The eight-part miniseries #AmericanHostage covers the same true-crime event as the 2025 film Dead Man’s Wire, featuring a standout performance from #JonHamm but otherwise tedious pacing. @susangranger has more. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/22/ame…

In #KlaraandtheSun, #JennaOrtega plays a solar-powered droid who bonds with a brilliant yet ill teen--a premise that director Taika Waititi treats with more wide-eyed whimsy than edge, says @TeejFlix1, but Ortega burns bright. More here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/22/kla…

Shot with the observational intimacy of cinéma vérité, #QueenatSea centers on a riveting performance by #JulietteBinoche as a caregiving daughter thrust into a complicated situation involving her mother, who has dementia. @AprilMac has more. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/23/que…

Renowned film and television producer #NinaJacobson will receive the Polly Platt Award for Producing during the 33rd Annual Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference opening this month. @BAMOK has the details. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/22/wee…

The 64th New York Film Festival closed out its Main Slate with an uplifting 9 films directed by women. Not great, but better than last year. @MarBarFu reviews the largely successful #NYFF64 : awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/nyf…

The ambitious artistic endeavor known as #Digger is about the only nice thing @jen4green can say about the #TomCruise starrer from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. She says it’s #Birdman for the post climate catastrophe age. More here : awfj.org/blog/2026/10/20/dig…

#TenderLovingCare is director #MikeLeigh’s continuation of his Humane Profiles. The comedy drama, part of the #NYFF2026 follows best friends in post-Brexit England. @dcarson_critic says it had a rare, honest appeal. In general release Dec. 4th. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/ten…

ICYMI, AWFJ is proud to SPOTLIGHT filmmaker Zoey Martinson, director of the award winning feature film #TheFisherman. Find out what makes her and her new film special HERE: awfj.org/blog/2026/10/01/spo…

Tribeca debut #MissRepresentationRiseUp opens this week, & AWFJ member @valeriekalfrin says there's so much backlash going on for girls & women now, the documentary can't possibly cover it all, but is it worth viewing? Find out by reading the full review: awfj.org/blog/2026/06/11/mis…

This week: Jennifer Siebel Newsom's doc on rising backlash of women's progress in #MissRepresentationRiseUp Writer/director Habiba Nosheen's inspiring doc #TheGymnastsofFishermanColony Eleanor Coppola's film insider view #MakingMarieAntoinette More: awfj.org/blog/2026/10/18/ope…

Ghana’s Volta Region attuned a young #ZoeyMartinson to how humor and storytelling were part of everyday life. "It was the first time I felt truly comfortable claiming what I wanted for myself," says the writer/director of #TheFisherman. More here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/01/spo…

The heartbreaking documentary #APlaceofAbsence follows mothers searching tirelessly for their long-missing migrant children, weaving delicate visual poetry with stories of unacceptable horrors and unfathomable loss. More on our Movie of the Week here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/11/mov…

Now that the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (#TIFF2026) has wrapped, catch up on our team's coverage! Reviews include films such as #UnionTown, #AGoodLittleSoldier, #HeadtoHead, and #ChildrenUntold. More here. awfj.org/blog/tag/tiff-2026/

#VirginieEfira and #TaoOkamoto jointly earned the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival this year for #AllofaSudden, an "incredibly thoughtful" film about an intense friendship among a rapidly progressing illness, says @MarBarFu. More here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/all…

Focusing on teens on a school trip to the ruins of Pompeii, #LaGradiva ebbs and flows with the rhythms of its young subjects, eventually building to a surprising tragedy, says @MarBarFu. More here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/la-…

Fresh off an Audience Award at San Sebastián (SSIFF), #LaBolaNegra opens in US theaters this week, a sweeping three-tale epic weaving together stories from different periods of Spanish history. @jen4green has more. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/la-…

An unguarded performance from newcomer #AniPalmer makes #BigGirlsDontCry so potent, says Sarah Ward, conveying how adolescence is "a whirlwind of yearning, trying, searching, striving and flailing." More here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/big…

Based on Ursula Wills's audacious comedic fable, #Wicker is "a satirical fantasy while championing romance ... splinters and all," says @TeejFlix1. More here. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/14/wic…

The documentary #AlwaysLalisa follows global superstar #LISA during her transformative year away from #Blackpink. @AWFJ’s Sarah Ward says the feature from #SueKim is candid, compelling and doesn’t shy away from the K-pop biz. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/08/wee…

Country music queen #RebaMcEntire is back starring and executive producing Season 3 of #HappysPlace. The sitcom premieres Friday, October 23rd on #NBC with next day streaming on #Peacock. @BAMOK has more in #TWIW. awfj.org/blog/2026/10/08/wee…