Tribeca Film Festival Archives - Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer

AT&T’s Untold Stories ‘NIGERIAN PRINCE’ Debuts in Theaters and On Demand

dorriolds — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 22:43:18 +0000

Nigerian Prince

Nigerian Prince is a coming of age story and a heist thriller. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, it uncovers the hidden world of “Nigerian Prince” email scams. In the photo above, listed left to right, are actor Chinaza Uche, filmmaker Faraday Okoro, and actor Antonio J. Bell at the Tribeca Film Festival red carpet in Manhattan.
The story is based on an advance-fee fraud where a supposed Nigerian prince emails you that he will share his million dollars—or more—if you can help him with the bank fees by sending him $10,000. Then, once you’re hooked, there will be additional emails sent to you that contain even more cockamamie reasons why you will need to send the scammer more money before your big payoff of the cool mil.
It’s hard to believe that anyone is so gullible that they fall for it—but they do.

Nigerian Prince will have its theatrical release tonight.

In April, AT&T awarded its second $1 million winners, Sasie Sealy and Angela Cheng. Their film, Lucky Grandma, will have its world premiere screening during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival next April. Both films will also run on DirecTV NOW.
AT&T and the Tribeca Film Festival are giving filmmakers another shot at $1 million to make a movie as part of the AT&T Presents: Untold Stories program, a multi-year, multi-tier alliance between AT&T and Tribeca, along with the year-round nonprofit Tribeca Film Institute. Aspiring filmmakers can submit their scripts between now and Nov. 19 for their chance to compete and become the third $1 million recipient of AT&T’s Untold Stories program. To submit your script and to view official program rules and regulations, please visit TribecaFilmInstitute.org/ATTUntoldStories.

Filmmaker Faraday Okoro

Faraday Okoro, a New York City based Nigerian-American filmmaker, wrote and directed Nigerian Prince. The movie had its premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Okoro received a $1 million grant from AT&T to produce this film.

Filmmaker Faraday Okoro. Photo © Dorri Olds

The plot begins with Eze (Antonio J. Bell), a rebellious American teen who is driving his mother crazy. Wanting to reel him in, she sends him to live in Nigeria for the summer. His magnetic con-artist cousin, Pius, manipulates the naive Eze and drags him into a mess of corruption.

See more Red Carpet photos here.

Chinaza Uche—who is even more captivating in person—plays Pius, Eze’s ne’er-do-well cousin, a full-time scammer. Newcomer Uche gave a flawless and nuanced performance as a pitiable character despite his perfect looks and seductive charm. Despite his big talk as self-appointed scamming mentor to Eze, Pius leads an empty, lonely, life of quiet desperation.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854).

Throughout the film, there are moments where you’ll catch Pius looking like he has been haunted for years with despair. Actor Uche has gives a performance with a full range and conveys so much with just his eyes.
The film has everything: strong plot that you haven’t seen before, great dialogue, excellent acting, a surprising amount of humor and plenty of substance.

My rating: 5 stars

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Tribeca and Chanel Offer Women Filmmakers $100,000 in Grant Money

dorriolds — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 15:19:18 +0000

Tribeca and Chanel Team Up to Support Women

In this fourth annual three-day program, THROUGH HER LENS, five emerging USA-based female writers of short-narrative films will receive one-on-one mentorship, artistic guidance, and financial support from Tribeca and Chanel.

$100,000 in Filmmaker Grants

4th Annual 3-Day Program

The Leadership Committee includes Kathryn Bigelow, Lena Dunham and Courteney Cox. The purpose of this extraordinary opportunity is to propel women filmmakers forward.
@Tribeca #ThroughHerLens #WhatsYourStory
Presented by Tribeca and Chanel, in collaboration with Pulse Films, and facilitated by Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), this immersive program provides one-on-one mentorship and industry support, along with guidance for artistic development. The intense master classes run for three days.

The winning female filmmaker in the competition will be awarded full financing to produce their short film and will receive support from Tribeca Studios to bring the film project to fruition.

Here’s How It Works

Five short film projects were selected from women storytellers. During this past summer, each of the five chosen filmmakers were given the extraordinary opportunity to work with writing mentors who helped to shape and refine each of the five projects.

When and Where

From October 16 to 18, the filmmakers will gather in New York City with the mentor and program advisors for an in-depth intimate program concentrating on script-to-screen development, casting, finding collaborators, and working with cinematographers, music composers, costume designers, and producers. The selected program participants will attend master classes and have individual mentoring sessions with leading women in filmmaking, meet distributors, and spend concentrated time refining their pitching skills.

It’s a Win-Win

On the final day, each of the five filmmakers will pitch their projects to a jury of industry experts. Although only one woman will receive the full financing, no one among these five carefully-chosen filmmakers will lose. The four runners up will also receive grant money to assist in the further development of their films.

