Following its world premiere at IDFA and its North American premiere at AFI Docs, the Kenyan family docu-drama The Letter by Maia Lekow and Christopher King heads to DOC NYC 2020 for its East Coast premiere as part of International Perspectives, in addition to five other US festivals.
Samuel L. Jackson, Tessa Thompson and Steven Yeun will be honored at the upcoming 23rd annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, taking place as a virtual experience October 24 – October 31. The festival will honor Samuel L. Jackson with the Legend of Cinema Award, Tessa Thompson (Sylvie’s Love) with the Vanguard Award and Steven Yeun (Minari) with the Discovery Award.
Our Own (Les nôtres) directed by Jeanne Leblanc is the winner of the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival’s 12th edition, and MLK/FBI directed by Sam Pollard won for Best Documentary Feature. The award for Best New Mexico Feature went to Truth or Consequences directed by Hannah Jayanti.
IFC Midnight is planning a release in early 2021 for visionary director Anthony Scott Burns’ Come True a sci-fi nightmare based on the real-life horror of sleep paralysis and how it plays tricks on the mind. The film starring Julia Sarah Stone (The Killing, Weirdos, Allure) and Landon Liboiron (Truth or Dare, Frontier, Hemlock Grove) had its world premiere at the 2020 Fantasia Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the inaugural virtual super-festival NIGHTSTREAM.
NIGHTSTREAM, formed as a banner uniting five US genre festivals – Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, North Bend, Overlook, and Popcorn Frights – came to a close with Adam Rehmeier’s DINNER IN AMERICA winning the festival’s Audience Award.
Honey Bee is a dramatic thriller that shines light on marginalized young girls lured into human trafficking rings. The film directed by award-winning documentarian-turned-narrative filmmaker Rama Rau (“League of Exotique Dancers,” “No Place to Hide,” “The Market”) and starring Julia Sarah Stone (“Allure,” “Wet Bum,” “Weirdos,” “The Killing”) in the title role of “Honey Bee,” for which she won a Leo Award, will be released on all major VOD platforms starting November 10 via Syndicado.
DOC NYC announced the lineup of over 200 films for its eleventh edition, running online from November 11-19 and available to viewers across the US. Fifty-seven features (53% of the lineup) are directed or co-directed by women and 36 by BIPOC directors (34% of the feature program).
Amazon released the trailer for Sylvie’s Love, starring Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, that premiered earlier this year at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
The Soul of America directed by KD Davison follows writer, journalist, historian and prolific presidential biographer Jon Meacham as he offers his timely and invaluable insights into the United States’ current political and historical moment by examining its past.
The 21st Annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival will take place online October 20 – 25, 2020, showcasing work by Indigenous artists. imagineNATIVE will open the Festival with the shorts program YELLOW, composed of works created by artists from seven different nations. imagineNATIVE will close October 25 with the Canadian premiere of Compañía by Bolivian director Miguel Hilari.
Neon will handle theatrical release for Justin Simien’s horror satire Bad Hair, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival. The film has since been featured in Essence Festival, CurlFest, UrbanWorld, where Simien (Dear White People) received the 2020 Festival Ambassador Award, Chicago Film Festival, New York Comic Con, Beyond Fest and One Music Festival.
Because of the Covid-19 health crisis, the 29th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), will be presented virtually and extending by a week to now run 18 days from November 5-22.