MGM+ has given the green light to Hollywood Black, a documentary series from director Justin Simien that aims to serve as “a definitive chronicle of a century of the Black experience in Hollywood.”
The four-part series, based on the work of scholar Donald Bogle, is being produced by Simien’s Culture Machine, Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions, and the Academy Award-winning production company RadicalMedia.
“We are thrilled to work with Justin Simien, Jeffrey Schwarz, RadicalMedia, and to expand our prolific creative partnership with Forest and Nina,” Michael Wright, head of MGM+, said in a statement. “Hollywood Black, like other recent MGM+ docuseries, is an entertaining and thoughtful look at a vital part of American culture, examining the evolution of Black cinema and the talented artists who built it. It is a timely and relevant look at the Black experience in Hollywood.”
Simien’s credits include directing the 2014 film Dear White People,...
The four-part series, based on the work of scholar Donald Bogle, is being produced by Simien’s Culture Machine, Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions, and the Academy Award-winning production company RadicalMedia.
“We are thrilled to work with Justin Simien, Jeffrey Schwarz, RadicalMedia, and to expand our prolific creative partnership with Forest and Nina,” Michael Wright, head of MGM+, said in a statement. “Hollywood Black, like other recent MGM+ docuseries, is an entertaining and thoughtful look at a vital part of American culture, examining the evolution of Black cinema and the talented artists who built it. It is a timely and relevant look at the Black experience in Hollywood.”
Simien’s credits include directing the 2014 film Dear White People,...
- 4/11/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Opportunity is everything. In life, in business, certainly, in the pursuit of artistic expression, it is the ultimate difference-maker: Who gets a chance, and who makes the most of it?
I’ve been fortunate for the opportunities that have come my way as a creator throughout 40 years in this industry. On set and on stage as an actor, behind the camera, and in the trenches as a filmmaker and producer, I’ve tried to make the most of my chances — while at the same time recognizing that the path for talents of color is and has been unduly fraught. As a result, some of our most instructive, profound, and emotional stories remain untold, which means that audiences’ perspectives on our collective existence remain tragically limited.
This was the endemic reality that my producing partner Nina Yang Bongiovi and I sought to extinguish when we formed our company, Significant Productions, over a decade ago.
I’ve been fortunate for the opportunities that have come my way as a creator throughout 40 years in this industry. On set and on stage as an actor, behind the camera, and in the trenches as a filmmaker and producer, I’ve tried to make the most of my chances — while at the same time recognizing that the path for talents of color is and has been unduly fraught. As a result, some of our most instructive, profound, and emotional stories remain untold, which means that audiences’ perspectives on our collective existence remain tragically limited.
This was the endemic reality that my producing partner Nina Yang Bongiovi and I sought to extinguish when we formed our company, Significant Productions, over a decade ago.
- 1/28/2022
- by Forest Whitaker
- Variety Film + TV
Amazon Studios has closed two high-profile first-look TV deals, one with with Connie Britton and another with Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions. Both were announced Saturday during Amazon’s presentation at TCA.
Under the pacts, both Britton, via her production company Deep Blue, and Whitaker and Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions, will develop television series to premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
“Connie Britton is a multi-talented actress who has captivated audiences with her portrayal of smart, complicated women,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “Britton’s ability to create memorable characters and identify compelling stories makes her a perfect fit for Amazon Studios. We look forward to seeing what she creates for the global Amazon Prime Video audience.”
Four-time Emmy nominee Britton most recently starred in and served as executive producer for the first season of Bravo...
Under the pacts, both Britton, via her production company Deep Blue, and Whitaker and Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions, will develop television series to premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
“Connie Britton is a multi-talented actress who has captivated audiences with her portrayal of smart, complicated women,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “Britton’s ability to create memorable characters and identify compelling stories makes her a perfect fit for Amazon Studios. We look forward to seeing what she creates for the global Amazon Prime Video audience.”
Four-time Emmy nominee Britton most recently starred in and served as executive producer for the first season of Bravo...
- 7/27/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi have signed a first-look deal with Amazon, the streaming service said during the Television Critics Association press tour Saturday.
Under the deal, the duo will work with Amazon Studios to develop television series for Amazon Prime Video under their ‘s Significant Productions banner.
“Significant Productions, fueled by the vision of Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi, has given a platform to emerging talent and created brilliant, critically acclaimed, and commercially successful projects across film and television,” Albert Cheng, COO and co-head of television at Amazon Studios, said. “We are looking forward to working with Significant Productions as they continue to develop fresh voices to tell even more important, inclusive stories.”
Also Read: Forest Whitaker to Star in Epix Drama 'Godfather of Harlem'
“Teaming up with Amazon Studios for our producing endeavors in television empowers us to amplify what we’ve been building these last nine years.
Under the deal, the duo will work with Amazon Studios to develop television series for Amazon Prime Video under their ‘s Significant Productions banner.
“Significant Productions, fueled by the vision of Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi, has given a platform to emerging talent and created brilliant, critically acclaimed, and commercially successful projects across film and television,” Albert Cheng, COO and co-head of television at Amazon Studios, said. “We are looking forward to working with Significant Productions as they continue to develop fresh voices to tell even more important, inclusive stories.”
Also Read: Forest Whitaker to Star in Epix Drama 'Godfather of Harlem'
“Teaming up with Amazon Studios for our producing endeavors in television empowers us to amplify what we’ve been building these last nine years.
- 7/27/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Producer Mimi Valdes got a call from Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali in 2016 and she nearly had a panic attack. Valdes knew Ali just rehearsed with the lead actress of her upcoming film, a newcomer who just signed on to the project days ago. Was she bad? Did she have to recast with only a few days left before the start of shooting?
“That girl is a star,” Ali reassured her.
That star is Chanté Adams, who joined Valdes at the Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles Monday for a Q&A and screening of their film “Roxanne Roxanne.”
Also Read: 'Roxanne Roxanne' Star Nia Long on Film's Relationship With Hip-Hop Roots (Video)
Valdes had a reason to be scared at the time. This was Adams’ first role since graduating from Carnegie Mellon in 2016. The film’s casting director had seen her senior showcase and invited her to audition for the role.
“That girl is a star,” Ali reassured her.
That star is Chanté Adams, who joined Valdes at the Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles Monday for a Q&A and screening of their film “Roxanne Roxanne.”
Also Read: 'Roxanne Roxanne' Star Nia Long on Film's Relationship With Hip-Hop Roots (Video)
Valdes had a reason to be scared at the time. This was Adams’ first role since graduating from Carnegie Mellon in 2016. The film’s casting director had seen her senior showcase and invited her to audition for the role.
- 12/11/2018
- by Omar Sanchez
- The Wrap
Hip-hop biopics are a Hollywood mainstay. But until now, the subgenre has largely favored male rappers (N.W.A., Tupac, Biggie, Eminem) and it’s been rare to find a movie that successfully cements the legacy of a female artist. Sundance hit “Roxanne Roxanne” changes that, bringing to life the story of ‘80s sensation Lolita Shante Gooden, better known as Roxanne Shante, hip-hop’s first commercially successful female artist.
Available to stream now on Netflix, the biopic offers an authentic portrayal of the talented Queens-bred teen’s unlikely rise to stardom and the inevitable hurdles she’s forced to overcome along the way. Featuring an acclaimed lead performance by newcomer Chanté Adams (who was awarded 2017 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Dramatic Performance), the film details Shante’s time living in the projects with her mom and three sisters and the life-changing invite she received from a neighbor to freestyle on one of his tracks.
Available to stream now on Netflix, the biopic offers an authentic portrayal of the talented Queens-bred teen’s unlikely rise to stardom and the inevitable hurdles she’s forced to overcome along the way. Featuring an acclaimed lead performance by newcomer Chanté Adams (who was awarded 2017 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Dramatic Performance), the film details Shante’s time living in the projects with her mom and three sisters and the life-changing invite she received from a neighbor to freestyle on one of his tracks.
- 4/5/2018
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
A.W. A Portrait of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Connor Jessup)
As part of the Meet the Filmmakers series, A.W. A Portrait of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is now screening on the Criterion Channel on FilmStruck. Directed by Connor Jessup, who will be most familiar to viewers as a cast member on Falling Skies and American Crime as well as his breakthrough lead performance in Stephen Dunn’s Closet Monster, he is...
A.W. A Portrait of Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Connor Jessup)
As part of the Meet the Filmmakers series, A.W. A Portrait of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is now screening on the Criterion Channel on FilmStruck. Directed by Connor Jessup, who will be most familiar to viewers as a cast member on Falling Skies and American Crime as well as his breakthrough lead performance in Stephen Dunn’s Closet Monster, he is...
- 3/23/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Though she stars opposite the wildly talented Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, newcomer Chanté Adams steals the show as the titular character in the hip-hop biopic “Roxanne Roxanne.” Writer-director Michael Larnell (“Cronies”), aided by producers Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, tells a powerful true story of a spirited girl who must contend with a hard life of poverty, absent parents, assault and spousal abuse. Set mostly in the 1980s, this engaging story focuses on a decade in the life of rapper Roxanne Shanté (Adams). A girl from the projects in Queens, she went from shoplifting to provide for her family to...
- 3/21/2018
- by Claudia Puig
- The Wrap
At the age of 14, the Queens-based Roxanne Shanté emerged on the hip-hop scene, becoming a young star in the process. Now the subject of a new biopic Roxanne Roxanne, after premiering at Sundance Film Festival last year, Netflix picked up the film and ahead of a release in a few weeks, the first trailer has arrived. Written and directed by Michael Larnell, and starring Mahershala Ali, Nia Long and newcomer Chanté Adams, the film comes from the producers of Dope and Fruitvale Station.
“Get ready to hear the name Chanté Adams,” we said in our review. “She’s the stand-out in Michael Larnell‘s by-the-books, but nevertheless engrossing Roxanne Roxanne. Backed by producers, which include Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, Larnell can count on more than just Adams’ star-making performance to make the film feel vitally alive as Nia Long and Mahershala Alialso provide captivating supporting turns.”
See the trailer below.
“Get ready to hear the name Chanté Adams,” we said in our review. “She’s the stand-out in Michael Larnell‘s by-the-books, but nevertheless engrossing Roxanne Roxanne. Backed by producers, which include Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, Larnell can count on more than just Adams’ star-making performance to make the film feel vitally alive as Nia Long and Mahershala Alialso provide captivating supporting turns.”
See the trailer below.
- 2/26/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Listen, I know the streets are calling, but you must find a way to rise above it." Netflix has released an official trailer for a new biopic film titled Roxanne Roxanne, which first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017. Roxanne Roxanne tells the true story of New York rapper and musician "Roxanne Shanté" Gooden, who at only the age of 14 became one of the first female MCs in the rap world. Newcomer Chante Adams plays Roxanne Shante, and the full cast includes Nia Long, Mahershala Ali, Elvis Nolasco, Kevin Phillips, Shenell Edmonds, and Adam Horovitz. This seems like a great follow-up and the East Coast answer to the film Straight Outta Compton, telling a very different story of a badass young Mc from Queens. I don't remember hearing much about this at Sundance, but it seems like it's worth a watch anyway. Here's the official trailer for Michael Larnell's Roxanne Roxanne,...
- 2/23/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Netflix has unveiled a new trailer for Roxanne Roxanne, the biopic on rap pioneer Roxanne Shanté. The film, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, traces the life of Lolita "Roxanne Shanté" Gooden from the Queensbridge Projects to the national spotlight.
The Michael Larnell-directed film stars newcomer Chanté Adams in the titular role. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) portrays the rapper's abusive boyfriend and Nia Long plays Shanté's mother, Peggy Gooden. The new trailer depicts the real-life struggles of the young aspiring rapper as she navigates her tumultuous romantic relationship, conflicts...
