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After breaking ground with his 2021 movie “Casablanca Beats,” which marked the first Moroccan feature to vie for a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Nabil Ayouch (“Much Loved”) is achieving a new milestone with his latest movie, “Everybody Loves Touda,” which premiered at Cannes Premiere and is now eligible in all categories at the Oscars. It’s the first Moroccan film to do so.

“Everybody Loves Touda,” penned by Ayouch and his wife, the actor-turned-filmmaker Maryam Touzani (“The Blue Caftan”), tells the story a young poetess and singer known as a Shaeirat (Nisrin Erradi), who raises her deaf-mute son in a small Moroccan village. Hoping to give her son a better future and more opportunities in life, she moves with him to Casablanca where she faces setbacks. Erradi, who previously starred in Touzani’s feature debut, “Adam,” prepared for the part in “Everybody Loves Touda” for a...

It’s always fascinating to know the reasons why actors decide to go behind the camera for the first time. After all, the subject must have hit a very personal part of their being so as to take up the extraneous effort of mounting an entire story to the screen in a language that is mostly foreign to them. So, when Maggie Gyllenhall was asked why she decided to make The Lost Daughter (now streaming on Netflix), her answer assured me more than anything else.

She said that when she first read Elena Ferrante’s book that goes by the same name, her first line of thought was “Oh my god! This woman is so fucked up and I totally related to her. So am I so fucked up?” As funny as that sounds, the reason feels palpable. I mean, I have always wanted to see a mother on screen...

Above: Official poster by Yves Tinguely for the 12th New York Film Festival in 1974.The twelfth edition of the New York Film Festival, which took place 50 years ago this week, in September 1974, could have been convincingly called the New York European Film Festival. Out of the seventeen new feature films playing, all but two were European: seven French, three German, two Italian, two Swiss, and one British. Though festival director Richard Roud wrote in the program that “one of the most exciting developments in world cinema these past two years has been the re-emergence of the American film,” there was in fact only one American film in the main lineup (the world premiere of John Cassavetes’s A Woman Under the Influence) though there was also a program of four American shorts by Mirra Bank, Martha Coolidge, William Greaves, and an exciting upstart named Martin Scorsese. There was just one...

Gia De Sauvage is just starting her career onscreen, but she already has a model for the path she’d like to follow.

“I just absolutely adore Gena Rowlands, and I would love to have a career like hers,” the newcomer says.

She makes her debut in the new television movie, Nightmare in the Desert, the first of the cable network’s fall slate. The film is inspired by true events and sees De Sauvage as a young woman, Shae, returning home with her fiancé Chris (Tristan J. Watson) following the death of her father. The pair take a hike and the trouble begins as a man tracks them during the journey.

“It felt like a big family,” De Sauvage explains about the experience. “We all got along so well, and they were joking that it feels like going to summer camp.”

De Sauvage also saw it as an exercise...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSChicken Run.After earlier claims that they were “not in jeopardy,” the 29-location Landmark Theatre chain now faces foreclosure, though IndieWire reports that may not be such a bad thing.After releasing a trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis that included phony, apparently AI-generated pull quotes attributed to real film critics, Lionsgate has issued an apology and ceremonially fired a marketing consultant.The fast-food chain Chick-Fil-a plans to launch a streaming service, which will apparently include game shows and reality programming.FESTIVALSAhead of its premiere this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, we are pleased to share the first poster for Sofia Bohdanowicz's Measures for a Funeral (2024), designed by Charlotte Gosch of studio other types.

When Gena Rowlands passed away last month at the age of 94, New Yorker critic Richard Brody referred to her as the greatest artist of all the actresses he had ever seen onscreen. It’s an assertion that might come across as hyperbole to someone who had never seen Rowlands’ collaborations with her husband John Cassavetes on “Faces,” “Minnie and Moskowitz,” “A Woman Under the Influence,” “Opening Night,” “Gloria,” and “Love Streams,” but even a cursory viewing of any of those performances quickly validates Brody’s claim. And while Rowlands’ work with Cassavetes is her most exalted (and properly so), she achieved great depths of emotional expression for other filmmakers like Woody Allen (“Another Woman”), Paul Schrader (“Light of Day”) and Paul Mazursky (“Tempest”) — not to mention her son Nick, who cast her in a beautiful late-career role in his tearjerker “The Notebook.”

