Miriam Bale
Miriam Bale is a critic and film programmer. She has written for The New York Times, the New York Daily News, W Magazine, Gagosian Quarterly, The New Republic, Film Comment, IndieWire, Sight and Sound and other publications. She was the artistic director of the Indie Memphis Film Festival in Tennessee and the founding director of the La Di Da Film Festival in New York City. She has organised repertory film programs for Anthology Film Archives, Film at Lincoln Center, Maysles Film Center, Maysles Documentary Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Brooklyn Academy of Music and other institutions.
Outlets: The New York Times, the New York Daily News, W Magazine, Gagosian Quarterly, The New Republic, Film Comment, IndieWire, Sight and Sound.
Substack: Digging in Cloudland
Location: Los Angeles
Movie location I call home: The sets from Juliet of the Spirits.
What was the film or experience that made you want to write about the screen? Watching Jennifer Jones films (including Gone to Earth, screening at MIFF on 13 August).
What do you think are the major issues facing contemporary film criticism? The lack of secure jobs where editors act as a protective barrier between critics and publicists. The lack of secure jobs generally.
How can film criticism stay vital in 2026? Each individual can answer that question best by bringing to the field what is missing and what you would like to see.
What’s one piece of advice that you’d give an emerging critic today? Continue watching at least as many older films as current films.
Who’s a critic/writer that has inspired you? Luca Turin, Molly Haskell, Donald Bogle, Dave Kehr, Elizabeth Hardwick, Elizabeth David.
Who’s a critic that everyone should be reading right now? Filipe Furtado, Robert Daniels, Mark Asch, Ariel LeBeau, Doreen St. Félix.
What’s the best thing you’ve seen this year so far? Paid in Full (2002); Ornamental Hairpin (1941).
What’s your MIFF 2026 theme music? ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ by Henry Mancini. I recently showed a friend the Howard Hawks film Hatari!. “Is this where ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ comes from?!” he said when the screen was full of actual baby elephants. It felt like watching someone see an early performance of Swan Lake.