Daniel Schindel

[Sundance Review] Hooligan Sparrow

Socially disruptive activism is a risky practice no matter what the country. But in China -- where anybody on the street could be a government spy, one can be j...

[Sundance Review] Sonita

Sonita Alizadeh is a social media sensation, her music and life story having made her a cause celebre of the progressive blogosphere. A teenage female Afghan ra...

[Sundance Review] Pleasure. Love.

Purposefully seeking to avoid the perceived physical sterility of mainstream Chinese films, Pleasure. Love. luxuriates in sensuality. Disappointingly, the sexua...

[Sundance Review] Sand Storm

Scattered across the Negev desert of southern Israel are dozens of small Bedouin settlements. Unrecognized by the state, these towns lack electrical, water, or ...

[Sundance Review] Plaza de la Soledad

Mexico City's La Merced Market is a notorious haunt for prostitutes hawking their un-wear. Maya Goded, a photographer who has made prostitution one of her prima...

[Sundance Review] Belgica

Writer/director Felix van Groeningen based Belgica’s script on his father’s experiences running a nightclub in Ghent. How closely the story hews to the real eve...

[Review] Kingdom of Shadows

It’s difficult for Mexican documentarians to tackle their country’s drug war. Mexican-born American filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz explored the danger facing Mexican j...

[AFI Fest Review] Stinking Heaven

Writer/director Nathan Silver’s latest tale of an improvised family doing its best to wreck itself is one of the year’s most uncomfortable watches. A character ...

[AFI Fest Review] Chronic

Michel Franco is careful. The writer/director doesn’t want to exploit sensitive, emotionally fraught topics through lurid attention to detail or an overwrought ...

[AFI Fest Review] Men Go to Battle

Mumblecore and the period drama have (somehow) come together, and the result is far better than people who are generally allergic to the subgenre may expect. On...