{"id":62523,"date":"2026-04-23T20:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/?p=62523"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:31:32","slug":"taking-bold-stories-beyond-borders-at-first-look-film-festival-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/2026\/04\/23\/taking-bold-stories-beyond-borders-at-first-look-film-festival-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Bold Stories Beyond Borders at First Look Film Festival ’26"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roger Costa<\/strong><\/p>\n

I FELL IN LOVE WITH A Z-GRADE DIRECTOR IN BROOKLYN<\/strong>
\nIn this vibrant examination on language, cultural, artistic and romantic clashes set in Brooklyn, an eccentric low-budget filmmaker meets a recently-dumped Japanese actress and casts her as the leading in his hallucinating horror flick. Addressing a “lost in translation” situation, a language issue and the mysterious sparkling chemistry between two beings, the film creates a magical atmosphere since the actress doesn’t speak any English, but they manage to communicate and understand each other. Director Keniche Ugana’s colorful and oddly fun romantic comedy is a fresh love letter to young romance in the city, to the art of indie filmmaking and its rewarding sacrifices.
\n(Screens Friday, May 1st at 7:30pm).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

HOKUM<\/strong>
\nAdam Scott gives a career’s best performance as a grieving and conflicted writer who checks in at a historical Irish hotel only to learn that the place is haunted and has been home to a mysterious witch for some centuries. Following last year’s hit “Oddity”, director Damian McCarthy returns with a phantasmagorical folk horror about childhood trauma, murderous games and sinister creatures. Stylish and visuall\\y entrancing, it follows the writer’s connection to the employees of the hotel while he tries to finish his latest novel and confronts his personal traumas. Efficient and mind bending, McCarthy scores another goal in his resume, certainly leaving an impressive mark, and confirming himself as a rising horror filmmaker.
\n(Screens Friday, April 24th at 9:15pm).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

CAROUSEL<\/strong>
\nAn intimate and profoundly touching portrait of loneliness and second chances, director Rachel Lambert’s humanistic drama pierces together the lives of people on the edge and trying to find redemption. Chris Pine and Jenny Slate are fabulously endearing as two different loners (he is a divorced doctor raising his socially anxious teen daughter, and she is returning to her parents’ to assist them) who reconnect decades later after a quick high-school fling, and decide to embark on a mutually passionate journey of personal rediscovery. Delicate, sensitive and thoughtful, looking patiently at each character and their expectations, Lambert crafts a uniquely melancholic and absorbing drama about the pleasures of existing and trying again.
\n(Screens Friday, April 24th at 6:30pm).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

TO THE VICTORY!<\/strong>
\nA humorous take on the dystopian genre, this hallucinating mockumentary imagines Ukraine in the future, war-free, depopulated and rebuilding. A very personal meditation on family values, fatherhood and love for one’s nation, acclaimed director Valentyn Vasyanovych continues to investigate the effects and struggles of his people under attack, using a different, innovative perspective. An anti war statement, bold and unflinchingly effective, it reinvents the adventurous art of protest filmmaking.
\n(Screens Sunday, April 26th at 1:30pm).<\/p>\n

(Presented by Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, NYC, the 15th First Look Festival runs April 23rd thru May 3rd, 2026 featuring filmmakers in person and special events. Go to First Look 2026 \u2013 Museum of the Moving Image for details).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Roger Costa I FELL IN LOVE WITH A Z-GRADE DIRECTOR IN BROOKLYN In this vibrant examination on language, cultural, artistic and romantic clashes set in Brooklyn, an eccentric low-budget filmmaker meets a recently-dumped Japanese actress and casts her as the leading in his hallucinating horror flick. Addressing a “lost in translation” situation, a language issue and the mysterious sparkling chemistry between two beings, the film creates a magical atmosphere since the actress doesn’t speak any English, but they manage to communicate and understand each other. Director Keniche Ugana’s colorful and oddly fun romantic comedy is a fresh love letter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,16],"tags":[],"views":144,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62528,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62523\/revisions\/62528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brazilianpress.com\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}