This last year has been a drought for movie-lovers by most standards. But if you’re looking for silver linings, you could do worse than noting that there’s a fresh edition of the New Directors/New Films festival happening a mere four months after the 2020 edition. This year is extra special: it returns the festival to theaters alongside virtual screenings, and it also marks the 50th anniversary of New Directors/New Films. It’s a nice reminder that despite all the doom-saying, cinema’s future remains as vibrant as its past. To preview the lineup, FC editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute were joined by critics Vadim Rizov and Chloe Lizotte—both veterans of our 2020 New Directors talk— for a live taping of the podcast. The four discussed festival highlights including Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta, James Vaughan’s Friends and Strangers, Fern Silva’s Rock Bottom Riser, Salomé Jashi’s Taming the Garden, Mani Kaul's Duvidha, and more. This episode of the Film Comment Podcast is sponsored by MUBI. Film Comment readers and listeners can get 30 days of great cinema free at mubi.com/filmcomment.