Exclusive: The Human Rights Watch Film Festival recently announced it’s closing down, and the future of Hot Docs remains uncertain at best. But there’s some hopeful news for the troubled film festival space: the return of the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.
The longest running nonfiction film festival in the U.S. reemerges May 9, after being dark since the pandemic. The four-day event will showcase documentary films from across the globe, as well as animation, panel discussions, and live performances, all from its home base at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Scroll for the full program]
Margaret Mead Film Festival
“Mead 2024 gives platform to new voices that inspire fresh conversations about our shared humanity,” noted Jacqueline Handy, director of public programs at the American Museum of Natural History, adding the festival has been “a vibrant part of the Museum landscape since 1977.”
The festival kicks off on Thursday,...
The longest running nonfiction film festival in the U.S. reemerges May 9, after being dark since the pandemic. The four-day event will showcase documentary films from across the globe, as well as animation, panel discussions, and live performances, all from its home base at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Scroll for the full program]
Margaret Mead Film Festival
“Mead 2024 gives platform to new voices that inspire fresh conversations about our shared humanity,” noted Jacqueline Handy, director of public programs at the American Museum of Natural History, adding the festival has been “a vibrant part of the Museum landscape since 1977.”
The festival kicks off on Thursday,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exterior. Establishing: Film Independent HQ. Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles. Prelap the sounds of passionate conversation and laughter. Cut To: Interior, Conference Room, Film Independent HQ. Seven new screenwriting Fellows are arrayed around a table, the Hollywood Sign visible on the distant hills outside the window. They’re here to develop six deeply personal and wholly original feature film projects under the steady guiding hand of Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab. A fun, creative, safe space.
The End.
(Roll credits)
Sorry–we wish our story could’ve been longer but there wasn’t really any dramatic conflict at the Screenwriting Lab this year, just a lot of productive discussion and writing workshops with lead creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Jessica Sharzer, Jeff Stockwell and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors include Ruth Atkinson, Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Bridget Savage Cole, Lauren Craniotes, Ellie Foumbi, Priyanka Kapoor, Danielle Krudy,...
The End.
(Roll credits)
Sorry–we wish our story could’ve been longer but there wasn’t really any dramatic conflict at the Screenwriting Lab this year, just a lot of productive discussion and writing workshops with lead creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Jessica Sharzer, Jeff Stockwell and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors include Ruth Atkinson, Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Bridget Savage Cole, Lauren Craniotes, Ellie Foumbi, Priyanka Kapoor, Danielle Krudy,...
- 4/17/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Exclusive: Film Independent has named Omer Ben Shachar, Mary Dauterman, Mg Evangelista, Naomi Iwamoto, Thomas Kivney, Juan Paulo Laserna and Jhanvi Motla as the screenwriters selected for the 26th edition of its Screenwriting Lab, an intensive program designed to provide individualized story and career development for screenwriters with fiction feature scripts.
Over the course of the program, Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Jessica Sharzer, Jeff Stockwell and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Bridget Savage Cole, Lauren Craniotes, Ellie Foumbi, Priyanka Kapoor, Danielle Krudy, Amanda Marshall, Josh Peters, Jon Schumacher, Ellen Shanman, Lauren Shelton and Caddy Vanasirikul.
“We are honored to provide the tools and support necessary for these exceptional filmmakers to propel their projects and careers forward,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs for Film Independent.
Over the course of the program, Fellows will workshop their projects under the guidance of creative advisors Javier Fuentes-León, Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi, Jessica Sharzer, Jeff Stockwell and Christopher Makoto Yogi. Additional guest speakers and advisors will include Ruth Atkinson, Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Bridget Savage Cole, Lauren Craniotes, Ellie Foumbi, Priyanka Kapoor, Danielle Krudy, Amanda Marshall, Josh Peters, Jon Schumacher, Ellen Shanman, Lauren Shelton and Caddy Vanasirikul.
“We are honored to provide the tools and support necessary for these exceptional filmmakers to propel their projects and careers forward,” said Dea Vazquez, Associate Director of Fiction Programs for Film Independent.
- 4/16/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Billy Luther’s 2023 Netflix film, Frybread Face and Me, chronicled the story of two cousins, Benny (Keir Tallman) and Fry (Charley Hogan), who were sent to their grandmother’s (Sarah H. Natani) house over on the Navajo Reservation. Benny didn’t take the news well, as he was planning to go to a Fleetwood Mac concert. He had been saving up for it for months as well. However, his parents were in no mood to listen to Benny’s rant and made it very clear that he was going to spend his summer at his grandmother’s house. Even though Benny hated it, he had no choice but to agree. With tears in his eyes, Benny took a bus to California, from where his aunt Lucy dropped him off on his grandma’s ranch.
Lucy was Benny’s mother’s youngest sister, who dropped out of school to sell custom-made pieces of jewelry.
Lucy was Benny’s mother’s youngest sister, who dropped out of school to sell custom-made pieces of jewelry.
- 11/28/2023
- by Rishabh Shandilya
- Film Fugitives
As we delve into the filmography of Billy Luther, it’s apparent that his work, particularly in ‘Frybread Face and Me’, is more than just storytelling; it’s a bridge to cultural insight. The narrative of this film serves as a heartfelt exploration of Indigenous culture, offering viewers a glimpse into a world often misrepresented or overlooked in mainstream cinema. Introducing Billy Luther Billy Luther’s contributions to Indigenous cinema are deeply rooted in his heritage, being of the Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo tribes. His career took off with the documentary ‘Miss Navajo’, which premiered at Sundance in 2007 and aired on...
- 11/26/2023
- by Steve Delikson
- TVovermind.com
One-half of Barbenheimer has been available on digital platforms for weeks, and now the equation is complete. Releasing the other half on a long holiday weekend is a smart strategy because it restores momentum as a deluge of fall prestige titles premiere in theaters and online.
The contender to watch this week: “Oppenheimer“
At long last, Oppy has come home. Christopher Nolan‘s colossal biopic about atomic-bomb daddy J. Robert Oppenheimer is available on VOD, right in time for an Oscar contest that’s fully aflame. The blockbuster’s likely nominations include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Score (Ludwig Göransson), and Best Sound. Gather the whole family for three hours of thrilling post-turkey physics.
Other contenders:
“Joan Baez: I Am a Noise”: The pop documentaries that flood streaming services today are often undercooked PR exercises without enough critical distance from their subjects,...
The contender to watch this week: “Oppenheimer“
At long last, Oppy has come home. Christopher Nolan‘s colossal biopic about atomic-bomb daddy J. Robert Oppenheimer is available on VOD, right in time for an Oscar contest that’s fully aflame. The blockbuster’s likely nominations include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Score (Ludwig Göransson), and Best Sound. Gather the whole family for three hours of thrilling post-turkey physics.
Other contenders:
“Joan Baez: I Am a Noise”: The pop documentaries that flood streaming services today are often undercooked PR exercises without enough critical distance from their subjects,...
- 11/25/2023
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Benny (Keir Tallman) is a city kid: a proud San Diego resident who loves action figures and Fleetwood Mac, and who can speak with nonchalant ease about the benefits of an annual pass to Sea World. So when his parents — including his beloved mother (Owee Rae), the very same person who encourages his Fleetwood Mac-based dancing and soap opera-esque action figure playing! — decide to send Benny to his grandmother’s house on an out-of-state Navajo reservation for the summer, he’s rightly put out. And when he finally arrives at the local bus depot, the plucky 11-year-old turns right back around and tries to zoom promptly back to San Diego.
But, as becomes a constant theme throughout Billy Luther’s winning first narrative feature “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny’s family is there to catch him, whether he likes it or not. Set in 1990, and smacking of period details that never feel over the top,...
But, as becomes a constant theme throughout Billy Luther’s winning first narrative feature “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny’s family is there to catch him, whether he likes it or not. Set in 1990, and smacking of period details that never feel over the top,...
- 11/23/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
"We've got things to do... Are you coming or not?" Array Releasing has unveiled the official trailer for an indie film titled Frybread Face and Me, the first narrative feature made by acclaimed Native American filmmaker Billy Luther following his doc Miss Navajo. This premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival and it also won the Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival this year. Frybread Face and Me follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds as they bond over a summer spent on their grandmother's Arizona ranch, learning more about their family's past and about themselves. Produced by Chad Burris and executive produced by Taika Waititi, the film stars Kier Tallman, Charley Hogan, Martin Sensmeier, Kahara Hodges, and Sarah Natani. The reviews describe it as "a touching coming-of-age story brimming with authenticity and the passion of its creator." Looks good! Streaming on Netflix soon - check it out below.
- 11/16/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
What was supposed to be a summer of Fleetwood Mac becomes a journey that two young cousins from different worlds will never forget in director Billy Luther’s Frybread Face and Me trailer.
Executive produced by Taika Waititi and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing, Frybread Face and Me serves as the narrative feature debut for Luther, a filmmaker of the Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo tribes. Set in 1990, this coming-of-age dramedy follows 12-year-old city kid Benny Lovell (Keir Tallman) as his summer — and plans to attend an upcoming Fleetwood Mac concert — are upended when his parents drop him onto the Navajo Nation reservation to spend the summer with his grandmother.
“And this is how my summer began,” the voice of the older Benny narrates in the minute in a half trailer.
On the reservation, Benny’s surrounded by his Aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges), Grandma Lorraine (Sarah Natani), Uncle...
Executive produced by Taika Waititi and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing, Frybread Face and Me serves as the narrative feature debut for Luther, a filmmaker of the Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo tribes. Set in 1990, this coming-of-age dramedy follows 12-year-old city kid Benny Lovell (Keir Tallman) as his summer — and plans to attend an upcoming Fleetwood Mac concert — are upended when his parents drop him onto the Navajo Nation reservation to spend the summer with his grandmother.
