The lineup for the 28th edition of the American Black Film Festival continues to get more star studded with the world premiere of the second season of Kerry Washington’s Hulu series “UnPrisoned.”
Washington will attend the Miami Beach-based festival to celebrate the premiere and sit for a fireside chat with fellow executive producer Tracy McMillan, who created the series based on her life.
The Special Screenings lineup also features world premieres of documentaries “Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys,” about the Wu-Tang Clan founding member, and “Down in the Valley,” inspired the world of the hit Starz series “P-Valley,” plus a screening of the classic “Devil in a Blue Dress,” as part of the Denzel Washington Retrospective.
The HBO Short Film Award Showcase will kick off the film festival program on June 12, hosted by Sirius Xm’s Bevy Smith (“Bevelations”). Five filmmakers are selected as finalists, and...
Washington will attend the Miami Beach-based festival to celebrate the premiere and sit for a fireside chat with fellow executive producer Tracy McMillan, who created the series based on her life.
The Special Screenings lineup also features world premieres of documentaries “Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys,” about the Wu-Tang Clan founding member, and “Down in the Valley,” inspired the world of the hit Starz series “P-Valley,” plus a screening of the classic “Devil in a Blue Dress,” as part of the Denzel Washington Retrospective.
The HBO Short Film Award Showcase will kick off the film festival program on June 12, hosted by Sirius Xm’s Bevy Smith (“Bevelations”). Five filmmakers are selected as finalists, and...
- 5/15/2024
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
“Cinnamon” and “A Song From the Dark” were two of the big winners at the Best of the ABFF Awards presented Saturday during the American Black Film Festival.
Following its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, “Cinnamon” continued its festival run at ABFF in Miami Beach, Fla., where it was awarded the prize for best narrative feature and best director for writer-director Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr.
The Tubi original film stars Hailey Kilgore, Damon Wayans, Pam Grier, David Iacono and Jeremie Harris. Kilgore plays Jodi, a struggling small-town gas station attendant with “killer pipes and big dreams,” who falls hopelessly in love with a hustler (Iacono) and falls foul of a local crime lord (Grier) and her murderous family. The noir thriller serves as the inaugural project filmed under Village Roadshow Pictures’ Black Noir Cinema banner, with Fox Entertainment Studios, co-founded by NBA all-star Kevin Garnett. Veteran producer Oz Scott oversees the content slate,...
Following its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, “Cinnamon” continued its festival run at ABFF in Miami Beach, Fla., where it was awarded the prize for best narrative feature and best director for writer-director Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr.
The Tubi original film stars Hailey Kilgore, Damon Wayans, Pam Grier, David Iacono and Jeremie Harris. Kilgore plays Jodi, a struggling small-town gas station attendant with “killer pipes and big dreams,” who falls hopelessly in love with a hustler (Iacono) and falls foul of a local crime lord (Grier) and her murderous family. The noir thriller serves as the inaugural project filmed under Village Roadshow Pictures’ Black Noir Cinema banner, with Fox Entertainment Studios, co-founded by NBA all-star Kevin Garnett. Veteran producer Oz Scott oversees the content slate,...
- 6/17/2023
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
A few weeks before Black History Month kicked off, IndieWire posed an admittedly quite open question to some our favorite Black filmmakers: Who are your favorite Black filmmakers?
The basic pitch was a bit more involved, asking for picks that run more toward “inspiration” and “impact,” with an eye toward the long history of Black filmmakers. We sent a batch of questions to get the creative juices flowing: Which movies did you watch as a kid that shaped your taste? Which filmmaker’s work has inspired the films you make today? Who is a filmmaker deserving of more attention from other movie lovers?
In short, what films and which filmmakers should everyone know about?
The responses, from Gina Prince-Bythewood, Mariama Diallo, Adamma Ebo, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Carey Williams, and newly minted Sundance winner A.V. Rockwell surpassed all expectations.
The filmmakers we polled took a relatively open prompt and ran with it.
The basic pitch was a bit more involved, asking for picks that run more toward “inspiration” and “impact,” with an eye toward the long history of Black filmmakers. We sent a batch of questions to get the creative juices flowing: Which movies did you watch as a kid that shaped your taste? Which filmmaker’s work has inspired the films you make today? Who is a filmmaker deserving of more attention from other movie lovers?
In short, what films and which filmmakers should everyone know about?
The responses, from Gina Prince-Bythewood, Mariama Diallo, Adamma Ebo, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Carey Williams, and newly minted Sundance winner A.V. Rockwell surpassed all expectations.
The filmmakers we polled took a relatively open prompt and ran with it.
- 2/1/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Former Netflix exec Janice Lee has joined Fifth Season as Vice President, Film Development and Production, with longtime team member Kara Duncan being promoted to the same role. The news comes as the global film and TV studio, formerly known as Endeavor Content, kicks off the year with four films heading to Sundance and another two soon heading to theaters.
As members of the team led by EVP, Film Development and Production, Alexis Garcia, Lee and Duncan will be responsible for expanding the studio’s slate of indie and big- budget features, made with top-tier talent for distribution on streaming platforms and in theaters. The pair will report to SVPs, Film Development and Production, Dan Guando and Negeen Yazdi.
After seeing major success at Sundance 2022 with Cha Cha Real Smooth, the Cooper Raiff Audience Award winner that went to Apple in the largest sale of the festival, Fifth Season...
As members of the team led by EVP, Film Development and Production, Alexis Garcia, Lee and Duncan will be responsible for expanding the studio’s slate of indie and big- budget features, made with top-tier talent for distribution on streaming platforms and in theaters. The pair will report to SVPs, Film Development and Production, Dan Guando and Negeen Yazdi.
After seeing major success at Sundance 2022 with Cha Cha Real Smooth, the Cooper Raiff Audience Award winner that went to Apple in the largest sale of the festival, Fifth Season...
- 1/18/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday revealed its 2023 lineup of episodic projects and 64 shorts, the latter culled from the fest’s highest number of submissions at 10,981.
The shorts span 23 countries, including projects from Iran (Azheh) and Ukraine (Liturgy of anti-tank obstacles), with works from such artists as Paul Feig (Help Me Understand producer), Westworld actress Angela Sarafyan (Power Signal), The Office‘s Kate Flannery (Help Me Understand), Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio Martinez (Sweatshop Girl), The Feels’ Angela Trimbur (Mirror Party), Party Down‘s Ken Marino (Help Me Understand), Bi Gan (director of Cannes Certain Regard title A Long Days Journey Into Night director) and Shannon Plumb (Walk of Shame) to name a few.
Related Story Sundance Film Festival Lineup Set With Ukraine War, Little Richard, Michael J. Fox, Judy Blume Docs; Pics With Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jonathan Majors; More Related Story 'The Amazing Maurice' Heads To France,...
The shorts span 23 countries, including projects from Iran (Azheh) and Ukraine (Liturgy of anti-tank obstacles), with works from such artists as Paul Feig (Help Me Understand producer), Westworld actress Angela Sarafyan (Power Signal), The Office‘s Kate Flannery (Help Me Understand), Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio Martinez (Sweatshop Girl), The Feels’ Angela Trimbur (Mirror Party), Party Down‘s Ken Marino (Help Me Understand), Bi Gan (director of Cannes Certain Regard title A Long Days Journey Into Night director) and Shannon Plumb (Walk of Shame) to name a few.
