Declare Your Independents — Vol. 50
GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome back to Declare Your Independents, our new series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film!
This week…
50 Great Movies That Were Nominated For Zero Oscars
This Romantic Short Film was Shot Entirely on an iPhone 6
Why ‘Boyhood’ Is Like Binge-Viewing a Life
Attention, Filmmakers: Apply to These Short Film Grants
Scott and I encourage any of you who go to see an independent movie to post your reactions to the film in these posts. Good, bad, indifferent, whatever. If there’s a film you want to recommend, do it. Use your words to inspire readers to transport themselves into a local cinema.
INDIE SPOTLIGHT: MOVIES TO SEE IN THEATERS THIS WEEK
OPENING FRIDAY (2/20)
Inequality, injustice and the demands of the world we live in cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people. Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover’s betrayal, a return to the repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
Watch DP/30’s interview with the film’s writer/director, Damián Szifrón, here.
Bianca (Mae Whitman) is a content high school senior whose world is shattered when she learns the student body knows her as ‘The DUFF’ (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) to her prettier, more popular friends (Skyler Samuels & Bianca Santos). Now, despite the words of caution from her favorite teacher (Ken Jeong), she puts aside the potential distraction of her crush, Toby (Nick Eversman), and enlists Wesley (Robbie Amell), a slick but charming jock, to help reinvent herself. To save her senior year from turning into a total disaster, Bianca must find the confidence to overthrow the school’s ruthless label maker Madison (Bella Thorne) and remind everyone that no matter what people look or act like, we are all someone’s DUFF.
Read an interview with the film’s screenwriter, Josh Cagan, here.
The rise and fall of Gloria Trevi, the Mexican pop diva, is depicted in this biographical drama.
Watch an interview with the film’s director, Christian Keller, here.
James (Kodi-Smit-McPhee) has shut himself off from his surroundings, falling into a world of imagination and darkness. Visits with his psychiatrist (Danny Devito) have proven unhelpful — though he takes a liking to fellow patient, Val (Isabelle Fuhrman). As James begins to rebel against his single mother (Virginia Madsen), he ventures into the night where he meets a mysterious kid (Evan Ross) who welcomes him into an eccentric city. Relationships are put to the test as James navigates unfamiliar territory, wrestling with the reality of his own personal wilderness.
Watch an interview with writer/director Michael Johnson and the film’s producers here.
Things are looking bleak for the members of rock band Tennis Pro. They’ve been struggling to connect to an audience in the Seattle music scene, with a recent run of shows drawing sparse crowds and uninspiring day jobs that are quickly eclipsing their dreams. So when an opportunity arises to take their act on the road to Japan — where the allure of a second chance at recognition awaits them — they can’t refuse. Embarking on their Tokyo musical odyssey, the guys experience all the thrills and setbacks of taking their music into unknown territory (at least to them) and in the process learn a thing or two about themselves. It’s just possible they won’t fade away.
Drunktown’s Finest is the coming-of-age story of three young Native Americans — a college-bound Christian girl raised by white parents, a rebellious and lost father-to-be, and a promiscuous yet gorgeous transsexual — as they struggle to escape the hardships of life on the Navajo reservation. This film portrays modern Native American youths struggling to find their place in the world, but more importantly reveals the same struggles that many young Americans face while growing up in small town U.S.A.
Watch an interview with writer/director Sydney Freeland here.
What if the ghastly images and abominations haunting our collective nightmares actually exist? Writer/director Adam Green (Hatchet) sets out to make a documentary exploring this tantalizing premise after being contacted by a mysterious man named William Dekker (Ray Wise). Dekker claims he can prove that “monsters are real” and insists these grotesque creatures are forgotten, hideously deformed humanoids inhabiting a vast, underground metropolis of the damned. Determined to expose the truth, Green embarks on a bone-chilling odyssey and gets more than he bargains for when he dares to go Digging Up The Marrow.
Watch an interview with writer/director Adam Green here.
The Business of Disease is a groundbreaking documentary exploring the vastness of human potential despite the restrictions of programmed beliefs. For the sheer purpose of profit and control illness is marketed to the minds of the unsuspecting masses. The results? A society programmed for sickness and death.
NOW IN THEATERS
HITS, comedian David Cross’s first directorial effort, is a dark comedy exploring the nature of fame in 21st Century YouTube America. The film takes place in a small town in upstate New York populated by people who trade in unrealistic expectations. It’s a story in which fame, delusion, earnestness, and recklessness meet, shake hands, and disrupt the lives around them. A talentless teen (Meredith Hagner) will do anything to get on TV’s “The Voice.” Meanwhile, her father (Matt Walsh), a municipal worker, creates an uproar when a video of his rants at City Hall goes viral.
