In addition to reporting on the Austin Film Festival and South by Southwest, Best Pictures students also have the opportunity to produce longer written pieces and video essays. These essays can discuss films that were part of the given semester’s agenda of films discussed in class, or on other films that students found particularly rewarding from recent years.
Fall 2020
Essays
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Céline Sciamma’s Mastery of Color and Light” by Vanessa X. Sun
Video Essays
“Birds of Prey and the Identity of Harley Quinn” by Marshall Comeaux
“Spike Lee’s Restless Aspect Ratios in Da Five Bloods“ by Mackenzie Graham
“Disability and A New Cinema of the Body” by Selome Hailu
“Horror and Social Commentary in Parasite and The Assistant“ by Emma Hoffman
“Establishing Perspective in Portrait of a Lady on Fire“ by Praveena Javvadi
“Cinematic Memory in Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Pain and Glory“ by Morgan Jeitler
“Repetition, Consequences, and the Time-Loop Film (‘Palm Springs’)” by Joe Levin
“The Many Cameras of Spike Lee’s Da Five Bloods” by Kyser Lim
“Atlantics and Feminist Horror” by Rachel Schlesinger
Fall 2019
Essays
“(Not) Sorry to Bother You: Boots Riley Unapologetically Intrudes on Capitalism” by Ross Trivisonno
Video Essays
“Burning, a Cinematic Study of Rural and Urban Life” by Anne Chow
“Magic and the Marginalized (Happy as Lazzaro and I Am Not a Witch)” by Amanda Hua
“What Constitutes True Power? (I Am Not a Witch)” by Amarachi Ngwakwe
“The Plight of the Child Onscreen (Capernaum and Shoplifters)” by Danielle Nwosa
“Humor Destabilizing Power in The Favourite and The Death of Stalin“ by Nila Selveraj
“Why Paddington 2 Rules” by Will Shute
“The Cinema of Chaos in The Favourite and The Last Black Man in San Francisco“ by Shannon Weidner