The funereal fireworks that conclude Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s short film Ashes (streaming now at Mubi.com) are both a commentary on a medium that’s “transforming or dying” and a reference to his native Thailand: “She’s like a ship that is slowly sinking.”

Sharing its name with a 2010 MoMA show and the documentary we’re screening next month, Pippin Barr’s 8-bit videogame The Artist is Present simulates the experience of waiting in line for a chance to sit down and stare into artist Marina Abramović’s eyes.

Like a stealthy criminal escaping from a crime in one of so many heist films, Holly has escaped danger into a crowd, this time by delivering a lecture to them. As the last two posts drew out, the lecture stunk, but nonetheless, Holly has been able to escape the near certain danger that seems to be closing in on him from all sides. Of course, this respite has been short-lived, and as the safety in…

The British Cultural Centre in Vienna has arranged a lecture by Holly Martins, yet Crabbin—the esteemed head of this cosmopolitan organization—is only now realizing his mistake: Holly is a self-professed scribbler of dime novels, not the literary artiste his audience expects. Compared to a murderous gang of shady racketeers, Holly’s current predicament may not be too life-threatening, but it’s…

Equal parts sci-fi, noir, and formalist structure, Eve Sussman’s new multifaceted film embraces two creative touchstones: the first is the protean symbol of the Russian Cosmodrome, and the second is its namesake, Malevich’s painting White on White. Mining a surreal post-Soviet ambience, the result is a calculated, never-ending fever dream caught in a forgotten corner of the Earth.

Equally critical of studios and filmmakers, Terry Gilliam says he sees no one making challenging art about current global instability. Studios want directors who are “a safe pair of hands,” while artists “are just looking for jobs and looking to get paid.”

John Waters, filmmaker and curator of the Walker’s Absentee Landlord show, is continuing his cross-country hitch-hiking trip. After news last week that he’d been picked up in Ohio, he’s now in Denver… and pondering a book on his sojourn.

Beard-wearing protesters from the feminist group La Barbe are angered that of the 22 directors up for a Palme d’Or at Cannes, none are women. “Men love their women to have depth, but only when it comes to their cleavage,” they argued in a letter.