Greenwich Entertainment will release The Big Scary “S” Word the directorial feature debut of Yael Bridge (producer of Saving Capitalism) in theaters on Friday, September 3 – timed with Labor Day Weekend. The documentary had its world premiere at the Hot Docs film festival followed by an impressive festival run at AFI Fest, Mill Valley Film Festival, and DOC NYC.
The Ashland Independent Film Festival released the complete schedule for its 20th annual festival presented this year as a “double feature”– online, with most films available coast-to-coast from April 15-29, and live and outdoors in Ashland and Medford from June 24-28. AIFF’s 2021 festival will present approximately 100 new independent films, including 35 feature films and a dozen shorts programs, accompanied by Q&A’s with filmmakers, virtual parties, mixers, and panels.
Set in the world of elite skiing, the Cannes-selected #MeToo drama Slalom, from debut filmmaker Charlène Favier, stars Noée Abita and Jérémie Renier (The Child). Slalom opens on April 9 nationwide in virtual cinemas through Kino Marquee and select physical theaters New York at Quad Cinema LA at Laemmle Monica (Santa Monica)
The first trailer debuted for the basketball documentary Alaskan Nets set to make its world premiere at the 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival in the Documentary Competition on Saturday, April 3rd.
The environmentally-focused film festival EarthxFilm announced ten days and nights of drive-in, outdoor and online screenings during this year’s hybrid edition of the Dallas-based environmental film festival.
Identifying Features, the debut feature from director Fernanda Valadez, is the winner of the 44th Portland International Film Festival’s Future/future competition. The film, an intriguing and confident first feature following a mother’s journey to find out what happened to her son along the Mexican border, was awarded the honor as well as a $1,000 prize.
Smithsonian Channel follows the one and only Cher as she races to Pakistan to help save the “world’s loneliest elephant,” Kaavan. The global superstar lends the power of her celebrity and her enormous drive to a cause that grew out of a global social media campaign, backed by expert wildlife veterinarians, animal aid groups and sanctuary owners. To succeed, the group would have to overcome a series of daunting challenges to move a four-ton elephant more than 2,300 miles in the midst of a global pandemic.
The 2021 Seattle International Film Festival announced its complete lineup of programming for its first-ever virtual edition. The full slate of works includes a grand total of 219 films, including 93 feature length films from 69 countries. The festival will run from Thursday, April 8th to Sunday, April 18th.
Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan (HBO’s Emmy-nominated “Raising Renee”), the HBO documentary Our Towns, debuting Tuesday, April 13 (9:00 – 10:40 p.m. ET/PT), is a remarkable portrait of America and how the rise of civic and economic reinvention is transforming small cities and towns across the country.
San Francisco International Film Festival unveiled the 103 films for the 2021 Festival set to take place online and in-person events, with digital screenings being hosted through the SFFILM website and live screenings and performances at the Fort Mason Flix drive-in theater. The 2021 Festival will run April 9–18.
HBO released the trailer for Exterminate All the Brutes, from acclaimed filmmaker Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro,” HBO’s “Sometimes in April”), a four-part documentary series that provides a visually arresting journey through time, into the darkest hours of humanity. Through his personal voyage, Peck deconstructs the making and masking of history, digging deep into the exploitative and genocidal aspects of European colonialism – from America to Africa and its impact on society today – challenging the audience to re-think the very notion of how history is being written.
The 14th edition of the St. Louis-based LGBTQ film festival, QFest St. Louis will present an eclectic array of 24 films (14 shorts, six narrative features, and four documentary features). Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all programs will run virtually from April 16-25, 2021.