“And this is how my summer began,” the voice of the older Benny narrates in the minute in a half trailer.
On the reservation, Benny’s surrounded by his Aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges), Grandma Lorraine (Sarah Natani), Uncle...
- 11/15/2023
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Array Releasing has acquired “Frybread Face and Me,” and has set a release date for Nov. 24 in select theaters and on Netflix.
The film marks documentary filmmaker Billy Luther’s narrative feature debut. The President of Array Tilane Jones announced the news that the company had acquired rights in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Array is honored to partner with director Billy Luther in releasing his beautiful debut feature film to audiences which revels in the joys of adolescence,” said Jones. “Billy captures the sweet moments of his summers as a child with a Native American perspective that should be embraced and celebrated now more than ever.”
The coming-of-age story had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival with an international premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. It has been making the fall festival rounds including screenings at Mill Valley Film Festival and Middleburg Film Festival.
“Frybread Face and Me...
The film marks documentary filmmaker Billy Luther’s narrative feature debut. The President of Array Tilane Jones announced the news that the company had acquired rights in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Array is honored to partner with director Billy Luther in releasing his beautiful debut feature film to audiences which revels in the joys of adolescence,” said Jones. “Billy captures the sweet moments of his summers as a child with a Native American perspective that should be embraced and celebrated now more than ever.”
The coming-of-age story had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival with an international premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. It has been making the fall festival rounds including screenings at Mill Valley Film Festival and Middleburg Film Festival.
“Frybread Face and Me...
- 11/3/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
We originally posted the below piece a couple of weeks ago to tout the in-person return of the annual Film Independent Forum to the DGA in Los Angeles, happening this weekend, September 29-30. Since then, two new events have been added to the Forum schedule: Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life and buzzy Sundance hit Fair Play. Action-packed!
***
For the first time since 2019 (hello fidget spinners!) Film Independent’s autumnal industry gathering—the Film Independent Forum—will be taking entirely live in person at its traditional home, the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. Alternate venues, hybrid virtual sessions and a friggin’ global pandemic may have made things difficult to pin down in recent years, but this year all your #FiForum23 filmmaker panels, keynotes, industry networking events and more will be exactly where you expect. And they’ll be there for two days only, September 29-30. Get your passes today.
***
For the first time since 2019 (hello fidget spinners!) Film Independent’s autumnal industry gathering—the Film Independent Forum—will be taking entirely live in person at its traditional home, the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. Alternate venues, hybrid virtual sessions and a friggin’ global pandemic may have made things difficult to pin down in recent years, but this year all your #FiForum23 filmmaker panels, keynotes, industry networking events and more will be exactly where you expect. And they’ll be there for two days only, September 29-30. Get your passes today.
- 9/27/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Excited for his parents’ promise to take him to Fleetwood Mac in San Diego, Benny (Keir Tallman) can’t help feeling betrayed when his father announces he’ll be spending the summer at his grandmother’s (Sarah H. Natani) home on the Navajo reservation in Arizona instead. It’s been years since his mother (Morningstar Angeline) last took him to visit, and he wishes it could have been longer. Benny is an ’80s city kid. He listens to rock music, uses his action figures to reenact soap opera drama, and dances in his mother’s cowboy hat. Herding sheep and building fences doesn’t interest him––especially since he doesn’t know Navajo and Grandma refuses to learn English.
We’ve all experienced a summer where plans change sans notice or explanation. At that age we just had to scowl and accept our fate––there were no money or means to escape it.
We’ve all experienced a summer where plans change sans notice or explanation. At that age we just had to scowl and accept our fate––there were no money or means to escape it.
- 9/15/2023
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
After years of working in Hollywood, Taika Waititi has lived through the classic biopic scene where a protagonist wakes up and immediately questions all of their life choices.
“What the fuck am I doing? Why am I doing this? For what reason? There’s no purpose and I’m getting nothing out of this,” Waititi said in an interview with IndieWire at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. “And then we realize, ‘Oh, but the reason we do this is to help people in our community.’ To keep pulling each other up and supporting each other, that is the purpose. That’s the reason to be doing any of this.”
Though he has made headlines for being at the festival to premiere his long-awaited sports comedy “Next Goal Wins,” Waititi is also promoting the independent film “Frybread Face and Me” from writer-director Billy Luther, which he executive produced. The coming-of-age story...
“What the fuck am I doing? Why am I doing this? For what reason? There’s no purpose and I’m getting nothing out of this,” Waititi said in an interview with IndieWire at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. “And then we realize, ‘Oh, but the reason we do this is to help people in our community.’ To keep pulling each other up and supporting each other, that is the purpose. That’s the reason to be doing any of this.”
Though he has made headlines for being at the festival to premiere his long-awaited sports comedy “Next Goal Wins,” Waititi is also promoting the independent film “Frybread Face and Me” from writer-director Billy Luther, which he executive produced. The coming-of-age story...
- 9/14/2023
- by Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
In Billy Luther’s feature film debut, “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny (Keir Tallman) is taken out of his comfort zone after he’s sent to spend the summer at his grandmother’s ranch on the reservation. It’s a feeling most adults can relate to — that first time when they were kids and sent away for the summer, whether it was to camp or to spend time with a family member. The film premieres in Toronto on Sept. 11.
Producer Chad Burris was drawn to Luther’s story because it was discussing something he hadn’t seen before, aside from the script being insightful and emotional, Burris says the characters were fun, punchy and humorous. “What I thought was interesting was how the story of Benny was juxtaposed with Native life, and I thought it was so fresh. It had a casual approach to what it was saying,” says Burris.
Producer Chad Burris was drawn to Luther’s story because it was discussing something he hadn’t seen before, aside from the script being insightful and emotional, Burris says the characters were fun, punchy and humorous. “What I thought was interesting was how the story of Benny was juxtaposed with Native life, and I thought it was so fresh. It had a casual approach to what it was saying,” says Burris.
- 9/9/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, announced the 2023 Film Independent Forum, the preeminent conference for independent filmmakers and content creators.
This year’s edition of the annual event, beginning on Friday, September 29, 2023 at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in Los Angeles, will be held entirely in-person for the first time since 2019. The Forum will kick off with a screening of Billy Luther’s Frybread Face and Me, the new feature film from executive producer Taika Waititi, followed by a Q&a with writer/director and Film Independent Fellow Luther and a Filmmaker Keynote by writer/director and Film Independent Fellow Justin Simien the next day. The full program will take place over the course of two days, September 29–30, 2023, during which the inaugural Changemaker Award will be presented to three outstanding Film Independent Fellows: Smriti Mundhra...
This year’s edition of the annual event, beginning on Friday, September 29, 2023 at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in Los Angeles, will be held entirely in-person for the first time since 2019. The Forum will kick off with a screening of Billy Luther’s Frybread Face and Me, the new feature film from executive producer Taika Waititi, followed by a Q&a with writer/director and Film Independent Fellow Luther and a Filmmaker Keynote by writer/director and Film Independent Fellow Justin Simien the next day. The full program will take place over the course of two days, September 29–30, 2023, during which the inaugural Changemaker Award will be presented to three outstanding Film Independent Fellows: Smriti Mundhra...
- 8/18/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi, 2023).The lineup is being unveiled for the 2023 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, starting with 60 selections from the Gala and Special Presentations programs. The festival takes place from September 7–17, 2023.Gala PRESENTATIONSConcrete Utopia (Um Tae-Hwa)Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)Fair Play (Chloe Domont)Flora and Son (John Carney)Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks)Lee (Ellen Kuras)Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)Nyad (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)Punjab ’95 (Honey Trehan)Solo (Sophie Dupuis)The End We Start From (Mahalia Belo)The Movie Emperor (Ning Hao)The New Boy (Warwick Thornton) The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)The Holdovers.Special Presentationsa Difficult Year (Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache)A Normal Family (Hur Jin-ho)American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)Close to You (Dominic Savage)Days of Happiness (Chloé Robichaud)The Rescue (Daniela Goggi)Ezra (Tony Goldwyn)Fingernails (Christos Nikou)Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania...
- 8/14/2023
- MUBI
Toronto — The Toronto International Film Festival® is thrilled to announce the 2023 selections for the Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes. The infamous Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, 7 of which are World Premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts World and International Premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total programme are featured in this year’s Discovery programme.
Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favourite, iconoclastic programme highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery programme offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.
Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favourite, iconoclastic programme highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery programme offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.
- 8/3/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is set to take place from September 7th through the 17th, and yesterday they invited film fans to guess which ten movies they’ll be screening in their Midnight Madness lineup this year. The hints were the titles of ten movies that could be compared to the films in the lineup in some way. They were Trey Parker’s Orgazmo, Geoff Murphy’s Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Jimmy Wang Yu’s Fantasy Mission Force, Charles Martin Smith’s Trick or Treat, Stan Brakhage’s Dog Star Man, Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead, Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf, and Theodore J. Flicker’s Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. Now TIFF has announced the full lineup for both their Midnight Madness and Discovery programmes, and...
- 8/3/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
The Toronto International Film Festival lineup keeps rolling in, with Midnight Madness, Discovery, and Platform programs being unveiled this week. Leading the pack is the North American premiere of Harmony Korine’s infrared action feature Aggro DR1FT, while new films from Tarsem, Larry Charles, Patricia Arquette, Molly Manning Walker, and more were also added.
