Declare Your Independents — Vol. 52
GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome back to Declare Your Independents, our series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film!
This week…
Indiewire’s Best Indie Movies of 2015, So Far
12 Indies to Watch on VOD This April
Cannes Wish List: 20 Anticipated Films at the 2015 Festival
The 10 Indie Films You Must See This April
If the Message Still Isn’t Clear: Diversity (Like Greed) Is Indeed Good
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 (4/10)
Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is an actress at the peak of her international career who is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years earlier. Back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young woman who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant (Kristen Stewart) to rehearse in Sils Maria, a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) is to take on the role of Sigrid, and Maria finds herself on the other side of the mirror, face to face with an ambiguously charming woman who is, in essence, an unsettling reflection of herself.
Watch the NYFF Q&A with writer/director Olivier Assayas and the film’s cast here.
Ryan Gosling tries his hand at writing and directing with this fantasy thriller starring Christina Hendricks as a mother struggling to protect her kids in a dreamlike city.
Watch the Cannes Q&A with writer/director Ryan Gosling here.
Frédéric Tcheng’s solo directorial debut brings the viewer inside the storied world of the Christian Dior fashion house with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons’ first haute couture collection as its new artistic director-a true labor of love created by a dedicated group of collaborators. Melding the everyday, pressure-filled components of fashion with mysterious echoes from the iconic brand’s past, the film is also a colorful homage to the seamstresses who serve Simons’ vision.
Watch an interview with director Frederic Tcheng here.
A mercurial assassin (Simon Pegg) discovers he isn’t the only person trying to kill the siren (Alice Braga) of a sun-drenched surfing town. In this darkly comedic thriller, the hitman finds himself unraveling three tales of mayhem, murder, blackmail and revenge.
Set in Iran, this powerful and unbelievable true story follows the brave ambition of Afshin Ghaffarian. During the volatile climate of the 2009 presidential election, where many cultural freedoms were threatened, Afshin and some friends (including Elaheh played by Freida Pinto) risk their lives and form an underground dance company. Through banned online videos, they learn from timeless legends who cross all cultural divides, such as Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. Afshin and Elaheh also learn much from each other, most importantly how to embrace their passion for dance and for one another.
Watch a behind-the-scenes featurette about the film here.
In DIAL A PRAYER, Cora (Brittany Snow), a disenchanted and troubled young woman, begrudgingly answers phones at a Prayer Call Center under the watchful direction of its religious leader Bill (William H. Macy). When her prayers start making a difference, one caller shows up convinced he’s been saved by her voice. With the discovery of her newfound gift, Cora struggles to reconcile her troubled past, and grapples with the faith that others have started to show in her.
When a teenage girl says she’s the victim of a secret network called The Sisterhood of Night, a quiet suburban town becomes the backdrop for a modern-day Salem witch trial.
Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut with the stylish and cerebral thriller, EX MACHINA. Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer at an internet-search giant, wins a competition to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company’s brilliant and reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). Upon his arrival, Caleb learns that Nathan has chosen him to be the human component in a Turing Test-charging him with evaluating the capabilities, and ultimately the consciousness, of Nathan’s latest experiment in artificial intelligence. That experiment is Ava (Alicia Vikander), a breathtaking A.I. whose emotional intelligence proves more sophisticated — and more deceptive — than the two men could have imagined.
Watch an interview with writer/director Alex Garland here.
To many of us, the idea of Civil War reenactment is a familiar concept. But the men of Delta 2/5(R) recreate the battles of a far more charged conflict: The Vietnam War. For one weekend a year, the woods of Oregon transform as a mix of combat enthusiasts, Iraq veterans, and even a former South Vietnamese Army officer, revive — by choice — a war that a whole generation would much rather forget. Disquieting and provocative, In Country blurs fantasy with trauma, deftly tugging at the imposing question: what compels these men to don the vintage uniforms and meticulously bring this controversial war back to life?
Watch an interview with the film’s directors, Mike Attie and Meghan O’Hara, here.
NOW IN THEATERS
Following a strange sexual encounter, a teenager (Maika Monroe) has disturbing visions and the inescapable feeling that someone — or something — is after her. Smart, original, and above all terrifying, It Follows is the rare modern horror film that works on multiple levels — and leaves a lingering sting.
Watch a Q&A with the film’s writer/director Robert David Mitchell here.
What the Funk Brothers did for Motown…The Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings. And now, THE WRECKING CREW tells the story in pictures and that oh, so glorious sound. The favorite songs of a generation are all here, presented by the people who made them for you. THE WRECKING CREW is a documentary film produced and directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco. The film tells the story of the unsung musicians that provided the backbeat, the bottom and the swinging melody that drove many of the number one hits of the 1960’s. It didn’t matter if it was Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, The Monkees, The Byrds or The Beach Boys, these dedicated musicians brought the flair and musicianship that made the American “west coast sound” a dominant cultural force around the world. The film is a fun and moving tribute from Denny to his father and to the music, the times and to the secret star-making machine known only as “The Wrecking Crew”.
Watch an interview with director Denny Tedesco here.
In this darkly comedic odyssey, Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim) stars as Kumiko, a frustrated Office Lady whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. Kumiko becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered VHS tape of a popular film she’s mistaken for a documentary, fixating on a scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate, frozen landscape of North Dakota. Believing this treasure to be real, she leaves behind Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo to recover it — and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she’s seen in the movies. With Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, indie mavericks the Zellner Bros. spin a strangely touching underdog fable, populated by eccentrics and elevated to sonic heights by a Sundance award-winning score from electro-indie outfit The Octopus Project, that will leave audiences rooting for the impossible.
Watch an interview with the film’s director and co-writer Nathan Zellner here.
Al Pacino stars as aging 1970s rocker Danny Collins, who can’t give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love and begin a second act.
Watch an interview with the film’s writer/director Dan Fogelman 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.
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.