Alex Fields
@afields9.bsky.social
Socialist, Appalachian, union steward, I write about formalist/experimental film and horror. they/them
I’ve already seen a number of very good films this year courtesy of the IFFR program. CHRONOVISOR is the best of them but also:
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
February 3, 2026 at 3:46 PM
I’ve already seen a number of very good films this year courtesy of the IFFR program. CHRONOVISOR is the best of them but also:
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
THE KILLING OF MEGHNAD (Avikunthak)
TYCOON (Zhang)
ALL YOU NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE IS A GUN (Sein)
XTENDED RELEASE (Solondz)
FOR ONCE I DREAMED OF YOU (Solar)
Happy fifth birthday to my dog Waylon and happy twenty-fifth birthday to the song “Drops of Jupiter” by Train
January 29, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Happy fifth birthday to my dog Waylon and happy twenty-fifth birthday to the song “Drops of Jupiter” by Train
ICE agents aren’t law enforcement who make mistakes or cross lines. They’re fascist thugs whose entire purpose is violence against racial and political enemies
January 24, 2026 at 7:22 PM
ICE agents aren’t law enforcement who make mistakes or cross lines. They’re fascist thugs whose entire purpose is violence against racial and political enemies
Racism, safety for kids and migrant workers, the right of people to be in public without being assaulted by brownshirts, are all very obviously union issues
Solidarity with the strikers in Minnesota, and may we all rise to the occasion when the time comes (which it will soon, if it hasn’t already)
Solidarity with the strikers in Minnesota, and may we all rise to the occasion when the time comes (which it will soon, if it hasn’t already)
January 23, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Racism, safety for kids and migrant workers, the right of people to be in public without being assaulted by brownshirts, are all very obviously union issues
Solidarity with the strikers in Minnesota, and may we all rise to the occasion when the time comes (which it will soon, if it hasn’t already)
Solidarity with the strikers in Minnesota, and may we all rise to the occasion when the time comes (which it will soon, if it hasn’t already)
I asked an artist about a screener for her film at IFFR and she told me that’s how she found out her film is screening at IFFR
January 23, 2026 at 2:40 PM
I asked an artist about a screener for her film at IFFR and she told me that’s how she found out her film is screening at IFFR
I was very happy to interview Palestinian film and video artist Basma al-Sharif, who has been one of my favorite contemporary avant-garde artists for about as long as I’ve followed this stuff, and who made one of my favorite films of 2025, Morgenkreis
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
Film Show 059: Basma al-Sharif
An interview with the Palestinian filmmaker about the complexity of spreading violent images, capturing displacement in art through form and presentation, and the shame that comes with giving up
toneglow.substack.com
January 18, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I was very happy to interview Palestinian film and video artist Basma al-Sharif, who has been one of my favorite contemporary avant-garde artists for about as long as I’ve followed this stuff, and who made one of my favorite films of 2025, Morgenkreis
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
toneglow.substack.com/p/film-show-...
Apparently my slightly silly and fully shameless effort to get people to watch some avant garde films was the second most popular list on Letterboxd of 2025
January 12, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Apparently my slightly silly and fully shameless effort to get people to watch some avant garde films was the second most popular list on Letterboxd of 2025
A filmmaker friend sent an email introducing me to another filmmaker as “one of the most important contemptible critics of experimental film”
He blames autocorrect but I may add it to my byline…I would not have called myself either important or contemptible but if it’s a package deal, I’ll take it
He blames autocorrect but I may add it to my byline…I would not have called myself either important or contemptible but if it’s a package deal, I’ll take it
January 9, 2026 at 4:30 PM
A filmmaker friend sent an email introducing me to another filmmaker as “one of the most important contemptible critics of experimental film”
He blames autocorrect but I may add it to my byline…I would not have called myself either important or contemptible but if it’s a package deal, I’ll take it
He blames autocorrect but I may add it to my byline…I would not have called myself either important or contemptible but if it’s a package deal, I’ll take it
In response to mass popular demand I’ve resumed my project of listing the best country albums by decade
The best country albums of the 1980s:
The best country albums of the 1980s:
January 7, 2026 at 5:24 PM
In response to mass popular demand I’ve resumed my project of listing the best country albums by decade
The best country albums of the 1980s:
The best country albums of the 1980s:
Reasonable people can disagree about which states or political programs count as socialist or democratic, but the bottom line is there can be no stable form of socialism or democracy anywhere in the world until the American empire is dismantled
January 5, 2026 at 12:33 AM
Reasonable people can disagree about which states or political programs count as socialist or democratic, but the bottom line is there can be no stable form of socialism or democracy anywhere in the world until the American empire is dismantled
Cheers to opacity, anachronism, interruption, and the impossible thought of revolution.
My favorite films of 2025, and a few words on each:
notreconciled.substack.com/p/my-favorit...
My favorite films of 2025, and a few words on each:
notreconciled.substack.com/p/my-favorit...
