Films

VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Quinn Shephard’s High School Indie Drama BLAME Starring Nadia Alexander

Here is the new trailer for Blame, the debut of 22-year-old writer/director Quinn Shephard, and starring Nadia Alexander, winner of the award for Best Actress at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival for her performance in the film. Blame, also starring Chris Messina, Nadia Alexander, Owen Campbell, Luke Slattery, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Tessa Albertson, Sarah Mezzanotte, and Tate Donovan will open in New York and LA, and on VOD on January 5th, 2018. It’s the start of a new year at a small suburban high school and Abigail (Quinn Shephard) is an eternal outcast returning for the first time after a mysterious event the previous year. Facing constant bullying, Abigail escapes from her hostile surroundings by immersing herself in the worlds of the characters she reads about, much to the amusement of her manipulative classmate, Melissa (Nadia Alexander). When the girls’ intriguing new drama teacher Jeremy (Chris Messina) announces Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible” as their fall show, and casts Abigail over Melissa in the starring role, Abigail’s confidence blooms — but soon her relationship with Jeremy begins to move beyond the fantasy world she’s constructed. This taboo bond strikes a nerve in Melissa, fueling a vengeful jealousy that quickly spirals out of control — and brings about a chain of events that draws even further parallels to the madness of Salem. The riveting debut of 22-year-old writer/director Quinn Shephard, Blame examines the indelible stain of rumor and suspicion in the contemporary suburban high school while delving into the psyches of the cell phone generation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17PYWD3Hio
Read more
VIDEO: Watch SXSW Audience Award Winner MR. ROOSEVELT Trailer – in Theaters November 17

In Mr. Roosevelt, Noël Wells’ feature directorial debut, she portrays Emily, a talented but hard-to-classify comedic performer who left behind her home and boyfriend to pursue career opportunities in L.A. When a loved one falls ill, Emily rushes back to Austin where she’s forced to stay with her ex-boyfriend (Nick Thune) and his new-and-improved girlfriend (Britt Lower), a totally together woman with a five-year plan.Though Emily is the same, everything else is different: her house has been smartly redecorated, her rocker boyfriend is training to be a real estate agent, and her old haunts show serious signs of gentrification. Holed up in her own guest room, Emily–who has no idea what she’ll be doing five days from now, let alone five years–is forced to question everyone’s values: are they sell-outs or have they just figured out what makes them happy? And is she following her dreams or is she just a self-absorbed loser? Mr. Roosevelt premiered at SXSW, where it won the Audience Award in Narrative Spotlight and the Louis Black Lone Star Award, and most recently at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival, where it won the Founders Prize for Best US Fiction Film. The film also starring Nick Thune, Britt Lower, Danielle Pineda, and Andre Hyland, will open in in Los Angeles, Friday, November 17, and in New York, Wednesday, November 22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CNhyOHqPAE
Read more
VIDEO: Watch New Clip from THE PROBLEM WITH APU, Premieres on truTV on November 19

Check out a new clip from the highly-anticipated comedic documentary The Problem with Apu which is set to premiere on truTV on Sunday, November 19 at 10PM ET/PT. The Problem with Apu will have its World Premiere at DOC NYC on November 14. In the hour-long film, creator and star Hari Kondabolu, a South Asian-American comedian, confronts his long-standing “nemesis” Apu Nahasapeemapetilon – better known as the Indian convenience store owner on The Simpsons. Kondabolu discusses how this controversial caricature was created, burrowed its way into the hearts and minds of Americans, and continues to exist – intact – nearly three decades later. In this highly-personal, insightful and timely exploration of minority media representation, Kondabolu speaks with prominent South Asian actors about the damaging legacy of Apu – an animated character voiced by a white actor with a heavily exaggerated, stereotypical Indian accent. Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, Aasif Mandvi, Hasan Minjaj, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Aparna Nancherla, Russell Peters, Sakina Jaffrey and Maulik Pancholy share poignant stories about their own experiences with Apu and the broader questions about the comedy and representation he evokes. With additional interviews with EGOT-winner Whoopi Goldberg, W. Kamau Bell, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Mallika Rao, and many more, The Problem with Apu takes a humorous look at how even a beloved television series can have a blind spot. “I was obsessed with The Simpsons growing up and it has greatly influenced my comedy. However, as my mother proves, you can criticize something you love because you expect more from it,” said Kondabolu. “For the longest time, Apu was the most prominent representation of South Asian Americans – and despite how much our society has changed in the last three decades – the character persists today. I made this film to not only talk about the origin of Apu and highlight the impact of such images in media, but also to celebrate the diversity and complexity of my community.” Hailed as “one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today” by The New York Times, Brooklyn-based comedian Kondaboluis the host of the popular podcast “Politically Re-Active” alongside W. Kamau Bell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nUp5EG-5Kc
Read more
VIDEO: New Trailer for QUEST, An Epic Portrait of an American Family, Opens in NY on Dec. 8