This month both the American Cinematheque and the...

In a tangential sense, no filmmaker working from 1960 onward would have gotten anywhere without the influence of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. But in a very real sense, Martin Scorsese has said he would have likely left film entirely had it not been for the support Cassavetes and Rowlands showed toward him early on in his career. Following the death of Rowlands last week, Scorsese released a statement paying tribute to her.

“Up there onscreen, there was no one else quite like her. That’s the kind of observation that’s often made about people after they’re gone, but in Gena’s case it happens to be true,” Scorsese wrote. “She had an extremely unusual combination of qualities. Her talent, which was extraordinary. Her bravery and commitment to her art formn— equally extraordinary. Her presence… this was someone who could hold a room by just walking in and standing there.

The 2004 romantic drama “The Notebook” pays tribute to filmmaker John Cassavetes through its portrayal of intimate relationships that transcend time. While known for its love story between characters played by actors Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, the film is also deeply connected to John Cassavetes and his wife and frequent collaborator Gena Rowlands.

Rowlands herself appears in “The Notebook” as the older version of the character Allie Calhoun. Her role serves to honor both her acclaimed prior work with Cassavetes as well as his legacy of independent filmmaking focused on authentic emotional depth.

One of Cassavetes’ most renowned films is 1974’s “A Woman Under the Influence,” which earned Rowlands an Oscar nomination for her raw and intimate performance as a housewife struggling with mental illness. Like “The Notebook,” it tackles complex themes of love, family, and the human experience.

“The Notebook” director Nick Cassavetes is the son of John and Gena,...

In the midst of their press tour for Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, “Blink Twice,” starring romantic partner Channing Tatum, the duo took a not-so-brief pit-stop at the Criterion Closet to score a bevy of cinematic treats. Many of their choices outlined their shared eclectic taste and emphasized a relationship largely based around a love for films of all kind.

“We’re so excited to be here, this is like a dream come true,” Kravitz said as she and Tatum began their shopping spree. “I grew up in video stores, so this is also just a nice feeling cause that’s not really a thing anymore, sadly.”

Though the video was shot prior to the death of Gena Rowlands and posted on the day the news broke, there’s a serendipitous homage to the late actor, as well her husband and collaborator John Cassavetes.

“We love Cassavetes,” Kravitz said...

In the history of American movies, and, arguably, of movies in general, there has never been a partnership between a husband and wife as consequential as that of director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands.

Not only did the two make several masterpieces together, among them Faces, A Woman Under the Influence and Opening Night. They managed to create a whole body of deeply personal features — shot completely outside of the studio system and often inside their own family home in the Hollywood Hills — that would usher in the era of what we now call “independent film.”

Surely, there had been some memorable director-actress duos before them, mostly in Europe: Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina, Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina, Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti. But in those cases, which definitely yielded their share of masterpieces as well, the director was the auteur and the actress his muse.

Martin Scorsese remembered Gena Rowlands on Thursday as an “extraordinary” actress and celebrated her formative independent film work with John Cassavetes for being “inspirations to generations of filmmakers and actors.”

“There was no one else quite like her,” Scorsese said in a statement to press. “That’s the kind of observation that’s often made about people after they’re gone, but in Gena’s case it happens to be true.”

Rowlands died Wednesday after years of living with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that her son and “The Notebook” filmmaker Nick Cassavetes only revealed two months prior. While commercially known best for playing the older, coincidentally Alzheimer’s-stricken version of the character played by Rachel McAdams in the 2004 romance, Rowlands will be remembered for her fearless, transformative performances through the 1970s and ’80s, including her Oscar-nominated leading roles in Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria.”

“She had...

Every great screen performance expands the medium in its own way, giving audiences something to respond to, while offering fresh ideas to future actors. A select few can be said to have redefined the craft entirely: Orson Welles in “Citizen Kane,” Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront,” Toshiro Mifune in “Rashomon” and Gena Rowlands in “A Woman Under the Influence.”

Rowlands died Wednesday at age 94, half a century after “A Woman Under the Influence” premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1974. Rowlands was the last to go from among a tight clique of titans — actors who transformed modern cinema: Peter Falk, Seymour Cassel, Ben Gazzara and, of course, Rowlands’ late husband, actor-director John Cassavetes.