“In the years since Tribeca launched THROUGH HER LENS with Chanel, the program has created invaluable opportunities for the next generation of women storytellers,” said Paula Weinstein, Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises. “The program brings established women filmmakers together to mentor these emerging voices, provide hands-on guidance and feedback, as well as fund their projects. We’re proud to help expand the pipeline for great inclusive storytelling.”
@Tribeca #ThroughHerLens #WhatsYourStory
Executive Director of Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) Amy Hobby said, “TFI’s mission is to join with filmmakers in breaking barriers to access, exposure, and sustainability in the media landscape. The Tribeca Chanel program unequivocally aligns with our nonprofit’s goals to provide this level of meaningful support to women filmmakers of all kinds.”
The Leadership Committee participating in the program are:
MASTER CLASS ADVISORS: Costume designer Stacey Battat (The Beguiled, Still Alice), casting director Ellen Chenoweth (The Goldfinch, No Country For Old Men), writer/director Debra Granik (Leave No Trace, Winter’s Bone),composer Laura Karpman (Paris Can Wait, Underground), and cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Mudbound).
JURORS: Producer Effie T. Brown (FOX’s “Star,” Dear White People, “Project Greenlight”), actor/writer/director/producerLena Dunham (Tiny Furniture, “Camping,” “Girls”), cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Mudbound), and producer Paula Weinstein (“Grace and Frankie,” The Perfect Storm, Recount).
MENTORS: Director/producer Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), actor/director/producer Courteney Cox (“Cougar Town,” “Friends”), producer and TFI Executive Director Amy Hobby (What Happened, Miss Simone?,Secretary), writer/director Stella Meghie (Everything, Everything, The Weekend), writer/director/executive producer Veena Sud (“The Killing,” “Seven Seconds”), and producer Christine Vachon (Carol, Far from Heaven).
WRITING MENTORS: Producer Stephanie Allain (Beyond the Lights, Dear White People), writer/executive producer Janine Sherman Barrois (“Claws,” “Criminal Minds”), writer/director Susanna Fogel (The Spy Who Dumped Me, Life Partners), writer Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married, Untitled Monsters Franchise for Universal Studios), and writer/executive producer Marti Noxon (“Sharp Objects,” “UnREAL”).
The selected projects and filmmakers are:
H-E-A-T-H-E-R: Heather, a young, racially ambiguous artist, confronts questions of identity when she becomes a part-time babysitter for 11-year-old Jayda. Their dynamic prompts Heather to explore the limitations of her persona as she voyages into other realms of her imagination through fantasy, alternate realities, and moving collages.
Francesca Mirabella (Co-Writer, Co-Director)
Francesca Mirabella is a writer and director who received her MFA from the NYU Tisch Graduate Film program, where she attended as a Dean’s Fellow. Her shorts have screened at a range of festivals and were most recently featured at the Museum of Modern Art. In 2017, Mirabella won an NYU Wasserman Award for Best Screenplay. A 2017/18 Marcie Bloom Fellow, Mirabella is currently developing her feature Modern Love, which was awarded a Tribeca All Access® grant.
Kylah Benes-Trapp (Co-Writer, Co-Director)
Kylah Benes-Trapp is a visual artist from California currently based in New York City. She works primarily in digital illustration, photography and graphic design and has recently started writing for film. Her work explores ideas of self-expression, femininity, identity and nostalgia. Her purpose is to create a world of possibility through her work that will inspire discovery.
LIFE ON sMARS: Six aspiring astronauts are sealed inside a solar-powered dome, attempting to simulate life on Mars. When Dana’s helmet malfunctions on the first spacewalk — depriving her of precious oxygen — she and her teammates have a critical decision to make.
Laramie Dennis (Writer, Director)
Laramie Dennis attended Wesleyan University and spent 10 years in New York City developing and directing new plays before earning her MFA in Film and Television Production from USC. Her short films have screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival and Short Film Corner at Cannes and have also been presented and distributed by Boyish, Shorts International and Sprint. Her short-form animated series, The Golden Rule, is currently in production.
Jenna Cedicci (Producer)
Jenna Cedicci is an international feature film and commercial producer. She has developed and produced more than 75 commercials and five features to date, three slated for distribution in 2019: the documentary Fire on the Hill, a remake of the classic German film Nosferatu, and the narrative indie feature Daddy Issues.
ROSA: While working at her aunt’s flower shop, Rosa takes her job underground when she begins a side business of shipping undocumented bodies to their home countries for burial.
Suha Araj (Writer, Director)
Suha Araj creates films that explore the displacement of immigrant communities. The Cup Reader, shot in Palestine, screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was awarded The Next Great Filmmaker Award at the Berkshire International Film Festival and Baghdad International Film Festival. Araj followed with Pioneer High in 2015. She has received support for her work from the Sundance Film Festival, TorinoFilmLab, Independent Filmmaker Project, Berlinale Talent Project Market, Center for Asian American Media and Cine Qua Non Lab.
Maryam Keshavarz (Producer)
Maryam Keshavarz is a writer, director and producer whose short The Day I Died won the Gold Teddy and Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Keshavarz’s first feature, Circumstance, won the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award and was distributed theatrically by Participant Media and Roadside Attractions. Her sophomore feature — Viper Club, starring Susan Sarandon — world premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and hits theaters this month.
EL TIMBRE DE SU VOZ: Yaneris, a Dominican teenager, plots a way to escape her hometown of Sosúa, where becoming an escort seems to be her only fate. After unexpectedly falling in love with her client’s son, she decides he may be the ticket to a new life — for both her and her disabled sister.
Gabriella Moses (Writer, Director)
Gabriella Moses is director, writer, and production designer based in Brooklyn. She is a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has received support for her work through the New York Women in Film & Television’s 2017 From Script to Pre-Production Workshop, Sundance Institute’s 2018 Screenwriters Intensive and 2018 TFI Network. Moses believes in sharing stories with underrepresented protagonists that push viewers’ perceptions of identity and imagination.
Shruti Ganguly (Producer)
Shruti Ganguly is a filmmaker and the founder of honto88. She has directed numerous videos and is a recovering media executive, with roles at MTV, Condé Nast/Vogue and more recently at NYLON as the Vice President of TV & Video. Her films have been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and AFI Fest. Ganguly hails from India by way of Oman.
WHAT IS YOUR SOUL PURPOSE?:
A sheltered Korean American family travels to Atlanta to retrieve the body of their son after he passes away from an accidental overdose. In the depths of their grief, they find an unlikely connection and momentary solace with the African American family who owns the mortuary.
Jennifer Cho Suhr (Writer/Director)
Jennifer Cho Suhr is a Brooklyn-based writer and director. She is developing her debut feature, You and Me Both, starring Constance Wu and selected for the Tribeca All Access® and Film Independent’s Producing Lab and Fast Track programs. Suhr earned her MFA from the NYU Tisch Graduate Film program, where she was awarded the Tisch Fellowship and a grant from the Spike Lee Film Production Fund.
Carolyn Mao (Producer)
Carolyn Mao is a Los Angeles-based producer and former development executive. Nice, a pilot she produced by creator Naomi Ko and director by Andrew Ahn, premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. She is currently raising financing forYou and Me Both. She is a fellow of Film Independent’s Project Involve, Producing Lab and Fast Track programs.
CHANEL and Tribeca work year-round to support women filmmakers, not only with THROUGH HER LENS, but during the annual Tribeca Film Festival with the annual women’s filmmaking lunch and the Nora Ephron Award. The Award was created in 2013 to honor exceptional female filmmakers who embody the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker. Women who have received the award include: Meera Menon (Farah Goes Bang, Equity), Talya Lavie (Zero Motivation), Laura Bispuri (Sworn Virgin), Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills), Petra Volpe (The Divine Order), and Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) from this past year.
The 2016 recipient of the THROUGH HER LENS grant, Feathers, directed by A.V. Rockwell, premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by Fox Searchlight. Last year’s main recipient, Suicide by Sunlight, by Nikyatu Jusu is currently in post-production.
Tribeca actively cultivates independent voices in storytelling and has been at the forefront of supporting women filmmakers. This past year, it led the way as the first major film festival to have near equal representation by women directors in its feature film program. THROUGH HER LENS: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program—the most recent iteration of Tribeca’s commitment to female artistic voices—continues to provide resources to help empower emerging women storytellers in the industry. The nonprofit affiliate of Tribeca, Tribeca Film Institute, supports female filmmakers through, among other initiatives, its cornerstone grant and mentorship program, Tribeca All Access. Currently in its 16^th year, the program supports scripted, documentary and interactive storytellers from diverse communities, including those that are statistically underrepresented in the industry.
About TRIBECA ENTERPRISES
Tribeca Enterprises is a multi-platform storytelling company based in New York City. Established in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, Tribeca provides artists with unique platforms to expand the audience for their work and broadens consumer access to experience storytelling, independent film and media. The company operates a network of branded entertainment businesses including the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival International, and Tribeca Studios. In 2014, The Madison Square Garden Company acquired a 50% stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together two of New York’s most important cultural and entertainment icons to enhance the reach and impact of both brands. www.tribecafilm.com.
About CHANEL
CHANEL, the international luxury goods company, was founded in France by Gabrielle Chanel at the beginning of the last century. The company, which is privately held, offers a broad range of luxury products, including Ready-to-Wear, fragrance, cosmetics, leathergoods, accessories, fine jewelry and watches, through a U.S. network of 24 boutiques and approximately 91 locations at select retailers. CHANEL is also renowned for its Haute Couture collections presented in Paris. CHANEL maintains 190 fashion boutiques worldwide, including the legendary House of CHANEL on rue Cambon in Paris. Under the creative guidance of designer Karl Lagerfeld, the House of CHANEL remains dedicated to luxury, fashion, style and image.
CHANEL opened its very first watch boutique avenue Montaigne in 1987 for the launch of the Première watch. The boutique was then transferred to place Vendôme in 1990, displaying also from 1993 the new CHANEL Fine Jewelry creations. Since 1997, the flagship Watch and Fine Jewelry boutique sits at 18, place Vendôme. There are 12 boutiques featuring fine jewelry collections in the U.S. and 52 Watch and Fine Jewelry boutiques worldwide.
About TRIBECA FILM INSTITUTE
TFI partners with storytellers and joins them in breaking barriers of access, exposure, and sustainability in the media landscape. The Institute prioritizes creators whose points of view have been marginalized due to race, gender, sexuality, class, and/or politics. Through grants, mentorship, industry connections, and professional development, TFI helps to ensure that storytellers from a multitude of backgrounds have access to the resources and tools they need to tell their stories, connect with audiences, and thrive in their careers. The Institute’s educational programming leverages an extensive film community network to cultivate the next generation of storytellers. Through customized mentorships and curriculum-aligned film screening workshops, TFI provides New York City public school students with media literacy skills necessary to be creative and thoughtful global citizens. TFI was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001 and is a 501(c)(3) year-round nonprofit arts organization.
@Tribeca #ThroughHerLens #WhatsYourStory

