Disability activist and filmmaker Jason DaSilva will premiere When We Walk the follow-up to his 2013 documentary When I Walk, at the 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York City on June 14, 2019. The second film in the ‘When They Walk’ trilogy confronts the U.S. Medicaid system and new personal challenges; Filmmaker Jason DaSilva explains the disparity between the different states and national healthcare crisis as he tries to be closer to his son who lives 2,000 miles away.
IFC Films will release Lynn Shelton’s Sword of Trust starring Marc Maron, Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins and Jon Bass in New York on July 12 at the IFC Center and The Landmark at 57 West; and in Los Angeles on July 19 at the Landmark’s Nuart Theatre.
Samuel Goldwyn Films will release Joseph Cross’ Summer Night in theaters beginning July 12, 2019. Summer Night follows, a young, tight-knit group of friends who fall in and out of love over the course of one intoxicating, music-filled summer night.
Two Indigenous filmmakers, Kyle Bell (Creek-Thlopthlocco Tribal Town) and Peshawn Bread (Comanche) have been chosen to participate in the 2019 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab, continuing the Institute’s commitment to supporting Native American and Indigenous storytellers since its founding. This year’s recently selected Indigenous Program Full Circle Fellows also will attend the Native Filmmakers Lab.
Filmmakers from the U.S., Lebanon, Palestine, and the United Kingdom have been selected for the 2019 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah.
Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg is on a quest to explore the story of the iconic Statue of Liberty in the new documentary Liberty: Mother of Exiles. From Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder (HBO’s Emmy(R)-nominated “Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking,”) the documentary follows Diane von Furstenberg, “godmother” of the statue, in her quest to discover how sculptor Auguste Bartholdi’s dream became a reality and what the statue means to people around the world. Liberty: Mother of Exiles will debut on HBO this fall.
The 23rd American Black Film Festival (ABFF) announced the 2019 lineup of narrative features, documentaries and short films in competition. Films will screen in Miami from June 13 to 15 at the Regal Cinemas South Beach and the New World Center.
The documentary Running with Beto, a behind-the-scenes look at Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate campaign, premiered at this year’s South By Southwest Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award for Documentary Spotlight. The film will make its TV debut on Tuesday, May 28, exclusively on HBO.
Comedian Jeremy Saville is causing a big stir online with his new comedy Loqueesha about a white bartender who ‘becomes’ a larger-than-life black female personality named Loqueesha in order to snag a job at a radio station. Loqueesha lands in theaters on July 12.
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema returns to Film at Lincoln Center for the 19th edition offering audiences a diverse and extensive lineup of contemporary Italian films, from June 6 to 12.
Ant Timpson’s directorial debut Come To Daddy, starring Elijah Wood, has been added to the lineup for The Overlook Film Festival 2019 as the weekend’s Centerpiece Film Presentation, alongside newly added film Girl On The Third Floor starring wrestling superstar CM Punk, virtual reality from Alexandre Aja. The Festival also revealed the feature and short film juries.
DocLands Documentary Film Festival hosted its annual DocPitch forum this past weekend and awarded director Chris Temple and editor Alejandro Valdés-Rochin with a $25,000 cash prize, provided by Project No. 9, for their documentary film currently in development, Five Years North.