Lily and Generoso spoke at length with writer/director Phạm Thiên Ân, whose stunning and pensive feature, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, garnered the Camera d’Or at the most recent Cannes Film Festival.

For Lily and Generoso, 2023 was a fantastic year at the cinema! They select and review their ten favorite films, six supplemental features, and one extraordinary repertory release seen at microcinemas, archives, and festivals.

During AFI Fest 2023, Lily and Generoso interviewed director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, whose impressive debut feature, City of Wind, carefully examines the juxtaposition between the identity of place and tradition against the powers of modernity in contemporary Mongolia.

Since 2015, Lily and Generoso have reviewed the offerings from the American Film Institute’s annual festival. With AFI Fest 2023 in the books, they are here to present their top ten favorite features from this year’s impressive slate of 140 films!

During AFI Fest 2023, Lily and Generoso spoke at length with director Radu Jude about his darkly comedic feature, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, the winner of the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival and Romania’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.

Director Pietro Marcello follows up his heralded adaptation of Jack London’s Martin Eden with Scarlet, a bold reimagining of Aleksandr Grin’s classic 1923 novel, Scarlet Sails. Lily and Generoso review Marcello’s exceptional contemporary take on this beloved fairy tale.

On Friday, May 5, 2023, Ashley McKenzie’s emotionally complex and intimate second feature, Queens of the Qing Dynasty, opens at the Metrograph in New York City. Lily and Generoso sat down and spoke with her about her process, the film’s Unama’ki Cape Breton setting, and the roles that technology and reality play in her work.

The winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2021 Viennale, The Tale of King Crab has documentarians Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis creating their first hybrid-fiction feature, which expands on the provocative mythologies birthed in the town of Vejano, Italy. Generoso and Lily review this immersive and imaginative film.

Lily and Generoso review Hold Me Tight, the sixth feature directed by renowned actor Mathieu Amalric. Centered around a brilliant performance from Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Bergman Island), Hold Me Tight is an unpredictable and remarkable psychological drama.

Winner of the Jury Prize of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria subtly draws viewers into a connective reality shaped by the sounds and images emerging from the unknown. Lily and Generoso share their thoughts on the film, currently touring North America.

Generoso and Lily review the taut family drama, A Chiara, currently in limited release around the country. The winner of the Directors’ Fortnight Award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film is the final installment of director Jonas Carpignano’s Calabrian triptych.

Animation director Jane Samborski and writer and director Dash Shaw join Lily and Generoso Fierro for a conversation about their latest film, Cryptozoo. The winner of the NEXT Innovator Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Cryptozoo is a dazzling animated feature that examines big questions about good intentions and conservation. The film opens up in theaters and for streaming on August 20th.

Dash Shaw has been one of the most innovation cartoonists of the last decade. His new animated film, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, voiced by Reggie Watts, Lena Dunham, and Jason Schwartzman, was illustrated by hand over a six year period. Lily and Generoso Fierro sat down with Shaw at AFI Fest for an interview.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul speaks with Lily and Generoso Fierro at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.