“Sides will be split — both figuratively and literally (on screen) — as Midnight Madness returns to the Royal Alexandra Theatre with another stimulating concoction of unpredictable shock and ‘y’arr!’ cinema,” said Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness. “Featuring two timely satiric provocations from Saudi Arabia (Naga) and Serbia (Working Class Goes to Hell) — nations that are making their section debut — this year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!
“Sides will be split — both figuratively and literally (on screen) — as Midnight Madness returns to the Royal Alexandra Theatre with another stimulating concoction of unpredictable shock and ‘y’arr!’ cinema,” said Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness. “Featuring two timely satiric provocations from Saudi Arabia (Naga) and Serbia (Working Class Goes to Hell) — nations that are making their section debut — this year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!
- 8/3/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Toronto Film Festival pulled the curtain off its lineup for this year’s Discovery and Midnight Madness sections with notable titles respectively teeing off both programs’ opening nights: Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl and Borat director Larry Charles’ Dicks: The Musical from A24.
The Midnight Madness section counts 10 features, seven of which are world premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts world and international premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total program are featured in this year’s Discovery; that lineup is known for being a window to contemporary world cinema with first and second movies from frosh filmmakers. With Midnight Madness films, it’s anything goes.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness programs for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.
The Midnight Madness section counts 10 features, seven of which are world premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts world and international premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total program are featured in this year’s Discovery; that lineup is known for being a window to contemporary world cinema with first and second movies from frosh filmmakers. With Midnight Madness films, it’s anything goes.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness programs for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.
- 8/3/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro and Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl and Larry Charles’ Dicks: The Musical open the sections.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the titles in its Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes, with the line-ups including Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft, Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl and Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex.
The Discovery line-up, designed to open a window on contemporary international cinema with first and second features from new filmmakers, comprises 26 titles from 25 countries, most of them world or international premieres.
As well as Arquette’s directing debut Gonzo Girl, with the actor also starring alongside Willem Dafoe,...
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the titles in its Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes, with the line-ups including Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft, Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl and Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex.
The Discovery line-up, designed to open a window on contemporary international cinema with first and second features from new filmmakers, comprises 26 titles from 25 countries, most of them world or international premieres.
As well as Arquette’s directing debut Gonzo Girl, with the actor also starring alongside Willem Dafoe,...
- 8/3/2023
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival announced the 2023 selections for the Discovery and Midnight Madness program this morning. The Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, seven of which are World Premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts World and International Premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total are featured in this year’s Discovery program.
Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favorite, iconoclastic program highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery program offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness program for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.”
Midnight...
Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favorite, iconoclastic program highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery program offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.
“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness program for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.”
Midnight...
- 8/3/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
New films from Patricia Arquette, Larry Charles, Harmony Korine and Finn Wolfhard will screen in the Midnight Madness and Discovery sections of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Thursday.
Korine’s “Aggro DR1FT” and Charles’ “Dicks: The Musical” will screen in the Midnight Madness section, along with eight other films that also include Jason Yu’s “Sleep” and Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s “Hell of a Summer.”
“Dicks: The Musical,” which TIFF Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky called “bonkers and bawdy” in the press release announcing the lineups, will open the Midnight Madness section, while Weston Razooli’s “Riddle of Fire” will be the closing-night attraction.
The Discovery section will showcase 26 films from up-and-coming directors around the world. It will open with Arquette’s “Gonzo Girl,” which stars Willem Dafoe and Camilla Morrone (“Daisy Jones & the Six”) and is one of many TIFF titles from actors who have turned to directing.
Korine’s “Aggro DR1FT” and Charles’ “Dicks: The Musical” will screen in the Midnight Madness section, along with eight other films that also include Jason Yu’s “Sleep” and Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s “Hell of a Summer.”
“Dicks: The Musical,” which TIFF Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky called “bonkers and bawdy” in the press release announcing the lineups, will open the Midnight Madness section, while Weston Razooli’s “Riddle of Fire” will be the closing-night attraction.
The Discovery section will showcase 26 films from up-and-coming directors around the world. It will open with Arquette’s “Gonzo Girl,” which stars Willem Dafoe and Camilla Morrone (“Daisy Jones & the Six”) and is one of many TIFF titles from actors who have turned to directing.
- 8/3/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Toronto International Film Festival has today announced the lineup for two of its more unpredictable and interesting sections: Discovery and Midnight Madness. Billed as “the infamous,” this year’s Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, seven of which are world premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily includes world and international premieres, includes 26 titles.
Per TIFF, both “Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favorite, iconoclastic program highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery program offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.” The festival’s announcement also notes that 13 female filmmakers, representing 50 percent of the total program, are featured in this year’s Discovery lineup.
Those films include new offerings from Harmony Korine and Larry Charles, plus — as Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness,...
Per TIFF, both “Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favorite, iconoclastic program highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery program offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.” The festival’s announcement also notes that 13 female filmmakers, representing 50 percent of the total program, are featured in this year’s Discovery lineup.
Those films include new offerings from Harmony Korine and Larry Charles, plus — as Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness,...
- 8/3/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Finn Wolfhard, Larry Charles, Harmony Korine Films Set for Midnight Madness at Toronto Film Festival
The Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness sidebar will open with Borat director Larry Charles’ latest movie Dicks: The Musical getting a world premiere.
Charles’ latest film, from A24 and in theaters from Sept. 29, stars Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang as God and Nathan Lane, as the comedy duo of Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp (who also wrote the film’s script) play self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric and divorced parents.
“This year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!” Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International programmer of Midnight Madness, said in a statement on Thursday.
The latest additions to the Toronto Film Festival also include the lineup...
Charles’ latest film, from A24 and in theaters from Sept. 29, stars Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang as God and Nathan Lane, as the comedy duo of Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp (who also wrote the film’s script) play self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric and divorced parents.
“This year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!” Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International programmer of Midnight Madness, said in a statement on Thursday.
The latest additions to the Toronto Film Festival also include the lineup...
- 8/3/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Downtown Albuquerque Railyards will serve as the headquarters for the New Mexico Media Academy, a collaborative workforce development program equipping Nm residents with the skills they need to build successful film and TV careers, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on Wednesday.
Related Story New Mexico Sees Record $855.4 Million In Direct Production Spending; Officials Tout Incentives Program Related Story Taika Waititi-EP'd 'Frybread Face & Me' Sees Macro, River Road, Rei Co-op Studios & Fit Via Vi Join Billy Luther-Directed Feature Related Story 'Only Murders In The Building': Don Darryl Rivera, Allison Guinn & Gerald Caesar To Recur In Season 3
The training hub formerly known as the Next Generation Media Academy will be constructed in the Boiler Room location of the Railyards which have long been a production hotspot, featuring onscreen in projects ranging from Breaking Bad to The Avengers. A companion campus, serving Southern New Mexico,...
Related Story New Mexico Sees Record $855.4 Million In Direct Production Spending; Officials Tout Incentives Program Related Story Taika Waititi-EP'd 'Frybread Face & Me' Sees Macro, River Road, Rei Co-op Studios & Fit Via Vi Join Billy Luther-Directed Feature Related Story 'Only Murders In The Building': Don Darryl Rivera, Allison Guinn & Gerald Caesar To Recur In Season 3
The training hub formerly known as the Next Generation Media Academy will be constructed in the Boiler Room location of the Railyards which have long been a production hotspot, featuring onscreen in projects ranging from Breaking Bad to The Avengers. A companion campus, serving Southern New Mexico,...
- 3/29/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
In “Frybread Face and Me,” Benny Lovell might be a few years away from the edge of 17, but the 12-year-old Indian kid has a passion for Fleetwood Mac. It’s his fondness for the band, its witchy vocalist Stevie Nicks as well as for dolls that has his parents sending him from San Diego to his maternal grandmother on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona. But before he gets on the bus headed east, adult Benny in voice-over offers a caveat: “If you think no one does dysfunction like Fleetwood Mac, then you haven’t met my family.” It’s 1990 and a summer that initially smacks of exile and punishment becomes one of discovery — self-discovery to be sure, but also cultural and familial.
Keir Tallman stars as Benny, the “Me” of writer-director Billy Luther’s warm debut narrative feature. Luther, of the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo Laguna nations, has made feature documentaries.
Keir Tallman stars as Benny, the “Me” of writer-director Billy Luther’s warm debut narrative feature. Luther, of the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo Laguna nations, has made feature documentaries.
- 3/24/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
The SXSW Film & TV Festival has returned to Austin, and Deadline’s reviewers are watching all the key films. Here is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year was the launchpad for newly-minted Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. The Daniels’ wild sci-fi action comedy is the first pic to debut at SXSW and go on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Related Story SXSW: ‘Raging Grace’ Takes Top Honors In Narrative Feature Competition – Winners List Related Story Bill Walton On Being "Leery" About ESPN Series On His Life, Career, And What He Considers "My Greatest Accomplishment And Your Worst Nightmare" Related Story 'Evil Dead Rise' Review: Deadites Cause High-Rise Havoc In Lee Cronin's Latest Horror Venture – SXSW
Check back often as we add more reviews.
Bottoms (L-r) Rachel Sennott as Pj and Ayo Edebiri as Josie in ‘Bottoms’
Section:...
Related Story SXSW: ‘Raging Grace’ Takes Top Honors In Narrative Feature Competition – Winners List Related Story Bill Walton On Being "Leery" About ESPN Series On His Life, Career, And What He Considers "My Greatest Accomplishment And Your Worst Nightmare" Related Story 'Evil Dead Rise' Review: Deadites Cause High-Rise Havoc In Lee Cronin's Latest Horror Venture – SXSW
Check back often as we add more reviews.
Bottoms (L-r) Rachel Sennott as Pj and Ayo Edebiri as Josie in ‘Bottoms’
Section:...