Younger audiences who know Rowlands only as the memory-challenged older woman in “The Notebook” (directed by her son Nick Cassavetes) or for her Emmy-winning turn in “Hysterical Blindness” owe it to themselves to investigate her most important work,...

Gena Rowlands, a celebrated actress with a career spanning over six decades, is best known for her compelling performances in a series of films that have left a mark on American cinema.

As previously reported on Monsters and Critics, Rowlands died at 94.

The legendary actress had Alzheimer’s disease, but her cause of death has not been disclosed.

Her collaborations with her husband, the acclaimed independent filmmaker John Cassavetes, resulted in some of their era’s most powerful and critically acclaimed films.

Following her death, many film watchers are wondering which of her films to stream.

Below is a ranking of five of Rowlands’ best movies based on their critical acclaim and lasting impact on film history.

Gena Rowlands’ best movies to watch

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) is often regarded as Rowlands’ most iconic role; the movie profoundly explores mental illness and domestic life.

Directed by John Cassavetes, the...

Gena Rowlands, the celebrated actress and muse of John Cassavetes, whose raw talent in films like Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, Opening Night, and Gloria secured her place among the greats of cinema, passed away on Wednesday at 94.

The actress died at her home in Indian Wells, California, surrounded by her family.

Rowlands was a groundbreaking actress renowned for her intense and emotionally charged performances.

Her portrayal of complex, often troubled women in films like A Woman Under the Influence and Opening Night earned her critical acclaim and multiple award nominations.

Rowlands’ fearless approach to acting broke new ground in portraying raw, unfiltered human emotions on screen.

Beyond her work with Cassavetes, she also enjoyed a successful career in television and other films, leaving a lasting legacy that includes her children.

Gena Rowlands’s children are all Hollywood stars

Nick Cassavetes is perhaps the most well-known among her children.

Gena Rowlands, the acclaimed actress known for her captivating roles in A Woman Under the Influence and The Notebook, passed away at the age of 94.

Rowlands died in the afternoon at her home in Indian Wells, California, on August 14, surrounded by her family.

While no official cause of death was provided, it is known that the retired actress had been battling Alzheimer’s, a poignant connection to her role as the elder Allie in The Notebook.

Per Variety, her passing was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent.

According to NPR, in 1950, Rowlands moved to New York to study acting at the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts, where she met fellow student John Cassavetes.

However, she eventually left the academy and started her professional acting career, making her stage debut in a minor role in Paddy Chayefsky’s Middle of the Night on Broadway.

Gena Rowlands’ son...

Yesterday, the world said goodbye to classic Hollywood actress Gena Rowlands. Rowlands was known for films like A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, The Skeleton Key and The Notebook. According to Deadline, Rowlands had passed at her home in Indian Wells, California. The cause of death was not yet announced; however, it is said that she was surrounded by family at the time of passing. The actress had been battling with Alzheimer’s disease for some time.

Rowlands debuted on the film scene with her first film in 1958, The High Cost of Living. She would have numerous titles on her resume that came from both movies and television. She would notably collaborate with her husband, director John Cassavetes, on a number of projects. The star would even garner a couple of Academy Award nominations for her work in the films A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, which were directed by Cassavetes.

Beloved actor Gena Rowlands has died at the age of 94, it has been confirmed. The star – best known for films like A Woman Under The Influence and Gloria, directed by her husband John Cassavetes – was renowned for her raw and uncompromising performances, making an indelible impact on cinema often while working outside of the Hollywood studio system. Rowlands passed away at home, following a previous diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

While Rowlands made her big-screen debut in 1958’s The High Cost Of Loving, her cinematic collaborations with Cassavetes as director began in 1963 with A Child Is Waiting – and continued through the likes of 1968’s Faces, 1971’s Minnie And Moskowitz, 1974’s A Woman Under The Influence, 1977’s Opening Night, 1980’s Gloria, and 1984’s Love Streams. Their work together marked early examples of independent cinema. A Woman Under The Influence – for which Rowlands won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar...

Actress Gena Rowlands, winner of three Emmy Awards and an Honorary Academy Award in addition to two nominations, died on Wednesday as confirmed by the office of her son, filmmaker Nick Cassavetes. She had been living with Alzheimer’s Disease for five years and was 94 years old.

Rowlands began her career on Broadway in the 1950s, appearing in productions of “The Seven Year Itch” and “Middle of the Night.” She worked in early television, including revered anthology programs like “Studio One” and “The United States Steel Hour.” She also appeared on the jazzy detective program “Johnny Staccato” opposite her husband John Cassavetes.

