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Did Zendaya help Malcolm & Marie crew pocket a lot of funds?(Photo Credit –Netflix)

While filming the pandemic-era Netflix drama, the powerhouse actor, Zendaya, made a bold call that helped crew members walk away with serious coin. Thanks to her push for a profit-sharing model, some walked off set with an extra $300,000 in their pockets.

Yep, Zendaya made sure her team ate. She worked with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and co-star John David Washington to shoot the movie in secret during Covid lockdowns. The setup was simple—one location, two actors, one long night of raw, relationship-fueled dialogue. Shot entirely in black and white, Malcolm & Marie leaned all the way into intimacy. But behind that stripped-down aesthetic was a bold, experimental production model—and Zendaya helped build it.

The Dune actress revealed during an HFPA panel for the Golden Globes that she advocated for a points-based pay structure so crew...

The San Francisco International Film Festival (Sffilm) has revealed the Golden Gate and Audience Award winners for its 2025 edition, the festival’s 68th. Short film winners now qualify for Academy Awards consideration in the categories of live-action narrative, documentary, and animated short.

Golden Gate Awards were given in the feature film categories of New Directors, Global Visions, Cine Latino, and the newly named Kirby Walker Documentary Award.

In the Mid-Lengths and Short films categories, Golden Gate Awards were given to Mid-Length Film, Narrative Short Film, Documentary Short Film, Animated Short Film, and Bay Area Short Film.

Golden Gate Awards were also presented to Family Short Film and Youth Works Short Film.

Audience Awards were given to Documentary Feature (Ryan White’s “Come See Me in the Good Light”), and, in a tie, two titles were honored in the Narrative category: “All That’s Left of You” and “Souleymane’s Story” (directed by...

The role of any critic isn't easy. They shoulder the responsibility of bridging art and audience, serving as both interpreter and evaluator. We're human (mostly), so personal taste will inevitably color perspective, and emotions will create connection and keep things from being wholly objective. However, the most respected critics are mindful of this while examining a film's technical merit, cultural significance, and artistic achievements, daring to challenge whatever's flawed and push for excellence.

Honesty is vital, and this may cause upset, but that's not the goal (we'd hope). Critics hold the power to break boundaries and pave the way for creative growth, even if it can be a bitter pill to swallow. Size is irrelevant: it could be the latest glitzy Hollywood blockbuster or obscure folk film produced on a shoestring budget. The best media critic helps maintain integrity in the industry, reflecting strengths and weaknesses that creators may otherwise miss.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSNotebook readers, rejoice—the Mubi Shop has launched anew in the US and UK, and you can finally broadcast your love for the world’s sharpest international film criticism via this stylish, crisply screen-printed Notebook tote bag, featuring a clapperboard calligram design. Also in the store is a Cannes Film Festival–themed print by Dutch artist and cartoonist Joost Swarte, which was commissioned for our limited-edition print broadsheet issue of Notebook, distributed in Cannes.Sundance announced its lineup last week, including new films from Jane Schoenbrun, Steven Soderbergh, Debra Granik, Yance Ford, Brett Story, and more. This will be the first Sundance under the directorship of Eugene Hernandez, formerly of Film at Lincoln Center.Keep that winter coat handy—the Berlinale has announced that Lupita Nyong’o will lead the jury.

Apologies to André Bazin, Pauline Kael, and Andrew Sarris, but Roger Ebert was unquestionably the most influential film critic of the cinema's first century. In fact, unless the media landscape is drastically altered over the next few years, he may also wind up being the last film critic who ever truly mattered.

I do not mean this as a put-down of my colleagues. If you actually read film criticism nowadays, you know that there's never been a more thrillingly diverse assortment of voices in this too-cluttered arena. Manohla Dargis, Justin Chang, Scott Tobias, Angelica Jade Bastién, and Bilge Ebiri are must-reads in this house, and I could name a few dozen more who are reliably incisive and original in their thinking. I don't have time to read all of the critics I respect, which is both a frustrating and good thing.

But be honest, do you actually read film criticism nowadays?...

by Cláudio Alves

Angela Bassett did the thing. And yet, that wasn't enough to win her a much-coveted Academy Award. In the moment of losing, her face betrayed a visceral disappointment seldom seen in such a setting nowadays, where fake smiles are de rigueur. Many used that flash of genuine emotion to lambast the actress, while others felt fueled by it in their outrage against AMPAS' choice. I've previously written about Jamie Lee Curtis, defending her work in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but that doesn't mean I didn't mourn Bassett's loss.

As a white Portuguese man, I can't pretend to know what the thespian and her potential victory would have meant for Black audiences, specifically Black women – read Angelica Jade Bastién's Vulture piece for that perspective and a marvelous analysis of the actress' gifts. However, I'm an Angela Bassett fan who thinks she should have an Oscar already,...

It’s back and Criterion’s got it, so be prepared for sharp-talking insights on Billy Wilder’s nearly flawless, cinema-changing ode to cold-blooded murder, Los Angeles style. Edward G. Robinson wants Fred MacMurray but Barbara Stanwyck has him wrapped around her trigger finger. James M. Cain tapped into our city’s domestic malaise — who doesn’t know somebody they’d like to trade in for some extra cash? What about the extras? The Big C has Noah Isenberg, Imogen Sara Smith, Eddie Muller, Angelica Jade Bastién. Plus, we get the legendary Wilder interviews with Volker Schlöndorff, uncut and völlig ungeklärt. Revolver under the sofa cushion, anyone?

Double Indemnity

4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1126

1944 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 108 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 31, 2022 / 39.95

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Tom Powers, Jean Heather, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, Mona Freeman,...