Here is the new trailer for Quest, Jonathan Olshefski’s moving chronicle of a close knit African-American family living in North Philadelphia. Filmed with vérité intimacy for almost a decade, Quest has swept top documentary awards at festivals across the country since it premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, including the Grand Jury prize at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. It will open in Philadelphia on December 1 (Landmark’s Ritz at the Bourse), New York on December 8 (Quad Cinema) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica) on December 15. A wider national rollout will follow. Beginning at the dawn of the Obama presidency, the film follows the Raineys: father Christopher “Quest” Rainey, who juggles various jobs to support his family; Christine’a “Ma Quest,” who works at a women’s shelter; Christine’a’s son William, who is undergoing cancer treatment while caring for his baby son; and PJ, Quest and Christine’a’s young daughter. In a neighborhood besieged by inequality and neglect, they nurture a community of hip hop artists in their home music studio. It’s a safe space where all are welcome, but this creative sanctuary can’t always shield them from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Epic in scope, Quest is a vivid illumination of race and class in America, and a profound testament to love, healing and hope.
Read more
VIDEO: Watch First Trailer for Muay Thai Boxing Thriller A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN

Watch Joe Cole fights his way out in first trailer for Muay Thai boxing thriller A Prayer Before Dawn. The film, directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire premiered earlier this year at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and is set to be released in 2018 by A24. A Prayer Before Dawn is the remarkable true story of Billy Moore, a young English boxer incarcerated in two of Thailand’s most notorious prisons. He is quickly thrown into a terrifying world of drugs and gang violence, but when the prison authorities allow him to take part in the Muay Thai boxing tournaments, he realizes this might be his chance to get out. Billy embarks on a relentless, action-packed journey from one savage fight to the next, stopping at nothing to do whatever he must to preserve his life and regain his freedom. Shot in a an actual Thai prison with a cast of primarily real inmates, A Prayer Before Dawn is a visceral, thrilling journey through an unforgettable hell on earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp88Nuci68c
Read more
Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s VR “CARNE y ARENA” Awarded Special Oscar

Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s virtual reality installation, “CARNE y ARENA (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible),” has been given a Special Award – an Oscar statuette – in recognition of a visionary and powerful experience in storytelling. “The Governors of the Academy are proud to present a special Oscar to ‘CARNE y ARENA,’ in which Alejandro Iñárritu and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have opened for us new doors of cinematic perception,” said Academy President John Bailey. “‘CARNE y ARENA,’ Iñárritu’s multimedia art and cinema experience, is a deeply emotional and physically immersive venture into the world of migrants crossing the desert of the American southwest in early dawn light. More than even a creative breakthrough in the still emerging form of virtual reality, it viscerally connects us to the hot-button political and social realities of the U.S.-Mexico border.” “CARNE y ARENA,” currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Fondazione Prada in Milan, and Tlatelolco Cultural Center in Mexico City, is a collaboration between Iñárritu, Lubezki, producer Mary Parent, Legendary Entertainment, Fondazione Prada, ILMxLAB, and Emerson Collective. Katie Calhoon executive produced. In recognition of this achievement, an Oscar will be presented to “CARNE y ARENA” at the Academy’s 9th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 11, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.
Read more
2017 NewFest Awards – THE FEELS and THE CITY OF THE FUTURE Win First Ever Jury Awards

[caption id="attachment_25319" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Feels[/caption] The 2017 NewFest, New York LGBT Film Festival wrapped earlier this week, and for the first time ever, the festival awarded prizes adjudicated by a jury. The Feels, directed by Jenée LaMarque won the Jury Award for Best US Narrative, and The City of the Future by directors Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes Guerreiro, won the Jury Award for Best International Narrative. The Jury Award for Best Documentary was given to Alabama Bound, directed by Lara Embry and Carolyn Sherer. “This is first time in over 5 years that NewFest has had a jury,” says Programming and Operations Manager Nick McCarthy. “We were delighted to host a collection of esteemed and exciting colleagues that encompass the fields of filmmaking, criticism, marketing/distribution, activism, and programming to experience the varied voices of our 2017 filmmakers.” The audience voted Hot To Trot, winner of Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, and the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to A Date For Mad Mary.
2017 NewFest Award Winners