It was with Cassavetes and his troupe, including Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Seymour Cassel, that pretty much invented the prestige American independent film, with groundbreaking collaborations like “Faces,” “Minnie and Moskowitz,” and “Opening Night.” This led to Oscar nominations for her leading roles in “A Woman Under The Influence...

Gena Rowlands, known for her fearless film performances and collaboration with husband John Cassavetes, died on October 26th at her home in Indian Wells, California. She was 94 years old. Rowlands’ son Nick Cassavetes, a film director, confirmed her passing. Earlier this year, Rowlands had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Over a career that spanned six decades, Rowlands established herself as a versatile actress capable of complex, challenging roles. Her breakout role came in 1974 with A Woman Under the Influence, directed by John Cassavetes. Rowlands played a housewife struggling with mental illness, earning her first Oscar nomination for the raw, emotionally charged performance. Film critic Janet Maslin praised Rowlands’ “physical and emotional elasticity” in navigating her character’s shifting moods.

Rowlands went on to collaborate with Cassavetes in ten films, helping define independent cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. They included Faces (1968) and Opening Night (1977). Her role in Gloria (1980) earned a second Oscar nomination.

Subtle yet tough and fearless, the actor blazed a trail through American movies in the 70s – in particular in close collaboration with her husband John Cassavetes

• Gena Rowlands, star of A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, dies at 94

‘I was always a Broad! I can’t stand the sight of Milk!” This is Gena Rowlands at her awe-inspiring toughest in John Cassavetes’ extraordinary drama-thriller Gloria from 1980. She is sexy, smart, a match for any man. Rowlands was a strong, passionate heroine in the tradition of Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis and Lauren Bacall. In fact, her director-husband John Cassavetes was in some ways Bogart to her Bacall. Rowlands staked a claim to the male prerogative of being sensual, dangerous and damaged; a natural survivor. In Gloria, and also in Woody Allen’s Another Woman (1988), in which she plays a severe philosophy professor, Rowlands wears a belted trenchcoat, the kind that Bogart would wear.

Gena Rowlands was remembered far and wide on film Twitter Wednesday as one of “the greatest actors to ever do it.”

News of the 94-year-old icon’s death came Wednesday evening, two months after her son and “The Notebook” director Nick Cassavetes revealed she had been living with Alzheimer’s disease for five years. Aside from contemporary commercial successes like “The Notebook,” the actress’ body of work included a string of formative John Cassavetes collaborations including “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria,” both for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She was also a four-time Emmy Award winner for her work in television.

As news of her death broke, tributes from fans poured in on X. Actor and comedian Michael Rapaport described Rowlands as “gorgeous and gritty.” He said wrote, “The Great Gena Rowlands has passed. Absolutely a game changing actress.”

The Great Gena Rowlands has passed. Absolutely a game changing actress.

The three-time Emmy winner has been celebrated for her vivid portrayals of strong, troubled women, including in 10 films directed by her first husband John Cassavetes

• Peter Bradshaw on Gena Rowlands: the fiercest, most incandescent star of US indie cinema

Gena Rowlands, the Oscar-nominated actor best known for the string of films she collaborated on with her husband, the director John Cassavetes, has died aged 94 her son, Nick Cassavetes, said on Wednesday. In 2024 Nick revealed that she had Alzheimer’s.

A successful actor before and after her films with John Cassavetes, it is nevertheless the string of films she made with her actor-turned-director husband that came to define her career. In Faces (1968), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Opening Night (1977), Gloria (1980) and Love Streams (1984), Rowlands played a series of groundbreaking roles as damaged and yearning women in emotionally committed performances of a kind all too rare in American cinema of the period.

Gena Rowlands, the legendary actress who became one of the first major faces of American independent film through her collaborations with her late husband John Cassavetes, has died at the age of 94.

Rowlands, who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, died on Wednesday, August 14 in the afternoon at her home in Indian Wells, California, according to multiple media reports. No cause of death was given.

Born in Cambria, Wisconsin in 1930, Rowlands began acting in stage productions in the 1950s, gradually working her way up from regional theater to Broadway before becoming a regular presence on television. By the end of the decade she was frequently leading TV movies and making guest appearances on major network shows.

