Leslie Combemale – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE MARCHING BAND – Review by Leslie Combemale

August 16, 2026August 16, 2026 Leslie Combemale Benjamin Lavernhe, Emmanuel Courcol, french films, Pierre Lottin, the marching band

A world-class conductor connects with the brother he never knew, in the French dramedy co-written and directed by Emmanuel Courcol variously called The Marching Band, My Brother’s Band, and En Fanfare. It’s a sweet story that never quite dips into sentimentality or maudlin territory, while tackling issues like nature vs nurture, musical legacies, the power of privilege, and how the feeling of familial belonging can help heal the soul. An enjoyable little flick, The Marching Band will likely have you reaching out to call your siblings or closest found family just to let them know what they mean to you.

Reviews

THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING – Review by Leslie Combemale

August 5, 2026August 9, 2026 Leslie Combemale andrew patterson, Angelina LookingGlass, beekeepers, bees, honey, Matthew McConaughey, The Rivals of Amziah King

The script is well-crafted, taut, and heartfelt, but sharp and a bit twisted. Imagine Tarantino or Ritchie, but Southern, PG13, cozy, and with bees. There are some plot twists you might not expect, and it behooves viewers to just go with them. The Rivals of Amziah King goes through a number of head-turning stages before it reaches its conclusion, with some entertaining action set pieces that keep things exciting. It never loses its underlying message about community and tenacity in the face of adversity, all while maintaining the utmost respect for southern culture specific to Oklahoma. Best of all, when the lights come up, viewers will likely leave theaters with a smile, just as I did. This indie deserves to become the sleeper hit of 2026.

Reviews

A LIFE ILLUMINATED – Review by Leslie Combemale

July 15, 2026July 19, 2026 Leslie Combemale A Life Illuminated, bioluminescence, documentary, Edith Widder, oceanography, Tasha Van Zandt

The life and career of Dr Edith Widder is a perfect representation of what a trailblazing female encounters as part of her work and personal life. Tasha Van Zandt’s documentary A Life Illuminated examines Widder’s life as a marine biologist and ocean explorer, and the film is, indeed, illuminating. Ninety nine percent of the living space on earth is in the oceans, and yet we know so little about it. Widder’s explorations and discoveries are helping to change that, as shown in this new movie.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT July 2026: MARJANE SATRAPI (1969-2026), Iconic Filmmaker, Novelist, Activist

June 30, 2026July 5, 2026 Leslie Combemale AWFJ Spotlight, chicken with plums, female directors, marjane satrapi, persepolis, spotlight, women life freedom

The world lost a great storyteller and a woman with a strong sense of justice when Marjane Satrapi passed away on June 4th of this year. The Iranian and French artist was an award winning graphic novelist, film director, and political activist best known for her autobiographical graphic memoir Persepolis. She directed live action films like Chicken with Plums, 2019’s Radioactive, and 2024’s Dear Paris. Her last published work was Woman, Life, Freedom, a collection of graphic storytelling about the present Iranian revolution. Marjane stood for freedom and individual artistic expression. Her work will live on, continuing to make a difference in how everyday Iranians, especially Iranian women, are seen by the rest of the world.

Reviews

READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 29, 2026July 5, 2026 Leslie Combemale Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, Daisy Miller, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, Pride & Prejudice, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Great Gatsby, University of Allameh Tabatabei

The cinematic interpretation of Azar Nafisi’s bestselling memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran is releasing in US theaters on July 10th. Based on Nafisi’s book, which has been translated into 32 languages, the film shares her experience as a literature professor who secretly held a class for seven of her most committed female students. They read and studied banned Western classics like Daisy Miller, Pride and Prejudice, and Nabokov’s Lolita. Reading Lolita in Tehran is perfectly timed in terms of speaking about the harm that systemic gender discrimination, one that denies equal rights to women, does to a society. It is something that continues to be an international issue, and is getting worse in a number of Western countries, including the US.