Related Story Sundance Film Festival Lineup Set With Ukraine War, Little Richard, Michael J. Fox, Judy Blume Docs; Pics With Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jonathan Majors; More Related Story 'The Amazing Maurice' Heads To France,...
- 12/13/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The Scene 2 Seen podcast is back to regularly scheduled programming–publishing episodes on the first, second, and third Tuesday of the month unless otherwise specified.
On this episode, I discuss documentary, A Woman on the Outside. The film premiered at SXSW in March 2022, won Best Documentary Feature at the American Black Film Festival, and won Best North American Documentary Feature at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival.
Filmed over more than four years, the story follows Kristal Bush, a young Philadelphia woman who saw nearly every man in her life disappear to prison. She goes out on the road, driving for her van service, which takes families to visit their incarcerated loved ones in prisons hundreds of miles from the city. She lives that life too – her father has been locked up most of her life, her middle brother has been in prison more than a decade, and her oldest brother...
On this episode, I discuss documentary, A Woman on the Outside. The film premiered at SXSW in March 2022, won Best Documentary Feature at the American Black Film Festival, and won Best North American Documentary Feature at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival.
Filmed over more than four years, the story follows Kristal Bush, a young Philadelphia woman who saw nearly every man in her life disappear to prison. She goes out on the road, driving for her van service, which takes families to visit their incarcerated loved ones in prisons hundreds of miles from the city. She lives that life too – her father has been locked up most of her life, her middle brother has been in prison more than a decade, and her oldest brother...
- 8/16/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Audrey Diwan’s Happening launched New Directors/New Films in April, mesmerizing viewers with the story of a brilliant literature student from a working-class background seeking an abortion to keep her life from derailing. In 1963 France the procedure was illegal. The suspense builds with each week a new chapter title as she seeks help from doctors, friends, the boy she slept with, and her body continue to change. Everyone backs away, judgmental, terrified of being thrown in prison for helping, or both.
‘Happening’ took the Golden Lion in Venice last year. Star Anamaria Vartolomei won the César Award for best newcomer Deadline review here. Diwan and Marcia Romano wrote the screenplay based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Annie Ernaux.
IFC Films releases ‘Happening’ (L’événement) in four theaters this weekend – IFC Center/Lincoln Plaza in New York, the Landmark/the Grove in LA, expanding thereafter a bit faster than anticipated.
‘Happening’ took the Golden Lion in Venice last year. Star Anamaria Vartolomei won the César Award for best newcomer Deadline review here. Diwan and Marcia Romano wrote the screenplay based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Annie Ernaux.
IFC Films releases ‘Happening’ (L’événement) in four theaters this weekend – IFC Center/Lincoln Plaza in New York, the Landmark/the Grove in LA, expanding thereafter a bit faster than anticipated.
- 5/6/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Rashaad Ernesto Green will direct “’68,” a biopic about the careers and lives of Olympic runners and activists Tommie Smith and John Carlos for MGM, Participant and MacRo.
MGM announced news of the project Thursday, which tells the story of Smith and Carlos from their first meeting on the track team at San Jose State to the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. As the two received medals for the 200 meter race, they raised their fists in salute and silent protest during the American national anthem. The event caused widespread controversy at the time, and is still regarded as one of the most political moments in the history of the Olympics.
“Still incredibly powerful and relevant, I’m honored for the opportunity to bring Tommie and John’s riveting story to life; to portray the weight of the world these two giants had on their shoulders and the self-determination, courage and sacrifice...
MGM announced news of the project Thursday, which tells the story of Smith and Carlos from their first meeting on the track team at San Jose State to the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. As the two received medals for the 200 meter race, they raised their fists in salute and silent protest during the American national anthem. The event caused widespread controversy at the time, and is still regarded as one of the most political moments in the history of the Olympics.
“Still incredibly powerful and relevant, I’m honored for the opportunity to bring Tommie and John’s riveting story to life; to portray the weight of the world these two giants had on their shoulders and the self-determination, courage and sacrifice...
- 3/31/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
Premature filmmaker Rashaad Ernesto Green is set to helm Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Participant and MacRo’s feature movie ’68 inspired by the true story of Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos. The track athletes from San Jose State rose to become Olympic medalists and activists at the 1968 Games in Mexico City. That’s where they both raised their fists in solidarity and in support of human rights.
The screenplay is by Oscar nominated scribe Billy Ray. Participant and MacRo will produce the project, along with Stacy Sherman.
Participant will be incorporating ’68 into its ongoing impact work dedicated to civil rights and social justice. Carlos’ nephews, Airrion and Shaun McCoy, and DeLois Smith, the wife of Tommie Smith, are co-producing.
Bronx-born filmmaker Green received the Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award in 2020 for his second feature directorial, Premature, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. Shot in Harlem, New York entirely on 16mm film,...
The screenplay is by Oscar nominated scribe Billy Ray. Participant and MacRo will produce the project, along with Stacy Sherman.
Participant will be incorporating ’68 into its ongoing impact work dedicated to civil rights and social justice. Carlos’ nephews, Airrion and Shaun McCoy, and DeLois Smith, the wife of Tommie Smith, are co-producing.
Bronx-born filmmaker Green received the Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award in 2020 for his second feature directorial, Premature, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. Shot in Harlem, New York entirely on 16mm film,...
- 3/31/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Rashaad Ernesto Green will direct the feature film “68,” inspired by the true story of the Olympians who gave the black power salute on the podium, MGM, Participant and MacRo announced on Thursday.
Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray wrote the script that centers on sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos and chronicles their lives from track athletes at San Jose State to Olympic medalists and activists at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, where Smith and Carlos both raised their fists in solidarity and in support of human rights.
“Still incredibly powerful and relevant, I’m honored for the opportunity to bring Tommie and John’s riveting story to life; to portray the weight of the world these two giants had on their shoulders and the self-determination, courage and sacrifice it took for them to stand up for all of us,” Green said in a statement.
Participant and MacRo will produce the project,...
Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray wrote the script that centers on sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos and chronicles their lives from track athletes at San Jose State to Olympic medalists and activists at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, where Smith and Carlos both raised their fists in solidarity and in support of human rights.
“Still incredibly powerful and relevant, I’m honored for the opportunity to bring Tommie and John’s riveting story to life; to portray the weight of the world these two giants had on their shoulders and the self-determination, courage and sacrifice it took for them to stand up for all of us,” Green said in a statement.
Participant and MacRo will produce the project,...
- 3/31/2022
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Carlos’s nephews Airrion and Shaun McCoy to co-produce with Smith’s wife DeLois Smith.
MGM, Participant and Macro have hired Rashaad Ernesto Green to direct ’68 inspired by the true story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the Olympians who raised black-gloved fists on the winners’ podium in support of Black Power and the broader human rights movement.
Billy Ray, whose credits include Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games, Shattered Glass and TV show The Comey Rule, will write screenplay. Green directed Gun Hill Road and his second film Premature won the 2020 Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award.
