Nick Kouhi
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nkouhi.bsky.social
Nick Kouhi
@nkouhi.bsky.social
480 followers 990 following 150 posts
Freelance critic and programmer, based in New York. Can be found in Screen Slate, The Brooklyn Rail, and Journey Into Cinema, among many other places.
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nkouhi.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 7:24 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
RELEASE (Nasser Taghvai, 1971)
Two young boys wearing brown paper bags over their heads cast their lines into a bay for fish in south Iran. From the short film "Release" by Nasser Taghvai. A young man in an alley holding a bag with a goldfish sees a crowd of men approaching him, backlit by twilight. From the short film "Release" by Nasser Taghvai. A teenage boy sits in a room with his head buried in his arms. From the short film "Release" by Nasser Taghvai. A teenage boy seated in a boat adrift in a harbor at twilight. From the short film "Release" by Nasser Taghvai.
October 15, 2025 at 12:31 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Thrilled to share the trailer for the series I curated for ArteEast, which is now screening on their website. Our in-person event, which will include a conversation with Sinan Antoon and Dina Abdulhadi, is next Tuesday the 29th at 6:30 PM at @dctvny.bsky.social.

#film #writers #poetry
July 23, 2025 at 6:41 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
First time seeing this on 70mm cemented its place as my favorite PTA film that isn't PHANTOM THREAD.
The closing title card in Paul Thomas Anderson's film "Inherent Vice", quoting the famous May '68 slogan "Under the paving-stones, the beach!"
July 10, 2025 at 3:09 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
The scandals keep piling on.
July 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
I'm extremely proud to share my first NYC program, a series focusing on exilic writers living in (or hailing from) the MENASA region. Read more about the films and the in-person event happening at @dctvny.bsky.social on July 29th at the link below.

arteeast.org/news-events/...
A promotional poster for the ArteEast event "I Am From Here, I Am From There: Writers in Exile", featuring several famous historical figures like Mahmoud Darwish and James Baldwin.
July 8, 2025 at 9:19 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
First-time viewing highlights for February!

Déjà vu (Scott, 2006)
Love Torn in a Dream (Rúiz, 2000)
The Final Insult (Burnett, 1997)
Walker (Cox, 1987)
Blind (Wiseman, 1986)
One Way or Another (Gómez, 1977)
High School (Wiseman, 1968)
The Tender Game (Hubley & Hubley, 1958)
A still image from the Tony Scott film "Déjà Vu", featuring Denzel Washington and Paula Patton. A still from the animated short "The Tender Game" A still image from the Sara Gómez film "One Way or Another" A still image from the Alex Cox film "Walker"
March 1, 2025 at 2:51 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Starting an anti-fascist book club! Gonna get the ball rolling on our first meeting for early March, so DM me if you're interested in joining or have questions! #booksky
A young Parisian couple reading books on a balcony in Jean-Luc Godard's "La Chinoise".
February 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Spent the last week finally getting back in the swing of things.
A list of films logged on Letterboxd
February 22, 2025 at 3:05 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Loved hearing Charles Burnett get impassioned while talking about independent filmmaking as a vital corrective to the ongoing erasure of eclectic, multicultural histories in America. Man's got more vigor at 80 than the lion's share of his peers.
The filmmaker Charles Burnett, wearing a blue jacket and cyan hoodie, addressing an audience at a Q+A following a screening of 'The Annihilation of Fish' at BAM.
February 16, 2025 at 3:30 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Took an impromptu trip to the Norton Museum of Art and got to see some very cool pieces.
A kaleidoscopic array of colored glass shells collected in a ceiling display at the Norton Museum of Art. An abstract cubist painting of a guitar by Pablo Picasso A painting of Amy Phipps, wearing a white dress and holding a small black-and-white dog, by John Singer Sargent. An abstract painting of a face by Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Norton Museum of Art.
February 9, 2025 at 8:02 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
A new year, a new thread for favorite first-time watches! Here were January's highlights:

7TH HEAVEN (Borzage, 1927)
LAURA (Preminger, 1944)
WR: MYSTERIES OF THE ORGANISM (Makavejev, 1971)
ONCE UPON A TIME, CINEMA
(Makhmalbaf, 1992)
THE POTEMKINISTS (Jude, 2022)
A still image from Frank Borzage's film "7th Heaven". A still image from "W.R. Mysteries of the Organism" A still image from Mohsen Malhmalbaf's "Once Upon a Time, Cinema" A still image from Radu Jude's "The Potemkinists"
February 2, 2025 at 3:57 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Miss Huang, apparently one of Elon Musk's lackeys.
January 30, 2025 at 3:48 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Excoriating call from @garbageday.email on the MM to get their act together at a time like this.
An excerpt from the Garbage Day newsletter on the mainstream media's inadequate coverage of the second Trump administration.
January 29, 2025 at 7:38 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Saw the perennially incisive Jonathan Rosenbaum talk at @metrographnyc.bsky.social yesterday. Loved hearing that he's become friends with the pediatrician who bought out his entire home video collection and that they're starting a film club together.
Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum standing at a podium and addressing an audience at Metrograph. A picture from the Metrograph program promoting "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities: A Jonathan Rosenbaum Double Bill", with Rosenbaum's autograph.
January 19, 2025 at 6:45 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Found this scrawled in the 34th Street-Herald Square station.
January 18, 2025 at 6:09 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Pynchon writing on the precarity of empathy in the modern world. From "Bleeding Edge".

#booksky
An excerpt from Thomas Pynchon's novel "Bleeding Edge" An excerpt from Thomas Pynchon's novel "Bleeding Edge"
December 14, 2024 at 2:08 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
First-time viewing highlights from November

THE DUST OF LIGHT (Aslani, 1998/2024)
DAHOMEY (Diop, 2024)
JUROR #2 (Eastwood, 2024)
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE (Mack, 2013)
GAP TOOTHED WOMEN (Blank, 1987)
FLOATING WEEDS (Ozu, 1959)
THE BIG CLOCK (Farrow, 1948)

#FilmSky
A still image from the film "The Dust of Light", directed by Mohammad Reza Aslani. A still image from the documentary "Dahomey", directed by Mati Diop. Courtesy of Mubi. A still image from the experimental short film "Let Your Light Shine", directed by Jodie Mack. A still image from the 1959 film "Floating Weeds", directed by Yasujiro Ozu.
December 1, 2024 at 4:03 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
It's been a solid lead-up to the holiday weekend

#LastFourWatched #FilmSky
November 29, 2024 at 1:53 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Completely forgot that I had inexplicably stumbled upon this decayed poster for STUART LITTLE at the Steinway stop in Queens.
A torn and tattered poster for the 1999 major motion picture STUART LITTLE, hanging against white square titles on a subway station wall.
November 25, 2024 at 11:22 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
The closing passage from Gary Indiana's essay on the Boston Marathon bombers has lost none of its urgency nearly a decade later. Courtesy of @londonreview.bsky.social

#BookSky
November 20, 2024 at 7:45 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
Finally reading this in full.
A hand holding a copy of the book "From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film" by Siegfried Kracauer.
November 12, 2024 at 3:55 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
July first-time viewing highlights:

BLACKHAT (Mann, 2015)
EL SOL DEL MEMBRILLO (Erice, 1992)
NO FEAR, NO DIE (Denis, 1990)
JUMPING (Tezuka, 1984)
THE LIFE OF OHARU (Mizoguchi, 1952)
THE SPY IN BLACK (Powell & Pressburger, 1939)
BIMBO'S INITIATION (Fleischer, 1931)
STUDY NO. 5 (Fischinger, 1930)
A still from the Michael Mann film "Blackhat", featuring four armed men wearing black making their way last a row of five rectangular columns. There is a single ripple in a puddle in the foreground. A still from the Victor Erice film "The Quince Tree Sun" ("El Sol del Membrillo"), featuring a camera pointed down to a cluster of quince fruit that's fallen from a tree in a tiny brick courtyard. A still from the Fleischer Studios animated short "Bimbo's Initiation", featuring a small black cartoon dog running away from an anthropomorphized sword poking out of a hole in a wall and licking its lips. A still from Oskar Fischinger's animated short "Study No. 5", featuring several curved white lines cascading across a black screen.
July 31, 2024 at 9:07 PM
nkouhi.bsky.social
I'm reminded of these words spoken by Edward Said nearly a quarter of a century ago.
An excerpt from an interview with Edward Said on the subject of American Zionism.
March 19, 2024 at 1:13 AM
nkouhi.bsky.social
This equivalency being drawn by the Ministry of Human Capital (what a name) would be fatuous if they weren't putting thousands of people out of work.
Text detailing the final sentence from a communique issued by Argentina's Ministry of Human Capital.
March 13, 2024 at 9:29 PM