Indie Memphis Film Festival unveiled its 2023 slate set to open with Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. The festival runs October 24th through 29th in-person [and virtually] in historic Memphis, TN.
Festival highlights include the World Premieres of Connor Mahony’s madcap comedy Donna and Ally, as well as The Blues Society, a documentary by Augusta Palmer about the Memphis Country Blues Festival (which took place at Overton Park Shell, a few blocks from Indie Memphis headquarters). In addition, the festival favorite titles include Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera featuring Josh O’Connor, Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario, featuring a remarkable performance from Nicholas Cage, Alex Braverman’s Andy Kaufman doc Thank You Very Much, and many others.
Another festival conversation will be with Sam Lisenco, the production designer of Todd Haynes’ May December, which will screen following his conversation. Lisenco will discuss his craft and career, which include the films Uncut Gems, Frances Ha, Judas and the Black Messiah, Eighth Grade, Vox Lux, and series The Bear.
“I’m so excited to reveal the amazing slate of films that our programming team has so diligently worked on over the past year,” says Indie Memphis Executive Director, Kimel Fryer. “This was my first time working with our staff for the full-cycle of the festival planning process and I’m so proud to say the curation they are providing is absolutely phenomenal.”
“I can’t wait for our audiences to see the films in the festival this year. This seems to be the first year of films really processing the strange world we are emerging from over the past few years,” says Indie Memphis Artistic Director Miriam Bale. “I can’t think of a better way to process than collectively, with audiences laughing and crying, or both. And I want to highlight the Revivals section which includes tributes to Keenan Ivory Wayans, Juliet Berto, a Memphis indie film pioneer, and our celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop. We chose to not show documentaries about hip hop, but instead two movies made by rappers and music video directors, which then influenced independent film.”
2023 Indie Memphis Film Festival Slate
Alphabetical by Category
OPENING NIGHT
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Dir. Raven Jackson)
A lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman’s life in Mississippi, the feature debut from award-winning poet, photographer and filmmaker Raven Jackson is a haunting and richly layered portrait, a beautiful ode to the generations of people and places that shape us.
2023, 97 min, Drama
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
Banel & Adama (Dir. Ramata-Toulaye Sy)
Banel and Adama, deeply in love, face a clash between their passionate relationship and the rigid customs of their remote Senegalese village.
2023, 87 min, Drama
Donna and Ally (Dir. Connor Mahony) – WORLD PREMIERE
Embark on a wild ride with Oakland’s dynamic duo, Donna and Ally, on an unstoppable journey from liquor-store-couture to stardom!
2023, 88 min, Comedy
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Dir. Joanna Arnow)
A mosaic-style comedy following the life of a woman as time passes in her long-term casual BDSM relationship, low-level corporate job, and quarrelsome Jewish family.
2023, 87 min, Comedy
Mountains (Dir. Monica Sorelle)
While trying to buy a new home, a Haitian demolition worker is faced with the realities of redevelopment as he is tasked with dismantling his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
2023, 95 min, Drama
Notes on a Summer (Dir. Diego Llorente)
Marta returns home to a summer like all other summers, yet a summer different from all the previous ones.
2023, 83 min, Drama/Romance
Late Bloomers (Dir. Lisa Steen)
A 28-year-old Brooklynite, recovering from a drunken mishap, reluctantly takes on the responsibility of caring for a cantankerous elderly Polish woman, forcing them both to confront the need for growth in their lives.
2023, 89 min, Comedy
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Bad Press (Dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler)
When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring their free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian Country.
2023, 98 min
Black Barbie (Dir. Lagueria Davis)
Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell, Black Barbie delves into the cross section of merchandise and representation as Black women strive to elevate their own voices and stories, refusing to be invisible.
2023, 100 min
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Dirs. Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)
A layered exploration into the inspiring life and legacy of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni, using a blend of memories, historical moments, live poetry readings, and imaginative visuals to envision a future where Black women lead and equity prevails, all while honoring Giovanni’s profound impact on Black liberation.