The Michael Larnell-directed film stars newcomer Chanté Adams in the titular role. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) portrays the rapper's abusive boyfriend and Nia Long plays Shanté's mother, Peggy Gooden. The new trailer depicts the real-life struggles of the young aspiring rapper as she navigates her tumultuous romantic relationship, conflicts...
- 2/23/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Neon has released the trailer for “Ingrid Goes West,” one of three films Tim League and Tom Quinn’s new distribution company acquired at Sundance. Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen star in the Los Angeles–set film, which won a screenwriting award upon its Park City premiere a few months back. Watch below.
Read More: ‘Ingrid Goes West’ Review: Aubrey Plaza Is An Instagram Stalker In This Middle Social Media Satire — Sundance 2017
Here’s the synopsis: “Following the death of her mother and a series of self-inflicted setbacks, young Ingrid Thorburn (Plaza) escapes a humdrum existence by moving out West to befriend her Instagram obsession and La socialite Taylor Sloane (Olsen). After a quick bond is forged between these unlikeliest of friends, the façade begins to crack in both women’s lives — with comically malicious results.”
Read More: Neon Acquires ‘Ingrid Goes West’ Starring Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen — Sundance 2017
Matt Spicer directed the film,...
Read More: ‘Ingrid Goes West’ Review: Aubrey Plaza Is An Instagram Stalker In This Middle Social Media Satire — Sundance 2017
Here’s the synopsis: “Following the death of her mother and a series of self-inflicted setbacks, young Ingrid Thorburn (Plaza) escapes a humdrum existence by moving out West to befriend her Instagram obsession and La socialite Taylor Sloane (Olsen). After a quick bond is forged between these unlikeliest of friends, the façade begins to crack in both women’s lives — with comically malicious results.”
Read More: Neon Acquires ‘Ingrid Goes West’ Starring Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen — Sundance 2017
Matt Spicer directed the film,...
- 4/3/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
No one will forget the Best Picture award ceremony at the 2017 Academy Awards, but there’s a detail lost in the shock and recriminations: It was the moment that announced A24 as an industry gamechanger. Five years after the distributor supported unorthodox indies like Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” and Jonathan Glazer’s “Under The Skin,” A24 saw its $1.5 million poetic drama “Moonlight” pull off a surprise best-picture win — one that led to a stunning $2.5 million box-office take in the film’s 20th week of release.
In less than five years, A24 has galvanized a young cinephile audience that seemed so elusive, some doubted its existence. A24 certainly wasn’t the first to identify this demo; predecessors such as Magnolia, RADiUS, and Oscilloscope saw the same potential, and created some of the marketing tactics that now have become playbook. However, A24 had the advantage of a business strategy, and backing,...
In less than five years, A24 has galvanized a young cinephile audience that seemed so elusive, some doubted its existence. A24 certainly wasn’t the first to identify this demo; predecessors such as Magnolia, RADiUS, and Oscilloscope saw the same potential, and created some of the marketing tactics that now have become playbook. However, A24 had the advantage of a business strategy, and backing,...
- 3/8/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Wme has just signed Chanté Adams, the star of the Sundance film Roxanne Roxanne. All the agencies courted Adams after they saw her play Roxanne Shanté in Michael Larnell's biopic Roxanne Roxanne, opposite Mahershala Ali and Nia Long. Wme Global sold the film to Neon, which will release it later this year. Adams was awarded with the 2017 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Performance. It’s the first professional job for the 22-year-old since she came…...
- 2/8/2017
- Deadline
So far it’s a solid mix of narratives and documentaries.Step
It’s safe to say that the ultimate Sundance dream is to sell a film (second to Ava DuVernay casually walking by you, of course). Filmmakers want to sell their films so that their work can reach more audiences and they can hopefully go on to make bigger and better films. Studios want to buy films so that they can compete in the industry. Patrons especially want sales so that when their friends later ask if they want to see this new indie film that just came out they can casually go, “Is that finally out? It seems like Ages since I saw it at Sundance. Also did I tell you that Ava DuVernay walked by me this year? I did? Okay.”
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival is entering closing weekend with a decent number of those dream sales already under its belt. As...
It’s safe to say that the ultimate Sundance dream is to sell a film (second to Ava DuVernay casually walking by you, of course). Filmmakers want to sell their films so that their work can reach more audiences and they can hopefully go on to make bigger and better films. Studios want to buy films so that they can compete in the industry. Patrons especially want sales so that when their friends later ask if they want to see this new indie film that just came out they can casually go, “Is that finally out? It seems like Ages since I saw it at Sundance. Also did I tell you that Ava DuVernay walked by me this year? I did? Okay.”
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival is entering closing weekend with a decent number of those dream sales already under its belt. As...
- 1/30/2017
- by Siân Melton
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Get ready to hear the name Chante Adams. She’s the standout in Michael Larnell’s by-the-books, but nevertheless very engrossing Roxanne Roxanne.
Backed by producers which include Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, Larnell can count on more than just Adams’ star-making performance to make her film feel vitally alive. Nia Long (Lemon) and, recently Oscar-nominated actor, Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) are particular standouts here as well.
Taliyah Whitaker plays Shante as a little girl living in the Queensbridge projects challenging men twice or even three times her age to freestyle rap battles. As she gets a little older her talent gets refined, but so does her chronic ability to shoplift. Shante wants out and knows the only way is through her raw talent for music. At home it isn’t any better, as her prone to alcoholism mother Peggy’s (Nia Long) bad choices in men seeps through Shante’s...
Backed by producers which include Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, Larnell can count on more than just Adams’ star-making performance to make her film feel vitally alive. Nia Long (Lemon) and, recently Oscar-nominated actor, Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) are particular standouts here as well.
Taliyah Whitaker plays Shante as a little girl living in the Queensbridge projects challenging men twice or even three times her age to freestyle rap battles. As she gets a little older her talent gets refined, but so does her chronic ability to shoplift. Shante wants out and knows the only way is through her raw talent for music. At home it isn’t any better, as her prone to alcoholism mother Peggy’s (Nia Long) bad choices in men seeps through Shante’s...
- 1/29/2017
- by Jordan Ruimy
- We Got This Covered
Neon has acquired the North American rights to “Roxanne Roxanne,” which premiered last Sunday in the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S Dramatic section. The deal was worth nearly $3 million, Deadline reported, and came following a bidding war between Amazon, Lionsgate and Miramax.
The film tells the story of Lolita “Roxanne Shanté” Gooden, a Queens teenager and feared battle Mc in the early 1980s. On her way to becoming a hip-hop legend, Gooden provides for her family and defends herself from the dangers of New York City’s streets.
“Roxanne Roxanne” earned actress Chanté Adams Sundance’s Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance on Saturday. The film was written and directed by Michael Larnell, whose debut feature “Cronies” premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
In addition to “Roxanne Roxanne” Neon acquired the dramatic comedy “Ingrid Goes West,” starring Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen, and the teen drama “Beach Rats,” both...
The film tells the story of Lolita “Roxanne Shanté” Gooden, a Queens teenager and feared battle Mc in the early 1980s. On her way to becoming a hip-hop legend, Gooden provides for her family and defends herself from the dangers of New York City’s streets.
“Roxanne Roxanne” earned actress Chanté Adams Sundance’s Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance on Saturday. The film was written and directed by Michael Larnell, whose debut feature “Cronies” premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
In addition to “Roxanne Roxanne” Neon acquired the dramatic comedy “Ingrid Goes West,” starring Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen, and the teen drama “Beach Rats,” both...
- 1/29/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Get ready to hear the name Chanté Adams. She’s the stand-out in Michael Larnell‘s by-the-books, but nevertheless engrossing Roxanne Roxanne. Backed by producers, which include Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, Larnell can count on more than just Adams’ star-making performance to make the film feel vitally alive as Nia Long and Mahershala Ali also provide captivating supporting turns.
Taliyah Whitaker plays a young Roxanne Shanté, a little girl living in the Queensbridge projects, challenging men twice or even three times her age to freestyle rap battles. As she gets a little older her talent gets refined, but so does her chronic ability to shoplift. Shante wants out and knows the only way is through her raw talent for music. At home it isn’t any better as her prone-to-alcoholism mother Peggy’s (Long) bad choices in men seeps through Shante’s own outlook of the male sex. When...
Taliyah Whitaker plays a young Roxanne Shanté, a little girl living in the Queensbridge projects, challenging men twice or even three times her age to freestyle rap battles. As she gets a little older her talent gets refined, but so does her chronic ability to shoplift. Shante wants out and knows the only way is through her raw talent for music. At home it isn’t any better as her prone-to-alcoholism mother Peggy’s (Long) bad choices in men seeps through Shante’s own outlook of the male sex. When...
- 1/29/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Director Michael Larnell has returned to the Sundance Film Festival this season with his second feature, Roxanne Roxanne. The pic starring newly minted Oscar nominee Mahershala Ali, Nia Long, Elvis Nolasco and Chanté Adams in her big-screen debut tells the story of 14-year-old Roxanne Shanté, a fierce teenager from the Queensbridge projects who became the most feared battle Mc in early-’80s New York City, hustling the streets and taking the hip-hop world by storm. The pix…...
- 1/27/2017
- Deadline
Exclusive: After an all-night bidding battle, Neon is near to closing a deal for Roxanne Roxanne, the Michael Larnell-directed film that yesterday also had Amazon, Lionsgate and Miramax vying for North American rights in a deal that reached near $3 million. This would be the second Sundance title for Neon, the upstart distribution shingle formed by former RADiUS co-head Tom Quinn and Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim League. Sellers expected Neon to come out buying, and it didn’t…...
- 1/27/2017
- Deadline
Even though she stars opposite the wildly talented, Oscar-nominated Mahershala Ali, newcomer Chanté Adams steals the show as the titular character in the hip-hop biopic “Roxanne Roxanne.” Writer-director Michael Larnell (“Cronies”), aided by producers Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, tells a powerful true story of a spirited girl who must survive a hard life of poverty, absent parents, assault and spousal abuse. Set mostly in the 1980s, this engaging story focuses on a decade in the life of rapper Roxanne Shanté (Adams). A girl from the projects in Queens, she went from shoplifting to provide for her family to a glamorous hip-hop.
- 1/26/2017
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Though she stars opposite the wildly talented, Oscar-nominated Mahershala Ali, newcomer Chanté Adams steals the show as the titular character in the hip hop biopic “Roxanne Roxanne.” Writer-director Michael Larnell (“Cronies”), aided by producers Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams, tells a powerful true story of a spirited girl who must contend with a hard life of poverty, absent parents, assault and spousal abuse. Set mostly in the 1980s, this engaging story focuses on a decade in the life of rapper Roxanne Shanté (Adams). A girl from the projects in Queens, she went from shoplifting to provide for her family to.
- 1/25/2017
- by Claudia Puig
- The Wrap
A musical biopic with plenty of swagger and style that will get hip hop fans of a certain age nostalgically swooning over vintage track suits and old-school dance moves, Roxanne Roxanne tells the story of rapper Roxanne Shante, a kid from the Queens projects best known for her hit record “Roxanne’s Revenge” from 1984. For his sophomore feature, with support from producers Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams among others, writer-director Michael Larnell (Cronies) has assembled an impressive cast featuring Nia Long (Lemon), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) and, just to add an extra scrap of East Coast-authenticity, Adam Horowitz, aka...
- 1/24/2017
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Deadline continues its full-court press at the Sundance Film Festival with the second in its Sundance Series panels, today featuring the U.S. Dramatic Competition film Roxanne Roxanne. Michael Larnell wrote and directed the pic about Roxanne Shanté, one of the pioneers of New York’s hip-hop scene who by age 14 was hustling the streets to provide for her family. Shanté herself joins Larnell, star Chanté Adams and Deadline senior editor Dominic Patten along with producers…...