Participant and Marco...
MGM, Participant and Macro have hired Rashaad Ernesto Green to direct ’68 inspired by the true story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the Olympians who raised black-gloved fists on the winners’ podium in support of Black Power and the broader human rights movement.
Billy Ray, whose credits include Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games, Shattered Glass and TV show The Comey Rule, will write screenplay. Green directed Gun Hill Road and his second film Premature won the 2020 Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award.
Participant and Marco...
- 3/31/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Myha’la Herrold, one of the stars of HBO’s banking drama Industry, has signed with UTA for representation.
Herrold plays Harper Stern in the Lena Dunham-exec produced series, which was recently renewed for a second season and is currently in productions. Industry gives an insider’s view of the black box of high finance through the eyes of an outsider, Herrold’s Harper Stern, a talented young woman from upstate New York.
She was previously represented by WME.
Her previous television credits include an appearance in an episode of Amazon’s Modern Love opposite Julia Garner.
On the feature side, she is starring in A24 thriller Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, where she will star opposite Pete Davidson, Maria Bakalova and Amandla Sternberg, with Halina Reijn directing.
Herrold’s previous film credits include Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature amd Hulu feature Plan B, directed by Natalie Morales.
A graduate of...
Herrold plays Harper Stern in the Lena Dunham-exec produced series, which was recently renewed for a second season and is currently in productions. Industry gives an insider’s view of the black box of high finance through the eyes of an outsider, Herrold’s Harper Stern, a talented young woman from upstate New York.
She was previously represented by WME.
Her previous television credits include an appearance in an episode of Amazon’s Modern Love opposite Julia Garner.
On the feature side, she is starring in A24 thriller Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, where she will star opposite Pete Davidson, Maria Bakalova and Amandla Sternberg, with Halina Reijn directing.
Herrold’s previous film credits include Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature amd Hulu feature Plan B, directed by Natalie Morales.
A graduate of...
- 11/10/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The fairy tale version of the story behind “King Richard” goes like this: Jada Pinkett Smith was on the U.S. Dramatic Competition jury for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival when she saw director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s first feature, “Monsters and Men.” The tough but ultimately rousing look at police brutality and communal activism left her impressed enough to bring the movie to the attention of her husband, Aka Will Smith. The actor, in turn, was on the hunt for the right director to take on “King Richard,” the story of Venus and Serena Williams’ devoted father, with Smith’s Westbrook Inc. attached to produce. Green seemed like the perfect fit.
Cut to three years later, and bingo — “King Richard” launched with a bang at the Telluride Film Festival, where the Warner Bros. production became an instant Oscar contender, with Smith’s empathetic performance as a flawed but passionate patriarch hailed as his best yet.
Cut to three years later, and bingo — “King Richard” launched with a bang at the Telluride Film Festival, where the Warner Bros. production became an instant Oscar contender, with Smith’s empathetic performance as a flawed but passionate patriarch hailed as his best yet.
- 11/9/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Chicago – Jon Lennon Espino of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on the Pride film “Gun Hill Road” (2011), currently on Tubi for free, about the culture of Latino machismo when confronted with a transgender son. Happy Pride Week!
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The film centers around a Bronx borough family in New York City, whose patriarch (Esai Morales) has come home after a three year prison sentence. This is a family in flux, trying to reconcile who they are with who they want to be. For example, son Danny (Harmony Santana) is in transition to his true female self, and is forced to start this transition with back alley hormone shots and attempts at homemade plastic surgery. When Danny’s ex-con father finds out his son is leading a queer lifestyle, he tries anything … including forcing Danny to be with a prostitute … all in a failed attempt to prove their “manhood.”
“Gun Hill Road...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
The film centers around a Bronx borough family in New York City, whose patriarch (Esai Morales) has come home after a three year prison sentence. This is a family in flux, trying to reconcile who they are with who they want to be. For example, son Danny (Harmony Santana) is in transition to his true female self, and is forced to start this transition with back alley hormone shots and attempts at homemade plastic surgery. When Danny’s ex-con father finds out his son is leading a queer lifestyle, he tries anything … including forcing Danny to be with a prostitute … all in a failed attempt to prove their “manhood.”
“Gun Hill Road...
- 6/25/2021
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Exclusive: Myha’la Herrold, breakout star of HBO’s praised drama series Industry, has signed with WME for representation.
Herrold plays Harper Stern in the Lena Dunham EP’d hit banking drama, which was recently renewed for a second season. Industry gives an insider’s view of the black box of “high finance” through the eyes of an outsider, Herrold’s Harper Stern, a talented young woman from upstate New York.
The actress previously played a supporting role in Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature. She also appeared in an episode of Amazon’s Modern Love opposite Julia Garner.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama, Herrold’s stage work includes the role of Nabulungi in the Broadway tour of The Book of Mormon.
She continues to be repped by Laura Gibson and Hannah Roth of 11:11 Entertainment.
Herrold plays Harper Stern in the Lena Dunham EP’d hit banking drama, which was recently renewed for a second season. Industry gives an insider’s view of the black box of “high finance” through the eyes of an outsider, Herrold’s Harper Stern, a talented young woman from upstate New York.
The actress previously played a supporting role in Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature. She also appeared in an episode of Amazon’s Modern Love opposite Julia Garner.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama, Herrold’s stage work includes the role of Nabulungi in the Broadway tour of The Book of Mormon.
She continues to be repped by Laura Gibson and Hannah Roth of 11:11 Entertainment.
- 1/7/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
NBCUniversal has selected the directed the 2020-2021 classes for the Female Forward and the Emerging Director Program. The scripted directing initiatives aim to increase representation of female and ethnically diverse male and non-binary directors, respectively, by creating a pipeline into scripted television. The announcement was made by Janine Jones-Clark as Executive Vice President, Inclusion – Talent & Content, NBCUniversal Film, Television and Streaming.
Both initiatives remain unique within the industry in that they are the only network programs to guarantee that participating directors will helm an episode of primetime television by the conclusion of the program. Program directors shadow on up to two episodes of their assigned NBC scripted series before receiving an in-season assignment to helm an episode of the same series.
Female Forward and the Emerging Director Program will become building blocks for a cross-functional directors initiative under the Global Talent Development & Inclusion team that will service the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group,...
Both initiatives remain unique within the industry in that they are the only network programs to guarantee that participating directors will helm an episode of primetime television by the conclusion of the program. Program directors shadow on up to two episodes of their assigned NBC scripted series before receiving an in-season assignment to helm an episode of the same series.
Female Forward and the Emerging Director Program will become building blocks for a cross-functional directors initiative under the Global Talent Development & Inclusion team that will service the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group,...
- 10/22/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Zora Howard is a juggernaut. She stars in Premature and co-wrote the script with director Rashaad Ernesto Green. Her performance has an assured authenticity and a new brand of quiet desperation that is remarkable for a first feature. She’s been an award-winning creator for years though. Plays, poems, spoken word performances. Her play Stew just closed off-broadway to great acclaim. I gush about it and ask where her love of words began, and which of these various paths of creation she’s anxious to continue down. She talks about the necessary step of taking off the writer’s hat in order to […]...