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Ashley Judd Reads Inspiring Letter at Time’s Up Event

dorriolds — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 14:17:36 +0000

Ashley Judd read her amazing letter at Tribeca Film Festival & TIME’S UP inaugural event — a fundraiser for Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. The nonprofit is only four months old and has already raised $22 Million.

Ashley Judd’s Powerful Letter

We can heal. That has been my experience. We may not, admittedly, know how to, or even from what we need to heal. It may be the event itself, or vivid or dull memories of it, and it is entirely plausible that we don’t even remember the event. There is a police record of a time I was sexually assaulted in high school. I was wearing a green and gold cheerleader uniform, my mother tells me. It was in a local store, and I have no memory of that crime. We may not even think we need to heal, that maybe we’ve just had some crappy relationships. Whatever trauma looks like in our lives, feelings can be healed.

Healing is our birthright. It was not our birthright to be sexually harassed or assaulted or raped based on social constructs of gender, biology, sex, identity, orientation, ethnicity, race, ability, or any intersection thereof. It is our birthright to know in our bones that it wasn’t our fault. We humans hurt each other, and sometimes we hurt ourselves, but we can make decisions and take actions that free us.

She Makes An Excellent Point Here

Everyone’s freedom may look a little different. For some it is calling the police, or reporting to HR, or contacting the legal defense fund. Often choices include healthy, cathartic processing with a safe, wise friend or a trauma-informed specialist. The particular freedom I’m describing does have one universal quality: It’s an inside job. It is peace of mind. Yes, we can have peace of mind, even as survivors of violent sexual assault.

It does take work, and it does take time. It requires transformation, and we are worth it. This meta-transformation is a powerful journey from being a disempowered victim who was aggressed upon to the wound just becoming an integrated part of the whole that we are. Trauma lives in the cells of our bodies and it affects the neuroanatomical pathways of our brain; it is completely natural for being a victim to be a part of our bodies. It is, I am here to tell you, impermanent.

Trauma and the Brain

There’s no universal timeframe for this trajectory of healing, and everyone’s work looks a little different. For some, talking about it drives the trauma deeper into the brainstem, and for others, divulging every nuance and detail is liberating.

Professional modalities have helped hundreds of thousands of us get relief from impossible burdens. Inpatient treatment, workshops, and retreats have brought us together and set us free. Experiential work and meditation are necessary. Breathing is free, and it intercepts PTSD. Meditation is clinically proven to ameliorate the trauma that lies triggered and wired in our brains, waiting for life to trip us up. Exercise is still the best pill around.

Twelve-step programs and other resources are so helpful because many of us, in our efforts to self-soothe, to find peace where there has been turmoil, turn to alcohol or give it a cookie, take it shopping, seek out relationships. And those behaviors can become out of hand or even compulsive. Eventually, though, what happened to us becomes externalized, and we may hold it in our hands and look at it objectively. The facts remain the facts, but by God, we change. Resilience kicks in.

No, Life Is Not Fair but…

This is not fair. Let’s be plain. It isn’t right or fair that 1 out of 4 girls or 1 out of 6 boys will be sexually assaulted, by conservative estimates, at the age of 18, amongst other catastrophic statistics. But—and this is everything, my friends—when we become aware of our pain, and have some education about it, we become responsible for addressing our pain in effective and healthy ways.