- 1/21/2017
- Deadline
During the "Roxanne Wars" of the mid-Eighties, a battle of words spilled across nearly 50 12-inch singles, captivating the earliest generation of hip-hop fans. With the first volley emerging in late 1984, the records not only showcased an early indication of the young genre's commercial potential, but immediately catapulted 14-year-old Lolita "Roxanne Shanté" Gooden from the Queensbridge Projects to national fame.
However, the fictional beef of the Roxanne Wars paled in comparison to the drama unfolding in Gooden's real life. Roxanne, Roxanne, the long-awaited feature film detailing the true story of the razor-tongued hip-hop pioneer,...
However, the fictional beef of the Roxanne Wars paled in comparison to the drama unfolding in Gooden's real life. Roxanne, Roxanne, the long-awaited feature film detailing the true story of the razor-tongued hip-hop pioneer,...
- 1/20/2017
- Rollingstone.com
2016 is nearly over and most people can’t wait to reach the finish line, so the Sundance Film Festival lineup couldn’t arrive at a better moment to give us something to anticipate for the new year.
Read More: Sundance 2017 Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Including Returning Favorites and Major Contenders
With the announcement of the U.S. and World Competition sections as well as the ever-tantalizing Next category of edgier fare, the first set of Sundance announcements kick off a wave of expectations from new talent and veterans alike. There will be much to dig through, from potential sales titles to breakthrough talent, and more announcements to come (the midnight section, short films, and forward-thinking New Frontiers section are all around the corner). In the meantime, we’ve dug through the initial Sundance blast to unearth a few standouts worthy of anticipation.
David Lowery’s Secret Movie Isn’t...
Read More: Sundance 2017 Announces Competition and Next Lineups, Including Returning Favorites and Major Contenders
With the announcement of the U.S. and World Competition sections as well as the ever-tantalizing Next category of edgier fare, the first set of Sundance announcements kick off a wave of expectations from new talent and veterans alike. There will be much to dig through, from potential sales titles to breakthrough talent, and more announcements to come (the midnight section, short films, and forward-thinking New Frontiers section are all around the corner). In the meantime, we’ve dug through the initial Sundance blast to unearth a few standouts worthy of anticipation.
David Lowery’s Secret Movie Isn’t...
- 11/30/2016
- by Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
It’s never easy for even established filmmakers to get into the Sundance Film Festival, but word is this year was even more competitive than usual. Judging by the selections announced by the Sundance Institute in the U.S. Dramatic, World Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Documentary and Next categories for the 2017 edition of the festival, that doesn’t seem like an industry exaggeration.
Intriguing titles in the U.S. Dramatic competition include “Ingrid Goes West” with Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen (the photo accompanying this article) the hazing drama “Burning Sands” with Trevante Rhodes (the second hazing movie in two years after “Goat” last year), Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits” with Emily Browning and Mary-Louise Parker (Perry’s “Listen Up Phillip” debuted at Sundance in 2014), Michael Larnell’s “Roxanne Roxanne” with Mahershala Ali and Nia Long, Marti Noxon’s “To the Bone” with Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves,...
Intriguing titles in the U.S. Dramatic competition include “Ingrid Goes West” with Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen (the photo accompanying this article) the hazing drama “Burning Sands” with Trevante Rhodes (the second hazing movie in two years after “Goat” last year), Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits” with Emily Browning and Mary-Louise Parker (Perry’s “Listen Up Phillip” debuted at Sundance in 2014), Michael Larnell’s “Roxanne Roxanne” with Mahershala Ali and Nia Long, Marti Noxon’s “To the Bone” with Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves,...
- 11/30/2016
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
Michael Larnell – who made his feature directorial debut with last year’s “Cronies” which was executive produced by Spike Lee – is currently in post-production on his next film, “Roxanne, Roxanne,” which is being produced by Forest Whitaker’s Significant Productions and… Continue Reading →...
- 10/4/2016
- by shadowandact
- ShadowAndAct
There is great news from the ever-expanding segment of independent horror films from African diaspora directors and producers…and of new Black filmmakers from St. Louis like Michael Larnell (“Cronies”). Filmmaker Jeffrey Thompson is in full pre-production on his horror feature film "The Bubbleheads: Legend of Carrico Road." In the film, a fugitive and a news reporter's night take a deadly turn for the worse as they stumble upon a family of bloodthirsty cannibals in backwoods Missouri. The cannibal family is based on an urban legend from Thompson’s hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri. Thompson gained notoriety in 2014 when his concept trailer for...
- 1/14/2016
- by Curtis Caesar John
- ShadowAndAct
Michael Larnell grew his black-and-white debut feature Cronies through New York University’s Graduate Film program. Executive produced by Nyu professor and project advisor Spike Lee, Larnell’s film follows three young men living in St. Louis as they discuss women, drugs, and other salacious topics of interest to innocently pass the time over a twenty-four hour period. A nonchalant, unassuming look at how men externalize their emotions, Cronies’ pleasures derive from its layered, amusing screenplay, documentary-inspired character interviews, and conflicted study of how far one will go to protect their brethren. As Cronies opens this Friday in Ifp’s Screen Forward screening series, I spoke with Larnell about the decision […]...
- 12/11/2015
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Michael Larnell grew his black-and-white debut feature Cronies through New York University’s Graduate Film program. Executive produced by Nyu professor and project advisor Spike Lee, Larnell’s film follows three young men living in St. Louis as they discuss women, drugs, and other salacious topics of interest to innocently pass the time over a twenty-four hour period. A nonchalant, unassuming look at how men externalize their emotions, Cronies’ pleasures derive from its layered, amusing screenplay, documentary-inspired character interviews, and conflicted study of how far one will go to protect their brethren. As Cronies opens this Friday in Ifp’s Screen Forward screening series, I spoke with Larnell about the decision...
- 12/11/2015
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Following the theatrical premiere of Spike Lee's new joint ("Chi-Raq") comes news that an indie feature he executive produced will be getting a one-week exclusive theatrical run, opening this Friday, December 11th, in NYC, at the Made in NY Media Center in Ifp Screen Forward. Titled "Cronies," the drama made its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in its Next <=> section. From director and screenwriter Michael Larnell, the film follows Louis (George Sample III) and Jack (Zurich Buckner), 2 young men who've been friends since childhood, who find that friendship challenged, with the introduction of Andrew (Brian Kowalski), a new...
- 12/7/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
On the eve of the release of Spike Lee's next joint ("Chi-Raq") comes news that an indie feature he executive produced will be getting a one-week exclusive theatrical run, opening Friday, December 11th, in NYC, at the Made in NY Media Center in Ifp Screen Forward. Titled "Cronies," the drama made its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in its Next <=> section. From director and screenwriter Michael Larnell, the film follows Louis (George Sample III) and Jack (Zurich Buckner), 2 young men who've been friends since childhood, who find that friendship challenged, with the introduction of Andrew (Brian Kowalski), a new friend of...
- 12/3/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The American Film Festival is building families. The 6th edition (October 20-25, 2015) of the Wroclaw, Poland film fest was better than any of the previous four I have attended as a jury member for the Us in Progress section. Networking with the USiP filmmakers, past participants Matt Sobel (“Take Me to the River”),Leah Meyerhoff (“I Believe in Unicorns”),Reza Sixo Safai (“A Girl Walks Home at Night Alone”) and whose present project “ The Loner” (he produced and stars in it, Daniel Grove directed) won at USiP, etc. mingled with Indie Star Awardees David Gordon Green and Hal Hartley and other filmmakers like Jenner Furst ("Welcome to Leith") invited to present their films and to eat and party together over five days and four nights which lasted until the wee hours of the morning.
African American Women's classics also showed for the first time ever to appreciative Polish audiences. Though luckily for them, but a sad miss for the audiences, every one of the filmmakers was too busy with other work to attend. The selected films brought rarely before scenes of life in America to a new public.
You can be sure Ava DuVernay was invited, and you can be equally certain that she was very busy with multiple projects.
When I was in Trinidad, I heard from the film's distributor, Michelle Materre, a well known lecturer and film curator whose film series and discussion group, Creatively Speaking, takes place at the N.Y. Film Society’s Lincoln Center and in L.A. that Julie Dash was busy working on a TV series or a doc. I hope one of you reading this will email me a more news of her, because since her film “Daughters of the Dust” premiered at Sundance in 1991, her fan base has grown and eagerly awaits more stories from her. For those who missed her instant classic at Sundance, "Daughters of the Dust" presents a transgenerational saga set on the fictitious island of Ibo's Landing in 1902 about a young woman's quest for identity. Guichees, or Gullahs, aka the Georgia Sea Islanders are U.S.'s most African community still living today off the Georgia and South Carolina coast. The film was presented to the audience as a radical feminist manifesto and landmark of independent American cinema.
Other films included in the series, curated by Ula Sniegowsk and a young film academic Ewa Drygalska, included Katherine Collins' (who tragically died of cancer at age 46) 1982 film "Losing Ground", Tanya Hamilton's "Night Catches Us", the popular and fabulous " The Secret Life of Bees" another Sundance premiering film, by Gina Prince-Blythewood (2008), Dee Rees' 2012 Sundance film "Pariah" and her recent HBO (who incidentally is an important sponsor of the festival with a showcase of its own films) fictional doc "Bessie" starring the one and only Queen Latifah, and Ava DuVernay's "Middle of Nowhere" and "Selma".
While we're on the subject of African American movies, the Spike Lee mentored new talent Michael Larnell, was here with my favorite "Next" generation film " Cronies".
Us in Progress had two out of six selected films about African Americans, the Four Award winning "Alaska Is a Drag" directed by former L.A. and Sundance Festival worker, debuting director Shaz Bennett, produced by Melanie Miller and Diane Becker; and "The Alchemist Cookbook" written and directed by Joel Potrykus. Other films included "Dope", documentarians' Albert Maysles' " In Transit", Nick Broomfield's "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and Frederick Wiseman's "In Jackson Heights", Mark Silver's "3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets", sleeper hit "Tangerine" by Sean Baker, "Field Niggas" a nocturnal portrait of Harlem by Khalik Allah, David Gordon Green's “George Washington", and last, but by no means least, Clint Eastwood's "Bird" as part of his extensive retrospective.
This festival is held in the largest Arthouse multiplex in Europe, built and owned (as is the festival itself, along with New Horizons Film Festival in July and several others) by arthouse film distributor and entrepreneur Roman Gutek.
Fabulous. Written by Sydney Levine in her hotel room at The Monopole where an opera rehearsal wafts through the morning air of a sunny, dry 50*F metropolis mixing with the sound of the streetcar. This has been a fabulous experience topped off by a fabulous tour of the city and today a visit to Europe's most fabulous zoo and aquarium.
African American Women's classics also showed for the first time ever to appreciative Polish audiences. Though luckily for them, but a sad miss for the audiences, every one of the filmmakers was too busy with other work to attend. The selected films brought rarely before scenes of life in America to a new public.
You can be sure Ava DuVernay was invited, and you can be equally certain that she was very busy with multiple projects.
When I was in Trinidad, I heard from the film's distributor, Michelle Materre, a well known lecturer and film curator whose film series and discussion group, Creatively Speaking, takes place at the N.Y. Film Society’s Lincoln Center and in L.A. that Julie Dash was busy working on a TV series or a doc. I hope one of you reading this will email me a more news of her, because since her film “Daughters of the Dust” premiered at Sundance in 1991, her fan base has grown and eagerly awaits more stories from her. For those who missed her instant classic at Sundance, "Daughters of the Dust" presents a transgenerational saga set on the fictitious island of Ibo's Landing in 1902 about a young woman's quest for identity. Guichees, or Gullahs, aka the Georgia Sea Islanders are U.S.'s most African community still living today off the Georgia and South Carolina coast. The film was presented to the audience as a radical feminist manifesto and landmark of independent American cinema.