- 3/17/2023
- by Valerie Complex, Damon Wise and Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
There are a lot of films based on personal experience at this year’s SXSW, and Billy Luther’s narrative feature debut Frybread Face and Me is one of the few that actually makes you wish it could go on longer. Using his authentic experience as a rough map rather than a beat sheet, Luther hits on something very special here, exploring universal themes of childhood and family in ways that transcend the specificity of its setting. Taika Waititi’s involvement as executive producer is understandable, not because it reflects his recent success in bringing a more subversively silly strain of comedy to Marvel movies but because, in its lovely, understated it way, it has all the simple warmth and heart of the New Zealander’s earlier works.
Related Story ‘Frybread Face & Me’ Director Billy Luther & EP Taika Waititi On SXSW Debut, Original Stories, ‘Star Wars,’ Savvy Audiences, & Expanding...
Related Story ‘Frybread Face & Me’ Director Billy Luther & EP Taika Waititi On SXSW Debut, Original Stories, ‘Star Wars,’ Savvy Audiences, & Expanding...
- 3/13/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Frybread Face and Me unfolds over one of those strange seasons of youth, in which not much technically happens but everything feels changed afterward, in some small but significant way. Plot-wise, it’s slim: Benny (Keir Tallman) is an 11-year-old from San Diego who’s sent to stay with his grandmother (Sarah H. Natani) on the Navajo reservation for the summer, where he meets and befriends his cousin Dawn, a.k.a. Frybread Face (Charley Hodges). The pair while away the months doing what kids do — playing with dolls, watching Starman on repeat and snooping through their uncle’s stuff in between chores on the family’s sheep ranch — until all of a sudden, it’s time for Benny to return home.
But what Frybread Face and Me lacks in drama, it makes up for in a boundless affection for its characters and an appreciation for the everyday details of their lives.
But what Frybread Face and Me lacks in drama, it makes up for in a boundless affection for its characters and an appreciation for the everyday details of their lives.
- 3/12/2023
- by Angie Han
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Filmmaker Billy Luther makes his narrative feature debut at SXSW on Saturday with “Frybead Face and Me,” executive produced by Taika Waititi. Inspired by his childhood, the film follows a young boy, Benny (Keir Tallman), who has to spend the summer with his grandma on the reservation.
Luther, whose past work includes the documentary “Miss Navajo” and AMC’s “Dark Winds,” feels Benny’s story of learning about rez life and bonding with his cousin Frybread (Charley Hogan) has universal appeal in that it’s ultimately about being somewhere new and feeling alone.
“You don’t have to be Native to connect to the story because everyone remembers being dropped off somewhere, and the story brings that familiarity,” Luther says.
Still, it was incredibly important to Luther to cast Navajo actors, a process that was complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic. But, he eventually found his stars in Tallman and Hogan,...
Luther, whose past work includes the documentary “Miss Navajo” and AMC’s “Dark Winds,” feels Benny’s story of learning about rez life and bonding with his cousin Frybread (Charley Hogan) has universal appeal in that it’s ultimately about being somewhere new and feeling alone.
“You don’t have to be Native to connect to the story because everyone remembers being dropped off somewhere, and the story brings that familiarity,” Luther says.
Still, it was incredibly important to Luther to cast Navajo actors, a process that was complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic. But, he eventually found his stars in Tallman and Hogan,...
- 3/12/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: “I’ve told stories about my community and stuff, but this is, this is my story,” declares Frybread Face and Me director Billy Luther of his Taika Waititi executive produced feature debut.
Premiering tonight at SXSW, the long gestating drama from the Miss Navajo helmer is a 1990-set coming-of-age tale of San Diego reared Benny and the summer he is sent to live with his grandmother and other family on a Navajo reservation in Arizona. The summer becomes all the more significant for the doll-playing and Fleetwood Mac obsessed Benny as the city kid gradually befriends his cousin Dawn a.k.a. Frybread, and learns of not only his own family history through her, but that of his Indigenous culture too.
Spawned out the Sundance Institute labs and financed in part by Charles D King’s Macro, along with River Road and Rei Co-op Studios, have teamed with Chad Burris’ Indion Entertainment,...
Premiering tonight at SXSW, the long gestating drama from the Miss Navajo helmer is a 1990-set coming-of-age tale of San Diego reared Benny and the summer he is sent to live with his grandmother and other family on a Navajo reservation in Arizona. The summer becomes all the more significant for the doll-playing and Fleetwood Mac obsessed Benny as the city kid gradually befriends his cousin Dawn a.k.a. Frybread, and learns of not only his own family history through her, but that of his Indigenous culture too.
Spawned out the Sundance Institute labs and financed in part by Charles D King’s Macro, along with River Road and Rei Co-op Studios, have teamed with Chad Burris’ Indion Entertainment,...
- 3/12/2023
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Native filmmaker Billy Luther heads to SXSW this weekend to premiere his narrative feature debut, “Frybread Face and Me” on March 11.
Set in the ‘90s, the coming-of-age story follows Benny (Keir Tallman), a young Native American boy who plays with dolls, sports a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and watches soap operas.
Forced to spend his summer on the reservation with his grandmother, Benny finds himself impressed by his cousin “Frybread” (Charley Hogan) who opens his eyes to life on the rez.
Featuring an entirely Native cast and predominantly Native crew, Luther says it was important to cast Navajo kids at the core of his film. He says, “With the help of Midthunder Casting, which also worked on FX ‘Reservation Dogs,’ we were able to find these incredible kids. The amount of Indigenous talent – Martin Sensmeier, MorningStar Angeline, and Jeremiah Bitsui came on. And we also brought on some amazing new faces...
Set in the ‘90s, the coming-of-age story follows Benny (Keir Tallman), a young Native American boy who plays with dolls, sports a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and watches soap operas.
Forced to spend his summer on the reservation with his grandmother, Benny finds himself impressed by his cousin “Frybread” (Charley Hogan) who opens his eyes to life on the rez.
Featuring an entirely Native cast and predominantly Native crew, Luther says it was important to cast Navajo kids at the core of his film. He says, “With the help of Midthunder Casting, which also worked on FX ‘Reservation Dogs,’ we were able to find these incredible kids. The amount of Indigenous talent – Martin Sensmeier, MorningStar Angeline, and Jeremiah Bitsui came on. And we also brought on some amazing new faces...
- 3/9/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance Institute on Thursday announced the eight participants selected for the fifth annual Momentum Fellowship, a program at the nonprofit designed to support and provide coaching to mid-career artists with a focus on career development.
Created to support storytellers from historically marginalized communities who have recently achieved a noteworthy accomplishment, such as a regarded feature film or series, Momentum provides fellows with a full-year program of deep, customized support around the goals they have identified for themselves to level up in their craft and career. The fellowship is a program of Women at Sundance with support from Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
The Momentum Fellowship includes an unrestricted artist grant; professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, supported by The Harnisch Foundation; connection to Elevate, Sundance’s professional development initiative; and bespoke year-round support from Sundance Institute staff. Additionally, as part of an ongoing partnership with Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team,...
Created to support storytellers from historically marginalized communities who have recently achieved a noteworthy accomplishment, such as a regarded feature film or series, Momentum provides fellows with a full-year program of deep, customized support around the goals they have identified for themselves to level up in their craft and career. The fellowship is a program of Women at Sundance with support from Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
The Momentum Fellowship includes an unrestricted artist grant; professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, supported by The Harnisch Foundation; connection to Elevate, Sundance’s professional development initiative; and bespoke year-round support from Sundance Institute staff. Additionally, as part of an ongoing partnership with Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team,...
- 3/2/2023
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival runs March 10-18. Further selections to be announced in early February.
The world premiere of Paramount and eOne’s spring tentpole Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will open the 30th edition of SXSW in Austin, Texas, on March 10.
The action fantasy quest story stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, and Regé-Jean Page and is directed and co-written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. It opens in the US on March 31.
SXSW runs March 10-18 as an in-person event only. In addition organisers announced feature and short Competition entries, the Headliners and Midnighters line-ups, and select titles...
The world premiere of Paramount and eOne’s spring tentpole Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will open the 30th edition of SXSW in Austin, Texas, on March 10.
The action fantasy quest story stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, and Regé-Jean Page and is directed and co-written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. It opens in the US on March 31.
SXSW runs March 10-18 as an in-person event only. In addition organisers announced feature and short Competition entries, the Headliners and Midnighters line-ups, and select titles...
- 1/11/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Zahn McClarnon is finally starting to see a change in Native American representation in TV and films. “People are hungry for these unique and different stories,” says McClarnon, actor-turned-executive producer of the recent AMC limited series “Dark Winds.”
With shows like “Dark Winds,’ “Rutherford Falls” and “Reservation Dogs,” Native Americans have gotten more diverse roles than ever before, in a variety of genres. But there’s still more to be done.
In conversation with filmmaker and writer Billy Luther, who will be directing an episode of “Dark Winds” in season two, the duo discuss the tradition of oral storytelling, representation, where Hollywood is doing better and what needs to be done.
Billy Luther: With this new wave of Native writers working in the industry, do you see a change happening?
Zahn McClarnon: It has changed quite a bit. We didn’t have any Native writers when I first started doing this.
With shows like “Dark Winds,’ “Rutherford Falls” and “Reservation Dogs,” Native Americans have gotten more diverse roles than ever before, in a variety of genres. But there’s still more to be done.
In conversation with filmmaker and writer Billy Luther, who will be directing an episode of “Dark Winds” in season two, the duo discuss the tradition of oral storytelling, representation, where Hollywood is doing better and what needs to be done.
Billy Luther: With this new wave of Native writers working in the industry, do you see a change happening?