What happened to us will always have been wrong, sexist, and criminal, yet we are fundamentally and ultimately responsible, respondable to our own lives. This may sound harsh, but it means we have autonomy, we are powerful, and we have agency. The final stage is that what happened to us merely becomes a story we tell that may be of service to another human being. Perhaps placed in God’s hands, or some other benevolent, compassionate higher power’s hands, this story makes life so worthwhile and meaningful now. With it, we can help others avert death and misery.

You Are Not Alone

You are not alone, I believe you, and it wasn’t your fault, by now are our internal paradigm. We learn how to trust people who are trustworthy and have discernment about those who are not. We can artfully set and maintain healthy boundaries.

We use our voices, we weather retaliation and act up anyway. We cease taking people, places, and things so personally, and what was that rage Tarana [Burke] spoke about becomes our strength, our energy, and our motivation. What was depression becomes expression, and self-pity and helplessness are transformed into dignity, integrity, and courage. We celebrate and enjoy our sexuality. We prosecute and forgive at the same time.

There will still be the hard days. The facts do remain the facts, but we know our preciousness and our fierceness. Healing, damn it, is our birthright.

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#Tribeca2018 Gearing Up For Another Tribeca Film Festival with Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro

dorriolds — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 02:02:30 +0000

#Tribeca2018

Top: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface). Bottom: Steve Buscemi (In the Soup), Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List).

Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) looks more exciting than ever this year. During America’s current horror show in the White House, it will be fabulous to see what’s in store for #TFF2018.
In years past, I’ve seen Goodfellas, Godfather, and Taxi Driver reunions. This year the exciting film anniversaries include Brian De Palma’s Scarface, Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List (winner of seven Oscars) and Alexandre Rockwell’s independent film In the Soup.
Goodfellas Cast Reunion – photo © Dorri Olds

Schindler’s List

It’s been 25 years since Schindler’s List was released. After the screening, Spielberg, Liam Neeson, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Embeth Davidtz will answer questions and add commentary about the what went on behind the scenes during the making of the film. New York Times critic Janet Maslin will moderate.

Steven Spielberg – photo © Dorri Olds

Sir Ben Kingsley – photo © Dorri Olds

I’ve had the honor of interviewing the great Spielberg and Kingsley up close and personal. They were both wonderful to be around. Spielberg was surprisingly kind and generous with his time. Since I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Neeson, I’m looking forward to that, too. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, March 20 at 10:00 a.m.In
DATE: Thursday, April 26th
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre

Scarface

The legendary Scarface opened in theaters 35 years ago. It won three Golden Globe nominations and has become iconic. After the anniversary screening, director De Palma and actors Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer will reunite to discuss their gangland masterpiece. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, March 20 at 10:00 a.m.
DATE: Thursday, April 19th
TIME: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre

In the Soup

New York indie In the Soup was directed by Alexandre Rockwell and starred Steve Buscemi who played Adolpho, a man living in a deteriorating New York City apartment and trying to write a screenplay. It won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1992, then disappeared. Only one damaged print remained in existence. TFF, the patron saint of independent films, will be showing the newly restored film for its world premiere! After showing the film, director Rockwell, actors Buscemi, Jennifer Beals, Sam Rockwell, and cinematographer Phil Parmet will sit down for a discussion.
Stay tuned. Much more to come!
#Tribeca2018

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Lesbians Obsessed with Women Who Kill

dorriolds — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 01:36:51 +0000

Simone (Sheila Vand) and Morgan (Ingrid Jungermann) in Women Who Kill.
Photo: Diane Russo — Written for Honeysuckle Magazine • HERS issue • PDF
Women Who Kill is a feature film written and directed by Ingrid Jungermann who also stars as main character Morgan, a commitment-phobe. While screening the film, I fell in love with Jungermann’s striking face. Angular and piercing it grabs you and becomes more and more intriguing via her black-as-soot humor and deadpan delivery. Her long, lean model build is perfect for a movie screen but it’s her wit and quirks that stand out most of all.
I was thrilled to land an exclusive interview with Jungermann. It was right after the July 4 holiday when she returned to her native NYC. Despite exhaustion—and directly due to my pleading—the rising star made time for the interview. It did not take any convincing for my editors to say she was perfect for this HER issue of Honeysuckle.

Jean (Ann Carr) and Morgan (Ingrid Jungermann) in Women Who Kill. Photo: Diane Russo

Women Who Kill debuted at Tribeca Film Festival in 2016 and received the jury award for Best Screenplay. Indiewire described it as the “Best Lesbian Horror-Comedy Ever.” I have to agree. The film racked up a slew of awards at film festivals: Best Screenplay at Outfest; and Weekend. It won Best Narrative Feature at Indie Street; Seattle TWIST Queer; Melbourne Queer; and Oslo Fusion International. It also received Honorable Mention for Outstanding First Feature at Frameline.
It is a love triangle between two ex-girlfriends, Morgan and Jean (Ann Carr), who still live and work together. They’re true crime podcasters with a show about female serial killers. The exes spend so much time together, it has impeded letting go of the relationship. The heat dial turns way up when Morgan meets beautiful new love interest, Simone (Sheila Vand). Soon the high drama kicks in when the podcasting lesbians obsessed with murders begin to fear that Simone may be one. Now, let’s get to the interview!
Dorri Olds: Want to tell if she is a murderer?
Ingrid Jungermann: I can’t. [Laughs]
What planted the seed for this story?
It’s funny, when I first watched the film at Tribeca, and throughout the whole finishing process, and then over the months of screening at festivals, I saw that the movie was clearly a personal film about my own struggles with relationships. It was my version of a romantic comedy in a twisted way. The new script that I’m working on right now is a romantic comedy, but it’s a satire about the genre.
It’s like a queer person’s first experience with love, especially with a religious background, which is not a positive experience because you’re working through feeling all these dark emotions, when you really should just be feeling the pure emotions.
What religion were you brought up with?
Jehovah’s Witness.
I’ve heard the followers are judgmental.
Yeah, exactly. I came out as soon as I left home at 17, when I went to college. That year I realized I was gay, or at least became more comfortable with it. I was probably one of the last people who realized I was gay. I don’t think it was a big surprise to many people. I grew up in Florida and there is no language for it. No allowance for the feelings. You walk around with a secret. I worked at Blockbuster Video and I remember seeing the queer section and that was one of the ways I could put language to how I was feeling, but I still didn’t realize at that time that I was gay.