Other films included in the series, curated by Ula Sniegowsk and a young film academic Ewa Drygalska, included Katherine Collins' (who tragically died of cancer at age 46) 1982 film "Losing Ground", Tanya Hamilton's "Night Catches Us", the popular and fabulous " The Secret Life of Bees" another Sundance premiering film, by Gina Prince-Blythewood (2008), Dee Rees' 2012 Sundance film "Pariah" and her recent HBO (who incidentally is an important sponsor of the festival with a showcase of its own films) fictional doc "Bessie" starring the one and only Queen Latifah, and Ava DuVernay's "Middle of Nowhere" and "Selma".
While we're on the subject of African American movies, the Spike Lee mentored new talent Michael Larnell, was here with my favorite "Next" generation film " Cronies".
Us in Progress had two out of six selected films about African Americans, the Four Award winning "Alaska Is a Drag" directed by former L.A. and Sundance Festival worker, debuting director Shaz Bennett, produced by Melanie Miller and Diane Becker; and "The Alchemist Cookbook" written and directed by Joel Potrykus. Other films included "Dope", documentarians' Albert Maysles' " In Transit", Nick Broomfield's "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and Frederick Wiseman's "In Jackson Heights", Mark Silver's "3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets", sleeper hit "Tangerine" by Sean Baker, "Field Niggas" a nocturnal portrait of Harlem by Khalik Allah, David Gordon Green's “George Washington", and last, but by no means least, Clint Eastwood's "Bird" as part of his extensive retrospective.
This festival is held in the largest Arthouse multiplex in Europe, built and owned (as is the festival itself, along with New Horizons Film Festival in July and several others) by arthouse film distributor and entrepreneur Roman Gutek.
Fabulous. Written by Sydney Levine in her hotel room at The Monopole where an opera rehearsal wafts through the morning air of a sunny, dry 50*F metropolis mixing with the sound of the streetcar. This has been a fabulous experience topped off by a fabulous tour of the city and today a visit to Europe's most fabulous zoo and aquarium.
- 10/28/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Read More: Exclusive: Trailer For 'Henry Gamble's Birthday Party' Screening At BAMcinemaFest And Maryland Film Festival Ifp has announced the full lineup for it's 2015-2016 Screen Forward Series. The film series is aimed at helping independent filmmakers in the process of self-distribution or micro-distribution gain a wider audience by providing a venue for a New York theatrical release. Each of the selected films will be given an exclusive one-week run at Ifp's Made in New York Media Center, located in Dumbo, Brooklyn. The full schedule is as follows: "Field Niggas," directed by Khalik Allah October 16 - October 22 "Funny Bunny," directed by Alison Bagnall November 13 - November 19 "Cronies," directed by Michael J. Larnell December 11 - December 18 "Henry Gamble's Birthday Party," directed by Stephen Cone January 8 - January 14 For more information, including ticket purchases and how to apply to the Screen Forward program, visit...
- 10/5/2015
- by Ryan Anielski
- Indiewire
Read More: Music and Movies Collide In This Sundance Next Fest-Inspired Mixtape In anticipation of Next Fest, Indiewire asked filmmakers with projects screening as part of the program to curate a selection of tracks that may have served as inspiration during the production process or are evocative of the world and themes explored by the film. Michael J. Larnell (Writer/Director) I chose to implement a variety of music genres into the film. There are songs from the blues, hip-hop, R&B, Edm, gospel and rock genres. The reason I used so many different genres is because the characters travel in and out of several neighborhoods throughout the film. Each neighborhood in the city has its own musical vibe. The music used in "Cronies" is from St. Louis, Missouri. It was important to include local musical vibes into the film. The songs below gave inspiration and a template in my...
- 8/8/2015
- by Michael J. Larnell, George Sample III, Zurich Buckner and Brian Kowalski
- Indiewire
With its evocative black-and-white cinematography, "Cronies" is a story about friendship, jealousy, and the difficulties some men have expressing such profound feelings. Michael Larnell's debut feature premiered in Park City back in January as part of the Next section - a part of the Sundance Film Festival program reserved for films with the most singular premises and that showcase innovative execution.
"Cronies" will have its L.A. premiere on Sunday August 9th during Next Fest. The special screening with be followed by a conversation with Robert Townsend.
For more information and tickets to Next Fest visit Here
Here are our 7 questions with filmmaker Michael Larnell
Films that play in Next Fest are characterized by their wildly inventive approach to storytelling. What would you say is your personal approach to storytelling?
Michael Larnell: I enjoy developing the characters first. Creating their backstory and think of them as real people. Get to know their emotions, humor and feelings. It makes it easier to determine how the character reacts to situations.
As a filmmaker working in the digital age, what are some of the major challenges you have experienced that you think filmmakers before didn’t have to confront?
Michael Larnell: I'm not sure. I think filmmakers of every generation faced major challenges. For example, filmmakers in the 15+ years ago didn't have the option of the internet to show their film, but the downside today is we're all bombarded with a lot of information and entertainment options online, it distracts people from watching a film for 90+ minutes.
Do you think theatrical distribution is still the ultimate goal for filmmakers today? After all cinema was meant to be experience on the big screen right?
Michael Larnell: I don't think its the ultimate goal, but it is a major goal. Watching a film on the big screen with an audience is the best viewing experience, for sure, but the ultimate goal is to always make another film!
What do you think the role of festivals like Sundance in Park City or Next Fest is in terms helping filmmakers reach their audience?
Michael Larnell: Sundance gets people into the theater to watch a movie they feel should be watched in theaters, but normally may not. Again, the best way to view a film is in a room filled with people. The energy is special.
What do you think is a crucial quality filmmakers must have today to survive all the obstacles and get their films made and seen?
Michael Larnell: Patience, Persistence and Positivity.
What are your thoughts on the musical act or speaker that will accompany your film? How do you think this extra feature will enhance the audience’s experience?
Michael Larnell: I think its great. Once again, its great to get people into a theater.
What are some films that you’ve loved this year so far or that you are excited to see when they come out? Why?
Michael Larnell: I really enjoyed "Mad Max: Fury Road." It was an interesting ride. Cool to experience. I want to see "Wild Tales." I just came across it, so I'll be checking it out really soon. I read great things about it. Also, "Straight Outta Compton." I really like F. Gary Gray as a director and its a Hip Hop biopic. I wish it were more of those made.
"Cronies" will have its L.A. premiere on Sunday August 9th during Next Fest. The special screening with be followed by a conversation with Robert Townsend.
For more information and tickets to Next Fest visit Here
Here are our 7 questions with filmmaker Michael Larnell
Films that play in Next Fest are characterized by their wildly inventive approach to storytelling. What would you say is your personal approach to storytelling?
Michael Larnell: I enjoy developing the characters first. Creating their backstory and think of them as real people. Get to know their emotions, humor and feelings. It makes it easier to determine how the character reacts to situations.
As a filmmaker working in the digital age, what are some of the major challenges you have experienced that you think filmmakers before didn’t have to confront?
Michael Larnell: I'm not sure. I think filmmakers of every generation faced major challenges. For example, filmmakers in the 15+ years ago didn't have the option of the internet to show their film, but the downside today is we're all bombarded with a lot of information and entertainment options online, it distracts people from watching a film for 90+ minutes.
Do you think theatrical distribution is still the ultimate goal for filmmakers today? After all cinema was meant to be experience on the big screen right?
Michael Larnell: I don't think its the ultimate goal, but it is a major goal. Watching a film on the big screen with an audience is the best viewing experience, for sure, but the ultimate goal is to always make another film!
What do you think the role of festivals like Sundance in Park City or Next Fest is in terms helping filmmakers reach their audience?
Michael Larnell: Sundance gets people into the theater to watch a movie they feel should be watched in theaters, but normally may not. Again, the best way to view a film is in a room filled with people. The energy is special.
What do you think is a crucial quality filmmakers must have today to survive all the obstacles and get their films made and seen?
Michael Larnell: Patience, Persistence and Positivity.
What are your thoughts on the musical act or speaker that will accompany your film? How do you think this extra feature will enhance the audience’s experience?
Michael Larnell: I think its great. Once again, its great to get people into a theater.
What are some films that you’ve loved this year so far or that you are excited to see when they come out? Why?
Michael Larnell: I really enjoyed "Mad Max: Fury Road." It was an interesting ride. Cool to experience. I want to see "Wild Tales." I just came across it, so I'll be checking it out really soon. I read great things about it. Also, "Straight Outta Compton." I really like F. Gary Gray as a director and its a Hip Hop biopic. I wish it were more of those made.
- 8/8/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Michael Larnell and I spoke by phone today. We had met several years ago when we spoke at his graduate film class at Nyu, which was taught by our friend the producer Peter Newman.
Michael carefully chose to do his graduate studies at Nyu after researching schools and finding the films of Nyu grads were most interesting to him. Another professor there was Spike Lee.
“Cronies” was his thesis film there.
Spike Lee liked the early stages of the project and his yearly grant went to Michael along with Spike becoming the Executive Producer and he brought ICM into the picture. ICM is repping the film for both U.S. and international distribution.
Regarding domestic distribution, Michael says that “there are couple of options. We have a couple of offers, but I’m thinking of alternative ways of distributing which in turn will help pave the way for the next group of filmmakers. Nyu is working on providing its filmmakers with film funding and distribution services.”
Sundance has its digital services and branding too.
On the international side, he is soon to hear from some festivals which will launch the film abroad. “It’s exciting because I’ve never been in Europe before.”
Shows love - comedy to show men struggling with showing their emotions.
“Cronies” is a character piece about twenty-two-year-old Louis who doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with “Loose Cannon Jack” will last as he sets a new path for his life. When a new buddy, Andrew, is introduced, emotions such as jealousy set in motion a struggle of the three to express emotions, something they are not used to doing.
This comedy about love and men struggling to express it stars first time local actors George Sample III, Zurich Buckner and Brian Kowalski. Zurich has been in shorts and along with George and Brian must now decide how to proceed with their acting careers. Perhaps the L.A. premiere will bring some clarity when the film is seen by agents and producers.
Michael filmed in his hometown St. Louis, Mo. It is a small city – not a town -- big enough for sports teams, etc. However, George, Zurich and Brian will probably have to decide to leave it if they want to pursue their acting careers. What is good about St. Louis when compared to New York is that in NYC kids grow up fast and in St. Louis they can grow up more slowly.
Michael did his undergraduate studies in St. Louis, majoring in business. Afterward he went to work for several years in corporate insurance. He added part-time jobs in other areas of interest. This was at the time that YouTube was becoming popular and he and a friend began shooting and editing shorts. It intrigued Michael to see how stories came together through editing and he decided to learn more by returning to school. Nyu offered the best program for him.
Since showing the film at Sundance and later at Tribeca with two very different audiences – quiet in Slc and very vocal in NYC, Wme has come on as his agent. Wme is helping him with his next script, now in process.
Los Angeles Premiere at Next Fest
“Cronies” director Michael Larnell will have a conversation after the screening with Robert Townsend, one of the “Godfathers of the Independent Film World” an actor, writer, director and producer, first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films. He chosen by the filmmaker when Sundance asked Michale who was influential and who would they want to see their film.
When Michael first started making films he moved to Chicago and then to New York. Robert is from Chicago where they have a big indie world which makes the films they want to make without caring about who will see them.