Zahn McClarnon: It has changed quite a bit. We didn’t have any Native writers when I first started doing this.
- 11/9/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s fall festival circuit has been everything, everywhere, all at once, it seems.
The 2022 Film Independent Forum announced that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” writer/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, also known as Daniels, will kick off the conference with a keynote.
Opening night on October 24 will also include a screening of A24’s “The Inspection,” followed by a Q&a with director Elegance Bratton, Gamechanger’s CEO/producer Effie T. Brown, and producer Chester Algernal Gordon.
The Film Independent Forum event starts October 24 at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in Los Angeles. The conference will continue with virtual sessions and panels to be enjoyed by global audiences October 25 through 27. The full program will take place over the course of four days, October 24 through 27.
The Film Independent Forum hosts independent filmmakers and content creators, with the 2022 lineup returning in a hybrid format of both in-person and virtual events.
The 2022 Film Independent Forum announced that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” writer/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, also known as Daniels, will kick off the conference with a keynote.
Opening night on October 24 will also include a screening of A24’s “The Inspection,” followed by a Q&a with director Elegance Bratton, Gamechanger’s CEO/producer Effie T. Brown, and producer Chester Algernal Gordon.
The Film Independent Forum event starts October 24 at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in Los Angeles. The conference will continue with virtual sessions and panels to be enjoyed by global audiences October 25 through 27. The full program will take place over the course of four days, October 24 through 27.
The Film Independent Forum hosts independent filmmakers and content creators, with the 2022 lineup returning in a hybrid format of both in-person and virtual events.
- 9/27/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
RuPaul and the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” judges raised more than 250,000 for Extraordinary Families on Thursday night at an event in Hancock Park.
Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, Carson Kressley and Jeffrey Bower Chapman co-hosted the celebration for the adoption and foster agency that works with LGBTQ+ parents and kids.
World of Wonder co-founder, Drag Race producer and co-host for the night Fenton Bailey announced 250,00 and counting had been donated.
Extraordinary Families CEO Barnaby Murff thanked Bailey, who is also on the organization’s board and has two adopted children with his filmmaker husband Billy Luther.
Murff noted that L.A County has the biggest child welfare system in the country with over 20,000 kids not in their original homes: “Support like this makes it possible for them to be safe and loved.”
Naomi Smalls, Barnaby Murff, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Ross Mathews, Fenton Bailey, Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, and Mayhem Miller at World of...
Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, Carson Kressley and Jeffrey Bower Chapman co-hosted the celebration for the adoption and foster agency that works with LGBTQ+ parents and kids.
World of Wonder co-founder, Drag Race producer and co-host for the night Fenton Bailey announced 250,00 and counting had been donated.
Extraordinary Families CEO Barnaby Murff thanked Bailey, who is also on the organization’s board and has two adopted children with his filmmaker husband Billy Luther.
Murff noted that L.A County has the biggest child welfare system in the country with over 20,000 kids not in their original homes: “Support like this makes it possible for them to be safe and loved.”
Naomi Smalls, Barnaby Murff, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Ross Mathews, Fenton Bailey, Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, and Mayhem Miller at World of...
- 9/23/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
AMC’s groundbreaking thriller Dark Winds is headed for a second season. The well-reviewed show features a team composed almost entirely of Native Americans in front of and behind the camera. From the top down, it was important to the creators to raise visibility across the board, from the writer’s room to the cast, directors and crew, and on screen.
Based on Tony Hillerman’s mystery novels, the series follows Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon), a lieutenant with the Navajo tribal police, as he works alongside a brand new deputy, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon).
Writer Billy Luther (“Frybread Face and Me”) shares how representation in the writer’s room helped to deliver accurate portrayals of the Native community and what mattered when sharing stories about cultural representation with mainstream audiences.
How did the creators discuss authenticity with the writers?
I think the word authenticity gets thrown around a lot. The...
Based on Tony Hillerman’s mystery novels, the series follows Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon), a lieutenant with the Navajo tribal police, as he works alongside a brand new deputy, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon).
Writer Billy Luther (“Frybread Face and Me”) shares how representation in the writer’s room helped to deliver accurate portrayals of the Native community and what mattered when sharing stories about cultural representation with mainstream audiences.
How did the creators discuss authenticity with the writers?
I think the word authenticity gets thrown around a lot. The...
- 7/25/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: NewFilmmakers Los Angeles today announced the winners of its 10th annual Best of Nfmla Awards.
The list included Huella‘s Gabriella Ortega (Best New Filmmaker), Tracey Deer’s Beans (Best Feature Film), Nelson G. Navarrete and Maxx Caicedo’s A La Calle (Best Documentary Feature Film), Ciara Lacy’s This Is the Way We Rise, JJ Shpall’s Date Nite, Isabella Issa’s Yellow Girl and Me, Sarah Clift’s The Birth of Valerie Venus, Gustavo Milan’s Under the Heavens (Seiva Bruta), Bastien Dubois’ Souvenir Souvenir, Devone X. King’s Last Black Man (Best New Media & Experimental), Arnold Mwanjila’s Taliya (Best Screenplay), I Make Good Sounds at Parties‘ Russell Goldman, Yellow Girl and Me‘s Dior Wilson, Sweet Potatoes‘ Luke Sargent (Best Cinematography), From Here‘s Christina Antonakos-Wallace and Aletta Von Vietinghoff (Best Film Editing), The Fire Next Time‘s Jose Pablo Ramirez (Best Sound Design) and Livin’ in the Light‘s Onry (Best Score).
The Best of Nfmla Awards look to recognize the best talent in independent cinema from around the globe. This year’s edition included 125 nominees across 16 Award categories. All nominated projects screened as part of the Nfmla Monthly Film Festival 2021 season which ran from January 1st, 2021 through December 31st, 2021. Best New Filmmaker winner Ortega claimed a 3,000 Anthony Rhulen grant, with numerous other winners nabbing grants of 2,000. Over 5,000 in Blackmagic Design equipment will also be awarded to select winners, with post host Picture Shop hosting a post-production workshop for all nominees and winners.
Nfmla is a Los Angeles-based arts and culture non-profit organization that works year-round to highlight the works of independent artists. Its full list of 2022 Best of Nfmla nominees can be found here.
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Exclusive: Doc10 today announced its first-ever awards program, which this year will honor documentary filmmakers N. Bird Runningwater and Jessica Devaney.
The inaugural Luminary Award, celebrating filmmakers that shine a light on vital social issues, will be presented to Runningwater, who has supported such films as Billy Luther’s Miss Navajo and Heather Rae’s Trudell. The Vanguard Award, created to honor innovative and important documentary filmmakers, will be presented to Devaney, producer of some 17 shorts and features, including 2021 Doc10 selection Pray Away.
“The inaugural Luminary and Vanguard Awards were born to celebrate and promote the power of independent filmmaking,” said Doc10 co-founders Steve Cohen and Paula Froehle. “Jess and Bird represent the now and the future of great, cinematic documentary producing and how independent, fearless storytelling can promote real change in our world.” The 7th Doc10 documentary film festival will run from May 19-22 at the Davis Theatre and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. To find out more about it or to purchase tickets, click here.
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Exclusive: Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy) will exec produce and star in the sci-fi thriller Space Racer, from writer-director Erik Bernard (Free Dead or Alive), with NFTs related to the film to be released by Karman Studios at the Cannes Marché du Film.
The pic from Bernard’s Rebel 6 Films and Gemini Films takes place in the year 2084. It finds Earth beginning to look to space for survival, at a point when it’s barely able to sustain human life. At this juncture, humans have contacted alien race, with pilot James Colt earning the opportunity to represent Earth in its first intergalactic race.
Bernard and Lyndon Tait wrote the script for the pic, which is intended to set up a trilogy. Kevin Grevioux (Underworld) is producing, with Velasquez, Bernard and Courtney LeMarco (Hoarders) exec producing, and Jasmin Espada (Free Dead or Alive) serving as co-producer. Velasquez is represented by Insurge-Ent and Innovative Artists; Bernard and LeMarco by Espada PR & Entertainment; and Grevioux by Brent Johnson of One Entertainment.
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Exclusive: Toric Films‘ Ojan Missaghi and David Wachs will be seeking distribution for their films Day Labor, Out of Hand and Deadly Games at this year’s Cannes Film Festival—with actor Gilles Marini (The Rookie) also on hand to promote the company’s slate.
Day Labor watches as a Latin American veteran seeks work as a day laborer in order to keep his family afloat. A regular day turns into a deadly game of survival when he is mistakenly dropped off at a private ranch in El Paso, Texas to be hunted for sport. R. Ellis Frazier directed the pic, which stars Amy Johnston, Louis Mandylor and Danny Arrory.
Director Brian Skiba’s Out of Hand is a thriller centered on Valerie (Louise Linton), a charismatic and sophisticated college professor who is married to a younger personal trainer heartthrob, David (Pierson Fode). When the couple leaves town to a secluded cabin in Lake Tahoe, things start to unravel. William Baldwin, Joana Metrass , David Wachs and Christy St. John also star.
Then, there’s Deadly Games, in which four female influencers are invited to paradise island to partake in a million-dollar opportunity by a crypto mogul, fighting to gain the most subscribers during their weekend for the paysite contest. When one of the girls ends up dead, and the murder gets kept a secret, the influencers get more than they bargained for. Missaghi directed and produced the pic, which stars Marini, Metrass, Vanessa Angel, Roberto ‘Sanz’ Sanchez, Krista Kalmus and Emelina Adams.
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Exclusive: Lost Souls collaborators John F. Uranday and Bobby Cloud will be bringing their new indie drama Depth of Field to Cannes’ Marché du Film.
