iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Two weeks since DOCUMENTARY magazine released its Greatest Docs of the 21st Century list. Loved writing about the abundance of portrait docs on our list, including words on my fave, Stories We Tell. documentary.org/online-featu...

documentary.org

Greatest Docs of the 21st Century: Portrait of a Practice

Documentary’s “Greatest Docs of the 21st Century” lists are filled with documentary portraits that flatter and model a way of looking at the world

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Hey there Los Angeles film critics! You have 10 more days to apply to join LAFCA! Details here: bit.ly/JoinLAFCA

static.klipy.com

ALT:

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Attention Los Angeles film critics! LAFCA is now accepting membership applications through May 31! Details here: bit.ly/JoinLAFCA

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Rasheed Newson @rasheed.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

A cinephile of the first order, @bmanuel.bsky.social writes brilliantly about films, desires, & the dynamics of intimacy. He always finds & illuminates the sweet spot, which is why his praise makes me smile. #Preorder your copy of “There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood" today - tr.ee/1poC6P #BookSky

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

2026 is the year I finally make it to Cannes! Excited to be attending the fest for the first time; any recs and, more importantly, any housing leads (may 15-20). 📽️🎞️

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Catapult Book Group @catapultbooks.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

HELLO STRANGER by @bmanuel.bsky.social is available now in paperback! 📚 ✨ "Persuasive and well-researched." — @nytimes.com ✨ "A collage of thoughts on closeness and what it all means." — @altajournal.bsky.social ✨ "Funny, warm, and brilliant." — @ala-booklist.bsky.social

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

New Generation: Eva Victor, SORRY, BABY #LAFCA

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Best Documentary/Nonfiction, Winner: MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW #LAFCA

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Best Music Score, Winner: Kangding Ray, SIRĀT

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association @lafilmcritics.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Best Cinematography, Winner: Adolpho Veloso, TRAIN DREAMS #LAFCA

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

A highlight of my visit to Bend, OR for their fab film festival was time traveling to the early 2000s inside the very last Blockbuster.

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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 03/10/2025

“we heard tale of expanding the tent”

Photo of the three vampires from “sinners” trying to get invited into the juke joint where a party is happening

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Marthine Satris @msatris.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I just found this book in my library and it's everything I needed for thinking about the stirring of possibility that comes from opening into connection and frisson and being seen and known by others, and vice versa.

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Category is: Posing with my book, HELLO STRANGER which came out six months ago today! Get it wherever books are sold (namely, your favorite indie bookstore!); and yes, you can even get it on audiobook (read by yours truly).

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Jaime Woo @thejaimewoo.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Reading the interviews of Gabriel García Márquez and this passage stands out to me, from the 1970s but relevant in this time, that in this era the fight must be for collective happiness, which as he astutely describes, is the only kind of just happiness

GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ: I don't know who the hell it is that's ended up convincing us—the people who want to start a revolution-to accept the idea that revolution is apocalyp-tic, catastrophic, and bloody. We need to grasp once and for all that it's counterrevolution that's apocalyptic and catastrophic and bloody. You already know the figures: more than thirty thousand dead, thousands im-prisoned, thousands tortured by the leaders of the Chilean military coup.
My idea of revolution is of the search for individual happiness through collective happiness, which is the only just form of happiness.

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Angels in America remains my go-to work whenever I feel despondent and sink into despair.

BELIZE: Well I hate America, Louis. I hate this country. It's just big ideas, and stories, and people dying, and people like you.
The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word "free" to a note so high nobody can reach it. That was deliberate.
Nothing on earth sounds less like freedom to me.
You come with me to room 1013 over at the hospital, I'll show you America. Terminal, crazy and mean.
(A rumble of thunder. Then the rain comes. Belize has a collapsible umbrella, and he raises it. Louis stands in the rain.)
BELIZE: I live in America, Louis, that's hard enough, I don't have to love it. You do that. Everybody's got to love something.

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Helena Fitzgerald @hellafitzgerald.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“you come up with a mean nickname to call this guy on TV?” “sure did boss, real fuckin sexy just like you asked”

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helen @homotoptheory.northsky.social · 26/06/2025

here’s a pretty good rebuttal of the new Andrew Sullivan piece from Tony Kushner. Oh look it was written over 30 years ago. www.thenation.com/article/arch...

thenation.com

A Socialism of the Skin

Our suffering teaches us solidarity; or it should.

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On the Media @onthemedia.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

“Look, we both know why you are here,” the agent told me... “It’s because of what you wrote online about the protests at Columbia University,” he said. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

newyorker.com

How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation

As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.

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😸 Hugo the pink cat 😸 @hugothepinkcat.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

CLARIFICATION : The Trevor Project's hotline will still be live. But basically this means LGBTQ people can no longer be connected to it through the US national 988 suicide prevention hotline. They will need to be contacted DIRECTLY So spread this around They can be texted. They can be called.

