Reading the Room
How a programme is built and what the scheduling is actually telling you.
- What the Opener Is Actually For
The opening film of a festival is not the best film — it is an argument about what the festival thinks it is.
- Midnight Slots Are Not for Night Owls
Late-night programming is a placement decision, not a reward for stamina — the slot tells you something specific about how the programmer is categorising a film.
- How to Read a Lineup Before You've Seen Anything
A walk-through of the signals buried in a festival announcement — country of origin clusters, section names, world vs.
- When to Trust the Programmer and When to Ignore Them
An argument for reading a programme as a curated argument rather than a neutral menu — and an equally strong argument for knowing when the programmer's taste and yours have diverged past the point of usefulness.
- The Second Screening Is a Different Film
After its premiere a film has been talked about, written about, and placed in a context that did not exist the night before — this piece makes the case that attending a second or third screening is a qualitatively different experience and explains why that matters for how you plan.