Jury Awards
Jury Award for Best US Narrative The Feels, directed by Jenée LaMarque. Two brides-to-be throw a joint bachelorette party that ends up calling their whole relationship into question. Special Mention Zachary Booth and David Rysdahl for their outstanding performances in The Revival. Jury Award for Best New York Short Ace, directed by Morgan Kahn Nichols An unlikely pair of teenagers perform an awkward social dance in a house with no parents. Special Mention The Mess He Made, directed by Matthew Puccini, which takes place in the 15 anxiety-inducing minutes a gay man has to wait for the results of his Rapid HIV Test. Jury Award for Best International Narrative The City of the Future directed by Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes Guerreiro A naturalistic film about the nontraditional relationship of lovers Mila, Igor, and Gilmar that shuns convention, instead embracing love in all its dazzling iterations. Special Mention Manuela Guevara for her performance in The Devil’s Magnificent. Guevara co-wrote the film, in which she plays Manu, a trans immigrant who must return to her native Chile after 10 years in France. In the days leading up to her departure, Manu’s platonic friend Daniel proposes marriage with the intention of solving her visa issues. Manu strongly considers the offer, but she’s wholly disheartened at the prospect of a life without love, romance, and sex—that is, until she meets a fellow foreigner who instills in her the hope for a romantic future. Jury Award for Best Documentary Alabama Bound, directed by Lara Embry and Carolyn Sherer. Exploring the legal roller-coaster ride of LGBTQ family rights in the American South, the film offers an intimate view into the lives of three lesbian families in Alabama, including the only openly-gay Alabama State Legislator Patricia Todd, as they make waves in the legal system fighting for the rights of their children. Filmed during the turning-point years when federal marriage equality was coming to a head in the courts, this riveting and powerful documentary tactfully imbues the viewer with hope and frustration as Patricia Todd leads the charge in next wave of the LGBTQ fight for equality: legal non-discrimination. Special Mention Abu directed byArshad Khan – a dazzling visual memoir about the complex dynamic the filmmaker has with his father, who was at once extremely modern and also rigidly traditional and unaccepting of his son’s true self.
Audience Awards
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature Hot To Trot directed by Gail Freedman Set in the swinging setting of same-sex competitive ballroom dancing, this tremendously entertaining documentary highlights the culture and art of dance as it humanistically profiles the compelling stories of four international dancers. Filmed over four years, director Gail Freedman closely follows the tight ensemble as they face global and health issues, yet they find comfort and hope as they twirl past life’s obstacles with the utmost poise and confidence. Who will take home the top prize and move closest to the rhythm? The heat is on in more ways than one. Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature A Date For Mad Mary directed by Darren Thornton In the first feature film by director Darren Thornton, Mary has just been released from a six-month prison stint for a drunken bar fight. Her best friend Charlene is now getting married and wants to keep Mary at a distance, alienating her from their circle of friends. An encounter with a queer musician changes Mary’s perspective and awakens her romantic spirit. The film also won the Breakthrough Award at the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards. Audience Award for Best Documentary Short Love Letter Rescue Squad directed by Megan Rossman The film reflects on the Lesbian Herstory Archives, home to the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities. Audience Award for Best Narrative Short Pria, directed by Yudho Aditya A young boy in Indonesia experiences the tensions between his Gay and Muslim identities all while dreaming about romance and romanticizing the freedoms of the western world.
Read more
170 Documentary Feature Films Submitted for 90th Academy Awards

