The Prototype (2022)

Unrelentingly funny, highly entertaining, and ridiculously absurd, My Movie Starring Paul Dano is, according to its creator, Joe Bartone, a tribute to the willful ignorance of independent filmmaking found in the late '70s in New York City. Developed through open discussions with the cast at the reading table, the mockumentary follows a delusional and fame-starved indie director, Herman Rumowicz, through the process of making his very first feature movie starring Paul Dano.

In Deaf, the Spanish director Eva Libertad explores pregnancy and motherhood from the perspective of a deaf woman. Her movie examines how the world imposes the notion of disability on her main character while she actually does not feel disabled herself.

Disney/Pixar may see a bit of a turning point with Pixar’s new Disney+ Sparkshorts short film: OUT.

Four documentaries, now streaming on the Criterion Channel, embody the adopted slogan of the current protest movement: Woman, Life, Freedom

Like Fourth of July fireworks, the film Honey Don’t is colorful and fun to look at, delivering many bangs (sex and guns!) for your buck before quietly fading out.

Highlighting the many ways in which AFF 2023 illustrated that the queer experience is not a monolithic one.