Festivals Reviews

MINESHAFT: THE CRUISING MURDERS (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 13, 2026June 14, 2026 Leslie Combemale Addison Verrill, al pacino, documentary, gay history, Jeffrey Schwartz, LGBTQ history, Mineshaft, Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders, Tribeca 2026, William Friedkin

No matter what you think you know about director William Friedkin’s movie Cruising, or, for that matter, about New York City in the late 1970s, you’ll learn more by watching Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders. Acting as director, producer, and editor, Jeffrey Schwartz offers up a fascinating, (albiet “kitchen sink”) documentary that explores the 1979 thriller starring Al Pacino, the gay history happening around the making of the film, and the real-life murder that “inspired” his film.

Festivals Reviews

MARCH FORTH (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 11, 2026June 14, 2026 Leslie Combemale A Performance of Felon: An American Washi Tale, award-winning poet, Brian Tyree Henry, Freedom Reads, March Forth, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Robe Imbriano, Tribeca 2026, Valerie Hong, Yale Law School

Emmy Award-winning director Robe Imbriano partnered with Emmy-nominated director Valerie Hong to tell the story of Reginald Dwayne Betts, who was sent to an adult prison at 16 years old for armed carjacking. After serving 8 years, much of it in a maximum security prison, Betts went on to become an award-winning poet, a graduate of Yale Law School, an acclaimed author and activist, and a MacArthur Genius Award winner. There are so many moments when Betts is raw and authentic as he is interviewed, but it’s never hard to watch him. In March Forth, one man’s experience, which has been neither easy nor simple, reveals the power of perception and the value of hard work to become who we want to be.

Festivals Reviews

JAIL TIME RECORDS (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 11, 2026June 12, 2026 Leslie Combemale Cameroon, Dione Roach, Jail Time Records, New Bell prison, Steve Happi, The documentary, The Promise of Music, Tribeca 2026

New Bell prison in Douala, Cameroon was built for a capacity of 800, but now houses nearly 6000 men. This overcrowded location is wall to wall with inmates from all walks of life, and is the backdrop of a story of creativity, artistic expression, and emotional authenticity that is Dione Roach and Steve Happi’s Jail Time Records. The documentary expertly juxtaposes cinema verité scenes of prison life with musical interludes using songs created behind the walls of New Bell. It’s a beautiful, visceral, invigorating movie that is as dynamic and hopeful as it is rage-inducing and heartbreaking. There isn’t a moment in Jail Time Records that isn’t compelling, equally drawing viewers in with the performances and the profiles of specific artists/inmates.

Festivals Reviews

HUMAN THEORIES (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 11, 2026June 14, 2026 Leslie Combemale female perspective, Human Theories, Jess Zeidman, NYC vignettes, Tribeca 2026

Part of life for city dwellers is the occasional eavesdropping on public transit, or the bizarre experience of running into someone you know, even in a different part of the city. Those are just two of dozens of occurrences captured in writer/producer/director Jess Zeidman’s fast paced and often amusing 70-minute indie comedy Human Theories. It is made up of 40 vignettes that might and often do happen in city life, in this case specifically New York City life.

Festivals Reviews

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE (Tribeca 2026) – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 11, 2026June 14, 2026 Leslie Combemale Alisa Kolosova, german films, I Spy With My Little Eye, Judith Rose Gyabaah, Rahel Hutter, suicide, Tribeca 2026

Oof. Grief is messy. Like me, probably many of you out there know that. But do you know about the grief of someone you love taking their own life? That’s part of the premise of the German release I Spy With My Little Eye, but it doesn’t automatically make this indie the downer it sounds. In the case of this film, writer Judith Rose Gyabaah and director Alisa Kolosova wrap the experience of loss around enduring female friendship. It is joy and pain and fun and frustration. It is all the very real complications, like petty jealousies, varied levels of closeness, misunderstandings made and corrected, and everything else that makes up the way woman friends love each other.

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