[caption id="attachment_25315" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Gaga: Five Foot Two[/caption] One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December. Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories. Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018. The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide. The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Aida’s Secrets Al Di Qua All the Rage All These Sleepless Nights AlphaGo The American Media and the Second Assassination of President John F. Kennedy And the Winner Isn’t Angels Within Architects of Denial Arthur Miller: Writer Atomic Homefront The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography Bang! The Bert Berns Story Bending the Arc Big Sonia Bill Nye: Science Guy Birthright: A War Story Bobbi Jene Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Born in China Born to Lead: The Sal Aunese Story Boston Brimstone & Glory Bronx Gothic Burden California Typewriter Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story Casting JonBenet Chasing Coral Chasing Trane Chavela Citizen Jane: Battle for the City City of Ghosts Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives Cries from Syria Cruel & Unusual Cuba and the Cameraman Dawson City: Frozen Time Dealt The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson Destination Unknown Dina Dolores Dream Big: Engineering Our World A Dying King: The Shah of Iran Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends) Earth: One Amazing Day 11/8/16 Elian Embargo Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars Escapes Everybody Knows… Elizabeth Murray Ex Libris – The New York Public Library Extraordinary Ordinary People Faces Places The Farthest The Final Year Finding Oscar 500 Years Food Evolution For Ahkeem The Force The Freedom to Marry From the Ashes Gaga: Five Foot Two A German Life Get Me Roger Stone Gilbert God Knows Where I Am Good Fortune A Gray State Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It All Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story Hearing Is Believing Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS Human Flow I Am Another You I Am Evidence I Am Jane Doe I Called Him Morgan Icarus If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast The Incomparable Rose Hartman An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Intent to Destroy Jane Jeremiah Tower The Last Magnificent Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower Karl Marx City Kedi Keep Quiet Kiki LA 92 The Last Dalai Lama? The Last Laugh Last Men in Aleppo Legion of Brothers Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982 – 1992 Let’s Play Two Letters from Baghdad Long Strange Trip Look & See Machines Man in Red Bandana Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance Motherland Mully My Scientology Movie Naples ’44 Neary’s – The Dream at the End of the Rainbow Night School No Greater Love No Stone Unturned Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press Nowhere to Hide Obit Oklahoma City One of Us The Paris Opera The Pathological Optimist Prosperity The Pulitzer at 100 Quest Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman The Rape of Recy Taylor The Reagan Show Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan Risk A River Below Rocky Ros Muc Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World Santoalla School Life Score: A Film Music Documentary Served Like a Girl The Settlers 78/52 Shadowman Shot! The Psycho Spiritual Mantra of Rock Sidemen: Long Road to Glory The Skyjacker’s Tale Sled Dogs Soufra Spettacolo Step Stopping Traffic: The Movement to End Sex-Trafficking Strong Island Surviving Peace Swim Team Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton Take My Nose… Please! They Call Us Monsters 32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous Tickling Giants Trophy Twenty Two Unrest Vince Giordano – There’s a Future in the Past Voyeur Wait for Your Laugh Wasted! The Story of Food Waste Water & Power: A California Heist Whitney. Can I Be Me Whose Streets? The Work
Read more
VIDEO: Watch Dee Ree’s MUDBOUND Trailer Starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige

The official trailer is finally here for Dee Rees’ Mudbound, set in the rural American South during World War II. Mudbound, based on the international bestselling novel by Hillary Jordan, is the timeless and timely story of two families – one black, one white – bound together by the farmland of the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow era of the 1940s. A powerful ensemble cast including Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige and Rob Morgan portray the richly nuanced relationships between the McAllans and the Jacksons. Rees commands a team of top craftspeople including a remarkable roster of female department heads – including cinematographer Rachel Morrison, editor Mako Kamitsuna, composer Tamar-kali, Oscar(R) nominee sound engineer Pud Cusack and makeup department head Angie Wells – to bring the past into the present and shine a light on a chapter of American history rarely seen on screen before. Mudbound will be on Netflix and in select theaters on Friday, November 17. Set in the rural American South during World War II, Dee Rees’ Mudbound is an epic story of two families pitted against one another by a ruthless social hierarchy, yet bound together by the shared farmland of the Mississippi Delta. Mudbound follows the McAllan family, newly transplanted from the quiet civility of Memphis and unprepared for the harsh demands of farming. Despite the grandiose dreams of Henry (Jason Clarke), his wife Laura (Carey Mulligan) struggles to keep the faith in her husband’s losing venture. Meanwhile, Hap and Florence Jackson (Rob Morgan, Mary J. Blige) – sharecroppers who have worked the land for generations – struggle bravely to build a small dream of their own despite the rigidly enforced social barriers they face. The war upends both families’ plans as their returning loved ones, Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) and Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell), forge a fast but uneasy friendship that challenges the brutal realities of the Jim Crow South in which they live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xucHiOAa8Rs
Read more
Anthony Onah’s Indie Thriller THE PRICE Opens in Theaters on November 10th | Trailer