The film directed by Uranday tells the story of Charles (Rafael Petardi), a widower who has given up on life, until he meets a foster child next door that changes his life forever. It also stars George Stroumboulopoulos (The Communist’s Daughter), Jay Acovone (Fox’s Lethal Weapon), Carrie Quinn Dolin (Bruce Almighty), Ella Thomas (NCIS: Los Angeles), Diana Diaz (Music) and Thea Saccoliti. Producer Cloud, who is also an attorney, co-wrote the script with Uranday, with Jeffrey Stevens serving as a story contributor. Uranday also produced, along with Orlin Dobreff, Mike G, Rafael Petardi, Tom Summers and Tristan Salas Henry, with Stroumboulopoulos serving as exec producer. Uranday and Cloud are repped by Espada PR & Entertainment.
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Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to the romance Bristol Fashion, with plans to release it across internet and satellite platforms on June 7th.
The film tells the story of a young transgender woman, Christina (Lea Nayeli), who escapes her troubled home to find solace in a dilapidated boatyard. When she buys a broken-down boat for that purpose, she gets more than she bargained for in the boat’s owner, Esteban (Raul A. Perez)—warm, funny and dying to take her to dinner. He gives her a place to stay on an abandoned barge and helps her fix up the boat, and slowly but surely, they find themselves navigating the sometimes-messy waters of a straight man falling for a trans woman.
Pierre Guillet and Timothy John Foster wrote and produced Bristol Fashion, with Guillet directing. Richard Difrisco also stars. Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire the film directly with Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films. Its trailer can be found below.
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Exclusive: Deadline has a new trailer for Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman’s feature doc The Human Trial, which Abramorama is releasing in North American theaters and on its Watch Now @ Home virtual cinema platform on June 24th.
More than a decade in the making, the film follows a groundbreaking clinical trial that peels back the headlines to show the sweat, passion and sacrifice behind every breakthrough cure. In 2011, Hepner and her husband Mossman heard about a radical stem cell treatment for diabetes, a disease that shockingly kills more than five million people each year. Driven by a desire to cure Lisa of her own type 1 diabetes, the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to a clinical trial—only the sixth ever stem cell trial in the world. What follows is an intimate journey with the patients and scientists who put themselves on the line to be first.
Hepner scripted the project and produced alongside Jonathan Formica (Lost & Found) and Kristin Lesko (O.J.: Made in America), with diabetes org Beyond Type 1 exec producing alongside Amy Rapp (The Woman Who Wasn’t There), Marla Oringer, Greer Wylder and Thom Scher. Check out the trailer for The Human Trial below.
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Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive clip from the feature doc Since I Been Down, which is set for release on VOD on May 24th.
The film from director Gilda Sheppard stakes us to Tacoma, Washington. Influenced by the national drug war frenzy and the fear-based culture of punishment in the 1980s and ’90s, Tacoma sacrificed its most vulnerable children to a life behind bars. These children, who are now adults, cannot be silenced. As we hear them tell their stories, bravely, unapologetically, we realize: This is the story of ‘Everytown USA’.
June Nho Ivers, Saman Maydani and Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss produced the doc, with Sheppard and David Menschel serving as executive producers. Our exclusive clip from the film can be found below.
***
Hallie and Audrey McPherson will be bringing their dramedy Earthquake Country to Dances With Films on Saturday, June 18th at 7:15 p.m. Pst.
The film written and directed by The McPherson Sisters centers on Rhyme Osbourne (Lydian Blossom), who is fed up with her mother’s alcoholism and delusions of grandeur and her father’s literal inability to get off the couch. On her eighteenth birthday, Rhyme puts into motion a plan that will cut ties with her family—for good. Set in 2007 in the seemingly idyllic Ojai, CA, the film is a coming-of-age story that explores the creation of family mythology, the malleability of memory, and the sometimes suffocating intimacy of the nuclear family.
Deborah Marks-Bertling, Alex Sorian Brown, Todd Caroll, Nigel Vonas, Melina Emilie, Madison Widener and Kyle Hester also star. Pic was produced by the McPhersons and Melina Hayum.
***
Filmmaker Alex Proyas‘ production outfit Heretic Foundation and development company Mystery Clock Cinema this week announced a co-production/financing partnership with the UK-based 108 Media, which has launched worldwide sales and packaging on his latest feature, the horror Sister Darkness.
The female-driven film marking the first of several forthcoming collaborations between the parties is set in the UK in the 1930s—at a time when women were marginalized and exploited. It follows the newly-wed but unhappy Alice as she stumbles across her doppelgänger Isla, whose existence is a mystery seeped in a tale of bloody retribution against her oppressors, the hellish supernatural nightscape, and a dread uprising against the deceitful aristocracy. Pic will go before camera in Australia later this year.
Proyas negotiated his multi-faceted deal with 108 Media’s CEO Abhi Rastogi and President (Production) Justin Deimen, with support from Rod Smith and Steven Rosser (Legal Counsel), General Manager & Executive Producer Andrew Robinson, Studio Producer Erasmo (Raz) Raimundo, and Craig Emmanuel of Paul Hastings in Los Angeles.
***
Gkids has acquired North American rights to writer-director Atsuko Ishizuka’s first original feature Goodbye, Don Glees!. The distributor will release both the original Japanese-language version of the film and an all-new English-language dub in theaters this year, on the heels of the film’s February 2022 release in Japan.
The film produced by the acclaimed studio Madhouse follows the story of three friends over the course of one summer, as their backyard adventures turn one small incident into a life-changing journey. It features the voices of Ayumu Murase, Natsuki Hanae, Kana Hanazawa and Yuuki Kaji, and is represented internationally by Kadokawa.
The list included Huella‘s Gabriella Ortega (Best New Filmmaker), Tracey Deer’s Beans (Best Feature Film), Nelson G. Navarrete and Maxx Caicedo’s A La Calle (Best Documentary Feature Film), Ciara Lacy’s This Is the Way We Rise, JJ Shpall’s Date Nite, Isabella Issa’s Yellow Girl and Me, Sarah Clift’s The Birth of Valerie Venus, Gustavo Milan’s Under the Heavens (Seiva Bruta), Bastien Dubois’ Souvenir Souvenir, Devone X. King’s Last Black Man (Best New Media & Experimental), Arnold Mwanjila’s Taliya (Best Screenplay), I Make Good Sounds at Parties‘ Russell Goldman, Yellow Girl and Me‘s Dior Wilson, Sweet Potatoes‘ Luke Sargent (Best Cinematography), From Here‘s Christina Antonakos-Wallace and Aletta Von Vietinghoff (Best Film Editing), The Fire Next Time‘s Jose Pablo Ramirez (Best Sound Design) and Livin’ in the Light‘s Onry (Best Score).
The Best of Nfmla Awards look to recognize the best talent in independent cinema from around the globe. This year’s edition included 125 nominees across 16 Award categories. All nominated projects screened as part of the Nfmla Monthly Film Festival 2021 season which ran from January 1st, 2021 through December 31st, 2021. Best New Filmmaker winner Ortega claimed a 3,000 Anthony Rhulen grant, with numerous other winners nabbing grants of 2,000. Over 5,000 in Blackmagic Design equipment will also be awarded to select winners, with post host Picture Shop hosting a post-production workshop for all nominees and winners.
Nfmla is a Los Angeles-based arts and culture non-profit organization that works year-round to highlight the works of independent artists. Its full list of 2022 Best of Nfmla nominees can be found here.
***
Exclusive: Doc10 today announced its first-ever awards program, which this year will honor documentary filmmakers N. Bird Runningwater and Jessica Devaney.
The inaugural Luminary Award, celebrating filmmakers that shine a light on vital social issues, will be presented to Runningwater, who has supported such films as Billy Luther’s Miss Navajo and Heather Rae’s Trudell. The Vanguard Award, created to honor innovative and important documentary filmmakers, will be presented to Devaney, producer of some 17 shorts and features, including 2021 Doc10 selection Pray Away.
“The inaugural Luminary and Vanguard Awards were born to celebrate and promote the power of independent filmmaking,” said Doc10 co-founders Steve Cohen and Paula Froehle. “Jess and Bird represent the now and the future of great, cinematic documentary producing and how independent, fearless storytelling can promote real change in our world.” The 7th Doc10 documentary film festival will run from May 19-22 at the Davis Theatre and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. To find out more about it or to purchase tickets, click here.
***
Exclusive: Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy) will exec produce and star in the sci-fi thriller Space Racer, from writer-director Erik Bernard (Free Dead or Alive), with NFTs related to the film to be released by Karman Studios at the Cannes Marché du Film.
The pic from Bernard’s Rebel 6 Films and Gemini Films takes place in the year 2084. It finds Earth beginning to look to space for survival, at a point when it’s barely able to sustain human life. At this juncture, humans have contacted alien race, with pilot James Colt earning the opportunity to represent Earth in its first intergalactic race.
Bernard and Lyndon Tait wrote the script for the pic, which is intended to set up a trilogy. Kevin Grevioux (Underworld) is producing, with Velasquez, Bernard and Courtney LeMarco (Hoarders) exec producing, and Jasmin Espada (Free Dead or Alive) serving as co-producer. Velasquez is represented by Insurge-Ent and Innovative Artists; Bernard and LeMarco by Espada PR & Entertainment; and Grevioux by Brent Johnson of One Entertainment.
***
Exclusive: Toric Films‘ Ojan Missaghi and David Wachs will be seeking distribution for their films Day Labor, Out of Hand and Deadly Games at this year’s Cannes Film Festival—with actor Gilles Marini (The Rookie) also on hand to promote the company’s slate.