Ingrid Juntermann (Writer, Director, Performer), Women Who Kill. Photo: Diane Russo

Did you experience any self-loathing?
People in the arts can be more sensitive and are naturally gonna question things about themselves, where other people might not. Certainly, self-loathing was part of it. Internalizing some of those views, yeah. That’s something that takes many years to get at and hopefully unravel. Then you come out on the other side, understanding that self-loathing was really unfortunate. I feel we’re trained to be that way. It takes a long time to get out of that. Then years of therapy.
How do you feel about the vitriol in America right now thanks to Trump?
I definitely feel the hatred. He’s given people a free pass on that kind of language. The vitriolic language and darkness everybody is feeling is at an all-time high. We are experiencing a collective depression.
Anything new and exciting on the horizon?
Yes, I’m in development for my next feature with QC Entertainment, who worked with Blumhouse on Get Out.
Great movie!
Yeah. So, I’m writing this satirical romcom. It’s formulaic except it’s a commentary on formula. I like formula and structure and playing with the genre, and shaking it up and making a joke of itself.
Any nod to classic movies?
This was inspired by Tootsie. That idea of dressing up as someone you’re not. I’m also studying films from the 40s and 50s—going back to see how romantic comedies started and what they became. It’s fun.

Women Who Kill next screens in New York, July 26–August 1 at IFC (wwkmovie.com).

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Psychological Thriller ‘Hounds of Love’ was No. 1 at Tribeca Film Festival

dorriolds — Fri, 12 May 2017 17:34:56 +0000

My movie pick for this year’s Tribeca Film Festival: Hounds of Love ★★★★★

At the start of this thriller, we’re introduced to a quiet, picturesque suburb in Perth, Australia where women are disappearing. It’s 1987 in this chilling, unforgettable film where killing couple John (Stephen Curry) and Evelyn White (Emma Booth) are abducting young female victims. The characters are based on real-life husband and wife murderers David and Catherine Birnie who killed four women in the 1980s in their home in Perth. The press dubbed the crimes the Moorhouse murders after the Birnie’s address.

Much to its credit, the movie shows very little gore. Most of the violence goes on your head—much like in Psycho‘s shower scene where you hear the horrifying music, spot the knife, see a flash of Janet Leigh’s terrified scream. The rest comes from your own mind, filling in grotesque images of what must be happening. Hounds of Love uses slow motion snippets to brilliantly introduce us to the quaint little town. A carefully chosen and well-timed soundtrack merges with the slow-mo to create goose-bumpy fear. This is a shocking debut for writer-director Ben Young. It has the self-control and masterful storytelling you’d expect from a seasoned filmmaker.

Teenager Vicki Maloney (Ashleigh Cummings), 17, picks the wrong night to rebel against her mother. Emotionally distraught by her parent’s recent uncoupling, Vicki sneaks out to go to a party. She blames her mother Maggie (Susie Porter), an artistic free spirit, for blowing up their family unit. Vicki’s dad Trevor (Damian de Monemas) is a successful surgeon but Maggie felt smothered by him and chose a more bohemian lifestyle. Vicki is having a hard time adjusting despite her loving and supportive boyfriend (Harrison Gilbertson). She’s furious with her mom but pampered with gifts by her Dad, including an adorable puppy.

Ashleigh Cummings as Vicki Maloney.

It’s easy to identify with Vicki in spite of, or because of, her broody moodiness as a teen. We watch helplessly as the serial killers lure Vicki into their car by offering to smoke a joint with her and bring her to a fun party. They look so normal and friendly. It’s not the tired device in a million B-movies where the soon-to-be imperiled character wonders who might be in a scary, dark dungeon of a basement and stupidly goes in alone to investigate. Ben Young’s writing is smart and believable. At Vicki’s age, I could’ve been easily swayed to hang with these peeps.

The acting is as superb as the script, cinematography (Michael McDermott), and soundtrack (Moody Blues, Cat Stevens, and a haunting score by Australian composer Dan Luscombe). It all fits together seamlessly to scare the bejeezus out of you. It also offers layered characters. Evelyn is a deeply disturbed woman who should’ve attended 12-step codependency meetings instead of worshipping John as her higher power. It’s reminiscent of girls like Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins who offered Charles Manson godlike worship and total submission.

Bound and gagged and secured to a bed in the White’s home, Vicki becomes their object to play with and taunt. Problems arise when John takes a special interest in this prisoner. Evelyn feels threatened by John’s obsessive fascination with their beautiful — and younger — captive. Vicki sees the manipulative hold John has on Evelyn and uses that to her advantage by appealing to the tiny, hidden piece of Evelyn that knows that John uses her. The females in the film are an intriguing contrast: weak, pathetic Evelyn versus strong, self-reliant, resourceful Vicki and her Mom.

After viewing multitudinous movies at Tribeca Film Festival, I cannot get this one out of my head, nor do I want to. It is that good.

AWARDS

Best Feature: Hounds of Love, The Overlook Film Festival
Best Actress: Ashleigh Cummings, Fedeora Award, Venice Film Festival
Best Actress: Emma Booth, Brussels International Film Festival
Best Director: Ben Young, Brussels International Film Festival
Video © Dorri Olds

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE STARS

Dorri Olds: Stephen, you were a really scary sociopath. And you’re a comedian, right?
Stephen Curry: Yeah. [Laughs]
DO: Are you one of those people that could get deep into character and then snap out of character on breaks?
Ashleigh Cummings and Emma Booth [in unison]: Yes!
Stephen: Yeah, well that’s the thing, that’s what I usually do but it was a lot harder on this because of how involved we became and how intrinsically we were working together to make this piece. To see the performances that were coming out of Ashleigh and Emma, it was increasingly harder to pull ourselves away. We were in that reality and the realization, and acceptance, that this stuff happens to real people is a really, really horrible thought. That was one of the reasons we had to tell this story. And we wanted to do it in as respectful a manner as possible. And that meant committing 100 percent to it.
Ashleigh: Stephen was amazing. He’d bring us out of it at lunchtime by playing his ukulele.
Emma: He was amazing! He used to write improvised songs for us with a ukulele, which we have on tape.
Ashleigh: We do.
Stephen: You’ve got that on tape?
Emma: Yeah, I do. Stephen is actually unbelievably hilarious and brilliant. Just having him there with that energy and humor, was great.
Ashleigh: Yeah, it was dark. It was almost suffocating the amount of grief and the location was a very claustrophobic place to work.
DO: Why?
Emma: Because that’s all we could afford. [Laughs] And we were going through this crazy heatwave in Australia.
Stephen: Yeah, we were confined to this small space and it was about 110 degrees—crazy hot. And the material itself was so claustrophobic as well.
Emma: We needed a location like that. It was perfect for it. But it was 30 crew members in there as well.
DO: Did you work on back stories for your characters? Emma, can you tell me how you became so demented?
Emma: [Laughs] I don’t know, do you got three hours? I don’t even know where to start. I think it started from a very young age. And this love story that started between John and Evelyn’s dependency on each other from 13 years of age.