2023, 96 min
Mississippi River Styx (Dirs. Andy McMillan, Tim Grant)
An enigmatic drifter with terminal cancer lives his dream of floating the Mississippi River on a ramshackle houseboat — until locals start to question his story.
2023, 126 min
Thank You Very Much (Dir. Alex Braverman)
A comprehensive documentary exploration of Andy Kaufman’s perplexing career, blurring the lines between reality and performance, leaving audiences questioning the true essence of this enigmatic figure even nearly 40 years after his alleged passing.
2023, 99 min
A Thousand Pines (Dirs. Sebastian Diaz, Noam Osband)
Raymundo Morales runs a crew of 12 Oaxacan tree planters traveling the United States in this intimate portrait about a hidden world of guest workers regrowing America’s forests.
2023, 77 min
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Anatomy of a Fall (Dir. Justine Triet)
After her husband Samuel’s suspicious death in the French Alps, Sandra becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation, leading to an unsettling psychological exploration of their complex relationship during the trial.
2023, 152 min, Drama/Thriller
The Becomers (Dir. Zach Clark)
A body-snatching alien comes to Earth, reconnects with their partner, and tries to find their way in modern America.
2023, 86 min, Comedy
La Chimera (Dir. Alice Rohrwacher)
La Chimera follows the travails of Arthur, an Englishman in Italy with a preternatural ability to connect with the land.
2023, 133 min, Drama
Dream Scenario (Dir. Kristoffer Borgli)
A schlubby professor who never made it becomes an overnight celebrity after appearing in every person on Earth’s dream.
2023, 100 min, Comedy
Evil Does Not Exist (Dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
In the serene rural village of Harasawa, Takumi and his daughter Hana face an imminent threat to their idyllic way of life as a Tokyo company plans to construct a glamping site, jeopardizing the community’s ecological well-being.
2023, 106 min, Drama
Mami Wata (Dir. C.J. “Fiery” Obasi)
When Zinwe visits her late grandmother’s village, she must confront her true spiritual destiny, and save her people from the hands of the ruthless and violent Sergeant Jasper, to usher in a new age of blessing and prosperity.
2023, 107 min, Drama/Thriller
May December (Dir. Todd Haynes)
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
2023, 113 min, Drama
Passages (Dir. Ira Sachs)
Set in Paris, this seductive drama tracks a gay couple whose marriage is thrown into crisis when one of them begins a passionate affair with a younger woman he meets after completing his latest film.
2023, 92 min, Drama/Romance
Robot Dreams (Dir. Pablo Berger)
Based on the popular graphic novel by the North American writer Sara Varon, Robot Dreams tells the adventures and misfortunes of Dog & Robot in NYC during the ’80s.
2023, 102 min, Animation/Drama
Scrapper (Dir. Charlotte Regan)
Living alone since her beloved mum died, 12-year-old Georgie fills the flat they shared with her own special magic. But when her absent father Jason turns up out of the blue, she’s forced to confront reality.
2023, 84 min, Comedy/Drama
The Sweet East (Dir. Sean Price Williams)
A picaresque journey through contemporary America, undertaken by a young woman granted access to the strange sects and cults that proliferate in this country by a series of gatekeepers eager to win her over.
2023, 104 min, Drama
The Taste of Things (Dir. Tran Anh Hung)
Eugenie, an accomplished cook, and Dodin, her employer of two decades, evolve from a professional relationship into a romantic one, producing extraordinary dishes that captivate the world’s top chefs.
2023, 145 min, Drama/Romance
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
The Space Race (Dirs. Lisa Cortés, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza)
Uncover the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden among many others.
2023, 91 min
A Still Small Voice (Dir. Luke Lorentzen)
A Still Small Voice follows Mati, a chaplain completing a year-long hospital residency, as she learns to provide spiritual care to people confronting profound life changes.
2023, 93 min
Telemarketers (Dirs. Sam Lipman-Stern, Adam Bhala Lough)
Chronicling the darkly comedic, unexpected 20-year journey of two unlikely office buddies, who stumble upon the murky truth behind the work they’ve been doing at a seedy New Jersey call center and vow to expose the crooked American telemarketing industry from within.
