and Afro-Latin filmmakers while running her own business, Ann Clanton Communications, as a consultant. Not only is she the founder of the Rhode Island Black Film Festival (RIBFF), an event designed to promote […]
A film about folks over 70 discussing aging may conjure images of trying to escape your grandparents at the holidays, when they warm up to tell that story about “Back in my day..” for the one-hundredth time. But documentarian Michelle LeBrun, whose documentary Optics of Aging premiered recently at the Providence Public Library, has managed […]
The changing seasons means different things to different people. The segue from luscious green, warm summer days, to the fiery red fall chill, doesn’t sit well for everyone. I always have the toughest time accepting that summer really is coming to an end; that the sun-soaked days will soon be in the past. One thing […]
Throughout most of human history, elders have occupied an esteemed place in most local cultures, handing down the wisdom gained over their years to younger people trying to figure life out. In more recent American culture, some of this has changed. The status and treatment of older Americans has perhaps never been more discussed than […]