— by BEV QUESTAD — Drew Barrymore says she’s grown into being her own best friend. Like Drew, but more than 100 years earlier, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) overcame great obstacles because of her inner voice, her own best friend. Created specifically for children and their families, “Hola[...]
Author Archive
Review: The Glassworker
— by BEV QUESTAD — Sometimes it is hard to stay true to yourself, to have the courage of your convictions, and still be accepted. Especially in times of war when you are a pacifist. From Karachi, Pakistan, via the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the influence of Ghibli Studios in [...]
Review: A Sámi Wedding
— by BEV QUESTAD — Class shame has never been so … madcap. I am hesitant to call “A Sámi Wedding” a comedy, but the staccato violin and tuba music that appears at unexpected moments claims the genre. Unlike Lucy Riccardo and Edith Bunker, serious Garen (Sara Margrethe Oskal, who h[...]
Review: John Lewis – Good Trouble
— by BEV QUESTAD — Good trouble Necessary trouble … to do what is right When his head was bashed in on March 7, 1965, America might have lost a civil rights activist. Instead, John Lewis, (Feb. 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020), recovered from his fractured skull and lived on to be a US [&he[...]
Review: My Dear Theo
— by BEV QUESTAD — You are 35, happily married, and a first-time mom with a precious 5-year-old. What would it take for you, without training, to take up with a special forces assault division? Enter Alisa Kovalenko, a Ukrainian. She is the director, cinematographer, and narrator of “M[...]
Review: Paddington in Peru
— by BEV QUESTAD — Eileen, 7 years old, joined me in viewing “Paddington in Peru.” Billed as a live-action, animated comedy, we beg to differ. Paddington does make his hilarious signature goofs, as if he’s a prehistoric being visiting 2025, but we call this Paddington film more of [...]
Review: Sudan, Remember Us
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Maha and Shajane, I’m thinking of you trapped in Khartoum between the army bombing and the Rapid Support Forces militia who terrorize and murder. Here in France, there’s not much talk about the war in Sudan,” writes Hind Meddeb. Not only not in France, but not[...]
Review: Torn
— by BEV QUESTAD — Please, no more money to buy more arms for Israel’s war on Gaza! I just finished emailing my American friends tonight to thank them for contacting our Washington senators regarding this issue. Since 1969, my friends in the Middle East have remained baffled that the U[...]
Review: Death & Taxes
— by BEV QUESTAD — “…it is a really good and interesting doc (despite the title)!” the publicist told me. I trusted her and was stunned with the honesty by a son about his father. “Death and Taxes” turns out to be an examination of a fabulously wealthy family whose patriarch, H[...]
Review: Star People
— by BEV QUESTAD — The largest mass UFO sighting in the US was on March 13, 1997, in Arizona. It was called the Phoenix Lights. Writer/Director Adam Finberg uses that event as a curious … What If? scenario. What if the sighting was a formation of legitimate UFOs? What if, in their inve[...]
Review: Sovereign
— by BEV QUESTAD — How much are we sovereign masters of our own lives, and how much are we vassals of a banking system and government? How much are we independent, self-serving entities, and how much are we interconnected and responsible to each other? There is a 911 call. “These guys [...]
Review: Snow White
— by BEV QUESTAD (and two children) — “My parents always said this forest was a magical place,” softly states Snow White. And indeed, there are lush forests and bushes, wispy wildflowers, scampering little squirrels and chipmunks, flitting birds, furry rabbits, gracefully inquisitive[...]
Review: Between the Mountain and the Sky
— by BEV QUESTAD — This beautiful film showcases Maggie Doyne’s profound love for her 50 children and the heartbreak that almost overwhelmed her. Maggie grew up in a loving family in New Jersey. Instead of immediately attending college, she chose to take a year to explore the world[...]
Review: There is Another Way
— by BEV QUESTAD — There may be another way, but is there a player willing to take it? I’m just back from a three-week delegation to the Middle East to stand with Palestinians who live in the West Bank in occupied Palestine. Because of the bombing on Iran beginning Friday the 13th (mac[...]