Stephen Curry as John White and Emma Booth as his wife Evelyn.

Stephen: Yeah, that’s what it is. I think he was a slightly older kid. He might have been 17 or 18 and he found this Evelyn, this metaphor of a bird with a broken wing, that he took under his wing and from that moment on provided Evelyn with the supposed love that she needed. But it was all only an affectation because he’s a sociopath.
DO: When did Evelyn have her two kids taken away to go live with their father?
Emma: She basically just left them for John. He kept manipulating her saying, “We’ll get the kids soon.” Although Evelyn and John met at thirteen, it was a kind of on and off relationship. So, Evelyn is just holding onto the hope that she’s gonna get the kids back. She’s trying to just appease John the whole time. He’s so obsessed, and she’s so reliant on John that she’d do anything for him. She gave up everything. What she ended up with was a devastating existence.
DO: Ashleigh, your character’s mother had an incredible instinct where she could just feel you. Then there was that scene—a great nod to Silence of the Lambs.
Stephen: Oh yeah. Absolutely.
DO: Did Ben Young do that as dark humor?
Stephen: I don’t know if it was necessarily dark humor but Ben has said many times that film is one of his favorites and he wanted to pay homage to it. But we don’t want to give too much away!
DO: Ashleigh, in one scene your character’s boyfriend doesn’t walk towards you. It was while you’re hugging your mom. Did he do that out of respect, to give your characters a private moment, or was he just too freaked out?
Ashleigh: A little bit of both. I’m not sure if you see it, but when we were shooting, the dad collapses and the boyfriend stays to comfort him. But also, I think it was out of respect.
DO: A boyfriend can have this weird macho feeling that he should have protected his girlfriend. Was it partly that?
Ashleigh: Maybe. That’s a question for Harrison. He’s a brilliant actor. He’s a very thoughtful and sensitive person and might have built all that into it.
DO: Stephen, was there a back story for John’s parents—to show how you become such an evil, no empathy kind of guy?
Stephen: I did a lot of study on sociopaths. Ben and I agreed that John received their love but any kind of “love” that he had received was an affectation. That’s all he ever knew. So, that fed his desire for power and control and a need to assume a hierarchy because he never received it as a child.
DO: I imagined John’s upbringing like Charles Manson’s, whose mother had him when she was a 16-year-old prostitute. Or like serial killer Henry Lee Lucas; his prostitute mother had sex with her “johns” in front of Lucas. Was John’s story similar, which might help explain why he hated women so much?
Stephen: Certainly, John felt like he never had control over his life. He saw anything that happened to him as a slight. He thought life was unfair and that no child should have to go through what he did. Thereby, even his sense of order, his need for control, emotionally and physically, and his OCD, made him need everything to be “right.” He even orchestrated it so Evelyn was doing the scouting and kidnapping for him. She is creating this order that he is orchestrating. He sees it as “allowing” Evelyn to be his slave.
DO: Emma, what was it like for you when you got off work and went back to your life?
Emma: Stephen would snap Ashleigh and me out of that stuff. There’s so much love between us that we’d just hug goodbye afterwards. There was an exhaustion, though, from bringing up that much emotional stuff all day. I’d go home and just stare at the wall and my husband would be like, “Hello? Are you there?” I’d be like, “Darling, please don’t talk to me.” I’d just sit there so tired but so wired.
Ashleigh: Yes, it tired and wired simultaneously.
Emma: It was bizarre but I wasn’t tortured.
Ashleigh: I was.
DO: I would’ve been.
Emma: What does that say about me? [Laughs]
Ashleigh: For me it was because I was playing the victim. Just knowing that there were other girls who had been in that situation. We were telling this story and I could feel them telling theirs, and fighting for their rights. I don’t know how to stop that kind of pain and torture. That was awful and I had to very consciously consider the notion of creation in the face of such devastation. That was the only thing that kind of got me through. I’d get very apocalyptic with my thoughts, quickly. I was like, “Look at all this pain in the world,” and it just expanded to a bigger picture thing.
DO: Wow, great answer. Now, about the title, “Hounds of Love,” was that because Emma was in love even though it was a very sick love? Was she a hound of love? Or was it because John was feeding the victims to their hound? Or was it a reference to the beginning of the film, when Ashleigh is struggling with her parent’s divorce and her father gives her a puppy as a way to express love?
Emma: It’s from the Kate Bush song.
Ashleigh: It’s about predators and prey, and the reference of the dog.
Stephen: And it’s a reference of the hound bought as a substitute for Evelyn’s children.
DO: Right, and those lyrics could be about Vicki: running in the night…afraid of what might be. Hiding in the dark, in the street. Totally interesting analyzing that song, and the psychology in the movie. I could talk to you guys all day long about this movie. It was my favorite at Tribeca Film Festival this year.
Emma: We love that.
DO: So many other would’ve overacted and none of you did. It could’ve really been ruined by that.
Emma: We were so careful.
Ashleigh: And Ben was amazing in orchestrating that and we kept talking about it.
Emma: For Stephen’s character, I don’t think there could be a more perfect person to play it. There’s so much power in silence. There were times when he actually took that to extremes. He just did nothing and it was terrifying.
Stephen: I’d forgotten a lot of that stuff. [Laughs]
Ashleigh: It’s so hard to do nothing.
Emma: It is! But that’s everything and it takes balls. You’re like, “Am I doing enough? Giving enough?”
Stephen: Clearly you gave it your all. Superb performances. What’s it been like to get all these awards and all this attention?
Stephen: Kind of surreal.
Ashleigh: So flattering.
Hounds of Love is now playing in select theaters and available online. Crime, Drama, Suspense, Thriller. 108 minutes.

Terrifying serial killer John White (Stephen Curry).