Michael took that ethos with him to New York. He never met Robert Townsend, so this conversation will be very interesting to him and to us in the audience.
Michael also likes Tarantino and the Hughes Brothers. Larry Clark is also an inspiration to him. All these filmmakers have influenced various parts of this film.
We welcome Michael to L.A. and are eager to see his film and meet him again.
Michael carefully chose to do his graduate studies at Nyu after researching schools and finding the films of Nyu grads were most interesting to him. Another professor there was Spike Lee.
“Cronies” was his thesis film there.
Spike Lee liked the early stages of the project and his yearly grant went to Michael along with Spike becoming the Executive Producer and he brought ICM into the picture. ICM is repping the film for both U.S. and international distribution.
Regarding domestic distribution, Michael says that “there are couple of options. We have a couple of offers, but I’m thinking of alternative ways of distributing which in turn will help pave the way for the next group of filmmakers. Nyu is working on providing its filmmakers with film funding and distribution services.”
Sundance has its digital services and branding too.
On the international side, he is soon to hear from some festivals which will launch the film abroad. “It’s exciting because I’ve never been in Europe before.”
Shows love - comedy to show men struggling with showing their emotions.
“Cronies” is a character piece about twenty-two-year-old Louis who doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with “Loose Cannon Jack” will last as he sets a new path for his life. When a new buddy, Andrew, is introduced, emotions such as jealousy set in motion a struggle of the three to express emotions, something they are not used to doing.
This comedy about love and men struggling to express it stars first time local actors George Sample III, Zurich Buckner and Brian Kowalski. Zurich has been in shorts and along with George and Brian must now decide how to proceed with their acting careers. Perhaps the L.A. premiere will bring some clarity when the film is seen by agents and producers.
Michael filmed in his hometown St. Louis, Mo. It is a small city – not a town -- big enough for sports teams, etc. However, George, Zurich and Brian will probably have to decide to leave it if they want to pursue their acting careers. What is good about St. Louis when compared to New York is that in NYC kids grow up fast and in St. Louis they can grow up more slowly.
Michael did his undergraduate studies in St. Louis, majoring in business. Afterward he went to work for several years in corporate insurance. He added part-time jobs in other areas of interest. This was at the time that YouTube was becoming popular and he and a friend began shooting and editing shorts. It intrigued Michael to see how stories came together through editing and he decided to learn more by returning to school. Nyu offered the best program for him.
Since showing the film at Sundance and later at Tribeca with two very different audiences – quiet in Slc and very vocal in NYC, Wme has come on as his agent. Wme is helping him with his next script, now in process.
Los Angeles Premiere at Next Fest
“Cronies” director Michael Larnell will have a conversation after the screening with Robert Townsend, one of the “Godfathers of the Independent Film World” an actor, writer, director and producer, first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films. He chosen by the filmmaker when Sundance asked Michale who was influential and who would they want to see their film.
When Michael first started making films he moved to Chicago and then to New York. Robert is from Chicago where they have a big indie world which makes the films they want to make without caring about who will see them.
Michael took that ethos with him to New York. He never met Robert Townsend, so this conversation will be very interesting to him and to us in the audience.
Michael also likes Tarantino and the Hughes Brothers. Larry Clark is also an inspiration to him. All these filmmakers have influenced various parts of this film.
We welcome Michael to L.A. and are eager to see his film and meet him again.
- 8/7/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
At their annual retreat, the traditional internal kick-off for the big Sundance Film Festival this January, programmer Charlie Reff was able to take some time to talk with me about Next Fest.
My colleague Carlos Aguilar has already written about this big L.A. event here, so I will cover other areas and fill in on the music components of the film program.
Each film is its own event so that audiences will go to one film and not necessarily all films. Though the series package is selling well, the individual ticket sales are significant not only selling out but in bringing in new audiences. Getting L.A. people’s attention is not an easy task, but the pairing of movies and music in the unique way Next is creating, plus the spectacular venue, the Theatre at the Ace Hotel, one of L.A.’s most lavish and historic film venues, downtown at 9th and Broadway, will also bring out new audiences who care about preservation of our art deco landmarks.
This year more than half the films that showed in Sundance came out quickly theatrically this spring and summer followed by their VOD releases. If they did not get released theatrically then they were eligible to be chosen for Next if they were sufficiently “renegade” in the best spirit of indie filmmakers, like past films “Obvious Child”, “Compliance”, “Appropriate Behavior”, “Tangerine” and “Escape from Tomorrow”.
Out of the six films chosen for the unconventional and forward thinking of their narrative styles – including one doc -- there is a full range of experience to be had.
Four films showing in the evening are paired with live musical acts which somehow fit the film in mood or in ideas and are new and next in film and music.
In addition there will be three world premiere music videos and a full-body, mind-blowing virtual reality flight simulator, Birdly which was shown this past Sundance in the New Frontier exhibition. You can experience being a bird from a first-person perspective through a full-body virtual reality set up….it’s free, in the mezzanine of The Theatre of the Ace Hotel and available through an onsite waitlist system.
The world premiere music videos are Superhumanoid’s music video for “Anxious in Venice”, premiering Friday along with Noah Baumbach’s out of the mold “Mistress America” (Fox Searchlight) followed by a live performance by Sky Ferreira.Health’s album trailer for “Death Magic” as part of Saturday evening’s screening of “ Entertainment“ (Magnolia Releasing) starring Michael Cera will be followed by a solo performance by Sharon Van Etten. “Death Magic” is directed by acclaimed graphic designer, title designer, and editor Pablo Ferro, who has worked alongside some of the most respected filmmakers of all time including Stanley Kubrick, Hal Ashby and Tim Burton. An experimental short film by Eddie Alcazar with soundtrack by Flying Lotus, “Fuckkkyouuu”, will premiere Sunday at the “Turbo Kid” (Epic Pictures Releasing) screening with a back-to-back DJ battle between Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi.
Pairing music audiences with movie audiences aims to bring new awareness of new art canvasses to people who do not have a lot of crossover knowledge of film on one hand or of music on the other. Musicians often want to make movies and both they and filmmakers have had the carpets pulled out from under them and are struggling to find their way amidst digitization. It seems self-evident that fimmakers appreciate music since soundtracks and even the most incidental music in a film can make or break it. By pairing “Mistress America” with Sky Ferreira, Charlie is sure Sky’s fans will love “Mistress America” which will result in new discussions and will perhaps begin to define how to make sense of movies to music audiences. The cross-pollination of audiences enriches everyone.
The two daytime films, “Cronies” by Michael Larnell and “Finders Keepers” will be followed by conversations, paired respectively with Robert Townsend, one of the Godfathers of the Independent Film World, actor, writer, director and producer of first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films; and Saturday’s “Finders Keepers” directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel with Thomas Middletich (“Silicon Valley” ) along with the film’s subject John Wood himself! Speakers were chosen by the filmmakers who were told to ask who was influential them them and who would they want to see their film.
Among the filmmakers, cast and musicians expected to attend Sundance Next Fest are Rick Alverson, Noah Baumbach, Bryan Carberry, Munro Chambers, Greta Gerwig, Health, Tim Heidecker, Lola Kirke, Michael Larnell, François Simard, Superhumanoids, Gregg Turkington, Clay Tweel, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell.
Attendance is expected to be around 10,000 judging by lat year’s numbers. Last year all three film with music event was sold out. The opening screening in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was huge and the screenings over three days had about 1,000 at each event.
Next is not just a film festival; it is an Event.
Sundance Next Fest is supported by Principal Sponsors – Acura and Adobe; Major Sponsor – Kickstarter; Media Sponsor – Kcrw; and Supporting Sponsors – Beachside Films, Dolby, FilmL.A., Inc., ShopHouse, Shudder, Skullcandy®, Southwest Airlines, Stella Artois®, The Theatre at Ace Hotel and the Utah Film Commission. As part of their presence at the festival, Adobe and Kickstarter will host panels open to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons;
Below is the full program in detail. Even more details and tickets ($15-25) now on sale can be found at sundance.org/next.
Friday, August 7, 8:00 p.m.
"Anxious in Venice" (Band: Superhumanoids, Director: Taylor Cohen) — It's 4:37 a.m. and someone straps a camera to your chest. Nearby, your hungover bandmate sips gas station coffee and the director yells about missing the sunrise. You hate performance music videos but you're sure this one will be different. Then again, when you've been up all night and are shooting without a permit -- you can't be sure of anything. Welcome to Anxious In Venice. Music Video. World Premiere
"Mistress America" / U.S.A. (Director: Noah Baumbach, Screenwriters: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig) — Tracy is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke – a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town – she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes. Cast: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke. Los Angeles Premiere
Sky Ferreira — Sky Ferreira has quickly established herself as one of today’s most exciting new faces in music, film and fashion. She first signed to Capitol Records at the early age of 15 where she eventually wrote & executive produced her critically acclaimed debut album, Night Time, My Time. As an actress, she has worked with many independent filmmakers including Eli Roth, Liza Johnson & Matthew Porterfield. Sky is currently recording her highly anticipated new album, Masochism.
Saturday, August 8, 3:30 p.m.
"Finders Keepers" / U.S.A. (Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel) — Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it, therefore, to be his rightful property. Los Angeles Premiere
Followed by a conversation between directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, subject John Wood and special guests Aubrey Plaza and Thomas Middleditch.
Saturday, August 8, 8:00 p.m.
"Death Magic" (Band: Health, Director: Pablo Ferro) — The sun slowly sets; its beauty soundtracked by a serene yet melancholy sound. As the last rays of light slip behind the clouds, a violent transformation takes place. The music, ever-changing and explosive, creates the imagery… supergraphic and never seen before! The quick cuts in sync with the music, introduce the emotional range and complexity of Health’S new album Death Magic. Album Trailer. World Premiere
"Entertainment" / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker) — In an attempt to revive his dwindling career and reunite with his estranged daughter, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the California desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek. Los Angeles Premiere
Sharon Van Etten — Singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten writes from free-flowing emotional honesty and vulnerability, creating a bond with the listener that few contemporary musicians can match. Following her 2012 break-through Tramp, last year’s follow up Are We There and her new Ep I Don’t Want to Let You Down, Van Etten finds herself in full stride, writing, producing and performing.
Sunday, August 9, 3:30 p.m.
"Cronies" / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael J. Larnell) — Twenty-two-year-old Louis doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with Jack will last beyond today. Cast: George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski. Los Angeles Premiere
Followed by a conversation between director Michael J. Larnell and special guest Robert Townsend.
Sunday, August 9, 8:00 p.m.
"Fuckkkyouuu" (Director: Eddie Alcazar, Music: Flying Lotus) — With the ability to travel in time, a lonely girl finds love and comfort by connecting with her past self. Eventually faced with rejection she struggles with her identity and gender, and as time folds onto itself only one of them can remain. Cast: Jesse Sullivan, Charles Baker. Experimental Short / Music Video. World Premiere
"Turbo Kid" / Canada, New Zealand (Directors and screenwriters: Anouk Whissell, François Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell) — Set in a post apocalyptic year of 1997, this nostalgic tribute to ’80s action-adventure films follows an orphaned teenager who goes on an adventure to save his female-robot companion from the hands of the evil warlord who controls the only water supply. Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Aaron Jeffery, Edwin Wright. Los Angeles Premiere
Neon Indian (DJ set) B2B Toro Y Moi (DJ set) — Neon Indian, the brainchild of Alan Palomo, is defined by a unique electro-mangled sound which has attracted fans and opening slots before acts like Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Phoenix and Chromeo. Toro Y Moi, the guise of Chaz Bundick, channels a wide swath of stylistic influences into his electronics-incorporating music and cites Big Star, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren as some of his inspirations.