- 2/25/2020
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Zora Howard is a juggernaut. She stars in Premature and co-wrote the script with director Rashaad Ernesto Green. Her performance has an assured authenticity and a new brand of quiet desperation that is remarkable for a first feature. She’s been an award-winning creator for years though. Plays, poems, spoken word performances. Her play Stew just closed off-broadway to great acclaim. I gush about it and ask where her love of words began, and which of these various paths of creation she’s anxious to continue down. She talks about the necessary step of taking off the writer’s hat in order to […]...
- 2/25/2020
- by Peter Rinaldi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Included in the 2010 edition of 25 New Faces of Independent Film, director Rashaad Ernesto Green has been sitting with his intricate story of love had and love lost, Premature, for quite a while now. The original short film, made while Green was a film student at NYU Tisch, was described in his 25 New Face profile as being “classically built,” telling the story of a “teenager who, having found no support for her pregnancy from either her disaffected family and brutal community, resorts to drastic, near-tragic measures to free herself of responsibility.” Green’s leading lady in the short, his […]...
- 2/24/2020
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Included in the 2010 edition of 25 New Faces of Independent Film, director Rashaad Ernesto Green has been sitting with his intricate story of love had and love lost, Premature, for quite a while now. The original short film, made while Green was a film student at NYU Tisch, was described in his 25 New Face profile as being “classically built,” telling the story of a “teenager who, having found no support for her pregnancy from either her disaffected family and brutal community, resorts to drastic, near-tragic measures to free herself of responsibility.” Green’s leading lady in the short, his […]...
- 2/24/2020
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
by Murtada Elfadl
Zora Howard is having a moment. Premature, a film she co-wrote and stars in, is out today. At the same time Stew, a play she wrote but doesn’t star in, is playing Off Broadway. The two works are different but announce the emergence of a perceptive writer and a sensitive actor. Premature is a Harlem-based love story, the kind of languid gorgeous storytelling you want to cozy up with. While Stew is more confrontational and heartbreaking, both works are steeped in Howard’s memory and experiences.
Premature is directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green who co-wrote with Howard, and tells the story of 17 year old poet Ayanna (Howard) and her passionate summer romance with a charming music producer Isaiah (Joshua Boone). The film announces Howard as an actor to watch, we said as much when we saw it at last year’s Sundance. We recently met with...
Zora Howard is having a moment. Premature, a film she co-wrote and stars in, is out today. At the same time Stew, a play she wrote but doesn’t star in, is playing Off Broadway. The two works are different but announce the emergence of a perceptive writer and a sensitive actor. Premature is a Harlem-based love story, the kind of languid gorgeous storytelling you want to cozy up with. While Stew is more confrontational and heartbreaking, both works are steeped in Howard’s memory and experiences.
Premature is directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green who co-wrote with Howard, and tells the story of 17 year old poet Ayanna (Howard) and her passionate summer romance with a charming music producer Isaiah (Joshua Boone). The film announces Howard as an actor to watch, we said as much when we saw it at last year’s Sundance. We recently met with...
- 2/21/2020
- by Murtada Elfadl
- FilmExperience
“Premature” is the provocative sophomore feature from Rashaad Ernesto Green (“Gun Hill Road”), headlined by a breakthrough performance by Zora Howard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Green. Adapted from their award-winning 2008 short of the same name, the coming-of-age drama serves as both an ode to a vanishing piece of New York City and a universal story of love among black youth.
“We asked ourselves what we felt was missing in present-day black cinema, and we felt there was an overabundance of black films with narratives driven by themes of black victimization, black fear, and black pain,” Green said. “Although we understood the impulse to explore these narratives, we decided instead to explore black life and black love. In the current cinematic climate, we viewed simply telling a young black love story as a radical act.”
They trusted their instincts and culled from their own life experiences as black Harlemites who...
“We asked ourselves what we felt was missing in present-day black cinema, and we felt there was an overabundance of black films with narratives driven by themes of black victimization, black fear, and black pain,” Green said. “Although we understood the impulse to explore these narratives, we decided instead to explore black life and black love. In the current cinematic climate, we viewed simply telling a young black love story as a radical act.”
They trusted their instincts and culled from their own life experiences as black Harlemites who...
- 2/21/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
There’s poetry in “Premature” — literally, if not always cinematically. Zora Howard, a spoken word artist and sometime actor who reunites with director Rashaad Ernesto Green for his second feature (they collaborated more than a decade earlier on a short of the same name), plays Ayanna, a tentatively romantic Harlem teenager navigating a relationship for which neither side seems ready.
When confronted with questions, Howard’s character can be found scribbling in her private journal. “What did I know of my heart before you gave it shape?” she recites at one point, an evocative line that will later inspire the lyrics to her first love song. Ayanna writes what she knows, as do Green and Howard (the verses heard in voiceover are her contribution), resulting in one of those labors of love made on almost no budget that rather clumsily retreads familiar ground, doing so from a less common perspective...
When confronted with questions, Howard’s character can be found scribbling in her private journal. “What did I know of my heart before you gave it shape?” she recites at one point, an evocative line that will later inspire the lyrics to her first love song. Ayanna writes what she knows, as do Green and Howard (the verses heard in voiceover are her contribution), resulting in one of those labors of love made on almost no budget that rather clumsily retreads familiar ground, doing so from a less common perspective...
- 2/20/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Uncut Gems wins best lead actor, directing, editing.
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell was named best feature at the Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday (8) in a night that recognised female directing talent in stark contrast to tomorrow’s Oscars.
Olivia Wilde won best first film for Booksmart, and American Factory, co-directed by Julia Reichert, (alongside Steven Bognar), won best documentary.
Renée Zellweger won best actress for Judy and has virtually swept the boards this awards season ahead of Sunday’s expected win at the Academy Awards.
Adam Sandler was a popular winner for Uncut Gems, which took home...
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell was named best feature at the Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday (8) in a night that recognised female directing talent in stark contrast to tomorrow’s Oscars.
Olivia Wilde won best first film for Booksmart, and American Factory, co-directed by Julia Reichert, (alongside Steven Bognar), won best documentary.
Renée Zellweger won best actress for Judy and has virtually swept the boards this awards season ahead of Sunday’s expected win at the Academy Awards.
Adam Sandler was a popular winner for Uncut Gems, which took home...
- 2/9/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
The 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out Saturday in recognition of the best in indie films from 2019.
Willem Dafoe won the first award, Best Supporting Male, for his role in “The Lighthouse.” “Uncut Gems” won Best Editing, while the Best Documentary award went to “American Factory.” Best Cinematography went to Jarin Blaschke for “The Lighthouse.”
Kelly Reichardt was awarded The Bonnie Award, which recognizes a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant. The John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $500,000, was given to “Give Me Liberty.”
Also Read: Independent Spirit Awards 2020: Aubrey Plaza's Best Jokes (So Far)
“Parasite” won Best International Film. Zhao Shuzhen won Best Supporting Female for her role in “The Farewell.” “Marriage Story” won Best Screenplay. Adam Sandler won Best Male Lead for his performance in “Uncut Gems” and Renée Zellweger received the Best Female Lead for her role in “Judy.