Hounds of Love
song lyrics by Kate Bush
© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

It’s in the trees
It’s coming
When I was a child
Running in the night
Afraid of what might be
Hiding in the dark
Hiding in the street
And of what was following me
Now hounds of love are hunting
I’ve always been a coward
And I don’t know what’s good for me
Here I go
It’s coming for me through the trees
Help me someone
Help me please
Take my shoes off
And throw them in the lake
And I’ll be
Two steps on the water
I found a fox
Caught by dogs
He let me take him in my hands
His little heart
It beats so fast
And I’m ashamed of running away
From nothing real
I just can’t deal with this
But I’m still afraid to be there
Among your hounds of love
And feel your arms surround me
I’ve always been a coward
And never know what’s good for me
Oh here I go
Don’t let me go
Hold me down
It’s coming for me through the trees
Help me darling
Help me please
Take my shoes off
And throw them in the lake
And I’ll be
Two steps on the water
I don’t know what’s good for me
I don’t know what’s good for me
I need your love love love love love yeah
Your love
Take your shoes off
And throw them in the lake
Do you know what I really need?
Do you know what I really need?
I need love love love love love yeah

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Juno Temple and Julia Garner Shine in ‘One Percent More Humid’ at TFF

dorriolds — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 15:46:39 +0000

Tribeca Film Festival’s feature narrative, One Percent More Humid, premiered last night in Chelsea at the SVA Theater. The haunting coming-of-age story centers on two childhood friends on a break from college who reunite in their New England hometown. It’s a sweltering, sticky summer, hence the title. Iris (Juno Temple) and Catherine (Julia Garner) find relief in the cooling waters of the local lake.

Juno Temple as Iris in ‘One Percent More Humid’

It soon becomes clear that their seemingly carefree skinny-dipping at the beautiful secluded spot, runs deeper. Iris and Catherine are obviously troubled. Sensitively written and directed by Liz W. Garcia, the town and its characters are so palpable, filled with realistic details. I felt like she intimately knew this world.
“I grew up in Ridgefield, Connecticut,” said Garcia, “and was haunted by events in that town. I wrote One Percent to get these characters out of their dilemma.”
The beauty of this indie is its slow reveal. Under Garcia’s direction, the camera zeros in on hints, telling the story through breadcrumb snippets. In one scene, the two actresses subtly convey a hint of sabatoging their well-being. Iris, chain-smoking, confides to Catherine that she’s having amazing sex.
But, instead of bubbly, she’s under pressure. The weight is knowing the affair is ill-advised. “I’m seeing my thesis advisor. I’m sleeping with him. He’s married.” Her professor is played by the magnetic Italian actor Alessandro Nivola.
In another scene we witness Catherine, drunk, in a bar, throwing herself at the brother of what we learn later is an important connection. But eventually, the viewer discovers he’s manipulating Catherine to garner information that will sink her.
Details of the girls’ shared grief boils to the surface, and we see that this is more than typical college-aged angst. They are wading into a torrential storm of self-destruction. Every action they take—pot, pills, alcohol, obsessive sex—is an attempt to feel better. They’re numbing themselves because they can find no absolution for guilt that rains down on them.
One Percent More Humid is one of the fine offerings by women directors this year. Through the storytelling, Garcia gifts us with what’s lacking in so many blockbusters: the woman’s perspective. Temple and Garner rise to the level of A-list performers; they’re effervescent and make it look effortless.

Showtimes:

Sun., April 23, 4:15pm, Cinepolis Chelsea 03
Mon., April 24, 7:45pm, Cinepolis Chelsea 01
Tues., April 25, 10pm, Regal Battery Park Theater 11
Drama, 98 min.

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Tribeca Film Festival 2017 Celebrates Women

dorriolds — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 00:25:45 +0000

The 2017 Tribeca Film Festival begins Wednesday, April 19 and runs through Sunday, April 30. This is the 16^th year of awe-inspiring offerings. Many thanks go to co-founders Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro for this long-standing celebration of New York City, movies, media, and activism.
The festival is known for its exquisite mix of pure entertainment and searing documentaries. Jane Rosenthal said, “You have to remember, the festival started as a way to help our community after 9/11 and to bring people together and to bring a community together. That kind of activism is the DNA of this festival, not just of us as individuals.”

TFF cofounder Jane Rosenthal. Photo by Dorri Olds.

Ever since its inception, Rosenthal has championed the power of women by showcasing their work. Not only are there 25 female jurors this year, but out of 98 festival selections, 32 are helmed by female filmmakers. There has never been a more important time for solidarity among women.

Highlights of 2017 TFF Feature Films Directed By Women

For showtimes click on film titles

One Percent More Humid Iris (Juno Temple) and Catherine (Julia Garner), are overwhelmed with grief after a shared tragedy. They turn to using sex like a drug to numb out and spin out into self-destruction. The movie was written and directed by Liz W. Garcia.
Flames Real-life couple, filmmaker Josephine Decker and artist Zefrey Throwell, filmed their romantic relationship over a five-year period. Movie viewers experience the pair during their giddy in love phase and high on their creative juices. Viewers watch the couple’s sexual encounters, knowing there is another woman in the room, she is off-screen but recording every intimate detail through her camera. It’s an eerie and fascinating concept to watch a relationship from its gleeful beginning to its soured end.

Blame This is 22-year-old writer-director Quinn Shephard’s feature debut. She also plays the starring role of emotionally unstable Abigail who lands the lead in class for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Mean girl Melissa Bowman (Nadia Alexander) is pissed. The substitute drama teacher (Chris Messina) notices the hostile classroom environment and steps in to rally for vulnerable Abigail. The timing is tricky, though. The teacher’s marriage is strained, leaving him shaky, too.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Written and directed by Alexandra Dean, this is a new look at a Hollywood legend. Although known for her beauty, she had an incredible mind. Through the film we learn about her inventions, including a secret communication system for the Allies to beat the Nazis. She never received credit for her engineering innovations.

I Am Evidence Every year in America, thousands of rape kits containing DNA evidence are left untested by police. Over 175,000 kits have been uncovered. Only eight states (Georgia, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York) have passed laws requiring that rape kits be tested by police. As a result, decades worth of kits have been shelved, the cases are unsolved and the perps are free. Directed by Trish Adlesic and produced by Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order SVU’s Olivia Benson.
Warning: This Drug May Kill You This timely documentary by Perri Peltz takes an unflinching look at the devastating effects of addiction through the stories of four families whose lives have been decimated by addictions that began with prescriptions to pain meds.
To keep up TFF2017 highlights, follow @DorriOlds and #Tribeca2017.

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Tribeca Film Festival 2017 Celebrates the 45th Anniversary of The Godfather

dorriolds — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:08:02 +0000

Update: Tribeca Film Festival The Godfather Reunion was magical.

