Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31st starts with a sequence that doesn't advance the plot — and yet shifts how you watch the entire film — and ends with a sequence with almost no dialogue but a lot happens.

They're sequences I've returned to again and again over 14 years to figure out how they work — and keep discovering something new that shifts how I see the film.

In this episode, Joachim Trier talks about the problem the opening was trying to solve, Eskil Vogt talks about the challenges of writing the ending, and I talk about the pleasures of digging into them.

This month, I'll be hosting in-depth workshops on the opening and the ending of Oslo, August 31st as part of The Deep Focus.

👉 Find out more about The Deep Focus

Some of the best, most boundary-pushing cinema at the Berlinale is quietly tucked away in the sidebars where most of the press never look.

In today's episode, I'm looking at three films that feel like a step forward for women's stories:

Arrú: A Sámi musical from Norway

Black Burns Fast: A queer South African coming-of-age story directed by a Black woman

The Education of Jane Cumming: A Scottish period drama based on the first documented legal case involving accusations of lesbians in the UK

Taken together, these show how filmmakers are finding new ways to dramatize the systems shaping women's lives — from colonial land politics to the legacy of apartheid to the class and racial hierarchies of the 19th century.

👉 Curious about joining one of my film programs? Get on the waitlist here.

I only open a few a year, and they're limited enrollment, so this is the best way to ensure you get first dibs on a spot.

This episode was originally recorded for a panel at the Berlinale Film Festival called Let's talk about (short) films! Pluralistic Discourse in Film Criticism.

I was invited to speak about the online film programs I've been building for thinking and talking about film — where we don't just share opinions about a film and move on.

Instead, we're looking for something new: what does this film offer that I didn't notice the first time?

Because you don't need to wait for a major life change to see a film differently. Sometimes, all you need is a new question, a new lens, or the chance to look again with other curious people.

In this episode, I walk through some of the ways I structure those conversations to be places to explore ideas and discover something new.

And the best part? You don't need to be a film expert. You just need to be willing to notice something — even if it feels obvious — and let the group carry the torch from there.

Curious about joining the next film program?

👉 Join the waitlist to find out when the next one opens