Willem Dafoe won the first award, Best Supporting Male, for his role in “The Lighthouse.” “Uncut Gems” won Best Editing, while the Best Documentary award went to “American Factory.” Best Cinematography went to Jarin Blaschke for “The Lighthouse.”
Kelly Reichardt was awarded The Bonnie Award, which recognizes a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant. The John Cassavetes Award, given to the best feature made for under $500,000, was given to “Give Me Liberty.”
Also Read: Independent Spirit Awards 2020: Aubrey Plaza's Best Jokes (So Far)
“Parasite” won Best International Film. Zhao Shuzhen won Best Supporting Female for her role in “The Farewell.” “Marriage Story” won Best Screenplay. Adam Sandler won Best Male Lead for his performance in “Uncut Gems” and Renée Zellweger received the Best Female Lead for her role in “Judy.
- 2/8/2020
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
The 35th annual Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent cinema, took place Saturday in Santa Monica.
Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” won best picture, while Adam Sandler and Renee Zellweger took home the top acting prizes.
Full list of winners.
Best Feature
A Hidden Life
Clemency
The Farewell (Winner)
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Best Director
Robert Eggers – The Lighthouse
Alma Har’el – Honey Boy
Julius Onah – Luce
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – Uncut Gems (Winner)
Lorene Scafaria – Hustlers
Best First Feature
Booksmart (Winner)
The Climb
Diane
The Last Black Man In San Francisco
The Mustang
See You Yesterday
Best Female Lead
Karen Allen – Colewell
Hong Chau – Driveways
Elisabeth Moss – Her Smell
Mary Kay Place – Diane
Alfre Woodard – Clemency
Renée Zellweger – Judy (Winner)
Best Male Lead
Chris Galust – Give Me Liberty
Kelvin Harrison Jr. – Luce
Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse
Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems (Winner)
Matthias Schoenaerts – The Mustang
Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Lopez...
Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” won best picture, while Adam Sandler and Renee Zellweger took home the top acting prizes.
Full list of winners.
Best Feature
A Hidden Life
Clemency
The Farewell (Winner)
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Best Director
Robert Eggers – The Lighthouse
Alma Har’el – Honey Boy
Julius Onah – Luce
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – Uncut Gems (Winner)
Lorene Scafaria – Hustlers
Best First Feature
Booksmart (Winner)
The Climb
Diane
The Last Black Man In San Francisco
The Mustang
See You Yesterday
Best Female Lead
Karen Allen – Colewell
Hong Chau – Driveways
Elisabeth Moss – Her Smell
Mary Kay Place – Diane
Alfre Woodard – Clemency
Renée Zellweger – Judy (Winner)
Best Male Lead
Chris Galust – Give Me Liberty
Kelvin Harrison Jr. – Luce
Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse
Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems (Winner)
Matthias Schoenaerts – The Mustang
Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Lopez...
- 2/8/2020
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
Aubrey Plaza will return to host the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday in Santa Monica.
The 35th annual Spirit Awards are set to air live on the IFC Channel beginning at 5 p.m. Et/2 p.m. Pt. The network will live stream the ceremony on its website, though audiences will need a cable login to watch. TV subscribers can also watch the show live on IFC app’s, available on iOS and Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox, and Android TV devices.
This year’s top Spirit Award nominees include Robert Pattinson’s “The Lighthouse” and Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems,” with five nods each. Shia Labeouf’s “Honey Boy” and Kirill Mikhanovsky’s scored four nominations.
“Uncut Gems,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency,” Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” are up for best feature.
Here’s the full...
The 35th annual Spirit Awards are set to air live on the IFC Channel beginning at 5 p.m. Et/2 p.m. Pt. The network will live stream the ceremony on its website, though audiences will need a cable login to watch. TV subscribers can also watch the show live on IFC app’s, available on iOS and Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox, and Android TV devices.
This year’s top Spirit Award nominees include Robert Pattinson’s “The Lighthouse” and Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems,” with five nods each. Shia Labeouf’s “Honey Boy” and Kirill Mikhanovsky’s scored four nominations.
“Uncut Gems,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency,” Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” are up for best feature.
Here’s the full...
- 2/8/2020
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
"You don't want me to stay?" IFC Films has released a new Us trailer for an New York City indie romantic drama titled Premature, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival one year ago. It also went on to play the San Francisco, Dallas, Montclair, Seattle, London, Denver, and Hawaii Film Festivals. Premature a romantic drama in the vein of If Beale Street Could Talk or Blue Valentine. Set in Harlem, Zora Howard stars as a young woman who meets "handsome and mysterious outsider" Isaiah, played by Joshua Boone. Then "her entire world is turned upside down on her path towards self-discovery as she travails the rigorous terrain of young love the summer before she leaves for college." Of course. Also starring Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis, & Tashiana Washington. This looks particularly sweet and honest. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Rashaad Ernesto Green's Premature, from...
- 1/23/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"When I close my eyes, you are there..." Signature Ent. UK has debuted a trailer for an indie romance titled Premature, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year - one year ago. It went on to play the San Francisco, Dallas, Montclair, Seattle, London, Denver, and Hawaii Film Festivals in 2019. Premature a romantic drama in the vein of If Beale Street Could Talk or Blue Valentine. Set in Harlem, Zora Howard stars as a young woman who meets "handsome and mysterious outsider" Isaiah, played by Joshua Boone. Then "her entire world is turned upside down on her path towards self-discovery as she travails the rigorous terrain of young love the summer before she leaves for college." Of course. Also starring Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis, & Tashiana Washington. I dig the grainy, old school look and feel. Here's the official UK trailer for Rashaad Ernesto Green's Premature,...
- 1/9/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
“First Cow” director Kelly Reichardt has been given a $50,000 Film Independent Spirit Awards Filmmaker Grant designed to recognize a mid-career female director.
Reichardt won the third annual Bonnie Award, named for Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo, who became the first woman to pilot a major U.S. airline when she joined the award’s sponsor, American Airlines, in 1973.
Actress Alfre Woodard and filmmaker Jon M. Chu presented the award, one of four grants given out by Film Independent at its nominees brunch at the Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood on Saturday.
Also Read: 'The Lighthouse,' 'Uncut Gems' Lead Nominees at Independent Spirit Awards
In addition to the $50,000 Bonnie Award, $25,000 unrestricted grants were given to an up-and-coming producer (Molly Asher), director (Rashaad Ernesto Green) and documentary director (Nadia Shihab).
Winners in the rest of the Spirit Awards categories will be announced during the main Spirit Awards show on Saturday, Feb. 4.
The...
Reichardt won the third annual Bonnie Award, named for Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo, who became the first woman to pilot a major U.S. airline when she joined the award’s sponsor, American Airlines, in 1973.
Actress Alfre Woodard and filmmaker Jon M. Chu presented the award, one of four grants given out by Film Independent at its nominees brunch at the Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood on Saturday.
Also Read: 'The Lighthouse,' 'Uncut Gems' Lead Nominees at Independent Spirit Awards
In addition to the $50,000 Bonnie Award, $25,000 unrestricted grants were given to an up-and-coming producer (Molly Asher), director (Rashaad Ernesto Green) and documentary director (Nadia Shihab).