Diane Keaton, James Caan, Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, Talia Shire, Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro reunited at Radio City Music Hall, NYC

Tribeca Film Festival in the 16th year of the annual cultural movie marathon festival, announced the program’s big closer. On Saturday, April 29, movie lovers will be treated to a celebration of the 45th anniversary since The Godfather hit theaters. There will be back-to-back screenings of the The Godfather and The Godfather Part II at Radio City Music Hall. An all-star panel will follow the screenings. The discussion will include Hollywood gold including director Academy Award®-winning director Francis Ford Coppola and A-list actors Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Robert De Niro. Beyond our wildest dreams for us cinephiles.
Following this once-in-a-lifetime cast reunion at the Tribeca Film Festival in celebration of the 45th anniversary of The Godfather, Paramount will release all three films in the epic crime saga on Blu-ray^™, DVD and Digital HD May 9th.
The discs include hours of bonus content, including commentary by Francis Ford Coppola on all three films, as well as fascinating behind-the-scenes features on the unlikely events, intrigue, allegiances and luck that put together the unknown director with the “unwanted” cast. The special features also explore the film’s enduring influence on popular culture, the impact of the locations and music, interviews with the filmmakers and cast, a Corleone family tree and historical timeline, photo galleries, storyboards and much, much more.

PANELISTS

Al Pacino

Actor and director Al Pacino was born in East Harlem and grew up in New York City’s South Bronx. He attended the School of Performing Arts until he moved on to study acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio with Charles Laughton, and later, at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. His first leading part in a feature film was in the 1971 drama Panic in Needle Park. The following year, Francis Ford Coppola selected him to take on the breakthrough role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award®.

Robert Duvall

A leading man since the 1960s, Robert Duvall has specialized in driven characters of all types. Respected by his peers and adored by audiences worldwide, he has earned numerous Oscar® nominations for his performances in The Judge, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini and The Apostle. Duvall won the Academy Award® and a Golden Globe® as Best Actor for his role in Tender Mercies. In addition, he has received Golden Globe® Awards for his performances in the title role of HBO’s Stalin as well as for his memorable turns in Apocalypse Now and Lonesome Dove.

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro launched his motion picture career in Brian De Palma’s The Wedding Party in 1969. In 1974, De Niro won the Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather, Part II. In 1980 he won his second Oscar®, as Best Actor, for Raging Bull. De Niro has also received five Academy Award nominations for his work including Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, and Silver Linings Playbook. In 2009, De Niro was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. De Niro takes pride in his production company, Tribeca Productions, the Tribeca Film Center, (which he founded with Jane Rosenthal in 1988,) and in the Tribeca Film Festival, which he founded with Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff. Tribeca’s A Bronx Tale in 1993 marked De Niro’s directorial debut and in 2016 he directed Tribeca’s The Good Shepherd.

James Caan

One of the most versatile actors in film, James Caan is best known for his Academy Award® nominated performance as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather and for his Emmy®-nominated portrayal of football star Brian Piccalo in Brian’s Song. Appearing in more than 50 movies, Caan also earned great recognition starring in Rob Reiner’s critically acclaimed film Misery; and For The Boys, co-starring Bette Midler. He was equally praised for his performance as a brain damaged football star in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People. Caan made his directorial debut and starred in the critically acclaimed film Hide In Plain Sight.

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola was born in Detroit and grew up in Queens, NY. After graduating from Hofstra and UCLA, he worked as screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is a five-time Academy Award® winner. His film credits include Patton, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Francis has also been producing wine for over 35 years at his Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley wineries. His other business interests include luxury resorts in Central America, Argentina, and Italy, and an award-winning short story magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story. Francis’s current interest is in a new from of entertainment he calls Live Cinema, being a combination of theater, film, and television. He is presently working on a long-form screenplay he hopes to produce in this new medium.

Taylor Hackford

Taylor Hackford was the director of the Academy Award® winning films Ray and An Officer and a Gentleman. In addition, he helmed the beloved features Against All Odds, The Devil’s Advocate, Dolores Claiborne, and Blood In, Blood Out. Hackford most recently directed Robert De Niro in The Comedian. His feature documentary work is equally acclaimed, with Chuck Berry: Hail!, Hail! Rock n’ Roll and When We Were Kings, a behind-the-scenes look at the legendary 1974 bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, which won for Best Documentary Feature. He has served two terms as president of the Directors Guild of America.

Talia Shire

Talia Shire comes from a family of artists. The Yale drama school alum has appeared in over fifty movies and television shows, received two Academy Award® nominations, and won the NY Film Critics Award for her performance in Rocky (1976). She and her husband Jack Schwartzman independently financed and produced several movies among them Never Say Never Again (1983) and Rad (1986) whose sequel is currently in development. In 1994 she directed One Night Stand. In 1994 Jack Schwartzman died. In 1997 she was one of several producers on the Tony nominated play “Golden Child.” Family is at the center of her life. Talia’s children continue on in the same tradition of theatre and film. Her two step children John Schwartzman (Cinematographer) and Stephanie Schwartzman (Artist), her son Matthew Shire (Writer/Producer), Jason Schwartzman (Actor/Musician/Writer/Director/Producer), & Robert Schwartzman (Actor/Musician/Director/Producer).

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Getting our ‘Kicks’ at TFF with Justin Tipping and newcomer Jahking Guillory

dorriolds — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 10:04:16 +0000

Tribeca Film Festival’s red carpet for the movie “Kicks” was a blast. In attendance were cast members Jahking Guillory, Mahershala Ali, Kofi Siriboe, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer and Michael Smith. Director and co-writer Justin Tipping was brave enough to be vulnerable. He exemplifies the best aspect of indies—raw emotion.
Synopsis: Brandon (Guillory), 15, dreams of a pair of fresh Air Jordans but right after he gets them, they’re stolen by local hood Flaco (Siriboe), causing Brandon and his two friends go on a dangerous mission through Oakland to retrieve them.

Dorri Olds: What inspired this story?
Justin Tipping: I got jumped with a pair of Nikes when I was 16 and [felt] the humiliation of that. I remember talking to a brother and he was like, “Oh, good, you’re a man now.” It was that moment that I felt proud but in retrospect that is completely backwards. Why are we supposed to think violence is about becoming a man? Why does that make me a man? There’s no reason for it but it’s always perpetuated in society. It’s all around us. Like you hear, “Man up.” But why is that? What does that even mean? Why isn’t it “Do good in school?”
“Kicks” played during Tribeca Film Festival 2016. And now it’s available On Demand. This indie is a winner. Don’t miss it. Rated R. 87 min.

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