My colleague Carlos Aguilar has already written about this big L.A. event here, so I will cover other areas and fill in on the music components of the film program.
Each film is its own event so that audiences will go to one film and not necessarily all films. Though the series package is selling well, the individual ticket sales are significant not only selling out but in bringing in new audiences. Getting L.A. people’s attention is not an easy task, but the pairing of movies and music in the unique way Next is creating, plus the spectacular venue, the Theatre at the Ace Hotel, one of L.A.’s most lavish and historic film venues, downtown at 9th and Broadway, will also bring out new audiences who care about preservation of our art deco landmarks.
This year more than half the films that showed in Sundance came out quickly theatrically this spring and summer followed by their VOD releases. If they did not get released theatrically then they were eligible to be chosen for Next if they were sufficiently “renegade” in the best spirit of indie filmmakers, like past films “Obvious Child”, “Compliance”, “Appropriate Behavior”, “Tangerine” and “Escape from Tomorrow”.
Out of the six films chosen for the unconventional and forward thinking of their narrative styles – including one doc -- there is a full range of experience to be had.
Four films showing in the evening are paired with live musical acts which somehow fit the film in mood or in ideas and are new and next in film and music.
In addition there will be three world premiere music videos and a full-body, mind-blowing virtual reality flight simulator, Birdly which was shown this past Sundance in the New Frontier exhibition. You can experience being a bird from a first-person perspective through a full-body virtual reality set up….it’s free, in the mezzanine of The Theatre of the Ace Hotel and available through an onsite waitlist system.
The world premiere music videos are Superhumanoid’s music video for “Anxious in Venice”, premiering Friday along with Noah Baumbach’s out of the mold “Mistress America” (Fox Searchlight) followed by a live performance by Sky Ferreira.Health’s album trailer for “Death Magic” as part of Saturday evening’s screening of “ Entertainment“ (Magnolia Releasing) starring Michael Cera will be followed by a solo performance by Sharon Van Etten. “Death Magic” is directed by acclaimed graphic designer, title designer, and editor Pablo Ferro, who has worked alongside some of the most respected filmmakers of all time including Stanley Kubrick, Hal Ashby and Tim Burton. An experimental short film by Eddie Alcazar with soundtrack by Flying Lotus, “Fuckkkyouuu”, will premiere Sunday at the “Turbo Kid” (Epic Pictures Releasing) screening with a back-to-back DJ battle between Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi.
Pairing music audiences with movie audiences aims to bring new awareness of new art canvasses to people who do not have a lot of crossover knowledge of film on one hand or of music on the other. Musicians often want to make movies and both they and filmmakers have had the carpets pulled out from under them and are struggling to find their way amidst digitization. It seems self-evident that fimmakers appreciate music since soundtracks and even the most incidental music in a film can make or break it. By pairing “Mistress America” with Sky Ferreira, Charlie is sure Sky’s fans will love “Mistress America” which will result in new discussions and will perhaps begin to define how to make sense of movies to music audiences. The cross-pollination of audiences enriches everyone.
The two daytime films, “Cronies” by Michael Larnell and “Finders Keepers” will be followed by conversations, paired respectively with Robert Townsend, one of the Godfathers of the Independent Film World, actor, writer, director and producer of first of “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by many other films; and Saturday’s “Finders Keepers” directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel with Thomas Middletich (“Silicon Valley” ) along with the film’s subject John Wood himself! Speakers were chosen by the filmmakers who were told to ask who was influential them them and who would they want to see their film.
Among the filmmakers, cast and musicians expected to attend Sundance Next Fest are Rick Alverson, Noah Baumbach, Bryan Carberry, Munro Chambers, Greta Gerwig, Health, Tim Heidecker, Lola Kirke, Michael Larnell, François Simard, Superhumanoids, Gregg Turkington, Clay Tweel, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell.
Attendance is expected to be around 10,000 judging by lat year’s numbers. Last year all three film with music event was sold out. The opening screening in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was huge and the screenings over three days had about 1,000 at each event.
Next is not just a film festival; it is an Event.
Sundance Next Fest is supported by Principal Sponsors – Acura and Adobe; Major Sponsor – Kickstarter; Media Sponsor – Kcrw; and Supporting Sponsors – Beachside Films, Dolby, FilmL.A., Inc., ShopHouse, Shudder, Skullcandy®, Southwest Airlines, Stella Artois®, The Theatre at Ace Hotel and the Utah Film Commission. As part of their presence at the festival, Adobe and Kickstarter will host panels open to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons;
Below is the full program in detail. Even more details and tickets ($15-25) now on sale can be found at sundance.org/next.
Friday, August 7, 8:00 p.m.
"Anxious in Venice" (Band: Superhumanoids, Director: Taylor Cohen) — It's 4:37 a.m. and someone straps a camera to your chest. Nearby, your hungover bandmate sips gas station coffee and the director yells about missing the sunrise. You hate performance music videos but you're sure this one will be different. Then again, when you've been up all night and are shooting without a permit -- you can't be sure of anything. Welcome to Anxious In Venice. Music Video. World Premiere
"Mistress America" / U.S.A. (Director: Noah Baumbach, Screenwriters: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig) — Tracy is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke – a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town – she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes. Cast: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke. Los Angeles Premiere
Sky Ferreira — Sky Ferreira has quickly established herself as one of today’s most exciting new faces in music, film and fashion. She first signed to Capitol Records at the early age of 15 where she eventually wrote & executive produced her critically acclaimed debut album, Night Time, My Time. As an actress, she has worked with many independent filmmakers including Eli Roth, Liza Johnson & Matthew Porterfield. Sky is currently recording her highly anticipated new album, Masochism.
Saturday, August 8, 3:30 p.m.
"Finders Keepers" / U.S.A. (Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel) — Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it, therefore, to be his rightful property. Los Angeles Premiere
Followed by a conversation between directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, subject John Wood and special guests Aubrey Plaza and Thomas Middleditch.
Saturday, August 8, 8:00 p.m.
"Death Magic" (Band: Health, Director: Pablo Ferro) — The sun slowly sets; its beauty soundtracked by a serene yet melancholy sound. As the last rays of light slip behind the clouds, a violent transformation takes place. The music, ever-changing and explosive, creates the imagery… supergraphic and never seen before! The quick cuts in sync with the music, introduce the emotional range and complexity of Health’S new album Death Magic. Album Trailer. World Premiere
"Entertainment" / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington, Tim Heidecker) — In an attempt to revive his dwindling career and reunite with his estranged daughter, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the California desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Lotte Verbeek. Los Angeles Premiere
Sharon Van Etten — Singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten writes from free-flowing emotional honesty and vulnerability, creating a bond with the listener that few contemporary musicians can match. Following her 2012 break-through Tramp, last year’s follow up Are We There and her new Ep I Don’t Want to Let You Down, Van Etten finds herself in full stride, writing, producing and performing.
Sunday, August 9, 3:30 p.m.
"Cronies" / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael J. Larnell) — Twenty-two-year-old Louis doesn’t know whether his childhood friendship with Jack will last beyond today. Cast: George Sample III, Zurich Buckner, Brian Kowalski. Los Angeles Premiere
Followed by a conversation between director Michael J. Larnell and special guest Robert Townsend.
Sunday, August 9, 8:00 p.m.
"Fuckkkyouuu" (Director: Eddie Alcazar, Music: Flying Lotus) — With the ability to travel in time, a lonely girl finds love and comfort by connecting with her past self. Eventually faced with rejection she struggles with her identity and gender, and as time folds onto itself only one of them can remain. Cast: Jesse Sullivan, Charles Baker. Experimental Short / Music Video. World Premiere
"Turbo Kid" / Canada, New Zealand (Directors and screenwriters: Anouk Whissell, François Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell) — Set in a post apocalyptic year of 1997, this nostalgic tribute to ’80s action-adventure films follows an orphaned teenager who goes on an adventure to save his female-robot companion from the hands of the evil warlord who controls the only water supply. Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Aaron Jeffery, Edwin Wright. Los Angeles Premiere
Neon Indian (DJ set) B2B Toro Y Moi (DJ set) — Neon Indian, the brainchild of Alan Palomo, is defined by a unique electro-mangled sound which has attracted fans and opening slots before acts like Massive Attack, The Flaming Lips, Phoenix and Chromeo. Toro Y Moi, the guise of Chaz Bundick, channels a wide swath of stylistic influences into his electronics-incorporating music and cites Big Star, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren as some of his inspirations.
- 8/6/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
One of Los Angeles’ most lavish and historic film venues, The Theater at Ace Hotel, will host Sundance Next Fest once again August 7-9. Cinema and music come together for a second time during this weekend–long event that will showcase 5 films representing distinctively unique visions. These independent works taken from several sections within this year’s Park City program will screen for L.A. audiences followed by either a musical act or a special guest speaker. Last year the slate included “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, “Imperial Dreams” and "Life After Beth," which were accompanied by performers Warpaint, Tinashe, and Father John Misty, respectively. Thanks to the eclectic pairings, Next Fest became one of the most memorable festivals to take place in the city.
This time around the program looks even more compelling with a variety of filmmaking approaches that include the latest Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig collaboration, Rick Alverson’s new mind-bending flick, and an offbeat documentary that borders on the surreal.The festival kicked-off on Sunday with a packed outdoor screening of Jon Watts's "Cop Car" at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosted alongside Cinespia.
We talked to Sundance programmer Charlie Reff who shared his excitement for the film selection and dished out about the process of curating such peculiar celebration of audiovisual creativity.
Aguilar: It seems like the batch of films included in this year's Next Fest comes from a variety of sections in the Sundance 2015 program. You have films not only from the Next section, but also from Midnight, Premieres, and even a documentary. Tell me about the process or parameters to select these films.
Charlie Reff: This is the third year of the festival, counting the first year as Next Weekend, and we’ve never had specifically only Next section films. I believe last year we played four films from the Next section. We played a film from Midnight last year, and we played a doc called “Cutie and the Boxer” the first year. We definitely want to keep the diversity of the lineup. We still feel all the films are representative of Next. We like that Next is this idea of artistic pursuits that have an unconventional approach to storytelling, even a film like “Mistress America.” The reason we wanted to play that is because when Noah works with Greta in films like “Frances Ha” and now “Mistress America," they don’t feel like his other films. His other films have a certain tone and point of view, but when he and Greta had gone off to make these films, they are wildly different stylistically from the other films he’s done.
Even in the first year of the festival we were hoping to play a film like “Prince Avalanche,” but it came out before the festival. That was David Gordon Green, a studio guy being like, “Fuck it, I wanna go make a weird unique film without anybody holding me back.” We want to show films form the filmmakers that are still willing to go in this direction and the new generation that’s coming up and is committed to it still. I feel like it makes sense including a doc. I love “Finders Keepers,” it was one my favorite films at the festival and it’s just so unique. It’s such a unique watch for a documentary film. We want to champion the different approaches people are taking.
Aguilar: So you sit down with your team to figure out what films to play at Next Fest and go through every possible film from the Park City program?
Charlie Reff: One thing that’s actually interesting, is that first thing we think about is that any film released before the festival is automatically off the table. It was actually really unique this year distribution-wise because I think so many films rushed to release this year. I don’t know if you noticed that, but there were so many films coming out in the summer and the spring that were just acquired or coming out on VOD. That’s one thing that wipes away nearly half the slate. Beyond that, there are a lot of films that we want to play, but we need them all to have this unique Next quality that I talked about.
Aguilar: So you probably wouldn’t play a film like “Brooklyn,” which is very classical in terms of the filmmaking style and approach.