Watch a Q&A with writer/director David Cross and the film’s cast here.
A Spike Lee Joint, DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS is a new kind of love story, one that centers on an addiction to blood that once doomed a long forgotten ancient African tribe. When Dr. Hess Green (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is introduced to a mysteriously cursed artifact by an art curator, Lafayette Hightower (Elvis Nolasco), he is uncontrollably drawn into a newfound thirst for blood that overwhelms his soul. He however is not a vampire. Lafayette quickly succumbs to the ravenous nature of the infliction but leaves Hess a transformed man. Soon Lafayette’s wife, Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams), comes looking for her husband and becomes involved in a dangerous romance with Hess that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status in our seemingly sophisticated society. A reinterpretation of Bill Gunn’s horror cult film “Ganja & Hess”, which played as a Critics’ Choice at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee’s stylized thriller features an Original Score by Bruce Hornsby.
Watch an interview with writer/director Spike Lee here.
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
An Israeli woman (Ronit Elkabetz) seeking to finalize her divorce from her cruel and manipulative husband finds herself effectively put on trial by her country’s religiously-based marriage laws, in this riveting drama from sibling directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz (Late Marriage and The Band’s Visit) who is also one of Israeli cinema’s most acclaimed actresses. In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce; only rabbis can legalize a marriage or its dissolution, which is only possible with the husband’s full consent. Viviane Amsalem has been applying for a divorce for three years but her husband Elisha (Simon Ebkarian of Casino Royale and Persepolis), will not agree. His cold intransigence, Viviane’s determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the judges shape a procedure in which tragedy vies with absurdity, and where everything is brought out for judgment, apart from the initial request.
Watch a Q&A interview with writer/directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz here.
Once upon a time, Keith Michaels (Hugh Grant — About a Boy, Love Actually) was an Award-winning Hollywood screenwriter, but divorce and a string of unsuccessful films have left him with nothing but bad debts and blank pages. So when his agent arranges a job as guest screenwriting professor at a remote university in upstate New York, a desperate Keith can’t say no. Initially hoping to give minimal effort to actual teaching so he can focus on his next script, Keith unexpectedly finds himself becoming invested in his students lives, including Holly (Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler), a single mom looking to start her own new chapter. The Rewrite features an all-star cast, including J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Allison Janney (“Mom”), Chris Elliott (Groundhog Day) and Bella Heathcote (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).
Watch an interview with the film’s writer/director Marc Lawrence and star Hugh Grant here.
In this adaptation of the hit musical, The Last Five Years is a musical deconstruction of a love affair and a marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie (Jordan), a young, talented up-and-coming Jewish novelist falls in love with Cathy (Kendrick), a Shiksa Goddess and struggling actress. Their story is told almost entirely through song. All of Cathy’s songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair, while Jamie’s songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. They meet in the center when Jamie proposes.
Watch an interview with writer/director Richard LaGravenese here.
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS chronicles the adventures of four vampire roommates trying to get by in a modern world that’s not always hospitable to the undead. Clement and Waititi, creators of the HBO hit series “Flight of the Conchords,” co-wrote, co-directed, and co-star in this hilarious send-up in which an endearingly unhip quartet of friends reveal to us or, rather, to the documentary crew that’s filming them, the details of their daily-make that nightly-routine. Ranging in age from 183 to 8,000, and in appearance from adorably youthful to Nosferatu-crusty, they squabble over household chores, struggle to keep up with the latest trends in technology and fashion, antagonize the local werewolves, cruise clubs for lovely ladies, and deal with the rigors of living on a very, very strict diet. The film also stars Rhys Darby, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie Van Beek, and was produced by Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley and Emanuel Michael.
Watch an interview with the film’s writer/directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi here.
Cinematographer and documentarian Jody Lee Lipes crafts an intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary offering a rare peek into the highly-guarded world of professional ballet. The film shadows Justin Peck, the 25-year old choreographer of the New York City Ballet, as he undertakes the Herculean task of creating the company’s 422nd original piece while simultaneously fulfilling his role as a Corps de Ballet member. Lipes chronicles Peck’s creative process from its embryonic stages to its highly anticipated premiere, quietly observing as he balances a roster of musicians, designers, and dancers from this famed institution. Ballet 422 is a powerful celebration of the skill and endurance of Peck and his fellow NYCB dancers-as well as those who remain hidden in the wings.
Watch an interview with director Jody Lee Lipes here.
Many thanks to Wendy for today’s post and the many others she has contributed in the past. Remember to Declare Your Independents by going to a theater or use V.O.D. to watch an indie feature this weekend.