Seventh Row
seventhrow.bsky.social
Seventh Row
@seventhrow.bsky.social
A place to think deeply about movies | J. Trier, Reichardt, Sciamma experts | We write film ebooks 📚 We podcast🎙 | Latest ebook: subjectiverealities . com
🎬 What if talking about movies felt more like improv?

Not “being clever on cue” improv.
But listening closely.
Picking up on what someone just noticed.
Adding something new.
Discovering something together.

That’s the spirit we bring inside The Long Take.

seventh-row.com/the-long-take
October 20, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Today at 2pm ET → join the finale of Living Out Loud:

🎬 A 2017 British queer short
📜 A lost 1950s gay script
📂 Queer archives brought to life
💬 A live discussion to unpack it led by @bwestcineaste.bsky.social

👉 Register free: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
October 5, 2025 at 7:00 AM
📜 A lost 1950s gay script.
🎬 A queer short film that mixes archives + fiction.
💡 And a live discussion to unpack it.

Join us tomorrow (Sunday, Oct 5 | 2–4pm ET) for the finale of Living Out Loud.

👉 Register free: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
October 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
🌈 Living Out Loud starts this Friday!

A 3-day FREE online summit exploring queer + trans stories and histories on screen (and beyond). Each day builds on the last — you’ll get the richest experience if you join for more than one, but you’re welcome to drop in.

seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
October 2, 2025 at 4:51 PM
🌈 Tomorrow we kick off Living Out Loud — a free, 3-day online summit on queer + trans cinema and history.

Day 1 (Friday, Oct 3, 2–4pm ET): Reclaiming Queer + Trans History

How do film, TV, theatre, and archives reclaim LGBTQ+ history?

Register FREE to join us: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
October 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Seventh Row
thrilled to be joining such a fab group of folks (@cjprince.bsky.social, Lena Wilson, and the terrific @bwestcineaste.bsky.social) to talk about queer and trans cinematic storytelling for @seventhrow.bsky.social's Living Out Loud weekend for Day 2! come through!
seventh-row.com/living-out-l...
September 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM
🌈 What makes a story queer or trans? Depends who you ask — and when it was made.

Is it about LGBTQ+ characters or filmmakers?
Or something else entirely?

How we define it shapes how we assess the state of queer + trans cinema today.

Join us Saturday to discuss: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
September 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
🎬 On Sunday, Oct 5 (2–4pm ET), Living Out Loud wraps up with a queer short film screening + live group discussion.

We’ll watch the film together, then unpack it with me facilitating — connecting it to the themes from Days 1 + 2.

seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
September 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
I podcasted on two of the queer/trans films I saw at #TIFF50

They got me thinking about what kinds of stories we get about queer and trans lives in different parts of the world — and how those stories are told.

(Questions we'll keep exploring at Living Out Loud next week!)

Some thoughts 🧵
September 25, 2025 at 11:24 AM
THE CHORAL (which had its world premiere at #TIFF50 and stars the always excellent Ralph Fiennes) has queer characters and queer creatives.

But is it a queer film?

That’s the question I unpack in Ep. 183 of the Seventh Row podcast.

seventh-row.com/2025/09/18/e...
Ep. 183 The Choral (TIFF 2025): When queer characters don't make a queer film - Seventh Row Film Podcast
On this TIFF podcast, Alex discusses Nicholas Hytner's film The Choral, starring Ralph Fiennes and reclaiming vs. sanitizing history
seventh-row.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
BETWEEN DREAMS AND HOPE at #TIFF50 got me thinking about how bureaucracy shapes queer + trans lives — especially in medical contexts.

I unpack that in Ep. 181 of the podcast, alongside two other films.

🧵 (And yes, it connects to Living Out Loud 👇)
seventh-row.com/2025/09/09/e...
Ep. 181 Between Dreams and Hope and queer and trans survival (TIFF 2025) - Seventh Row Film Podcast
A rewatch of Far from the Madding Crowd sparks this podcast episode about women’s stories, romance, and what else they could centre.
seventh-row.com
September 23, 2025 at 4:51 PM
🎬 What gets remembered — and what gets erased — is never neutral.
Day 1 of Living Out Loud explores how queer + trans history is reclaimed through art + archives.
Oct 3–5 | Free + online
🔗 seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
September 23, 2025 at 11:24 AM
🎬 What stories are being told about queer and trans lives — and what's still missing?