Charlie Reff: Exactly. I love the hell out of “Brooklyn,” but it’s so wonderfully classical that it would never play at Next Fest. The interesting thing that we always talk about when programming the Park City festival, and that it’s always a difficult thing for people to understand, is that every film that plays in the Next section could potentially play in our U.S. Dramatic Competition, but not every film in the U.S. Dramatic Competition could play in Next. They need to have that wild inventive quality to them, and that’s not to disrespect films that use classic storytelling, but that’s just how Next Fest is.
Aguilar: How do you decide what musical act goes well with a certain film? It seems like a complicated task and a leap of faith because it's difficult to know how an audience will react to a certain combination.
Charlie Reff: After going through it last year programming Next Fest and then programming last year’s and this year’s Park City festivals, as soon as I was watching a movie that I knew we were going to play and felt like a potentially cool Next Fest film, I was automatically already brainstorming ideas. It was like, “What would be an interesting crossover audience for this film? What musician has the right fan base that would love this film?” or vice versa, “The fan base for this film, what music do I think that they’ll be really into?“ I start thinking about the films and the music in my head and with my phone all the way back in November. We have the films to bring to people in, so I think about what music could be interesting and could make sort of a big statement.
With “Mistress America” I always wanted to pair it with Sky Ferreira. I’m a big fan of her. I know “Mistress America” has the Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig fan base. They pull that audience, so it’s about, “What can we do different? What audience could we bring to this film that would really get into it?” I started thinking about an ideal musician for the female, college-age, twenty-something, audience. “What artist can we bring in that would pull that kind of audience to ‘Mistress America’?" They maybe don’t know about the film yet, but they’ll fucking love it! That’s how the program for “Mistress America” came about.
“Entertainment” and Sharon Van Etten was a really hard one to pull together just because it’s such a singular and provocative film. I had conversations with Rick Alverson, the director of the film, about what kind of mood would be good for after the film. We were thinking of something really aggressive afterwards and Rick wasn’t really into that idea. He said, “Honestly, it’s quite a ride you are putting that audience through with the film and it probably wouldn’t be good to put even more in-your-face kind of intensity after.” We thought that the film was almost like a folk tale and that it has that wanderer feel to it, so I started thinking about folksy artists. Sharon Van Etten popped into my head because I love her and she is beyond talented. When I think of all the films that I’ve watched in the world and all the music that I’ve listened to, I realize that Rick Alverson is a filmmaker that throws me for a loop when I watch his films. As much as I think that I understand cinema, when I see his films they completely disorient me. That’s what’s special about him. Maybe this has happened to you with other filmmakers, but he blows my mind so much that I kind of almost stop breathing and I think, “What the fuck am I seeing? What is he putting us through? What is he exploring? “ At the same time Sharon Van Ette is so raw. She is such a beautiful performer. Once when I was watching her set I found myself really listening to what she was singing about and I was like, “Wow, this sis really, really personal.” This is how the selection happens. It’s not some specific formula.
Regarding “Turbo Kid,” it’s always been a dream to do something like this from the moment of pitching idea of Next Fest. I would always talk about, “Man, there are all these films coming out that are pulling from 80s aesthetics and there is a very similar strand of music.” It’s such a popular thing and I thought that’s something we would do one year. Then “Turbo Kid” came along and I was like, “Fuck Yeah!” This is the ultimate movie to do this with and celebrate the idea of this generations that’s influenced by the sounds and aesthetics of the 80s. Toro Y Moi are two of my favorite artists that really experiment with those sounds and push them forward. The greatest thing about them is that neither one of them do it ironically or mocking. There is sincerity in the love for the music they are creating and the music from the time period that has been so influential for them. That’s what “Turbo Kid“ is too. It’s not an ironic film, is a love letter and it’s shockingly sincere about its love of the 80s. That’s something I wanted to do. I didn’t want to make a joke of the 80s, I wanted people who love the 80s.
Aguilar: The other two films will have a special Q&A instead of a musical act. What can you tell me about the speakers that will accompany the films and filmmakers?
Charlie Reff: We always talk to the filmmakers and we ask for ideas from them. With “Cronies” by Michael Larnell, we will have a filmmaker that came before him and that was “the guy” who he felt understood what they were creating. The speaker will be Robert Townsend.
With "Finders Keepers" we wanted a really fun conversation and we chose someone who will ask the really fun and exciting questions out of all the questions that someone could ask the filmmaker. We will have Thomas Middletich to ask the strange questions about the reality of the story. We will also have John, the subject for the film there as well.
Aguilar: Next Fest is back at the Theater at Ace Hotel, which is a fantastic venue. It feels like the ideal place to show these films in L.A.
Charlie Reff: We love working with them. They have been incredibly supportive. They got it. Two years before the very first festival, when we it was called Next Weekend, we had already visited the Ace Hotel while it was still under construction. We were exploring this idea that maybe it’ll be fun to play new independent films in old movie palaces. I love the idea because I think these places are incredibly special. That was in the back of our heads and then when we heard about the Ace being done, we went to them and explain what we were trying to do and they were like, “Yeah, we are in.” We love being there.
Find out more about Sundance Next Fest 2015 and get tickets to the events Here...
This time around the program looks even more compelling with a variety of filmmaking approaches that include the latest Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig collaboration, Rick Alverson’s new mind-bending flick, and an offbeat documentary that borders on the surreal.The festival kicked-off on Sunday with a packed outdoor screening of Jon Watts's "Cop Car" at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosted alongside Cinespia.
We talked to Sundance programmer Charlie Reff who shared his excitement for the film selection and dished out about the process of curating such peculiar celebration of audiovisual creativity.
Aguilar: It seems like the batch of films included in this year's Next Fest comes from a variety of sections in the Sundance 2015 program. You have films not only from the Next section, but also from Midnight, Premieres, and even a documentary. Tell me about the process or parameters to select these films.
Charlie Reff: This is the third year of the festival, counting the first year as Next Weekend, and we’ve never had specifically only Next section films. I believe last year we played four films from the Next section. We played a film from Midnight last year, and we played a doc called “Cutie and the Boxer” the first year. We definitely want to keep the diversity of the lineup. We still feel all the films are representative of Next. We like that Next is this idea of artistic pursuits that have an unconventional approach to storytelling, even a film like “Mistress America.” The reason we wanted to play that is because when Noah works with Greta in films like “Frances Ha” and now “Mistress America," they don’t feel like his other films. His other films have a certain tone and point of view, but when he and Greta had gone off to make these films, they are wildly different stylistically from the other films he’s done.
Even in the first year of the festival we were hoping to play a film like “Prince Avalanche,” but it came out before the festival. That was David Gordon Green, a studio guy being like, “Fuck it, I wanna go make a weird unique film without anybody holding me back.” We want to show films form the filmmakers that are still willing to go in this direction and the new generation that’s coming up and is committed to it still. I feel like it makes sense including a doc. I love “Finders Keepers,” it was one my favorite films at the festival and it’s just so unique. It’s such a unique watch for a documentary film. We want to champion the different approaches people are taking.
Aguilar: So you sit down with your team to figure out what films to play at Next Fest and go through every possible film from the Park City program?
Charlie Reff: One thing that’s actually interesting, is that first thing we think about is that any film released before the festival is automatically off the table. It was actually really unique this year distribution-wise because I think so many films rushed to release this year. I don’t know if you noticed that, but there were so many films coming out in the summer and the spring that were just acquired or coming out on VOD. That’s one thing that wipes away nearly half the slate. Beyond that, there are a lot of films that we want to play, but we need them all to have this unique Next quality that I talked about.
Aguilar: So you probably wouldn’t play a film like “Brooklyn,” which is very classical in terms of the filmmaking style and approach.
Charlie Reff: Exactly. I love the hell out of “Brooklyn,” but it’s so wonderfully classical that it would never play at Next Fest. The interesting thing that we always talk about when programming the Park City festival, and that it’s always a difficult thing for people to understand, is that every film that plays in the Next section could potentially play in our U.S. Dramatic Competition, but not every film in the U.S. Dramatic Competition could play in Next. They need to have that wild inventive quality to them, and that’s not to disrespect films that use classic storytelling, but that’s just how Next Fest is.
Aguilar: How do you decide what musical act goes well with a certain film? It seems like a complicated task and a leap of faith because it's difficult to know how an audience will react to a certain combination.
Charlie Reff: After going through it last year programming Next Fest and then programming last year’s and this year’s Park City festivals, as soon as I was watching a movie that I knew we were going to play and felt like a potentially cool Next Fest film, I was automatically already brainstorming ideas. It was like, “What would be an interesting crossover audience for this film? What musician has the right fan base that would love this film?” or vice versa, “The fan base for this film, what music do I think that they’ll be really into?“ I start thinking about the films and the music in my head and with my phone all the way back in November. We have the films to bring to people in, so I think about what music could be interesting and could make sort of a big statement.
With “Mistress America” I always wanted to pair it with Sky Ferreira. I’m a big fan of her. I know “Mistress America” has the Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig fan base. They pull that audience, so it’s about, “What can we do different? What audience could we bring to this film that would really get into it?” I started thinking about an ideal musician for the female, college-age, twenty-something, audience. “What artist can we bring in that would pull that kind of audience to ‘Mistress America’?" They maybe don’t know about the film yet, but they’ll fucking love it! That’s how the program for “Mistress America” came about.
“Entertainment” and Sharon Van Etten was a really hard one to pull together just because it’s such a singular and provocative film. I had conversations with Rick Alverson, the director of the film, about what kind of mood would be good for after the film. We were thinking of something really aggressive afterwards and Rick wasn’t really into that idea. He said, “Honestly, it’s quite a ride you are putting that audience through with the film and it probably wouldn’t be good to put even more in-your-face kind of intensity after.” We thought that the film was almost like a folk tale and that it has that wanderer feel to it, so I started thinking about folksy artists. Sharon Van Etten popped into my head because I love her and she is beyond talented. When I think of all the films that I’ve watched in the world and all the music that I’ve listened to, I realize that Rick Alverson is a filmmaker that throws me for a loop when I watch his films. As much as I think that I understand cinema, when I see his films they completely disorient me. That’s what’s special about him. Maybe this has happened to you with other filmmakers, but he blows my mind so much that I kind of almost stop breathing and I think, “What the fuck am I seeing? What is he putting us through? What is he exploring? “ At the same time Sharon Van Ette is so raw. She is such a beautiful performer. Once when I was watching her set I found myself really listening to what she was singing about and I was like, “Wow, this sis really, really personal.” This is how the selection happens. It’s not some specific formula.
Regarding “Turbo Kid,” it’s always been a dream to do something like this from the moment of pitching idea of Next Fest. I would always talk about, “Man, there are all these films coming out that are pulling from 80s aesthetics and there is a very similar strand of music.” It’s such a popular thing and I thought that’s something we would do one year. Then “Turbo Kid” came along and I was like, “Fuck Yeah!” This is the ultimate movie to do this with and celebrate the idea of this generations that’s influenced by the sounds and aesthetics of the 80s. Toro Y Moi are two of my favorite artists that really experiment with those sounds and push them forward. The greatest thing about them is that neither one of them do it ironically or mocking. There is sincerity in the love for the music they are creating and the music from the time period that has been so influential for them. That’s what “Turbo Kid“ is too. It’s not an ironic film, is a love letter and it’s shockingly sincere about its love of the 80s. That’s something I wanted to do. I didn’t want to make a joke of the 80s, I wanted people who love the 80s.
Aguilar: The other two films will have a special Q&A instead of a musical act. What can you tell me about the speakers that will accompany the films and filmmakers?
