Film Comment is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, Film Comment began publishing on a bi-monthly basis with the Nov/Dec issue of 1972. The magazine's editorial team also hosts the annual Film Comment Selects at the Film at Lincoln Center. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, publication of the magazine was suspended in May 2020, and its website was updated on March 10, 2021, with news of the relaunch of the Film Comment podcast and a weekly newsletter.

History

Origins

Film Comment was founded during the boom years of the international art-house circuit and the so-called New American Cinema, an umbrella term for the era's independently produced documentaries, narrative features, and experimental and underground works. By way of a mission statement, founder-publisher Joseph Blanco wrote in the inaugural issue: "With the increasing interest in the motion picture as an art form, and with the rise of the New American cinema, [Film Comment] takes its place as a publication for the independent film maker and those who share a sincere interest in the unlimited scope of the motion picture."

Gordon Hitchens, 1962–1970

The magazine's earliest publishers were Clara Hoover and Austin Lamont. By the third issue, the publishers transferred ownership to Lorien Productions, a corporation that Hoover "formed to cover investments in artistic enterprises" (35, Feb 1984). This period in the magazine's history was marked by a predisposition towards low-budget narrative features and cinéma vérité-style documentaries. Hitchens was inclined towards a dual rejection of Hollywood and of the avant-garde (despite being acquainted with Jonas Mekas and Gregory Markopoulos and being involved in New York's avant-garde scene).

Richard Corliss, 1970–1982

Harlan Jacobson, 1982–1990

Richard Jameson, 1990–2000

Gavin Smith, 2000–2015

Nicolas Rapold, 2016–2020

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Notable contributors

Critics

Others