2023, Three TV Episodes, Theatrical Debut
We Have Just Begun (Dir. Michael Warren Wilson)
Deep in the Arkansas Delta lies the legacy of the worst race or labor battle in American history—buried for 100 years.
2023, 82 min
Your Fat Friend (Dir. Jeanie Finlay)
Your Fat Friend charts Aubrey Gordon’s journey from anonymous blogger Yrfatfriend to NY Times bestselling author and podcast host and the complexities of making change. It’s a film about fatness, family and the deep, messy feelings all of us hold about our bodies.
2023, 96 min
REVIVALS & RESTORATIONS
50 Years of Hip Hop:
Belly (Dir. Hype Williams)
Two temporarily successful crime lords, Tommy and Sincere, both begin to realize that their lives are headed toward a dead end. Sincere begins getting in touch with his African roots, while Tommy has a religious awakening and joins the Nation of Islam.
1998, 96 min, Drama
Friday (Dir. F. Gary Gray)
Over the course of a random Friday in their LA neighborhood, newly unemployed Craig and stoner pal Smokey try to come up with $200 to pay off a debt.
1995, 91 min, Comedy
The Cassandra Cat (Dir. Vojtěch Jasný) – NEW RESTORATION
A bespectacled cat brings chaos to a small town when its glasses are removed and it sees people in different colors according to their personalities.
1963, 101 min, Comedy
Contemporary Gladiator (Dir. Anthony Elmore) – SPECIAL HOMETOWNER REVIVAL
Anthony “Amp” Elmore, a Memphis Black youth facing social and economic challenges, finds self identity and inner strength to become the World Heavy Kickboxing Champion.
1988, 85 min, Action/Drama
An Evening with Julius-Amédée Laou
Paris-based Laou will appear in person to speak on his career and screen two short films from the 1980s.
Tribute to Juliet Berto:
Celine and Julie Go Boating (Dir. Jacques Rivette)
A mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.
1974, 193 min, Drama
Neige (Dir. Juliet Berto)
Anita is a barmaid at the center of a community of street preachers, prostitutes, dealers and users. When a beloved friend (and young drug dealer) is caught by narcotics agents, Anita takes it upon herself to score for his struggling clients.
1981, 90 min, Drama
Tribute to Keenen Ivory Wayans, In Collaboration with the Roxy Cinema, NYC:
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (Dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans)
In his directorial debut, Keenen Ivory Wayans writes, directs, and stars in this uproarious blaxploitation parody film as soldier Jack Spade, who, upon discovering his brother Junebug’s fatal overdose on gold chains, embarks on a mission to dismantle the local chain lord responsible.
1988, 88 min, Comedy
Scary Movie (Dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans)
A familiar-looking group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a more-than-vaguely recognizable masked killer! As the victims begin to pile up and the laughs pile on, none of your favorite scary movies escape the razor-sharp satire of this outrageously funny parody!
2000, 105 min, Comedy
White Chicks (Dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans)
Two black FBI agents consigned to baby-sitting a pair of empty-headed socialites pose as the white party girls to flush out their would-be kidnappers.
2004, 105 min, Comedy
The Plot Against Harry (Dir. Michael Roemer) – NEW RESTORATION
Deadpan, small-time Kosher Nostra mobster Harry Plotnick goes meshugga when he gets into the catering biz with his ex-brother-in-law in this bona fide comedy classic.
1989, 81 min, Comedy
Yam Daabo (Dir. Idrissa Ouédraogo) – NEW RESTORATION
Poverty and misery are rife in Gourga, a village in the Sahel. The inhabitants must choose: stay and await international assistance or leave for more fertile regions in the country.
1986, 78 min, Drama
DEPARTURES
La Bonga (Dirs. Sebastián Pinzón Silva, Canela Reyes)
Two decades after a death threat from right-wing paramilitaries caused the maroon community of La Bonga to flee, the townspeople embark on a symbolic journey through the jungles of the Colombian Caribbean to resurrect a home that exists only in their memories.