Charlie Reff: We always talk to the filmmakers and we ask for ideas from them. With “Cronies” by Michael Larnell, we will have a filmmaker that came before him and that was “the guy” who he felt understood what they were creating. The speaker will be Robert Townsend.
With "Finders Keepers" we wanted a really fun conversation and we chose someone who will ask the really fun and exciting questions out of all the questions that someone could ask the filmmaker. We will have Thomas Middletich to ask the strange questions about the reality of the story. We will also have John, the subject for the film there as well.
Aguilar: Next Fest is back at the Theater at Ace Hotel, which is a fantastic venue. It feels like the ideal place to show these films in L.A.
Charlie Reff: We love working with them. They have been incredibly supportive. They got it. Two years before the very first festival, when we it was called Next Weekend, we had already visited the Ace Hotel while it was still under construction. We were exploring this idea that maybe it’ll be fun to play new independent films in old movie palaces. I love the idea because I think these places are incredibly special. That was in the back of our heads and then when we heard about the Ace being done, we went to them and explain what we were trying to do and they were like, “Yeah, we are in.” We love being there.
Find out more about Sundance Next Fest 2015 and get tickets to the events Here...
- 8/5/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Musicians Sky Ferriera, Sharon Van Etten and dee-jays Neon Indian and Toro Y Moi are now part of the expanding Sundance Film Festival family. Sundance’s Next Fest (August 7th to the 9th) kicks off early on August 2nd, with a showing of Jon Watt’s Cop Car — the filmmaker made the industry news headlines this week when he signed onto direct the new Spiderman. Now in its third year, the fest which intertwines filmmakers and musicians or surprise mentors of the arts is comprised of films from the ’15 edition of the festival with only a pair of Next titles being re-programmed in Rick Alverson’s Entertainment and Michael J. Larnell’s
Cronies. Our Nicholas Bell will be covering the event for the site. Here’s the full lineup:
Sunday, August 2, 8:30 p.m. – Sundance Next Fest Kick Off Event
Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Cop Car / U.S.
Cronies. Our Nicholas Bell will be covering the event for the site. Here’s the full lineup:
Sunday, August 2, 8:30 p.m. – Sundance Next Fest Kick Off Event
Cinespia at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Cop Car / U.S.
- 6/24/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Although your humble correspondent missed three days of TriBeCa films in a row due to a back injury, there was no way he could miss Maggie. Director Henry Hobson was able to attract Arnold Schwarzenegger to his low-key zombie project, despite the fact that Hobson was making his feature debut with a budget so small that you could make Maggie two or three times over for the amount that Arnold was paid to appear in Terminator: Genisys. The uniqueness of Hobson’s vision is evident from the first scene, where he is able to establish clearly the particulars of his zombie semi-apocalypse with only the barest minimum of exposition. As society teeters on the edge, both law and medicine struggling to handle the “Necroambulist” virus, Abigail Breslin plays the infected Maggie and Schwarzenegger plays her father, agonizing over the decision of what to do when she turns.
So many...
So many...
- 4/25/2015
- by Mark Young
- SoundOnSight
Andrew Renzi‘s directorial debut about a third wheel starring Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning and Theo James, Reed Morano‘s relationship testing drama featuring Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson, Onur Tukel‘s secret unleashed on the airwaves and Gregory Kohn‘s hallucinatory tale with Eléonore Hendricks topling are part of the American independent offerings at the 14th Tribeca Film Festival. Renzi’s Franny and Morano’s Meadowland will be competing in the dozen selected in the World Narrative Competition while Tukel’s Applesauce and Kohn’s Come Down Molly are among the in the Viewpoints sidebar. Here are the selected titles below sans synopsis.
World Narrative Feature Competition (12)
The Adderall Diaries, directed and written by Pamela Romanowsky. (USA) – World Premiere.
Bridgend, directed by Jeppe Rønde, co-written by Jeppe Rønde, Torben Bech, and Peter Asmussen. (Denmark) – North American Premiere.
Dixieland, directed and written by Hank Bedford. (USA) – World Premiere
Franny, directed and written by Andrew Renzi.
World Narrative Feature Competition (12)
The Adderall Diaries, directed and written by Pamela Romanowsky. (USA) – World Premiere.
Bridgend, directed by Jeppe Rønde, co-written by Jeppe Rønde, Torben Bech, and Peter Asmussen. (Denmark) – North American Premiere.
Dixieland, directed and written by Hank Bedford. (USA) – World Premiere
Franny, directed and written by Andrew Renzi.
- 3/3/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Top brass at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff) presented by At&T have announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition and Viewpoints selections.
Organisers also said that At&T’s Film For All Friday will return with free screenings on April 24. The festival is set to run in New York City from April 15-26 and the festival hub is Spring Studios.
Tuesday’s announcement covers 51 films out of a total 97 features at the upcoming 14th edition. As previously announced, Tribeca will open with the documentary Live From New York!
The line-up includes world premieres of Andrew Renzi’s Franny starring Richard Gere, Pamela Romanowsky’s The Adderall Diaries with James Franco, Amber Heard, Ed Harris and Cynthia Nixon and documentaries In My Father’s House by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg and In Transit from Albert Maysles and four co-directors.
Thirty of the festival’s feature film directors are women –the highest percentage in Tribeca history. Nine of...
Organisers also said that At&T’s Film For All Friday will return with free screenings on April 24. The festival is set to run in New York City from April 15-26 and the festival hub is Spring Studios.
Tuesday’s announcement covers 51 films out of a total 97 features at the upcoming 14th edition. As previously announced, Tribeca will open with the documentary Live From New York!
The line-up includes world premieres of Andrew Renzi’s Franny starring Richard Gere, Pamela Romanowsky’s The Adderall Diaries with James Franco, Amber Heard, Ed Harris and Cynthia Nixon and documentaries In My Father’s House by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg and In Transit from Albert Maysles and four co-directors.
Thirty of the festival’s feature film directors are women –the highest percentage in Tribeca history. Nine of...
- 3/3/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Spike Lee and I go back a long way, to "She's Gotta Gave It." I've interviewed him many times, from Cannes for "Do the Right Thing (he was robbed!) and on the set of "Malcolm X" to talking on a Sunset hotel roof about "The 25th Hour," based on the novel by David Benioff. We've had our dust-ups over the years too, which may be why we settle right in for this interview at the studio of photographer Daniel Bergeron, who shot a fabulous portrait of Lee for Indiewire. We cover a lot of ground, from what being an independent meant when he started and what it means now, his changing relationship with the studios, his comments to Ava DuVernay on "Selma"'s Oscar nominations, to his love of documentaries and some projects he did not get to make. He thanks his children for clueing him into social media, which...
- 2/9/2015
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…
Michael Larnell: Paris, France, Sundance Film Festival, Ferguson Protesters (The Activists)
Lavallee: What was the genesis for the film? How did you go about writing the characters and then, writing their relationships?
Larnell: I wanted to tell a story of young male friends and their awkwardness of expressing their love for one another. I developed each main character and the backstory to their lives. I wanted the main character (Louis) to begin to stray away from his childhood friend (Jack) all while Louis begins to develop a new friendship with Andrew. All of these factors helped to create the tension in the film.
Lavallee: They say shoot what you know, sometimes this applies to “where” as well. Your hometown of St-Louis serves as the backdrop for the film, how did it contribute to the synergy of your narrative?
Larnell: Filming in St.
Michael Larnell: Paris, France, Sundance Film Festival, Ferguson Protesters (The Activists)
Lavallee: What was the genesis for the film? How did you go about writing the characters and then, writing their relationships?
Larnell: I wanted to tell a story of young male friends and their awkwardness of expressing their love for one another. I developed each main character and the backstory to their lives. I wanted the main character (Louis) to begin to stray away from his childhood friend (Jack) all while Louis begins to develop a new friendship with Andrew. All of these factors helped to create the tension in the film.
Lavallee: They say shoot what you know, sometimes this applies to “where” as well. Your hometown of St-Louis serves as the backdrop for the film, how did it contribute to the synergy of your narrative?
Larnell: Filming in St.
- 1/23/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s Day 1 at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which can only mean that it’s time for Ioncinema.com to break out our 2015 Sundance Trading Cards Series. Last year we found out that these American independent film people profiles were a hit, so this year we return again, with more profiles, but we’ve sharpen our focus on the folks behind the films selected in the Next and U.S Dramatic Comp section.
The class of ’15 naturally includes the filmmakers and players in front of the camera, but also the creative folk behind it. Like the traditional sports cards, the back of the card gives you “stats” (here we focus on the filmography/other creative endeavors) and since we are still in the midst of a new year, we like to look back at each individual’s 2014 discoveries (from old film/book/music classics, sculptors, latest video games, television series,...
The class of ’15 naturally includes the filmmakers and players in front of the camera, but also the creative folk behind it. Like the traditional sports cards, the back of the card gives you “stats” (here we focus on the filmography/other creative endeavors) and since we are still in the midst of a new year, we like to look back at each individual’s 2014 discoveries (from old film/book/music classics, sculptors, latest video games, television series,...
- 1/23/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Festival resurges as launch pad for awards contenders while sales agents are prepared for healthy market
Those up in arms over Hollywood’s limited roles for women and minorities should be excited for the diversity of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday with no shortage of films that address the broad range of human experience, while renewing the festival as a key launch platform for awards season hopefuls.
For all the talk of work drying up for over-40 actresses, they’re well represented this year in Park City between “Lila & Eve” with Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis, “Strangerland...
Those up in arms over Hollywood’s limited roles for women and minorities should be excited for the diversity of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday with no shortage of films that address the broad range of human experience, while renewing the festival as a key launch platform for awards season hopefuls.
For all the talk of work drying up for over-40 actresses, they’re well represented this year in Park City between “Lila & Eve” with Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis, “Strangerland...
- 1/22/2015
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
“Bachelorette” filmmaker Leslye Headland returns to Sundance with a higher profile this time
Filmmaking careers are born at Sundance, as evidenced by directors Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), J.C. Chandor (“Margin Call”) and Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”). This year’s festival features plenty of returning artists as well as new voices with something fresh to say. TheWrap talked to buyers and sellers before whittling down this list of 10 buzzworthy filmmakers on the eve of Sundance. Something tells us we’ll be hearing about them for years to come.
Also Read: 10 Hottest Sundance Sales Titles: J. Lo, Robert Redford, Keanu Reeves, David Foster Wallace
Nikole Beckwith,...
Filmmaking careers are born at Sundance, as evidenced by directors Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), J.C. Chandor (“Margin Call”) and Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”). This year’s festival features plenty of returning artists as well as new voices with something fresh to say. TheWrap talked to buyers and sellers before whittling down this list of 10 buzzworthy filmmakers on the eve of Sundance. Something tells us we’ll be hearing about them for years to come.
Also Read: 10 Hottest Sundance Sales Titles: J. Lo, Robert Redford, Keanu Reeves, David Foster Wallace
Nikole Beckwith,...
- 1/21/2015
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
It's hard to believe that Michael Larnell is still in film school, given the fact that he has a a feature-length film -- yes, you heard us correctly -- screening at the Sundance Film Festival later this month. But that's what happens when Spike Lee decides to take you under his wing. Lee is an executive producer on Larnell's "Cronies," which will screen as part of the festival's prestigious, Next <=> program, which catapulted 2014 participant Ana Lily Amirpour and her film "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" to cult status. What's your film about in 140 characters or less? Its the day and life of three guys, Louis, Jack and Andrew. Louis and Jack are at a fork in the road of their friendship, and after many years, it may finally come to an end. We follow them on an enjoyable and emotional journey. Now what's it Really about? The film...
- 1/16/2015
- by Shipra Gupta
- Indiewire
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