Winners in the rest of the Spirit Awards categories will be announced during the main Spirit Awards show on Saturday, Feb. 4.
The...
- 1/4/2020
- by Steve Pond and Thom Geier
- The Wrap
Best international film nominees include Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and The Souvenir.
Uncut Gems and The Lighthouse have emerged as the top contenders for this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards with five nods apiece while A24 leads the distributor pack on 18 nominations.
Adam Sandler from Uncut Gems will face off against The Lighthouse’s Robert Pattinson and others for best lead male and the Safdie brothers and Robert Eggers are among the best director nominees for each film, respectively.
Other best feature nominees announced on Thursday (21) are A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell and Marriage Story.
Uncut Gems and The Lighthouse have emerged as the top contenders for this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards with five nods apiece while A24 leads the distributor pack on 18 nominations.
Adam Sandler from Uncut Gems will face off against The Lighthouse’s Robert Pattinson and others for best lead male and the Safdie brothers and Robert Eggers are among the best director nominees for each film, respectively.
Other best feature nominees announced on Thursday (21) are A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell and Marriage Story.
- 11/22/2019
- by 31¦John Hazelton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Best international film nominees include Parasite, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and The Souvenir.
Uncut Gems has emerged as the top contender among nominees for this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, with the Adam Sandler drama getting nominations in five categories including best feature.
Other best feature nominees are A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell and Marriage Story.
The Lighthouse also got five Spirit Award nominations and other films with multiple citations included Give Me Liberty and Honey Boy with four each and Clemency, Hustlers, The Last Black Man In San Francisco, Luce, Marriage Story and The Third Wife with three each.
Uncut Gems has emerged as the top contender among nominees for this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, with the Adam Sandler drama getting nominations in five categories including best feature.
Other best feature nominees are A Hidden Life, Clemency, The Farewell and Marriage Story.
The Lighthouse also got five Spirit Award nominations and other films with multiple citations included Give Me Liberty and Honey Boy with four each and Clemency, Hustlers, The Last Black Man In San Francisco, Luce, Marriage Story and The Third Wife with three each.
- 11/21/2019
- ScreenDaily
The 2020 Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced Thursday, November 21. So who made the cut at these kudos, which celebrate the best in American independent films? Scroll down to see the full list of nominees for the 2020 Indie Spirits. Remember, only American-made movies with budgets under $20 million were eligible for consideration.
These Spirit contenders were decided by nominating committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors.
Winners will be chosen by all of Film Independent’s eligible members, including industry insiders and any movie fans who sign up for membership starting at $95 per year.
These awards have come to be a significant preview of the Oscars as the motion picture academy embraces more independent films. Five of the last six Spirit champs for Best Feature went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
These Spirit contenders were decided by nominating committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors.
Winners will be chosen by all of Film Independent’s eligible members, including industry insiders and any movie fans who sign up for membership starting at $95 per year.
These awards have come to be a significant preview of the Oscars as the motion picture academy embraces more independent films. Five of the last six Spirit champs for Best Feature went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
- 11/21/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Two dark and unruly films released by A24, Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse” and the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems,” led all films in nominations for the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Film Independent announced on Thursday.
In the Best Feature category, “Uncut Gems” was joined by Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.”
“Uncut Gems” was the only film nominated in both the Best Feature and Best Director categories, though “Marriage Story” was nominated in the former category and was also voted the special John Cassavetes Award, which goes to a film’s director, cast and casting director.
Also Read: 'Marriage Story,' 'The Farewell,' 'Uncut Gems' Top Gotham Award Nominations
“Honey Boy” and “Give Me Liberty” received four nominations each, while “Hustlers,” “Clemency” and “Luce” received three.
As usual, the Spirit Awards’ system of...
In the Best Feature category, “Uncut Gems” was joined by Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell,” Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Chinonye Chukwu’s “Clemency” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.”
“Uncut Gems” was the only film nominated in both the Best Feature and Best Director categories, though “Marriage Story” was nominated in the former category and was also voted the special John Cassavetes Award, which goes to a film’s director, cast and casting director.
Also Read: 'Marriage Story,' 'The Farewell,' 'Uncut Gems' Top Gotham Award Nominations
“Honey Boy” and “Give Me Liberty” received four nominations each, while “Hustlers,” “Clemency” and “Luce” received three.
As usual, the Spirit Awards’ system of...
- 11/21/2019
- by Brian Welk and Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The nominations for the 35th Independent Spirit Awards have been announced, and it was a big morning for “The Lighthouse” and “Uncut Gems.” The annual indie awards ceremony is presented by Film Independent and takes place the day before the Academy Awards on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The Spirit Awards have become known over the last decade for showcasing nominees that are a mix of underdog films and higher-profile awards contenders.
It’s important to note the Indie Spirit Awards has a budget ceiling of $22.5 million, meaning any movie made for more than this amount is ineligible for nominations. For this reason, Martin Scorsese’s Netflix-backed “The Irishman” was not eligible for 2020 nominations (the film had a budget north of $150 million). Netflix’s other top Oscar contender, Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” is eligible for Spirit Awards and landed a Best Feature nomination. As has become common over the last several years,...
It’s important to note the Indie Spirit Awards has a budget ceiling of $22.5 million, meaning any movie made for more than this amount is ineligible for nominations. For this reason, Martin Scorsese’s Netflix-backed “The Irishman” was not eligible for 2020 nominations (the film had a budget north of $150 million). Netflix’s other top Oscar contender, Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” is eligible for Spirit Awards and landed a Best Feature nomination. As has become common over the last several years,...
- 11/21/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Premature will screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) Tuesday, Nov 12 at 7:15pm as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival.Ticket information can be found Here
On a summer night in Harlem during her last months at home before starting college, 17-year-old poet Ayanna (co-writer Zora Howard) meets Isaiah (Joshua Boone), a charming music producer who has just moved to the city. It’s not long before these two artistic souls are drawn together in a passionate summer romance. But as the highs of young love give way to jealousy, suspicion, and all-too-real consequences, Ayanna must confront the complexities of the adult world — whether she is ready or not. Emotionally raw, intimate, and honest, “Premature” — directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green — is at once timeless and bracingly contemporary in its portrait of a young woman navigating the difficult choices that can shape a life. When “Premature” screened...
On a summer night in Harlem during her last months at home before starting college, 17-year-old poet Ayanna (co-writer Zora Howard) meets Isaiah (Joshua Boone), a charming music producer who has just moved to the city. It’s not long before these two artistic souls are drawn together in a passionate summer romance. But as the highs of young love give way to jealousy, suspicion, and all-too-real consequences, Ayanna must confront the complexities of the adult world — whether she is ready or not. Emotionally raw, intimate, and honest, “Premature” — directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green — is at once timeless and bracingly contemporary in its portrait of a young woman navigating the difficult choices that can shape a life. When “Premature” screened...
- 11/7/2019
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Werner Herzog’s ’Family Romance LLC’, his first Japanese-language film, is to be released in the UK by Modern Films.