In 1954, Rowlands married John Cassavetes, who would go on to become her most important collaborator. Rowlands starred in ten films written and directed by Cassavetes, many of which were self-financed and quickly shot...

Gena Rowlands, whose illustrious career saw her star in A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, and The Notebook, died Wednesday at the age of 94.

The actress died at her home in Indian Wells and her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent, Variety confirmed. In June, her son, The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes, shared the news that his mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the film, Rowlands famously played the older version of Allie, Rachel McAdams’ character, who was also suffering from dementia.

Actress Gena Rowlands, who earned four Emmys and two Oscar nominations in a long and decorated Hollywood career, has passed away at the age of 94.

Rowlands died on Wednesday at her California home surrounded by family, our sister site Deadline reports. No official cause of death has been released, but she had been battling Alzheimer’s disease for the past five years, according to her son Nick Cassavetes.

More from TVLinePeter Marshall, Emmy-Winning Host of Hollywood Squares, Dead at 98Patti Yasutake, Who Played Star Trek: Tng's Nurse Ogawa, Dead at 70Former NCIS Showrunner George Schenck Dead at 82

After studying...

Whenever an actor passes away, the expression "greatest to ever do it" is often tossed around. In the case of four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner Gena Rowlands, the legendary star of the stage, television, and film with a career spanning nearly seven decades, the expression feels somewhat inadequate. Her presence on screen was unwavering and incomparable, a captivating presence who could express a character's entire life story with the lift of an eyebrow or the lighting of a cigarette. She was the type of performer that actors aspired to be more like, and displayed an authentic sense of vulnerability that few have come close to matching. Her passing was first reported by TMZ. She was 94.

Rowlands was graced with an honorary Oscar in 2015, a year after her final on-screen performance. She had been nominated twice before, and one could easily argue that she should have taken home the statue both times.

Gena Rowlands, the wife and muse of John Cassavetes whose unvarnished abilities found in such films as Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, Opening Night and Gloria put her in the pantheon of acting legends, died Wednesday. She was 94.

Rowlands died surrounded by family members at her home in Indian Wells, California, according to TMZ. A spokesperson for WME, where her son, writer-director Nick Cassavetes, has representation, confirmed her death. She had battled Alzheimer’s since 2019.

Rowlands received Oscar nominations for her performances in A Woman Under the Influence (1974), where she played an isolated, emotionally vulnerable housewife who lapses into madness, and Gloria (1980), where she sparkled as a pissed-off child protector who rails against the Mob.

She lost out to Ellen Burstyn of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Sissy Spacek of Coal Miner’s Daughter in those Academy Award races. Her greatness wasn’t formally acknowledged by the Academy...

Gena Rowlands, whose seminal and fearless performance in “A Woman Under the Influence” inspired a generation and who starred in many other John Cassavetes features as well as the romance “The Notebook,” died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, Calif. She was 94.

Her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent. In June, Nick Cassavetes, who directed his mother in “The Notebook,” shared that the three-time Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Rowlands’ role as Mabel Longhetti in the 1974 drama “A Woman Under the Influence,” written for her and directed by husband John Cassavetes, landed the actor the first of two Academy Award nominations. The other nom was for “Gloria” (1980), also directed by her husband. In November 2015, she was awarded an honorary Academy Award at the annual Governors Awards in recognition of her storied career.

“Working this long? I didn...

Gena Rowlands, the award-winning actress known for her roles in films such as A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, and The Notebook, has died at the age of 94.

Rowlands died Wednesday, August 14th, at her home in Indian Wells, California, according to TMZ. She had been battling Alzheimer’s disease.

Hailing from Cambria, Wisconsin, Rowlands originally got her start in theater, studying drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Upon graduating, she starred in several repertory productions before making her Broadway debut in The Seven Year Itch. She later starred in the Broadway play Middle of the Night.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, Rowlands transitioned to a career in television. She starred in the syndicated television series Top Secret and made guest appearances on shows including Laramie, Riverboat, 77 Sunset Strip, and Dr. Kildare. She also appeared on several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

However,...

Gena Rowlands, the actress who played the senior version of Allie in The Notebook, has sadly passed away.

According to reporting by TMZ, the actress died on Wednesday (August 14). She was 94.

Keep reading to find out more…

The outlet reported that her family was with her at her home in Indian Wells, Calif. at the time of her passing. A cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

Gena‘s death comes months after her son Nick Cassavetes announced that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. If you were unaware, her character Allie has the same illness in The Notebook.

