Political Pandora

What happens when stories made for everyone fail the people they purport to represent?

What began in the shadows of queer underground culture as a subversive celebration of identity has, over the decades, been transfigured into something far more palatable and considerably less dangerous. The evolution of camp in film tells a tale, not merely of aesthetic evolution, but of cultural assimilation, where the radical edge of theatrical transgression has been dulled by gradual mainstream appropriation.

Hollywood’s recent run of musician films seems to show more than just an interest in music. But can the modern music biopic still surprise us, or has it simply given in, step by step, to the predictable demands of awards season as the infamous ‘Oscar bait’?

I would suggest that Cregger’s follow-up, Weapons, is him trying to reverse engineer an even more successful movie by having multiple swerves throughout the entire thing. The whole film does follow one story, in which an entire classroom of children save for one shockingly disappear into the night, running out of their homes with seemingly no explanation, and throwing the entire community into turmoil.

When Fantastic Four was released in 2005, nobody knew what to do with superhero movies. It  is probably best understood as a mainstream studio’s attempt to capitalise on their recent unexpected success without quite understanding the catalysts of their popularity.

The gravitational pull of Cruise’s star power and the enticing spectacle of watching him do his big stunts warped the franchise into being predominantly about those two things — Cruise and his stunts.

While Viviani is often forgotten by many, his work serves as a lens into an Italy of the time. An Italy that was built on a violent mythologized past, one that led the way to fascism.

On March 21, 2025, Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White was released in theaters. Beset by controversy and bad press, the film ended up having an expectedly tepid performance at the box office. But according to Disney executives, the source of all the film’s woes could be placed at the feet of one person and one person only: Rachel Zegler, who tweeted her support for Palestine.

Festivals serve as platforms to highlight and celebrate the best films of the year and as crucial catalysts in the evolution of cinema.