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Film/Video curators: Best on screen for 2019

David Filipi & Chris Stults

Jan 07, 2020

still from the documentary For Sama

The Wex's Film/Video curators have watched a lot in the past year. Here are their thoughts on what rose above the rest. If a title is available to stream or coming soon to the Wex, we've linked to more info.

David Filipi, Director, Film/Video

Still from Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, courtesy of Netflix

I decided I can’t bring myself to rank films from a given year any longer. Here are 10 films that either moved me, surprised me, stuck with me, confounded me, delighted me…or, for a few of them, all that and more.

In alphabetical order...


Other Memorable Moments in the Dark

  • Arabs and Niggers, Your Neighbors (Med Hondo, 1974)
  • Christ Stopped at Eboli (Francesco Rosi, 1979)
  • Everything Barbara Hammer at the Wex
  • Hands (John Canemaker)
  • Inquiring Nuns (Gordon Quinn & Gerald Temaner, 1968)
  • Janie Geiser’s Double Vision program at the Wex – a cinematic concept album
  • Muna Moto (Jean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa, 1975, screening at the Wex February 28)
  • O Pao (Manoel de Oliveira, 1959-63)
  • Restoration of Moulin Rouge (John Huston, 1952, screening at the Wex February 29)
  • Struggle in the Valley (Youssef Chahine, 1954)
  • Watchmen (Damon Lindelof, 2019)
  • When They See Us (Ava DuVernay, 2019)

 

Chris Stults, Associate Curator, Film/Video

still from the Bi Gan film Long Day's Journey Into Night

Movies I Couldn't Stop Talking About

  • American Factory (Julia Reichert, Steve Bognar)
  • Atlantics (Mati Diop)
  • The Edge of Democracy (Petra Costa)
  • For Sama (Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts)
  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan, image above courtesy of Kino Lorber Films)
  • The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)
  • Transit (Christian Petzold)


Woefully Underseen


Most Welcome Reemergence


Well Deserved Hits


Wonderful Whatsits

  • Greater Columbus installation at Columbus Museum of Art (Cameron Granger)
  • Double Vision program (Janie Geiser)
  • My First Film (Zia Anger)
  • The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
  • Walled Unwalled (Lawrence Abu-Hamdan)


Favorite Older Films Seen for the First Time

  • Celebration (Olivier Meyrou, 2007)
  • Devil In a Blue Dress (Carl Franklin, 1995)
  • The Disenchantment (El desencanto) (Jaime Chavarri, 1976)
  • Entranced Earth (Glauber Rocha, 1967)
  • It’s Always Fair Weather (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1955)
  • My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945)
  • Uptight (Jules Dassin, 1968)
  • The War at Home (Barry Alexander Brown, Glenn Silber, 1979)
  • Women I Love (Barbara Hammer, 1976)