Critics Academy x NYFF Shorts #1

This week and next, we're handing over The Film Comment Podcast to the participants of the 2026 Film at Lincoln Center Critics Academy—an annual program for up-and-coming critics held during the New York Film Festival, led by Film Comment editors.

For this week's episode, four of this year’s critics—Yezen Saadah, Kathy Ou, Samuel Brodsky, and Rebecca Turner—discuss some of their highlights from the shorts screening as part of NYFF’s Currents Program 5: The Material Ghost, including Peggy Ahwesh’s The Wayfinders, Adam Piron’s The Flesh of the Mountain, and Kevin Jerome Everson’s National Seating.

Subscribe to Film Comment to explore our brand-new Fall 2026 digital issue, the entirety of our archive dating back to 1962, and much more.