Independent Film

Pat Healy’s TAKE ME, Starring Taylor Schilling to World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, and in Theaters on May 5th

[caption id="attachment_21342" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Pat Healy as Ray Moody and Taylor Schilling as Anna St. Blair in TAKE ME. Photographer: Nathan M. Miller.[/caption] Pat Healy’s feature debut Take Me, starring Taylor Schilling opposite Healy will world premiere at the upcoming 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, followed by a theatrical and digital release via The Orchard on May 5th. In Take Me, Ray is in the boutique simulated abduction business. An understandably threadbare market, he jumps at the chance when a mysterious call contracts him for a weekend kidnapping with a handsome payday at the end. But the job isn’t all that it seems. A black comedy that threads the needle between crime thriller and slapstick farce, Take Me is as twisty as it is funny. The filmmaking team of Take Me recently set up a website promoting the faux-company “Kidnap Solutions LLC” which claims to be a fully immersive exposure therapy that has been known to cure alcoholism, drug addiction, overeating, nicotine addiction, sex/love addiction and bad habits. Actor, writer and director, Pat Healy began his career on stage at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and went on to appear in over forty feature films and dozens of television series. As a writer, he has authored a dozen feature film screenplays including Snow Ponies, currently in pre-production starring Gerard Butler and directed by Darrin Prescott. He also wrote several episodes of HBO’s critically acclaimed drama series In Treatment. His first short film Mullitt, which he wrote, directed and starred in, premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. Pat Healy commented “I was too lazy and/or afraid to direct a feature film for years until I read Mike Makowsky’s inspired script. I knew I had to do it. Thankfully Jay, Mark & Taylor agreed and gave me the chance to make this crazy thing. It’s the weird/funny movie I hope audiences would expect I’d unleash on the world.”
The script for Take Me was penned by Mike Makowsky, with the Duplass Brothers serving as executive producers, and while Mel Eslyn along with Sev Ohanian serving as producers of the film

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Watch Trailer for BURNING SANDS from Sundance 2017, Set to Premiere on Netflix on March 10

[caption id="attachment_19877" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Malik Bazille, Trevor Jackson, Tosin Cole, Octavius Johnson and DeRon Horton appear in Burning Sands by Gerard McMurray, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. © 2016 Sundance Institute | photo by Isiah Donté Lee.[/caption] Netflix has released the trailer for Burning Sands, a powerful, coming-of-age drama that explores the bonds of fraternity and exposes how far some are willing to go in the name of brotherhood. The film was selected for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival US Dramatic Competition and will be available to Netflix members worldwide on Friday, March 10. Burning Sands stars Trevor Jackson (ABC’s American Crime) in a breakout performance, along with Alfre Woodard, Steve Harris, Trevante Rhodes, Tosin Cole, DeRon Horton, Imani Hakim and Serayah. It is directed and co-written by Gerard McMurray (producer, Fruitvale Station). The film was produced by Stephanie Allain (Beyond the Lights), Jason Michael Berman (Birth of a Nation), Reginald Hudlin (Django Unchained) and Mel Jones (Dear White People). Common also contributed an original song, “The Cross”. Burning Sands takes you on a raw, voyeuristic journey of fraternity pledging through the eyes of one favored pledgee, who is torn between honoring a code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing. Led by a breakthrough performance by Trevor Jackson, director Gerard McMurray’s feature directorial debut brings an emotional honesty to the classic tale of “rites of passage” and the complicated bonds of brotherhood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t-ZivjczEs
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Slamdance Grand Jury Winner DIM THE FLUORESCENTS to Be Released in Canada | Trailer

[caption id="attachment_21146" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Dim The Fluorescents – director Daniel Warth and producer Josh Clavir,[/caption] Dim The Fluorescents, the feature film debut of director Daniel Warth and producer Josh Clavir, and winner of the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize will be released in Canada by Films We Like. The film will have a cross-Canada fall theatrical release, followed by a wide digital release targeting SVOD, streaming and airline services. FWL has been following the film since before its debut at Slamdance Film Festival, and shortly after the fest, finalized the deal. Dim the Fluorescents tells the story of struggling actor Audrey (Claire Armstrong) and aspiring playwright Lillian (Naomi Skwarna), who pour all of their creative energy into the only paying work they can find: corporate role-playing demonstrations. When they book the biggest gig of their careers at a hotel conference, work commences on their most ambitious production to date, and the ensuing tensions threaten to derail both the production and their friendship. As wryly funny as it is unexpectedly poignant, Dim the Fluorescents is a one-of-a-kind portrait of the artistic life and process in the unlikeliest of settings. A labour of love painstakingly constructed over the course of four years, the film was written by Daniel Warth and Miles Barstead – who also composed the score – and produced by Josh Clavir. “I honestly can’t think of a better Canadian home for Dim the Fluorescents than Films We Like,” said Warth. “They have put out so many of my favorite films of the new century: Tabu, Berberian Sound Studio, Like Someone in Love, and far too many others to mention. I am beyond excited for this partnership, and I know they’re going to do an incredible job bringing the film to Canadian audiences.”
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Rob Meyer’s LITTLE BOXES from Tribeca 2016 Gets April 14th Delivery Date