2023, 77 min, Documentary
An Evening Song (For Three Voices) (Dir. Graham Swon)
1930’s, somewhere in the American Midwest: former child-prodigy writer Barbara moves to the countryside with her pulp-fiction scribe husband Richard where they become entwined in a love triangle with their religious housekeeper Martha.
2023, 127 min, Drama
Q (Dir. Jude Chehab)
Jude Chehab investigates her mother Hiba’s adherence to a closed-off, all-female religious sect in Syria. Chehab examines how their mother-daughter relationship and the dynamics of the entire family were upended by this devotion.
2023, 91 min, Documentary
Rejeito (Dir. Pedro de Filippis)
After the largest mining dam breaks in history, further dam collapses threaten millions in Brazil. A state counselor confronts the government’s modus operandi, while dam refugees resist the mining companies’ abuses in their threatened communities.
2023, 75 min, Documentary
The Taste of Mango (Dir. Chloe Abrahams)
In this hypnotically cinematic love letter flowing through time and generations, director Chloe Abrahams probes raw questions her mother and grandmother have long brushed aside, tenderly untangling painful knots in her family’s unspoken past.
2023, 75 min, Documentary
What These Walls Won’t Hold (Dir. Adamu Taye Chan)
Filmmaker Adamu Chan, who was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, documents his path through incarceration and beyond.
2023, 43min, Documentary
SOUNDS
The Blues Society (Dir. Augusta Palmer) – WORLD PREMIERE
In segregated Memphis, blues masters and hippies created a festival that rocked the world. Mind-blowing performances combine with critical storytelling to create a must-see reframe of the 1960s.
2023, 76 min, Documentary
Going Varsity in Mariachi (Dir. Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn)
The teenage captains of Edinburg North High School’s mariachi team aim to turn a small budget and a diverse group of inexperienced musicians into state champions in the competitive world of high school mariachi.
2023, 104 min, Documentary
The Graceless Age: The Ballad of John Murry (Dir. Sarah Share)
Chronicling singer-songwriter John Murry’s journey from the brink of greatness to his descent into addiction, before ultimately finding redemption and a revitalized passion for life and art through his music.
2023, 90 min, Documentary
HOMETOWNER COMPETITION
The First Class (Dir. Lee Hirsch)
An intimate vérité film that follows students and educators at Crosstown High, a groundbreaking new high school in Memphis. Their inspiring journey shows what learning can look like—and accomplish—when a city comes together to rethink what high school can be.
2023, 97 min, Documentary
I Am (Dir. Jessica Chaney) – WORLD PREMIERE
A documentary centering Black women who live with Anxiety Disorder, how they cope, and how they thrive.
2023, 75 min, Documentary
Juvenile: 5 Stories (Dirs. Joann Self Selvidge, Sarah Fleming)
A diverse group of five young people from around the country face their traumas and seek healing after being released from the justice system.
2023, 55 min, Documentary
The Reaper Man (Dir. Jaron Lockridge)
A grieving wife summons a dark spirit with an insatiable desire for revenge.
2023, 85 min, Horror
Scent of Linden (Dir. Sissy Denkova)
A recent immigrant, Stefan moves into the Bulgarian enclave in Tennessee.
2023, 112 min, Comedy
Spirit of Memphis (Dir. Alicia LaToya Ester) – Preceded by Short The Volunteer Ticket
A love letter to Memphis TN shot narrative style with exclusive interviews, highlighting the role that the Sanitation Strike, Historic Clayborn Temple, and Memphis played in America’s complicated history.
2023, 96 minutes (total), Documentary
HOMETOWNER SPOTLIGHT
Birth Of Soul Music (Dir. George Tillman) – Preceded by Short Please Ask for It
Birth Of Soul Music is a story about legendary beginnings at the club Paradise.
2023, 75 min (total), Documentary
Queen Rising (Dir. Princeton James Echols)
Struggling school teacher Madison strikes a lucrative book deal to help solve her financial troubles. As she dives into her dark past surrounding the “College Town Slayings,” she realizes it may still be a part of her present after all.
2022, 87 min, Thriller
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