News

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Accident (Giuseppe Garau)

It’s nice when a film chooses not to overstay its welcome, as writer-director Giuseppe Garau understands in The Accident. For 65 minutes, Garau drops viewers in on Marcella (Giulia Mazzarino), a single mother whose life is falling apart. Over the course of one day where she’s late picking her daughter up from school, she gets fired by her boss (who also happens to be the father of her ex and grandfather to her child), gets into a minor car crash with her daughter, and ends up losing custody. By using a clever formal gimmick that limits events to a single perspective, The Accident makes for a kinetic, creative, surprisingly funny experience as we watch Marcella not so...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Slamdance coverage. The Accident is now available on Fandor.

It’s nice when a film chooses not to overstay its welcome, as writer-director Giuseppe Garau understands in The Accident. For 65 minutes, Garau drops viewers in on Marcella (Giulia Mazzarino), a single mother whose life is falling apart. Over the course of one day where she’s late picking her daughter up from school, she gets fired by her boss (who also happens to be the father of her ex and grandfather to her child), gets into a minor car crash with her daughter, and ends up losing custody. By using a clever formal gimmick that limits events to a single perspective, The Accident makes for a kinetic, creative, surprisingly funny experience as we watch Marcella not so much climb her way back to the top as drag herself through the mud,...

Filmmaker Giuseppe Garau takes us into the bizarre seedy underbelly of the Italian tow truck industry in his slow paced yet captivating feature L’Incidente (The Accident). Previously featured on Dn with his mystery-laden short Seven Pizzas (Sette Pizze), Garau took a step back from big budgets and larger productions to re-asses his filmmaking practice and through experimentation with 16mm fulfilled a desire to widen his abilities and techniques, thus producing his first feature shot entirely on film. Garau found himself marvelling at the joys of not being beholden to a monitor on set, really allowing himself and the crew to live in each moment when shooting, a focus which flows through the slow cinema drama of L’Incidente. The film tells the story of Marcella a gentle-hearted mother going through a separation – captivatingly played by Giulia Mazzarino – who finding herself in a moment of need for money and work,...

Returning for its 30th anniversary edition next year, Slamdance Film Festival has now unveiled its full film lineup for 2024. Kicking off with Oscar-winning filmmaker Carol Dysinger’s One Bullet, this year’s festival will showcase 32 features both in Park City and Salt Lake City from January 19-25 and online screenings will be available on the Slamdance Channel from January 22-28.

“Our 2024 Slamdance lineup is a testament to filmmakers who dare to push their stories to the very edge of filmmaking, making it deeply personal yet globally resonant,” said Festival Director Taylor Miller. “Their raw passion and risk-taking echo our commitment to exploring uncharted territories of cinematic expression. This year, we proudly host the most inclusive and accessible festival we’ve ever had, staying true to the core objectives I aimed to cultivate with our programmers when I took this job.”

The 2024 programming was selected from more than 9,000 submissions, 1,729 of which were features.