[caption id="attachment_15460" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Little Boxes[/caption] Rob Meyer’s LITTLE BOXES starring Melanie Lynskey (“Togetherness”), Nelsan Ellis (GET ON UP), Armani Jackson (THE LAST WITCH HUNTER), Oona Laurence (Broadway’s MATILDA), and Janeane Garofalo, will be released in theaters on April 14th by Gunpowder & Sky Distribution. It’s the summer before 6th grade, and Clark (Jackson) is the new biracial kid in a very white town. Discovering that to be cool he needs to act ‘more black’, he fumbles to meet expectations. Meanwhile, his urban intellectual parents Mack (Ellis) and Gina (Lynskey) try to adjust to small-town living. Accustomed to life in New York, the tight-knit family is ill-prepared for the drastically different set of obstacles that their new community presents. They soon find themselves struggling to understand themselves and each other in this new context. Written by Annie J. Howell, LITTLE BOXES premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, where it received a warm reception from critics. IndieWire praised Lynskey’s performance as “radiantly real” and called Howell’s script “knowing and perceptive”, noting approvingly that the film “addresses delicate questions about how our national conversations shape and seep into younger generations.” Variety concurred, hailing Ellis and Lynskey as “warm, funny and credible” and the film’s gentle touch on “issues of race, class and privilege”. “LITTLE BOXES is as heartwarming as it is timely,” said Gunpowder & Sky Distribution’s Jake Hanly. “Rob unpacked a very complex issue in a way any audience can understand and relate to.” Director Rob Meyer said, “It’s a thrill and an honor to team up with Gunpowder & Sky Distribution for the theatrical and VOD release. They distribute the kind of movies that I want to watch.” Producer Jared Ian Goldman added, “The Gunpowder & Sky team love the heart, humor and commentary of LITTLE BOXES as much as those of us who made it. They understand the timeliness and nuance to the mix-ups, misunderstandings, and stereotyping that the story utilizes so successfully.”
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A QUIET PASSION, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson Sets Release Dates | Trailer

[caption id="attachment_19428" align="aligncenter" width="1201"] A Quiet Passion[/caption] A QUIET PASSION starring Cynthia Nixon, and an official selection at the 2016 New York, Toronto and Berlin film festivals, will open in New York on April 14, and at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles on April 21. A national release will follow. Following Sunset Song, acclaimed British director Terence Davies turns to 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson, and exquisitely evokes Dickinson’s deep attachment to her close-knit family along with the manners, mores and spiritual convictions of her time that she struggled with and transcended in her poetry. Cynthia Nixon delivers a triumphant performance as Emily Dickinson as she personifies the wit, intellectual independence and pathos of the poet whose genius only came to be recognized after her death. In addition to his two acclaimed semi-autobiographical features Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, Mr. Davies’ films include the gorgeous literary adaptations The House of Mirth, The Neon Bible, The Deep Blue Sea, Sunset Song, as well as Of Time and the City, his masterful exploration of his native city, Liverpool. A QUIET PASSION written and directed by Terence Davies, reunites Davies with his Deep Blue Sea cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister to create a luminous rendering of the poet’s universe. Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Not publicly recognized during her lifetime, her first volume of works was published posthumously in 1890 after her family discovered forty hardbound volumes containing nearly 1,800 poems.
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Ghanian Film and Film Independent Spirit Award Nominee NAKOM Sets March 3rd Release Date | Trailer