“I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s. She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it,...

Gena Rowlands, a multiple Emmy winner whose captivating work in A Woman Under the Influence and as the elder and dementia-ridden Allie in The Notebook also moved moviegoers, died Wednesday surrounded by family at her home in Indian Wells, CA. She was 94.

No cause of death was given, but the retired actress had been battling Alzheimer’s disease, ironic in light of her famous film role.

She retired from Hollywood in 2015 after earning four Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes and two Oscar nominations. Her Oscar noms included A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, both borne of collaborations with her late husband, John Cassavetes. The duo made an indelible mark on American independent film, not just for the often revelatory end product, but also for the DIY way they made their movies.

A Woman Under the Influence was prompted by Rowlands, who wanted to delve into the difficulties faced by...

Gena Rowlands, the iconic actress known for her role as the older Allie in “The Notebook” and a formative career in John Cassavetes classes like “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria,” has died at the age of 94, according to media reports.

The honorary Oscar winner famously portrayed the elderly version of Rachel McAdams’ character in her son Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 romantic drama opposite the late James Garner. News of her death came two months after Cassavetes revealed his mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis — the same disease her character suffers from in “The Notebook.”

“I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” he told EW. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence as well as The Notebook, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands starred in her son Nick...

The iconic Criterion Collection has expanded into viral Closet trips, its streaming channel, and of course its staple 4k restorations on Blu-ray. Now, the Criterion Collection celebrates 40 years since its founding with a monumental 40-film box set including works from auteurs Agnès Varda, Spike Lee, Jean-Luc Godard, and Federico Fellini.

The box set, titled CC40, spans an eclectic selection of curated classic films that includes special features and essays. The collection encompasses the works “frequently chosen by the hundreds of filmmakers, actors, writers, and other movie-loving luminaries who have visited Criterion over the years, as documented in our popular Closet Picks video series,” per the official press release. “Neither a historical survey nor a top-40 compilation, this exciting, personal, unpredictable anthology reflects the cinematic joys and inspirations of the creative community that makes the Criterion Collection possible.”

The 40th anniversary Blu-ray box set includes films like “8½” (1963), “All That Jazz...

With nearly 1,700 titles in their catalog, it’s hard to discern where exactly to start when exploring the Criterion Collection. To celebrate their 40th anniversary, the company has now made it a bit easier as they’ve unveiled CC40, a 40-film, 49-disc collection retailing for around $640 that is now the new go-to gift for that budding cinephile in your life.

“This monumental forty-film box set celebrates forty years of the Criterion Collection by gathering an electrifying mix of classic and contemporary films, and presenting them with all their special features and essays in a deluxe clothbound, slipcased edition,” they note. “CC40’s eclectic selection includes the releases most frequently chosen by the hundreds of filmmakers, actors, writers, and other movie-loving luminaries who have visited Criterion over the years, as documented in our popular Closet Picks video series. Neither a historical survey nor a top-forty compilation, this exciting, personal, unpredictable anthology...

France’s Deauville American Film Festival has announced a retrospective gathering 50 U.S. features that have challenged perceptions of the world to mark its 50th anniversary.

The selection ranges from D. W. Griffith’s 1916 silent epic Intolerance to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and also includes Ida Lupino’s groundbreaking 1950 rape drama Outrage as well as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. (see full list below)

“Cinema has always made us dream, travel, desire, fantasize, laugh, cry. But how many films have been able to shake up our certainties, question our beliefs, question our prejudices and put our own views into perspective?,” said the festival.

“The Deauville American Film Festival wanted to highlight a selection of 50 films that have changed the way we look at the world,” it continued.

Launched in 1975, the festival unfolding in the swanky Normandy beach resort of Deauville, annually fetes Hollywood...

Gena Rowlands has spent her career avoiding formality, delivering performances ranging from the unbound to the ritualistically controlled — and to watch her onscreen is to face the unknown. Each role brings viewers to the edge of their seat, uncertain which direction they’ll be spun toward by her frenzied commitment to every role, from a mentally ill housewife in “A Woman Under the Influence” to a theater actress staring down the barrel of a fading career in “Opening Night,” or a divorcee pacing with a martini in “Love Streams.” And despite the often hectic material she covered with her husband John Cassavetes, who directed all those films, her performances are always grounded in reality.