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Marcos Gonsalez @marcossgonsalez.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

very much enjoyed @bmanuel.bsky.social’s Judy at Carnegie Hall—a perfect Pride month read.

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Niko Stratis @nikostratis.com · 13/06/2025

posting about the crushing state of things and then promoting book stuff (h/t to @maris.bsky.social for this)

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈 If you’re going to buy gay books this summer, may I recommend two that make for excellent poolside/beach reads?

The Male Gazed book against a naked male torso

Hello Stranger book against a naked male torso

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Chris @ottersf.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Reading @bmanuel.bsky.social's "Hello Stranger" has added about two dozen books, essays, and films to my "for later" pile, including "Cruising", which, fucking woof. 🥵

A still from an early scene in "Cruising" of a jockstrap dance party.

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Fidel Martinez @fidel.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

This is a story I wanted to write but knew that @bmanuel.bsky.social would be better for it.

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Maira Garcia @mairalg.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

If you're a millennial who went to college in the early 2000s, OVERCOMPENSATING will feel familiar and hit you with waves of nostalgia and cringe, in the best way possible. @bmanuel.bsky.social spoke to Benito Skinner and Wally Baram about their starring roles. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

latimes.com

To tell a story about self-acceptance, Benito Skinner created a BFF on a similar journey

Wally Baram was cast to co-star as Carmen, a character she says felt very familiar, in Prime Video's new college-set comedy "Overcompensating," created by Benito Skinner.

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: ALL STARS opting for a tournament-style competition is an incredibly brilliant way of making those bouncy early episodes feel weighted with the stress and anxiety of final episodes, all while giving the show a way to reboot itself four times. Low-key brilliant?

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

"There are certain ideas that you're just like, 'Oh, I don't want to plant this seed because what if it's an ugly flower?'" — Cole Escola speaking for/to all of us writers. youtu.be/bPvRvh3PsBI?...

youtu.be

Extended interview: "Oh, Mary!" Tony nominee Cole Escola

YouTube video by CBS Sunday Morning

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Caught TRAPEZE this weekend and boy was I not prepared for what’s ostensibly a film about watching Burt Lancaster & Tony Curtis mosey around in tights on any given shot.

Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster in a shot from the film Trapeze.

Shot from the film Trapeze starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, who play trapeze artists.

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

I see we’re having interactions with strangers discourse… www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757080...

Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies by Manuel Betancourt book cover.

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MidCenturyCinema @midcenturycinema.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

BOTD Douglas Sirk!! MCCT5: 5)Magnificent Obsession 4)Shockproof 3)Written on the Wind 2)All that Heaven Allows 1)Lured More: @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich... @bmanuel.bsky.social: www.filmcomment.com/blog/sirk-fr... Sarah Cleary: www.bfi.org.uk/features/whe...

bfi.org.uk

Where to begin with Douglas Sirk

A beginner’s path through the Technicolor melodramas of Douglas Sirk.

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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 25/04/2025

Man, this is a pretty fucking gross move from Amazon, huh? Good on @bookshop.org for not mincing words, though:

Every April, we celebrate Independent Bookstore Day to remind us how vital indie bookstores are to our communities and society. It’s a day of joy and solidarity, and significant financial impact for these bookstores.

This year, Amazon is undercutting that with a “Book Sale” on the same day—a calculated move by a company that has already put half the bookstores in the country out of business, controls over 60% of the market and sells far more books than all indie bookstores combined. The people at Amazon responsible for the timing of their "Book Sale" should be ashamed, but they are shameless.

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Very excited to be part of two panels at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend with a fabulous all around cohort of queer folks!

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

When you think about, growing up with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER was good practice for living through apocalypse after apocalypse, Big Bad after Big Bad (while still being required to go about your life at school and/or your day job).

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Michelle Buchman @michelle-buchman.com · 18/04/2025

For the next three weeks, the filmmakers behind No Other Land are making the film available to watch online in North America. All profits from streaming will go directly towards supporting communities in Masafer Yatta. More details on how to donate and watch here: supportmasaferyatta.com

supportmasaferyatta.com

Support Masafer Yatta - Watch No Other Land

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Peabody Awards @peabodyawards.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

And the nominees for the 85th Annual #PeabodyAwards are...✨ Take a look at these innovative creators across various media forms, showcasing the very best of storytelling! 👉 peabodyawards.com/awards/nominees/ #StoriesThatMatter #Peabody85

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

The best/only way to read HELLO STRANGER, tbh is to stop and watch CLOSER first, naturally.

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Jason Blitman @jasonblitman.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Two weeks from today at the @latimes.com Festival of Books! Moderating a panel w these folks! Sat at 4:30p. . #booksky @andycorren.bsky.social @bmanuel.bsky.social

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Manuel Betancourt @bmanuel.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

I’ve watched this now so so many times.

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