Day Labor watches as a Latin American veteran seeks work as a day laborer in order to keep his family afloat. A regular day turns into a deadly game of survival when he is mistakenly dropped off at a private ranch in El Paso, Texas to be hunted for sport. R. Ellis Frazier directed the pic, which stars Amy Johnston, Louis Mandylor and Danny Arrory.
Director Brian Skiba’s Out of Hand is a thriller centered on Valerie (Louise Linton), a charismatic and sophisticated college professor who is married to a younger personal trainer heartthrob, David (Pierson Fode). When the couple leaves town to a secluded cabin in Lake Tahoe, things start to unravel. William Baldwin, Joana Metrass , David Wachs and Christy St. John also star.
Then, there’s Deadly Games, in which four female influencers are invited to paradise island to partake in a million-dollar opportunity by a crypto mogul, fighting to gain the most subscribers during their weekend for the paysite contest. When one of the girls ends up dead, and the murder gets kept a secret, the influencers get more than they bargained for. Missaghi directed and produced the pic, which stars Marini, Metrass, Vanessa Angel, Roberto ‘Sanz’ Sanchez, Krista Kalmus and Emelina Adams.
***
Exclusive: Lost Souls collaborators John F. Uranday and Bobby Cloud will be bringing their new indie drama Depth of Field to Cannes’ Marché du Film.
The film directed by Uranday tells the story of Charles (Rafael Petardi), a widower who has given up on life, until he meets a foster child next door that changes his life forever. It also stars George Stroumboulopoulos (The Communist’s Daughter), Jay Acovone (Fox’s Lethal Weapon), Carrie Quinn Dolin (Bruce Almighty), Ella Thomas (NCIS: Los Angeles), Diana Diaz (Music) and Thea Saccoliti. Producer Cloud, who is also an attorney, co-wrote the script with Uranday, with Jeffrey Stevens serving as a story contributor. Uranday also produced, along with Orlin Dobreff, Mike G, Rafael Petardi, Tom Summers and Tristan Salas Henry, with Stroumboulopoulos serving as exec producer. Uranday and Cloud are repped by Espada PR & Entertainment.
***
Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to the romance Bristol Fashion, with plans to release it across internet and satellite platforms on June 7th.
The film tells the story of a young transgender woman, Christina (Lea Nayeli), who escapes her troubled home to find solace in a dilapidated boatyard. When she buys a broken-down boat for that purpose, she gets more than she bargained for in the boat’s owner, Esteban (Raul A. Perez)—warm, funny and dying to take her to dinner. He gives her a place to stay on an abandoned barge and helps her fix up the boat, and slowly but surely, they find themselves navigating the sometimes-messy waters of a straight man falling for a trans woman.
Pierre Guillet and Timothy John Foster wrote and produced Bristol Fashion, with Guillet directing. Richard Difrisco also stars. Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire the film directly with Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films. Its trailer can be found below.
***
Exclusive: Deadline has a new trailer for Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman’s feature doc The Human Trial, which Abramorama is releasing in North American theaters and on its Watch Now @ Home virtual cinema platform on June 24th.
More than a decade in the making, the film follows a groundbreaking clinical trial that peels back the headlines to show the sweat, passion and sacrifice behind every breakthrough cure. In 2011, Hepner and her husband Mossman heard about a radical stem cell treatment for diabetes, a disease that shockingly kills more than five million people each year. Driven by a desire to cure Lisa of her own type 1 diabetes, the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to a clinical trial—only the sixth ever stem cell trial in the world. What follows is an intimate journey with the patients and scientists who put themselves on the line to be first.
Hepner scripted the project and produced alongside Jonathan Formica (Lost & Found) and Kristin Lesko (O.J.: Made in America), with diabetes org Beyond Type 1 exec producing alongside Amy Rapp (The Woman Who Wasn’t There), Marla Oringer, Greer Wylder and Thom Scher. Check out the trailer for The Human Trial below.
***
Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive clip from the feature doc Since I Been Down, which is set for release on VOD on May 24th.
The film from director Gilda Sheppard stakes us to Tacoma, Washington. Influenced by the national drug war frenzy and the fear-based culture of punishment in the 1980s and ’90s, Tacoma sacrificed its most vulnerable children to a life behind bars. These children, who are now adults, cannot be silenced. As we hear them tell their stories, bravely, unapologetically, we realize: This is the story of ‘Everytown USA’.
June Nho Ivers, Saman Maydani and Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss produced the doc, with Sheppard and David Menschel serving as executive producers. Our exclusive clip from the film can be found below.
***
Hallie and Audrey McPherson will be bringing their dramedy Earthquake Country to Dances With Films on Saturday, June 18th at 7:15 p.m. Pst.
The film written and directed by The McPherson Sisters centers on Rhyme Osbourne (Lydian Blossom), who is fed up with her mother’s alcoholism and delusions of grandeur and her father’s literal inability to get off the couch. On her eighteenth birthday, Rhyme puts into motion a plan that will cut ties with her family—for good. Set in 2007 in the seemingly idyllic Ojai, CA, the film is a coming-of-age story that explores the creation of family mythology, the malleability of memory, and the sometimes suffocating intimacy of the nuclear family.
Deborah Marks-Bertling, Alex Sorian Brown, Todd Caroll, Nigel Vonas, Melina Emilie, Madison Widener and Kyle Hester also star. Pic was produced by the McPhersons and Melina Hayum.
***
Filmmaker Alex Proyas‘ production outfit Heretic Foundation and development company Mystery Clock Cinema this week announced a co-production/financing partnership with the UK-based 108 Media, which has launched worldwide sales and packaging on his latest feature, the horror Sister Darkness.
The female-driven film marking the first of several forthcoming collaborations between the parties is set in the UK in the 1930s—at a time when women were marginalized and exploited. It follows the newly-wed but unhappy Alice as she stumbles across her doppelgänger Isla, whose existence is a mystery seeped in a tale of bloody retribution against her oppressors, the hellish supernatural nightscape, and a dread uprising against the deceitful aristocracy. Pic will go before camera in Australia later this year.
Proyas negotiated his multi-faceted deal with 108 Media’s CEO Abhi Rastogi and President (Production) Justin Deimen, with support from Rod Smith and Steven Rosser (Legal Counsel), General Manager & Executive Producer Andrew Robinson, Studio Producer Erasmo (Raz) Raimundo, and Craig Emmanuel of Paul Hastings in Los Angeles.
***
Gkids has acquired North American rights to writer-director Atsuko Ishizuka’s first original feature Goodbye, Don Glees!. The distributor will release both the original Japanese-language version of the film and an all-new English-language dub in theaters this year, on the heels of the film’s February 2022 release in Japan.
The film produced by the acclaimed studio Madhouse follows the story of three friends over the course of one summer, as their backyard adventures turn one small incident into a life-changing journey. It features the voices of Ayumu Murase, Natsuki Hanae, Kana Hanazawa and Yuuki Kaji, and is represented internationally by Kadokawa.
- 5/20/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has selected Minhal Baig, Marion Hill, Ciara Lacy, Billy Luther, Chanelle Aponte Pearson, Mariem Pérez Riera, Jamila Wignot and Iman Zawahry for its fourth Momentum Fellowship, supporting professional development for mid-career artists from historically marginalized communities as they explore and develop their creative practice.
The eight fellows selected will participate in a full-year program tailored for each by Sundance Institute staffers, receiving access to unrestricted grant funding, as well as industry mentorship and meetings, a writing intensive, and professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, with support from The Harnisch Foundation. Additionally, as part of the Sundance Institute’s ongoing partnership with NBCUniversal, the studio will provide an opportunity for select Momentum fellows working on fiction projects to participate in the Universal Directors Initiative. The two-year, at-will initiative, led by Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team, provides access to NBCUniversal’s creative executives and producers to...
The eight fellows selected will participate in a full-year program tailored for each by Sundance Institute staffers, receiving access to unrestricted grant funding, as well as industry mentorship and meetings, a writing intensive, and professional coaching offered by Renee Freedman & Company, with support from The Harnisch Foundation. Additionally, as part of the Sundance Institute’s ongoing partnership with NBCUniversal, the studio will provide an opportunity for select Momentum fellows working on fiction projects to participate in the Universal Directors Initiative. The two-year, at-will initiative, led by Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion team, provides access to NBCUniversal’s creative executives and producers to...
- 3/8/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Among all the items unveiled in our set of Sundance predictions, Billy Luther‘s film is the one we believe that most recently wrapped up. With a July shoot date, production on Frybread Face and Me took place in New Mexico and with a huge team of different level producers including Taika Waititi – we could find this item competing in the Dramatic comp. Selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, this semi-autobiographical feature takes the Pov of a child and it includes players MorningStar Angeline (we featured her for Drunktown’s Finest) and Martin Sensmeier. Luther has been to the Sundance Film Fest with other films offerings in the past including docu features 2007’s Miss Navajo and 2011’s Grab.…...
- 11/23/2021
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
This past summer, filmmaker Billy Luther headed to New Mexico to film his narrative feature debut, “Frybread Face and Me.”
Luther’s previous credits include the documentary “Miss Navajo” and the 2018 reality TV series “Alter-Native.” With “Frybread Face and Me” selected as part of the 2020 Sundance Institute and Film Independent Directors and Screenwriters Labs, Taika Waititi hopped on board to executive produce.
Below, as part of Native American Heritage Month, Luther shares his experience from writing a personal story, to shooting his first feature during the pandemic and the importance of Native representation.
You’re currently in post-production for “Frybread Face and Me” — what was the genesis of the story and what inspired it?
I’m multi-tribal – Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo. Identity was something I was always been challenged with as a kid. People tend to put “Native Americans” into one box. They don’t realize tribes have different languages,...