London-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation has secured UK deals on three of its titles screening at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.
Firstly, German auteur Werner Herzog’s Family Romance LLC, his first Japanese-language film, is to be released in the UK by Modern Films. The film premiered as a special screening at Cannes.
Rashaad Ernesto Green’s second feature, Premature, which premiered at Sundance, will be distributed by Signature Entertainment. It stars Zora Howard, who also co-wrote the script.
London-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation has secured UK deals on three of its titles screening at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.
Firstly, German auteur Werner Herzog’s Family Romance LLC, his first Japanese-language film, is to be released in the UK by Modern Films. The film premiered as a special screening at Cannes.
Rashaad Ernesto Green’s second feature, Premature, which premiered at Sundance, will be distributed by Signature Entertainment. It stars Zora Howard, who also co-wrote the script.
- 10/8/2019
- by 57¦Geoffrey Macnab¦41¦
- ScreenDaily
On Thursday night at the AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles, the Latino Media Fest Awards celebrated content creators who are helping to make the industry a more diverse and inclusive place.
The event was hosted by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, which for the past 20 years has advocated on behalf of the largest ethnic minority in the U.S. that also happens to be the most underrepresented in Hollywood.
“This is unprecedented,” Nalip executive director Ben Lopez told Variety before the ceremony, referring to the event’s focus on Latinx storytellers. “We believe that if you showcase them and give them time and exposure, they’re going to be able to launch themselves as global superstars. And that’s why Nalip is here — to be that supporting organization.”
Awards included Best Latin American Film (“Monos”), Best Latinx Director and Breakthrough Filmmaker (“The Chambermaid” director Lila Avilés). Ben DeJesus,...
The event was hosted by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, which for the past 20 years has advocated on behalf of the largest ethnic minority in the U.S. that also happens to be the most underrepresented in Hollywood.
“This is unprecedented,” Nalip executive director Ben Lopez told Variety before the ceremony, referring to the event’s focus on Latinx storytellers. “We believe that if you showcase them and give them time and exposure, they’re going to be able to launch themselves as global superstars. And that’s why Nalip is here — to be that supporting organization.”
Awards included Best Latin American Film (“Monos”), Best Latinx Director and Breakthrough Filmmaker (“The Chambermaid” director Lila Avilés). Ben DeJesus,...
- 10/8/2019
- by James Patrick Herman
- Variety Film + TV
This week the team at BAMcinemaFest has given a platform to an incredible collection of innovative films from around the world. But what do these short, documentary and scripted narrative directors do when they aren’t showcasing their films at a festival? How do they make a living when they aren’t busy making personal films? IndieWire asked the 2019 BAMcinemaFest directors that exact question.
Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli (“So Pretty”): Editor and colorist for commercial and independent film and video. I moonlight as a German live-subtitler for unsubtitled 35mm prints at art houses around the city.
Ben Berman (“The Amazing Johnathan Documentary”): What I do when I’m not making films is mainly question what I do for a living. So at least we’re on the same page about that. I’ve directed and edited some comedy tv shows: “Tim and Eric,” “Lady Dynamite,” “Man Seeking Woman,...
Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli (“So Pretty”): Editor and colorist for commercial and independent film and video. I moonlight as a German live-subtitler for unsubtitled 35mm prints at art houses around the city.
Ben Berman (“The Amazing Johnathan Documentary”): What I do when I’m not making films is mainly question what I do for a living. So at least we’re on the same page about that. I’ve directed and edited some comedy tv shows: “Tim and Eric,” “Lady Dynamite,” “Man Seeking Woman,...
- 6/22/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
In today’s film news roundup, “After the Wedding,” “Premature” and “Encounter” get distribution, Jacqueline Lyanga gets a new gig, Quiver Distribution launches and “The Aeronauts” sets an Imax release.
Acquisitions
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, France, India and several other Asian countries to “After the Wedding,” starring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
Directed by Bart Freundlich, “After the Wedding” is an adaptation of Susanne Bier’s Academy Award-nominated Danish film of the same name. It premiered as an opening night selection at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Williams portrays a woman who has dedicated her life to working with the children in an orphanage in Calcutta. She travels to New York to meet her benefactor, played by Moore.
Sony Classics is planning an August release. The distributor released “Still Alice,” for which Moore received a best actress Academy Award. The news was first reported by Deadline.
Acquisitions
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, France, India and several other Asian countries to “After the Wedding,” starring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
Directed by Bart Freundlich, “After the Wedding” is an adaptation of Susanne Bier’s Academy Award-nominated Danish film of the same name. It premiered as an opening night selection at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Williams portrays a woman who has dedicated her life to working with the children in an orphanage in Calcutta. She travels to New York to meet her benefactor, played by Moore.
Sony Classics is planning an August release. The distributor released “Still Alice,” for which Moore received a best actress Academy Award. The news was first reported by Deadline.
- 5/15/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
IFC Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Premature, the Rashaad Ernesto Green coming-of-age drama based on his short film that premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. It will get a theatrical release later this year and is next up screening next month at BAMCinemaFest.
Co-written by Green and Zora Howard, Howard stars as Ayanna, a teenager making the most out of her last summer in Harlem before heading to an out-of-state college. She’s not really looking for love until she meets handsome twentysomething musician Isaiah (Joshua Boone). After falling for him, Ayanna finds herself torn between her own vulnerability and self-sufficiency, depicted by the poetry she writes to express how she feels. Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis and Tashiana Washington co-star.
“Rashaad’s daring filmmaking coupled with a brilliant performance by Zora Howard is exactly the kind of film that we work to support,...
Co-written by Green and Zora Howard, Howard stars as Ayanna, a teenager making the most out of her last summer in Harlem before heading to an out-of-state college. She’s not really looking for love until she meets handsome twentysomething musician Isaiah (Joshua Boone). After falling for him, Ayanna finds herself torn between her own vulnerability and self-sufficiency, depicted by the poetry she writes to express how she feels. Michelle Wilson, Alexis Marie Wint, Imani Lewis and Tashiana Washington co-star.
“Rashaad’s daring filmmaking coupled with a brilliant performance by Zora Howard is exactly the kind of film that we work to support,...
- 5/14/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Bam has released the full lineup for its 11th annual BAMcinemaFest, a “platform for both emerging and established filmmakers as well as unconventional and often overlooked films,” which will run this year from June 12 — 23. This year’s 12-day festival includes 18 NY premieres, one U.S. premiere, and three world premieres.
Gina Duncan, Associate Vice President of Film, told IndieWire of the programming picks, “We have the same goal every year: to present the best American independent cinema being made today. But this is the first year that I’ve felt the films fit together as a cohesive whole; they are linked by a naturalness, an intimate focus, and boundless creativity. As the larger film conversation continues to focus on record-breaking box offices, it feels defiant to present a program that centers film as art.”
This year’s festival will open on June 12 with the New York premiere of Lulu Wang...
Gina Duncan, Associate Vice President of Film, told IndieWire of the programming picks, “We have the same goal every year: to present the best American independent cinema being made today. But this is the first year that I’ve felt the films fit together as a cohesive whole; they are linked by a naturalness, an intimate focus, and boundless creativity. As the larger film conversation continues to focus on record-breaking box offices, it feels defiant to present a program that centers film as art.”
