Recent Releases, Chinese Action Films, Locarno Festival, Silent Cinema, and More

Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,

August! A time of summer, and yet also a time haunted by impending autumn? Let me workshop that deeply profound thought a bit, but in the meantime: here are a couple of episodes of The Last Thing I Saw!

The most recent one is a wrap-up of some highlights from the Locarno Film Festival, with a past correspondent from the festival, Keva York. Before that, I joyously tour the riches of Silent Cinema Week at MoMA, the latest in Chinese action filmmaking, and more with The Inimitable R. Emmet Sweeney. And before that, I grabbed the chance to speak with Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times about The Odyssey, the latest Jackass movie, Ross McElwee, and more.

There’s more summertime fun to come! So keep an eye on the podcast, and, as always, my thanks to all the supporters of The Last Thing I Saw.

Nic

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Episodes of The Last Thing I Saw are available at iTunes, Spotify, and so on.

Some streaming ideas.

A Poet (MUBI) The 1-2 Special Hit Arrives on Streaming!

The Hours and Times (Criterion)

Mad Bills to Pay (Criterion)

Cinema of Unease - A Personal Journey by Sam Neill (NZ on Screen)

Eyes Wide Shut (TUBI)

Still going strong! The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki is available for order in bookstores or at your online store of choice. My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service... all of Miyazaki’s lovely animated films are discussed in here—their inspirations, their craft, their influences.

Contact me if you’re interested in setting up an event or screening.

Here I may end with a song.

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. You can get in touch re: writing, editing, programming, moderating, podcasting, etc. at nicolas.rapold@gmail.com.

Besides hosting the podcast, I’m a writer, editor, and programmer, and the author of the book The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki (available now) and the editor of the forthcoming Frederick Wiseman: Interviews. My features, interviews, festival reports, and reviews are published in The Financial Times, Sight & Sound, Screen Slate, The New York Times, Filmmaker, Documentary Magazine, Air Mail, BOMB, and W Magazine. (Dearly departed publications where I’ve also written include The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine.) I’m also proud of the film series and screenings I’ve programmed, including both retrospectives and premieres—so do drop me a line if you’d like to collaborate.

On the editorial side, I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment magazine, where I was for 15 years in all. I assigned and edited both web and print, hosted The Film Comment Podcast and Talks, curated and hosted Film Comment Selects screenings, learned from brilliant writers, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Pedro Costa, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment received the Film Heritage Award from the National Society of Film Critics.