Hard to believe you can make an emotionally salient movie using photographic clippings from the New York Times but Letter To The Editor is a truly relevant look at the state of the modern news cycle which can be empowering, “fake” or scary as all hell.
Essentially a film of newspaper photographs, filmmaker Alan Berliner crafts a journey through 40 years of pictorial history pulled from the daily print editions of the New York Times. It is the musing of a self admitted news junkie while also being an ode to the death of the printed word during the rise of the digital age. It’s a reflection of the news, how it was, how it is and how it will be, with issues pulled from the headlines to the manipulation and devaluing the objective delivery of the events that affect us all.
It’s a rare to see something so personal and tender yet socially relevant and terrifying at the same time, but that’s exactly what Letter To The Editor is. Berliner sets us off on something very nostalgic; a vision almost pulled from a Norman Rockwell but the further the nostalgia goes down the rabbit hole the more we realize that we just might need a little bit of it back and that the devaluing of the news and arguably the truth is something we have to fight against at every turn.
In the modern news cycle, there’s nothing “fake” about Letter To The Editor as its damn near essential.
David Voigt is a Toronto based writer with a problem and a passion for the moving image and all things cinema. Having moved from production to the critical side of the aisle for well over 15 years now at outlets like Examiner.com, Criticize This, Dork Shelf (Now That Shelf), and to.Night Newspaper.
He’s been all across the continent; serving on the FIPRESCI Jury at the Festival Du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, covering festivals out side of Toronto like Calgary Underground Film Festival, CUFF Docs, Slamdance, Fantasia, SXSW, DOC NYC, Santa Barbara Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival and many others
However, In the uncertain world of modern film journalism, David also knew that he needed to have a hand in writing and cementing his own contributions on the global film scene.
Having eclipsed the 10 year anniversary of his own outlet, In The Seats, where he’s been striving to support film (and TV) from all walks of life and his podcast “In The Seats With…” where after 5 & ½ years and over 750 episodes he’s talked with a wide variety of filmmakers, actors, behind the scenes artisans and so much more on the art of storytelling for the screen, which is spawning the launch of a new show in the Spring of 2026. “ITS: Soundtracks” will focus on the use of soundtrack and score in film which he believes is a combination that is the cinematic equivalent of Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
All this as well as hosting and moderating a variety of big screen events around the city, covering film in all its forms is just a way of life for him.
