nia dacosta – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE – Review by Susan Granger

February 18, 2026February 27, 2026 Susan Granger 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, alex garland, Alfie Williams, amazon prime, danny boyle, Jack O'Connell, nia dacosta, ralph fiennes, sony

Determined to continue Danny Boyle’s bleak, dystopian franchise, screenwriter Alex Garland and director Nia DaCosta create a bizarre, somewhat incoherent installment: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – now available for rent on Amazon Prime. Reaching beyond the ghoulish brain-eaters known as zombies, this hardcore horror thriller, set in a post-apocalyptic world, re-introduces deranged-yet-erudite Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who built an ominous Bone Temple – ‘an ossuary’- an immense pyramid of bleached skulls, surrounded by tall, thin towers of trussed-together bones, resembling white bamboo columns – as a monument to death.

Reviews

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

January 21, 2026January 21, 2026 Valerie Kalfrin 28 Years Later, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, alex garland, Alfie Williams, danny boyle, Jodie Comer, nia dacosta, ralph fiennes

Bathed in iodine, his blue eyes and thoughtful cadence exuding calm amid towers of bones and songs from Duran Duran and Iron Maiden, Ralph Fiennes is the MVP of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. This latest chapter of the 28 Days Later postapocalyptic zombie saga—the second part of a new trilogy—has story issues familiar for many a middle portion, namely, that anyone who missed the previous film will feel lost. That said, those who found last year’s 28 Years Later engrossing and poignant, thanks in part to Fiennes performance, will enjoy seeing him hold the focus more this time around.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Sundance Film Fest 2026 honors Zhao, DaCosta and Gandbhir – Brandy McDonnell reports

January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 Brandy McDonnell chloe zhao, Geeta Gandbhir, nia dacosta, sundance film festival

Chloé Zhao, Nia DaCosta and Geeta Gandbhir will be honored at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival’s annual fundraiser, “Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford,” set for Jan. 23 in Utah. Zhao will receive the annual Trailblazer Award Presented by Google, DaCosta will be presented with the annual Vanguard Award Presented by Acura for Fiction, and Gandbhir will receive the annual Vanguard Award Presented by Acura for Nonfiction.

Reviews

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE – Review by Sarah Ward

January 15, 2026January 19, 2026 Sarah Ward 28 Years Later, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, alex garland, Alfie Williams, danny boyle, Jodie Comer, nia dacosta, ralph fiennes

This tremendous dystopian saga, a humans-amid-the undead tale that has now spanned more than two decades for audiences and within the world of its movies, returned in 2025 for the first time since 2007’s 28 Weeks Later. Whenever Alex Garland is meaningfully involved, and Danny Boyle as well, the horror genre gains a new masterpiece. With its unforgettable images of a deserted London, Cillian Murphy’s soulful lead performance, Boyle’s trademark energy, and post-apocalyptic musings both intelligently existential and emotionally evocative, it was never a surprise that the original film sparked continuations.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT January 2026: Madame Toussaint, Tressie Souders, Maria P. Williams and Zora Neale Hurston

January 1, 2026January 18, 2026 Leslie Combemale Ava DuVernay, Black women filmmakers, Cheryl Dunye, jule dash, madame toussaint, maria p williams, nia dacosta, spotlight, zora neal thurston

The current political climate, systemic bias and gatekeeping in moviemaking impacts the industry’s entire workforce, but they hit Black women filmmakers hardest. Those who today are overcoming – count Nia DaCosta, Julie Dash, Cheryl Dunye, Ava Duvernay among them – can look back and thank the early 20th Century Black Women filmmakers whose work and careers pioneered the path to current successes. It’s important for film lovers and filmmakers to know film history, and to recognize artists who created the chronology. We SPOTLIGHT four Black Women filmmakers who are oft offed in the telling of cinema history. They must be remembered, honored, celebrated for their fearlessness, creativity, and determination. Their work deserves space in our brains and their names should be on the tips of our tongues, not sidelined or forgotten.

Reviews

HEDDA – Review by Diane Carson

November 24, 2025November 28, 2025 Diane Carson hedda, henrik ibsen, nia dacosta, nina hoss, tessa thompson

Film adaptations of Henrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler are many but none has been as inspired as Nia DaCosta’s, in which Hedda is a Black woman and Ejlert Lövborg becomes Eileen, thereby doubly altering the storys power dynamics through racial and sexual transformations.

Reviews

HEDDA – Review by Sara Clements

October 25, 2025January 13, 2026 Sara Clements hedda, henrik ibsen, nia dacosta, nina hoss, tessa thompson

Filmmaker Nia DaCosta’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler imagines a woman who refuses to stay buried emotionally, socially, or even existentially. She comes back to life over and over, every time someone tries to define her, contain her, or silence her. This Hedda, played with combustible grace and glacial poise by Tessa Thompson, is not just alive: she’s dangerous.

Reviews

HEDDA – Review by Julia Swift

October 19, 2025October 20, 2025 Julia Swift hedda, nia dacosta, nina hoss, tessa thompson

Director Nia DaCosta doesn’t deliver the easy, beautiful, genteel world of manners audiences have come to expect from a period piece. Rather, Hedda plunges into the raw, electric undercurrents of desire, resentment, and power struggles that define its heroine. DaCosta reimagines Henrik Ibsen’s canonical play not by transposing it to a contemporary setting, but by situating it in an undefined modern world—a realm of opulence, racial and sexual diversity, and persistent social unease. This ambiguity of time and place allows the film to explore timeless themes of female repression, alienation, and identity within a visually sumptuous yet psychologically claustrophobic environment.

Festivals

FALL FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2025 – Christina Jeurling Birro reports

July 29, 2025August 3, 2025 Christina Jeurling Birro Agnieszka Holland, chloe zhao, fall film festivals, Kaouther Ben Hania, kathryn bigelow, laura poitras, Mona Fastvold, nia dacosta, scarlett johansson, sofia coppola, toronto international film festival, Venice International Film Festival

Bigelow’s back, Zhao tackles Shakespeare, and More as the fall film festivals unveil their lineups. The fall film festival season kicks off on the Lido in Venice in less than a month, then rolls on from the mountains of Telluride to Toronto, and beyond. This year promises a strong showing from female directors across many lineups. Here are just a few of the exciting films to keep your eyes on!

Reviews

28 YEARS LATER – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

June 28, 2025January 19, 2026 Valerie Kalfrin 28 Years Later, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, alex garland, Alfie Williams, danny boyle, Jodie Comer, nia dacosta, ralph fiennes

Two decades after jolting the zombie genre with 28 Days Later, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland reunite for 28 Years Later, a follow-up that’s bloody, brutal, and in parts surprisingly beautiful. Garland relishes exploring a world gone to hell, something the Oscar-winning Boyle showcases here. But 28 Years Later proves most memorable and elegiac in its quieter moments. It’s easy to draw a parallel between the film’s quarantine and various world events, how easy it is to forget horrors when they fade from public consciousness.

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