This year’s festival will open on June 12 with the New York premiere of Lulu Wang...
- 5/2/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Montclair Film Festival will hold the world premiere of the restoration of the 1959 movie “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The black-and-white film, directed by George Stevens, has been restored by Twentieth Century Fox and the Film Foundation. The holocaust drama was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including best supporting actress for Shelly Winters.
The festival, now in its eighth year, will take place May 3-12 in Montclair, N.J., and features more than 150 films, events, discussions and parties. The festival had previously announced that it would open with a screening of Tom Harper’s “Wild Rose,” with star Jessie Buckley attending for a post-screening Q&A.
This year’s Storyteller Series will include A Conversation with Mindy Kaling, moderated by Stephen Colbert, taking place May 4 and A Conversation with Ben Stiller, moderated by Colbert, on May 5. Olympia Dukakis will attend for a...
The black-and-white film, directed by George Stevens, has been restored by Twentieth Century Fox and the Film Foundation. The holocaust drama was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including best supporting actress for Shelly Winters.
The festival, now in its eighth year, will take place May 3-12 in Montclair, N.J., and features more than 150 films, events, discussions and parties. The festival had previously announced that it would open with a screening of Tom Harper’s “Wild Rose,” with star Jessie Buckley attending for a post-screening Q&A.
This year’s Storyteller Series will include A Conversation with Mindy Kaling, moderated by Stephen Colbert, taking place May 4 and A Conversation with Ben Stiller, moderated by Colbert, on May 5. Olympia Dukakis will attend for a...
- 4/5/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Film Festival made enormous strides this year in terms of diversity, with 40 percent of the 112 films selected having been directed (or co-directed) by a woman, 36 percent by a person of color, and 13 percent by an Lgbtq filmmaker. With greater director diversity naturally comes a wider array of stories and increased opportunities for women and actors of color in front of the camera. But what about behind the camera?
IndieWire reached out to 15 directors and producers who had scripted narrative features that premiered this year at Sundance to have a frank conversation about crew diversity in the indie world: the challenges, the successes, and the need to expand one’s network to make such hires possible. The one common denominator of each of these films is that, early in preproduction, every one of them set a goal of having a more inclusive crew.
The discussion of how they actually...
IndieWire reached out to 15 directors and producers who had scripted narrative features that premiered this year at Sundance to have a frank conversation about crew diversity in the indie world: the challenges, the successes, and the need to expand one’s network to make such hires possible. The one common denominator of each of these films is that, early in preproduction, every one of them set a goal of having a more inclusive crew.
The discussion of how they actually...
- 2/7/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Murtada Elfadl reporting from Sundance
Once in a while, a film comes along where the actual experience of watching it is so enjoyable, it stirs a cozy reaction. A certain contentment, a satisfied smile washes over you as you spend time with the characters and the story. The type of film, the rhytyms, the stories that stir that reaction in me can differ but Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature is one of those movies.
The film follows Ayana (played by Zora Howard who co-wrote the screenplay with the director) through her last summer in Harlem before she leaves New York for college...
Once in a while, a film comes along where the actual experience of watching it is so enjoyable, it stirs a cozy reaction. A certain contentment, a satisfied smile washes over you as you spend time with the characters and the story. The type of film, the rhytyms, the stories that stir that reaction in me can differ but Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature is one of those movies.
The film follows Ayana (played by Zora Howard who co-wrote the screenplay with the director) through her last summer in Harlem before she leaves New York for college...
- 1/27/2019
- by Murtada Elfadl
- FilmExperience
There’s a moment that encapsulates the essence of “Premature,” director and co-writer Rashaad Ernesto Green’s eagerly awaited sophomore feature following 2011’s criminally underrated “Gun Hill Road.”
It’s when 17-year-old Ayanna (co-writer Zora Howard) and her friends are on the subway in Harlem, looking cute with their braids and sneakers, when they spot a group of guys across the car who they think are hot. The train stops and they all get off. Ayanna, in a bold move, stops one of the guys walking in front of them on the platform and asks for his number for her friend who’s been eyeballing him. He gives it to her with a smile, and the two groups walk their separate ways.
It’s because this moment is about being young and just graduating high school and thinking you’re cool enough to approach a guy you like on the...
It’s when 17-year-old Ayanna (co-writer Zora Howard) and her friends are on the subway in Harlem, looking cute with their braids and sneakers, when they spot a group of guys across the car who they think are hot. The train stops and they all get off. Ayanna, in a bold move, stops one of the guys walking in front of them on the platform and asks for his number for her friend who’s been eyeballing him. He gives it to her with a smile, and the two groups walk their separate ways.
It’s because this moment is about being young and just graduating high school and thinking you’re cool enough to approach a guy you like on the...
- 1/27/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
“Premature” captures a young woman who knows she’s on the precipice of immense change, is hungry for that change, but when it finally comes is still surprised, hurt, yet ultimately strengthened by it. The second feature from director and co-writer Rashaad Ernesto Green, “Premature” gives a sensitive look at being young, black, and in love in New York City through the relationship of Ayana (Zora Howard) and Isaiah (Joshua Boone).
Continue reading ‘Premature’: The Passion And Pain Of First Love [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Premature’: The Passion And Pain Of First Love [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 1/27/2019
- by Joe Blessing
- The Playlist
Filmmaker Rashaad Ernesto Green from Premature is among the voices, faces and creative folks that are a part of the ten films selected for our favourite section at the Sundance Film Festival. Added to the fest at the beginning of the decade, over time, the Next section (formerly referred to as “<=>”) has unearthed some of the best voices in micro American indie film projects with the likes of Sebastian Silva, Josh Mond, Rick Alverson, Anna Rose Holmer, Andrew Dosunmu, Craig Zobel, David Lowery and Janicza Bravo. We return with Sundance Trading Card Series focusing on the 2019 Next section selected films and personalities.…...
- 1/26/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Actor Joshua Boone from Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature is among the voices, faces and creative folks that are a part of the ten films selected for our favourite section at the Sundance Film Festival. Added to the fest at the beginning of the decade, over time, the Next section (formerly referred to as “<=>”) has unearthed some of the best voices in micro American indie film projects with the likes of Sebastian Silva, Josh Mond, Rick Alverson, Anna Rose Holmer, Andrew Dosunmu, Craig Zobel, David Lowery and Janicza Bravo. We return with Sundance Trading Card Series focusing on the 2019 Next section selected films and personalities.…...
- 1/26/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
“Possessor of a sneaky sort of charm that hides his utter tenaciousness, Rashaad Ernesto Green, a promising directorial talent from the Bronx, makes movies that get under your skin with what, upon reflection, seems like relative ease.” That’s Brandon Harris from Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of 2010 writing about writer/director Green in the months before the premiere of his debut feature, Gun Hill Road. That Sundance 2011 pic — a tough and empathetic drama about an ex-con grappling with his son’s transition — more than attested to all the promise we spotted in Green’s early shorts, one of which, 2008’s […]...
- 1/26/2019
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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