Luther’s previous credits include the documentary “Miss Navajo” and the 2018 reality TV series “Alter-Native.” With “Frybread Face and Me” selected as part of the 2020 Sundance Institute and Film Independent Directors and Screenwriters Labs, Taika Waititi hopped on board to executive produce.
Below, as part of Native American Heritage Month, Luther shares his experience from writing a personal story, to shooting his first feature during the pandemic and the importance of Native representation.
You’re currently in post-production for “Frybread Face and Me” — what was the genesis of the story and what inspired it?
I’m multi-tribal – Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo. Identity was something I was always been challenged with as a kid. People tend to put “Native Americans” into one box. They don’t realize tribes have different languages,...
- 11/9/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Fresh off completing shooting in New Mexico, the Taika Waititi executive produced feature Frybread Face and Me now has some heavy hitters on board to see the Billy Luther-directed film over the finish line.
Charles D King’s Macro, along with River Road and Rei Co-op Studios, have teamed with Chad Burris’ Indion Entertainment to finance the Indigenous coming-of-age tale.
“We cannot measure our gratitude for the support and encouragement the film has received from our partners,” Burris told Deadline. “Equally immeasurable is the value these dynamic partners bring collectively through their commitment to uplifting underrepresented voices and perspectives. Their shared enthusiasm is apparent in the projects they choose to champion and the reason they are great partners for this film.”
Waititi and Luther, who also penned the film, will serve as EPs along with Macro’s King, Poppy Hanks and Greta Talia Fuentes as well as Rei...
Charles D King’s Macro, along with River Road and Rei Co-op Studios, have teamed with Chad Burris’ Indion Entertainment to finance the Indigenous coming-of-age tale.
“We cannot measure our gratitude for the support and encouragement the film has received from our partners,” Burris told Deadline. “Equally immeasurable is the value these dynamic partners bring collectively through their commitment to uplifting underrepresented voices and perspectives. Their shared enthusiasm is apparent in the projects they choose to champion and the reason they are great partners for this film.”
Waititi and Luther, who also penned the film, will serve as EPs along with Macro’s King, Poppy Hanks and Greta Talia Fuentes as well as Rei...
- 9/21/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: On the cusp of starting filming next month, the Taika Waititi executive produced Frybread Face and Me has added MorningStar Angeline and Martin Sensmeier to the Billy Luther penned and directed drama.
A graduate of the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, the semi-autobiographical feature from the acclaimed Miss Navajo helmer focuses on a 12-year old city kid who is sent under protest to live on his grandmother’s ranch. The experience on the Navajo reservation opens young Benny’s eyes to his own family and history, as well as that of his Indigenous culture.
Yellowstone alum Angeline will portray Ann, Benny’s aunt in Frybread Face and Me. Fresh off Netflix’s The Liberator and soon to be seen in the streamer’s The Ice Road with Liam Neeson and Lawrence Fishburne, Sensmeier will play Marvin, an uncle to Benny.
Produced by Indion Entertainment’s Chad Burris and with an full Native cast,...
A graduate of the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, the semi-autobiographical feature from the acclaimed Miss Navajo helmer focuses on a 12-year old city kid who is sent under protest to live on his grandmother’s ranch. The experience on the Navajo reservation opens young Benny’s eyes to his own family and history, as well as that of his Indigenous culture.
Yellowstone alum Angeline will portray Ann, Benny’s aunt in Frybread Face and Me. Fresh off Netflix’s The Liberator and soon to be seen in the streamer’s The Ice Road with Liam Neeson and Lawrence Fishburne, Sensmeier will play Marvin, an uncle to Benny.
Produced by Indion Entertainment’s Chad Burris and with an full Native cast,...
- 6/22/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
I could, and sometimes do, wax philosophical, intellectual, and academic about the Native films I enjoy. But that sort of analysis can get pretty boring, and saps what I love about movies. I watch to be entertained! I don’t necessarily want to ponder the state of my Native being when I’m just trying to watch stuff blow up on screen. I prefer bombast and popcorn. Put it this way: instead of seeing “Thunderheart” in theaters, I saw “Wayne’s World” a third time toward the end of its cinematic run.
Growing up when I did, I became a consumer byproduct of early MTV, HBO, and “Skinemax” access, of USA network action flicks and Nick at Night reruns. If I took note of Native cinema (or more accurately Natives In cinema) back then, it was when they weren’t being obviously Native: Graham Greene in “Die Hard with a Vengeance,...
Growing up when I did, I became a consumer byproduct of early MTV, HBO, and “Skinemax” access, of USA network action flicks and Nick at Night reruns. If I took note of Native cinema (or more accurately Natives In cinema) back then, it was when they weren’t being obviously Native: Graham Greene in “Die Hard with a Vengeance,...
- 11/18/2020
- by Migizi Pensoneau
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-winning writer and director Taika Waititi has signed on to executive produce “Frybread Face and Me.”
The film follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds who bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family’s past and themselves.
Written and directed by Native American filmmaker Billy Luther, “Frybread Face and Me” was one of the 10 projects selected as part of 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. The film is semi-autobiographical and Chad Burris (“City Boyz” “Ass Backwards”) is signed on to produce.
Waititi, who is in pre-production on “Thor: Love and Thunder” and the untitled “Star Wars” movie, read the script and immediately signed on, according to Luther. Waititi is the first Maori to win an Oscar and in his acceptance speech said, “I dedicate this to all the Indigenous kids in the world who want to do...
The film follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds who bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family’s past and themselves.
Written and directed by Native American filmmaker Billy Luther, “Frybread Face and Me” was one of the 10 projects selected as part of 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. The film is semi-autobiographical and Chad Burris (“City Boyz” “Ass Backwards”) is signed on to produce.
Waititi, who is in pre-production on “Thor: Love and Thunder” and the untitled “Star Wars” movie, read the script and immediately signed on, according to Luther. Waititi is the first Maori to win an Oscar and in his acceptance speech said, “I dedicate this to all the Indigenous kids in the world who want to do...
- 10/23/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Newly expanded advisor roster spans filmmaking disciplines.
Projects from South Africa, China and Turkey are among 10 selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, which have been reconfigured as a digital event amid the pandemic lockdown.
The event will take place on Sundance Co//ab and as always is designed to connect selected filmmaker Fellows with creative advisors and industry mentors across multiple disciplines.
The Directors Lab runs from June 1-19 when filmmakers will participate in a schedule of advisor presentations, scene analysis sessions, directing exercises, one-on-one meetings, and inaugural conversations across a wide range of industry disciplines, including casting,...
Projects from South Africa, China and Turkey are among 10 selected for the 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs, which have been reconfigured as a digital event amid the pandemic lockdown.
The event will take place on Sundance Co//ab and as always is designed to connect selected filmmaker Fellows with creative advisors and industry mentors across multiple disciplines.
The Directors Lab runs from June 1-19 when filmmakers will participate in a schedule of advisor presentations, scene analysis sessions, directing exercises, one-on-one meetings, and inaugural conversations across a wide range of industry disciplines, including casting,...
- 5/28/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Film Independent, the organization behind the Spirit Awards and Los Angeles Film Festival, has unveiled the six fellows chosen for its annual Directing Lab, a program designed to support emerging independent film directors in prep on their feature films. See the list below.
In a big change caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 Lab will be a two-part program: a two-week lab taking place virtually from May 4-15, followed by a three-day workshop to be held in Los Angeles later this year. In previous years, it was an eight-week program.
Directing Lab fellows receive script feedback, discuss their visions and select short scenes from their screenplays to workshop. Each director then casts actors and rehearses their scenes in the Lab before undertaking a mini-production.
This year’s creative advisers and guest speakers include Daniel Barnz, Alex O’Flinn, Susanna Fogel, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Karyn Kusama, Wyatt Garfield, Lisa Robertson and Chloé Zhao.
In a big change caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 Lab will be a two-part program: a two-week lab taking place virtually from May 4-15, followed by a three-day workshop to be held in Los Angeles later this year. In previous years, it was an eight-week program.
Directing Lab fellows receive script feedback, discuss their visions and select short scenes from their screenplays to workshop. Each director then casts actors and rehearses their scenes in the Lab before undertaking a mini-production.
This year’s creative advisers and guest speakers include Daniel Barnz, Alex O’Flinn, Susanna Fogel, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Karyn Kusama, Wyatt Garfield, Lisa Robertson and Chloé Zhao.
- 5/5/2020
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Looking for funding for your next documentary short or series? Itvs, which produces the PBS series “Independent Lens,” will launch its latest funding initiative February 17 for projects under 30 minutes. Short-Form Open Call (previously known as Digital Open Call) considers projects about any topic, and they can be in development or production.
The initiative seeks projects that spark dialogue and can engage a young and diverse online audience. Topics of particular interest include exploring American identity, arts and humanities, criminal justice, disability, health, and rural life.
For nonfiction series, Itvs will accept applications for projects either in the research and development phase, which will be eligible for up to $25,000 to help creators bring their ideas to pilot. The organization will work with creators to develop stories and determine the length and number of episodes. For series in early-to-mid-production, Itvs will provide production support and funding that varies based on the project.
The initiative seeks projects that spark dialogue and can engage a young and diverse online audience. Topics of particular interest include exploring American identity, arts and humanities, criminal justice, disability, health, and rural life.
For nonfiction series, Itvs will accept applications for projects either in the research and development phase, which will be eligible for up to $25,000 to help creators bring their ideas to pilot. The organization will work with creators to develop stories and determine the length and number of episodes. For series in early-to-mid-production, Itvs will provide production support and funding that varies based on the project.
- 2/16/2020
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
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