Yale Film Archive

Founded in 1982, the Yale Film Archive, part of Yale University Library, fosters a robust film culture and supports teaching, learning, and research at Yale University through collection,…

Stories

FIAF Full Member Status for Yale Film Archive

In Mexico City on April 20, 2023, the Yale Film Archive’s application for full Member status in the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) was approved by an overwhelming majority of archives voting in person and online during the General Assembly of the 2023 FIAF Congress.

Recent reviews

These notes were created by ChatGPT after it was provided with the following prompt: “Write a 600-word humorous essay on the Steven Spielberg film A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.”

When Steven Spielberg’s film A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE hit theaters in 2001, audiences were blown away by the stunning visuals, the heart-wrenching story, and the impressive performances. But what most people don’t realize is that beneath all that emotion and drama, there’s a lot of comedy to be found.

First off, let’s talk about…

“I wanted to make a love story between two women that was authentic. The inauthentic ones ended in a bisexual triangle or a suicide. It was foremost for me that this be authentic, and authenticity in this case means love.” —Donna Deitch

Set in Reno in the ‘50s, director Donna Deitch’s “astonishingly polished and nuanced first film” (Paul Attanasio) portrays the romance between a Columbia professor awaiting her divorce and the free-spirited younger woman she first encounters in what B.…

“I feel I belong neither to Taiwan nor to Malaysia. In a sense, I can go anywhere I want and fit in, but I never feel that sense of belonging.”
—Tsai Ming-liang

Born in Malaysia in 1957, Tsai Ming-liang moved to Taiwan to study in the Drama and Cinema Department at the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan. In a 2002 interview around the American release of WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?, Tsai explained his evolution to Kevin Thomas of the…

Shortly before SUNSET BLVD.’s August 10, 1950, premiere, Paramount held a preview screening for studio VIPs, many of whom were upset by the film’s bitter portrayal of Hollywood. MGM’s Louis B. Mayer screamed at Billy Wilder, “You have disgraced the industry that made you and fed you. You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood!” There are various accounts of Wilder’s response, all containing colorful expletives.

Wilder and screenwriting partner Charles Brackett may have bitten Hollywood’s hand,…

Liked reviews

*35mm screening at Yale*

PACKED screening courtesy of the Yale Film Society. Second go around confirms this as Park Chan-Wook’s masterpiece. The print was exquisite as well.

weeping in Alice Cinema vibes

This is truly phenomenal. But the seams between Kubrick’s script and Spielberg’s treatment are too visible, I’m afraid. Spielberg said in an interview that the last 20 minutes, the scene which made us all cry, is pure Kubrick, and the sexually-charged middle act was Spielberg. Kubrick’s gushy ending is essential to this film. But Spielberg’s treatment leaves us quite far from that ending, and so a series of logical leaps and timeskips really spur the ending for me. It is…

Mother’s Day showing from the archives