[caption id="attachment_20737" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Nakom[/caption] Nakom, directed by the female team of TW Pittman and Daniela Norris, and nominated for the John Cassavetes Film Independent Spirit Award for the best new film made for under $500,000, will be released by Corinth Films. The film, starring Jacob Ayanaba, Justina Kulidu, Shetu Mussah, Grace Ayariga, Aziz Abdul, Esther Issaka, Mamudu Asigiri, and Thomas Kulidu, will open Friday March 3rd at New York’s Cinema Village in Manhattan.
Set in present day Ghana, Nakom follows Iddrisu, a talented medical student who is summoned home by his sister after their father’s sudden death. Iddrisu reluctantly returns home to the village of Nakom, buries his father and temporarily assumes the head of the impoverished household and farm, inheriting not only the delicate task of planting a successful crop but also a debt left by the deceased patriarch that could destroy the family. Attempting to maintain part of his studies from the confines of a small hut, Iddrisu becomes increasingly frustrated with the incessant physical and emotional needs of those around him, the demanding toil of the land and lack of rain. A contentious relationship with his uncle Napolean, to whom the sizeable debt is owed, is further complicated by the unplanned pregnancy of Napolean’s granddaughter who was sent to live with Iddrisu’s family. As the new patriarch grapples with tradition and familial duty, he is met with varying shades of contempt by both family and villagers who compare him with his father expecting a resemblance. Iddrisu’s patience and wisdom are tempered by the strange paradox created by his faith in God and desire for control, the latter of which he cannot have so long as he stays in Nakom. As circumstances swell, Iddrisu suddenly begins to realize that no future for him exists in the place where he is needed the most, even despite an offer by the village Chieftain to remain in Nakom to become an elder and marry his daughter. [gallery size="medium" type="rectangular" ids="20737,20738,20746,20745,20744,20743,20742,20741,20740,20739"]
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11 Indie Filmmakers Awarded “Filmed in NC” Grants

Eleven indie filmmakers have been awarded “Filmed in NC” grants, an initiative to support indie filmmakers in North Carolina. The grants are funded by the NC Film Office and awarded through the Cucalorus Film Foundation. The eleven projects awarded range from narrative features to short docs and were chosen from 59 submissions. Embracing the diversity of the film industry, the “Filmed in NC” Grants are supporting five female directors, three projects from African American filmmakers, and one genderqueer filmmaker. Filmmakers will present a portion of their ongoing work at the 23rd annual Cucalorus Film Festival, taking place November 8 to 12, 2017. Grant recipients are: Alex Nomick for Sweet Nothing, a narrative about a college student struggling with his sexuality; Alicia Inshiradu for What The River Knows, a short chronicling the six months of a young married couple’s tragic life; Anna R. Jones for Chairman Jones – An Improbable Leader, a documentary about North Carolina’s first African American school board chairman; Anthony Reynolds for Times Like Dying, a feature about a vengeful farming family; Brendan & Jeremy Smyth for Mohmmed, a poetic look into forgotten refugees; Christopher Baker for Sarah’s Big Day, about a girl and her imaginary friend; Joanne Hock for Martin Hill: Camera Man, a documentary about an obsessed hoarder of filmmaking tools; Katina Parker for A Love Supreme: Black, Queer and Christian in The South, documenting the journey to reconcile Black Queer Christians with their families; Laura Hart McKinny for Extraordinary Ventures, a story of employment of teens and adults on the autism spectrum; Molly Lewis for Paradise: Downhill Skateboarding, about the downhill skateboarding culture of Western North Carolina; Ricky Kelly for Black Beach/White Beach: A Tale of Two Beaches, about the racial tensions that arise in Myrtle Beach during two national bike festivals every spring.
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MOONLIGHT Partners with President Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Mentoring Program

In celebration of Black History Month, MOONLIGHT is partnering with My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a mentoring program started by President Obama’s Administration for young men of color to empower them with the resources and support to achieve their full potential regardless of circumstance. The screenings kicked off earlier this week in Los Angeles with My Brother’s Keeper and attended by dozens of young men from several local high schools. After the film, Mike Muse of My Brother’s Keeper moderated a talk-back session with the students and MOONLIGHT’s Oscar-Nominated stars Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, writer/director Barry Jenkins, and writer Tarell Alvin McCraney. A screening and talk back with high schoolers in New York is also set for next week. MOONLIGHT chronicles the life of Chiron, a boy growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Lauded by critics and audiences alike, the film is nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Naomie Harris). To date, MOONLIGHT has won the Golden Globe® for Best Picture – Drama and was nominated for an additional five Golden Globes®, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali). The film is also nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards, and additionally is the this year’s recipient of the Spirits’ Robert Altman Award, which honors an outstanding ensemble cast in a motion picture. MOONLIGHT has been named the Best Picture of 2016 by the Gotham Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The National Society of Film Critics, and The New York Times, among many others. [gallery type="rectangular" size="medium" ids="20507,20511,20510,20509,20508"]
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YOUTH IN OREGON Starring Frank Langella, Christina Applegate, Sets February 2017 Release Date