With Rowlands, acting becomes a gateway into understanding all the foibles and eccentricities of humanity at its best and worst. Recently, Rowlands’ son, actor/writer/director Nick Cassavetes, announced that his mother has been struggling with...

Gena Rowlands, whose stellar roster of film roles includes performances in A Woman Under the Influence, Faces and Gloria, has Alzheimer’s disease and is “in full dementia,” her son Nick Cassavetes says.

Cassavetes, the son of Rowlands and the late actor-director John Cassavetes, revealed the sad news in an interview with Entertainment Weekly on the 20th anniversary of the film The Notebook. Cassavetes directed the film in which his mother played Allie, a woman with dementia.

“I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” Cassavetes says. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”

Shortly after the film was released in 2004, Rowlands, now 93, said in...

Celebrated actress and honorary Academy Award recipient Gena Rowlands has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Rowlands’ son, the director and actor Nick Cassavetes, revealed the news while speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the 20th anniversary of his film, The Notebook. In the movie, Rowlands famously played the older version of Allie, Rachel McAdams’ character, who was also suffering from dementia.

“I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years,...

Gena Rowlands is living with Alzheimer’s disease, her son Nick Cassavetes announced in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. Cassavetes, who directed his mother in 2004’s “The Notebook,” said Rowlands is “in full dementia.” A four-time Emmy winner and two-time Golden Globe winner, Rowlands is a screen icon best known for her acclaimed collaborations with husband John Cassavetes, including the films “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974) and “Gloria” (1980). Both performances earned her Oscar nominations for best actress. She received an honorary Academy Award in 2015.

Nick Cassavetes told Entertainment Weekly that his mother’s Alzheimer’s disease is made all the more surreal for him considering he directed her as a woman with dementia in “The Notebook.”

“I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

A Catherine Breillat retrospective begins, featuring many restorations; Before Sunset screens outdoors on Friday.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective begins.

Roxy Cinema

Fellox Roxy programmer Charli Xcx presents Daisies on 35mm this Saturday, which also brings Jackass: The Movie; a print of Mad Max: Fury Road screens throughout the weekend.

Anthology Film Archives

The restored films of Rhody Streeter and Tony Ganz screen in a new collection (watch our trailer debut).

Film Forum

Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continues playing in a new restoration; Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West shows on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

The two best comic-book movies, Darkman and Dick Tracy, play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex,” as does The Straight Story; a series inspired by visionary psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles begins.

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Paris Theater

Prints of Salò, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Turin Horse, There Will Be Blood, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Au Hasard Balthazar, and Rome, Open City all screen for “Bleak Week.”

Film at Lincoln Center

Films by Minnelli, Bergman, Powell and Pressburger, Lubitsch, and more screen in an Annie Baker-curated series.

Anthology Film Archives

A five-film Aki Kaurismäki retrospective begins, while “Essential Cinema” brings von Stroheim’s Greed on Friday.

Film Forum

Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine begins playing in a new restoration, while films by Jim Jarmusch, George Miller, and more screen in “Out of the 80s“; Stormy Weather shows on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

The Last of the Mohicans and The Bridges of Madison County play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex”; an Agnieszka Holland retrospective continues...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film Forum

Films by David Lynch, Tony Scott, David Cronenberg, and Jim Jarmusch play in “Out of the 80s,“ which includes Do the Right Thing on 35mm this Sunday; The Neverending Story plays on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

Rumble in the Bronx and The Straight Story play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex” which also includes Boomerang and Trainspotting; an Agnieszka Holland retrospective begins; Mothra screens on Saturday.

Roxy Cinema

Altered States plays on 35mm this Friday; Saturday brings Knight of Cups; George Cukor’s It Should Happen to You plays on 16mm this Sunday.

Paris Theater

Seven, Old Joy, Come and See, and The Conformist all screen on a despair-inducing Sunday.

Metrograph

Films by Gus Van Sant and Alain Resnais play in an mk2 retrospective; retrospectives of Obayashi and Dieudo Hamadi...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film Forum

Films by Oshima, Tony Scott, Alex Cox, John Carpenter, Abel Ferrara, and Tobe Hooper play in “Out of the 80s“; Le Samouraï continues in a new 4K restoration; Back to the Future plays on Sunday.