That’s the jumping-off point for Living Out Loud, an online summit on queer + trans stories in film, theatre, TV, and history.

📅 Oct 3–5, 2–4pm ET
💻 Free + online
👉 Save your seat: seventh-row.com/livingoutloud
September 22, 2025 at 10:36 PM
When we first watched 45 Years, we thought their marriage was doomed.

10 years later?
We’re not so sure.
We might even think it makes their relationship stronger.

🎙️Clip from our latest episode with @bwestcineaste.bsky.social & Lindsay Pugh.
July 10, 2025 at 9:51 PM
@bwestcineaste.bsky.social talked about Materialists (2025) on a recent episode of the Seventh Row Podcast — strong premise, great blocking, but it left her cold.

On the episode, she talked about what worked, what didn't, and also...Gossip Girl?

Listen: pod.link/1437069031/e...
July 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Seventh Row
And for more conversation, with spoilers, check out this follow-up episode: bsky.app/profile/seve...
June 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Seventh Row
Saw JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE yesterday. This podcast episode from @bwestcineaste.bsky.social will help you decide whether to see it (or, if you've already seen it, to enjoy it even more).
JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is one of the year's best movies.

Yes, it’s a rom-com — and a fantastic one at that — but it’s also an anti-rom-com about a woman in her 30s who’s stuck, not just romantically, but professionally and personally.

Listen to the episode: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...
June 12, 2025 at 3:33 PM
One of the smartest things about the Langley sequence in Mission: Impossible (1996)?

The way it builds tension from something as tiny — and human — as a single drop of water.

That cold drink on the table? It’s not just set dressing. It’s foreshadowing.
June 13, 2025 at 11:25 AM
In this podcast excerpt, we unpack how the very first scene of Mission: Impossible doesn’t just kick off the action — it sets the tone for everything that follows.

👀 Someone’s always watching.
🎭 Everyone’s performing.
🎥 And spycraft? It’s just filmmaking with higher stakes.
June 11, 2025 at 11:24 AM
One of the things that makes Mission: Impossible (1996) land?
The writing.
The characters’ motivations make sense. The plot is straightforward without being over-explained.
We’re told the plan — and then we get to track how it unfolds, step by step.
🎧 In this clip, @amuredda praises the writing.
June 10, 2025 at 9:41 PM
In Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Agathe dances through a Paris bookshop — past shelves lined with red books.

Not by chance.

In the episode, I discuss how subtle choices like that shape the film’s emotional world.

🎧 For when you’re in the afterglow — or wondering if this one’s for you.
June 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Part 2 of me talking about Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.

This time: the bookends.
What the opening + closing scenes reveal — about hiding out from life, and maybe coming back to it.

🎧 For when you want to live in the afterglow of a great film.
June 2, 2025 at 2:05 PM
JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is one of the year's best movies.

Yes, it’s a rom-com — and a fantastic one at that — but it’s also an anti-rom-com about a woman in her 30s who’s stuck, not just romantically, but professionally and personally.

Listen to the episode: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...
May 27, 2025 at 11:24 AM
#Cannes25 has begun! While everyone's focused on the Palme d'Or contenders, there's a whole world of incredible cinema waiting to be discovered beyond the main competition.

On the podcast, we dive into how to navigate Cannes like an insider (even from home).
Navigating Cannes beyond the Competition- Seventh Row Film Podcast
On the podcast, Alex pulls back the curtain on how the Cannes Film Festival works and why you should be looking beyond the competition
seventh-row.com
May 14, 2025 at 11:24 AM
It's a little-known fact that some of the most important films in cinema history that have screened at Cannes didn't actually screen in the Official Competition.

E.g. Akerman's Jeanne Dielman screened in the Directors' Fortnight.

So many gems hide out in the festival's sidebars.
May 13, 2025 at 10:01 PM