[caption id="attachment_19190" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Youth in Oregon[/caption] Youth in Oregon, directed by Joel David Moore will be released in 2017 via Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films. The film will be released in U.S. theaters and VOD on February 3, 2017. Youth in Oregon, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is set to screen at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival, stars Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place, Josh Lucas, Nicola Peltz and Alex Shaffer. “This beautiful film tackles one of humanity’s most universal dilemmas, told through the lens of an estranged, intimacy-parched family that has to bear the burden of a patriarch’s decision to leave them all behind,” Moore said of the drama. Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place and Josh Lucas star in this moving family road trip dramedy. Raymond Engersoll (Langella) aims to reach Oregon in time for an appointment to legally end his life under the state’s laws, but his headstrong daughter (Applegate) sends her unwilling husband (Crudup) along for the ride, convinced they can talk him out of the scheme before he reaches his destination. Along the way Engersoll works to reconcile with his estranged son (Lucas) and convince his tuned-out wife (Place) of the veracity of his purpose. Tribeca Film Festival
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Sean Ellis’ World War II drama, ANTHROPOID Sets US Release Date

[caption id="attachment_14085" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Anthropoid[/caption] Sean Ellis’ World War II drama, ANTHROPOID, will be released in the US via Bleecker Street on Friday, August 12, 2016, after its World Premiere as opening night film of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czech operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution, was the Reich’s third in command behind Hitler and Himmler and the leader of Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. The film follows two soldiers from the Czech army-in-exile, Josef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), who are parachuted into their occupied homeland in December 1941. With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city under lock down, they must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, an operation that would change the face of Europe forever. Directed by Sean Ellis (Metro Manila, Cashback) from a screenplay by Ellis and Anthony Frewin, the film also stars Charlotte Le Bon, Ana Geislerová, Harry Lloyd, Bill Milner and Toby Jones. Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon and Sean Ellis produced. Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street commented, “Sean Ellis’ film drops you right into the center of resistance in WWII and takes viewers on an emotional ride all the way through its heart-stopping finale. We’re proud to partner with Mickey and Pete on this film which we feel will resonate with adult audiences this summer.”
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Watch TRAILER for THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING Starring Selena Gomez

[caption id="attachment_11531" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING[/caption] The trailer has been released for the new Netflix original film, The Fundamentals of Caring which will premiere exclusively on the service on Friday, June 24, 2016. Based on the novel by Jonathan Evison and written, directed and produced by Rob Burnett,The Fundamentals of Caring stars Paul Rudd, Craig Roberts, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Ehle, Megan Ferguson and Frederick Weller. The film follows the story of Ben, a retired writer who becomes a caregiver after suffering a personal tragedy. After 6 weeks of training, Ben meets his first client, Trevor, a foul-mouthed 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy. One paralyzed emotionally, one paralyzed physically, Ben and Trevor take an impromptu road trip to all the places Trevor has become obsessed with while watching the local news, including their holy grail: the World’s Deepest Pit. Along the way, they pick up a smart-mouthed runaway and a mother-to-be who help test the pair’s survival skills outside of their calculated existence as they come to understand the importance of hope and true friendship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSXn-lIs4Y0
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Watch TRAILER for Todd Solondz’s Hilarious WEINER-DOG Starring Danny DeVito

[caption id="attachment_14136" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] WEINER-DOG[/caption] IFC Films has released the official trailer for Wiener-Dog, directed by Todd Solondz, about a dog and her life as she passes from owner to owner. The film opens in theaters on June 24. Wiener-Dog, starring an all-star cast that includes Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, and Zosia Mamet, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Wiener-Dog tells several stories featuring people who find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading a certain kind of comfort and joy. Man’s best friend starts out teaching a young boy some contorted life lessons before being taken in by a compassionate vet tech named Dawn Wiener. Dawn reunites with someone from her past and sets off on a road trip picking up some depressed mariachis along the way. Wiener-Dog then encounters a floundering film professor, as well as an embittered elderly woman and her needy granddaughter—all longing for something more. Twenty years ago, Todd Solondz took the Sundance Film Festival by storm when Welcome to the Dollhouse won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Festival. Since then he has gone on to establish himself as one of the most uncompromising voices working in film. Wiener-Dog is vintage Solondz, brimming with brilliantly caustic and truthful observations about the human condition. He has a unique ability to find humor in the darkest of subject matter, allowing an empathetic light to shine on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C7OewoxnKI
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