Museum of Modern Art

A massive overview of Bulle Ogier has its final weekend with two films by Rivette.

Museum of the Moving Image

The Thin Red Line, The Big Lebowski, and Defending Your Life all play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex.”

Bam

The rarely screened films of György Pálfi are given a retrospective.

Metrograph

Films by Haneke, Kiarostami, and more play in an mk2 retrospective; Saturday brings Three Days of the Condor on 35mm; ’90s Noir, Euro-Heists, Dream with Your Eyes Open, and Ethics of Care, continue, while a Chris Marker series includes Sans Soleil and a shorts program.

by Cláudio Alves

Last weekend, on Mother's Day of all days, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore celebrated its 50th anniversary. The occasion calls for some acknowledgment here at The Film Experience, where actressexual Oscar obsessives abound. After all, Ellen Burstyn won the Best Actress race at the 47th Academy Awards, triumphing over what could be described as the greatest lineup in the category's history. Along with the eventual victor, AMPAS nominated Diahann Carroll in Claudine, Faye Dunaway in Chinatown, Valerie Perrine in Lenny, and Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. They might have also nominated Liv Ullmann in Scenes from a Marriage had she been eligible, but we'll get there in time.

As Faye Dunaway presents a new doc at Cannes, the stars have aligned to relitigate the 1974 Best Actress race. Are you ready? Let's go…...

Before we can even get on the record, before that most familiar robot warning of “This meeting is being recorded,” Frederick Elmes is swapping stories about Albert Brooks. After greeting me by name, he mentions a news piece I had written––a blurb about the recent Brooks documentary Defending My Life. He worked with Brooks some, he says, as a camera operator, goes on to speak generously and thoughtfully about the atmosphere the director cultivated and maintained on set, what that meant in turn to his work as a cinematographer, to the cast and crew more generally. I am sitting and grinning like an idiot, not unlike an ancillary Brooks character––maybe Bruno Kirby in Modern Romance. It strikes me that this moment represents Elmes’ approach to tending the moving image: careful research, a focus on listening, the sharing of ideas stemming from observation, and an immediate instinct for collaborative thinking.

How many great films does it take to designate a director as a historically significant auteur? Jean Vigo only directed a few shorts and one feature, but they were enough to make him a hero to the pioneers of the French New Wave. Actor-turned-helmer Charles Laughton directed just one movie — “The Night of the Hunter” — but it was such a haunting and singular masterpiece that few would argue that Laughton was one of the medium’s masters. Elaine May stopped directing after four movies, but she’d probably be considered one of the greatest directors who ever lived if she had only made “Mikey and Nicky.”

Christina Hornisher is nowhere near as well known as Vigo, Laughton, or May, but she should be — and now, thanks to a pristine restoration of her sole feature, “Hollywood 90028,” perhaps she will. Released in 1974 after Hornisher earned critical accolades for her UCLA film school shorts,...

Exclusive: Celebrating his 50th year as an indie filmmaker and distributor, Jeff Lipsky is prepping the release of his eighth feature as director. Goldilocks and the Two Bears is due to open domestically via Glass Half Full Media in July for a limited theatrical run, followed by a general release in late summer/early fall. Check out an exclusive clip above.

Goldilocks introduces a trio of new actors: Claire Milligan, Serra Naiman and Bryan Mittelstadt. It’s directed and written by Lipsky, produced by longtime collaborator Nick Athas and shot by Zak Ray with production sound mixed by Caleb Mose (O.J.: Made in America).

Filmed entirely in Las Vegas, the movie centers on a man and a woman – travelers who’ve all but given up on futures that might have been glorious. When a stranger enters their midst, a woman on the run from her own demons, the...

Netflix is bringing 1974 back to theaters thanks to rare archival prints, restorations, and select 35mm screenings of the curated “Milestone Movies” streaming collection.

The streaming platform debuts a slew of classic films across its trio of theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. The rarely screened archival prints for Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” are among the selected titles, as well as the premiere of the Dcp restoration of iconic Blaxploitation film “Foxy Brown” starring Pam Grier.

The screening series marks the 50th anniversaries of the 1974 films, which were unveiled as part of Netflix’s inaugural (and Criterion Channel-esque) curation channel “Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection,” which was unveiled in January 2024. Fifteen films will screen at the Paris Theater in New York from March 22 through 28, as 12 films screen at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from March 11 through...