Anthony Onah’s debut thriller The Price which world premiered at SXSW, will open in theaters on November 10th, 2017 in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas and more. The high stakes thriller stars fast rising actors Aml Ameen (star of Idris Elba’s upcoming directorial debut YARDIE, “Sense8”, MAZE RUNNER, THE BUTLER) and Lucy Griffiths (“Preacher”, “True Blood”). The Price follows a young Nigerian-American as he navigates complications in family, love, and business while secrets threaten to destroy him. The film explores a young person juggling various identities – professional at work, traditional at home, alpha-male with his co-workers, sensitive within his relationship – and the crippling pressures these expectations can bring. Seyi (Ameen), a bright young Nigerian-American working on Wall Street, must navigate complicated family expectations, a turbulent romantic relationship, and a system of cultural complexities caused by class and race. With a dying father, a burgeoning romance with a white girlfriend (Griffiths), and dangerous new business opportunities, Seyi’s life is in a delicate balance. When his ambition drives Seyi to morally dubious waters, secrets threaten to erupt and shatter his world. Seyi must confront himself and decisions he has made, facing the crimes of the past in a desperate attempt to salvage the present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KwFu4LWVBU
Read more
VIDEO: Watch Election Day Film “11/8/16” Trailer, Opens in Theaters on November 3rd

Check out the new trailer for the Election Day Film 11/8/16, Jeff Deutchman’s second installment in his election film series. The film opens in theaters and on iTunes on November 3, 2017. On the morning of Election Day 2016, Americans of all stripes woke up and went about living their radically different lives. These were the hours leading up to Donald Trump’s unexpected, earth-shaking victory, but, of course, no one knew that yet. What did that day look like? With 11/8/16, producer/creator Jeff Deutchman’s second installment in his election film series, viewers are afforded a uniquely cinematic look at the chaotic glory of American democracy from sea to shining sea. Featuring footage captured by a carefully curated group of some of America’s finest documentary filmmakers, 11/8/16 follows sixteen subjects spanning the country’s geographic, socioeconomic and political divides through the course of that history-altering day. 11/8/16 was an election unlike any other. 11/8/16 brings us back to that day with the immediacy of great nonfiction filmmaking, and shows the vibrant directness how life happens as history is being made.
The film is directed by Duane Andersen, Yung Chang, Garth Donovan Vikram Gandhi, Raul Gasteazoro, Andrew Beck Grace, Jamie Goncalves, Alma Har’el, Daniel Junge, Alison Klayman, Ciara Lacy, Martha Shane, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Bassam Tariq, Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce, Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker; and curated and produced by Jeff Deutchman
Read more
THE PIRATES OF SOMALIA Starring Barkhad Abdi, Melanie Griffith and Al Pacino, Gets A Release Date

Bryan Buckley’s The Parents of Somalia (previously known as Dabka), an audience favorite from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, will be released nationwide on Friday, December 8th, 2017, via Echo Bridge Releasing. The Parents of Somalia stars Evan Peters, Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Melanie Griffith, and Al Pacino. Based on the New York Times Bestseller’ The Parents of Somalia by journalist Jay Bahadur, Bryan Buckley brings us a tale of empowerment and the potential we have as individuals. Suspenseful as it is inspiring, The Parents of Somalia tells an insider’s story of what led up to the “Captain Phillips” hostage saga exploding at sea. The story follows rookie journalist Jay Bahadur (Evan Peters), who after having a chance encounter with an experienced war correspondent (Al Pacino), uproots his life and moves to Somalia looking for the story of a lifetime. Hooking up with a local fixer (Barkhad Abdi), Jay attempts to embed himself with the local Somali pirates, getting in way over his head in the process. “I am so pleased to be partnering with Echo Bridge, who share the same level of commitment to this film that we do” said director Bryan Buckley. “This is an important and powerful story that demonstrates the courage of those journalists who have risked their lives to tell us the truth. It’s a piece of work that needs to be shared with all audiences; therefore, we could not be more thrilled to have found the right partner to provide this film with the proper platform.” This is Buckley’s second feature film, following the 2015 Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Bronze which was released by Sony Pictures Classics in the beginning of 2016.
Read more

Films

2017 NewFest Award Winners

Jury Awards

Audience Awards