My favorite films of 2025
Cheers to opacity, anachronism, interruption, and the impossible thought of revolution.
notreconciled.substack.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Cheers to opacity, anachronism, interruption, and the impossible thought of revolution.
My favorite films of 2025, and a few words on each:
notreconciled.substack.com/p/my-favorit...
My favorite films of 2025, and a few words on each:
notreconciled.substack.com/p/my-favorit...
turning the windshield wiper speed up when a heavier song comes on and thinking, yeah I can still hang
December 29, 2025 at 12:45 PM
turning the windshield wiper speed up when a heavier song comes on and thinking, yeah I can still hang
I interviewed Japanese avant garde filmmaker Shinya Isobe for Ultra Dogme.
You can watch four of his films on their Patreon for the next week if you subscribe
ultradogme.com/2025/12/22/s...
You can watch four of his films on their Patreon for the next week if you subscribe
ultradogme.com/2025/12/22/s...
Images of Time: An Interview with Shinya Isobe - Ultra Dogme
Alex Fields speaks with Shinya Isobe about the gradual development of his experimental approach, time and cinema, the dynamic presence of sound in his work, and more.
ultradogme.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I interviewed Japanese avant garde filmmaker Shinya Isobe for Ultra Dogme.
You can watch four of his films on their Patreon for the next week if you subscribe
ultradogme.com/2025/12/22/s...
You can watch four of his films on their Patreon for the next week if you subscribe
ultradogme.com/2025/12/22/s...
RIP Joe Ely, flatlander, honky tonker, and piano key clicker. This is one of my favorite albums of all time.
December 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
RIP Joe Ely, flatlander, honky tonker, and piano key clicker. This is one of my favorite albums of all time.
An updated version of my avant-garde Christmas movies list, with twenty films and videos and downloadable files for eighteen of them
December 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
An updated version of my avant-garde Christmas movies list, with twenty films and videos and downloadable files for eighteen of them
I had assumed that the psychedelic horse sequence in Basma al-Sharif’s DEEP SLEEP (left) was quoting Malcolm Le Grice’s BERLIN HORSE (right) but she just told me it was created entirely by accident when her super 8 camera caught fire with that roll inside
December 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
I had assumed that the psychedelic horse sequence in Basma al-Sharif’s DEEP SLEEP (left) was quoting Malcolm Le Grice’s BERLIN HORSE (right) but she just told me it was created entirely by accident when her super 8 camera caught fire with that roll inside
Gwenifer Raymond’s third LP is one of the very best albums of the year. She recalls why Fahey’s style was dubbed “American primitive” in the first place—that mysterious, ancient-feeling, string-rattling tension shared by country blues, mountain folk, and Hindustani classical
November 29, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Gwenifer Raymond’s third LP is one of the very best albums of the year. She recalls why Fahey’s style was dubbed “American primitive” in the first place—that mysterious, ancient-feeling, string-rattling tension shared by country blues, mountain folk, and Hindustani classical
Been catching up on a bunch of this year’s Americana/alt country songwriter albums. Anna Tivel is the best of them, SG Goodman and Greg Freeman also good, Lily Seabird pretty decent. Kelsey Waldon and Sunny Sweeney do the job if you want straight country
November 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Been catching up on a bunch of this year’s Americana/alt country songwriter albums. Anna Tivel is the best of them, SG Goodman and Greg Freeman also good, Lily Seabird pretty decent. Kelsey Waldon and Sunny Sweeney do the job if you want straight country
Film noir was “a kind of modernism in the popular cinema: it used unorthodox narration; it resisted sentiment and censorship; it reveled in the ‘social fantastic’; it demonstrated the ambiguity of human motives; and it made commodity culture seem like a wasteland.”
November 19, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Film noir was “a kind of modernism in the popular cinema: it used unorthodox narration; it resisted sentiment and censorship; it reveled in the ‘social fantastic’; it demonstrated the ambiguity of human motives; and it made commodity culture seem like a wasteland.”
Opened Twitter to make a post about how we shouldn’t spend all our time on Twitter and now I’m trying to figure out what to do with all my time today since Twitter is down
November 18, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Opened Twitter to make a post about how we shouldn’t spend all our time on Twitter and now I’m trying to figure out what to do with all my time today since Twitter is down
If there are experimental films from the last year or so you think I should see please comment or DM with suggestions
November 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
If there are experimental films from the last year or so you think I should see please comment or DM with suggestions
I wrote about the third edition of one of the best local/regional film fests around
inreviewonline.com/2025/11/12/f...
inreviewonline.com/2025/11/12/f...
Film Fest Knox 2025 | In Review Online
A new film festival coverage piece on the 2025 Knox Film Fest for film review site In Review Online.
inreviewonline.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I wrote about the third edition of one of the best local/regional film fests around
inreviewonline.com/2025/11/12/f...
inreviewonline.com/2025/11/12/f...
I wrote briefly about this year’s Light Matter experimental film program
November 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
I wrote briefly about this year’s Light Matter experimental film program