Filmmaker Videos
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Watch an Exclusive Clip of Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal
Filmmaker is happy to share an exclusive clip of Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s documentary King Coal, which opens at DCTV Firehouse Cinema in New York City on August 11 before a limited expansion. The clip details the history of West Virginia’s New River—”the second oldest river in the world”—and the discovery of coal in a tributary nearby. Watch the full clip above. An official synopsis gets into the film’s overall thesis: A lyrical tapestry of a place and people, King Coal meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry, the communities it has shaped, and the myths it […]
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Trailer Watch: Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Just announced yesterday as part of the 2023 New York Film Festival’s Main Slate, a trailer now arrives for writer-director Raven Jackson’s feature debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. The film premiered at Sundance back in January and will now hit theaters via A24. (Anthony Kaufman recently penned a piece for our Spring 2023 issue examining how A24 is keeping art films alive, using All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and a few of the studios other Sundance ’23 acquisitions as case studies.) A brief synopsis reads: A lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman’s life in Mississippi, the feature […]
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Trailer Watch: Chloe Domont’s Fair Play
Selling to Netflix for $20 million after an intense bidding war at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, a trailer now arrives for Fair Play, the feature debut from writer-director Chloe Domont. Starring Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich, the film follows “an unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund [that] pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement.” The film was produced by Ram Bergman and Rian Johnson through their production company T-Street. Fair Play will hit select theaters on September 29 before streaming on Netflix on October 13. Watch the trailer […]
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Trailer Watch: Larry Charles’s Dicks: The Musical
Just announced as the world-premiering opening night title of TIFF’s Midnight Madness program, a trailer arrives for Borat director Larry Charles’s latest film Dicks: The Musical. The first musical to be distributed by A24, the film was written by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, based on their stage play Fucking Identical Twins: The Musical. Jackson and Sharp also star in the film, supported by Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion and Bowen Yang. A brief synopsis reads: Two self-obsessed businessmen (Jackson and Sharp) discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric divorced […]
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Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont
World premiering in Sundance’s NEXT category back in January, the trailer now arrives for director Babak Jalali’s feature debut Fremont. Co-written by Jalali and Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, the Bay Area-set film stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada, The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and On Cinema‘s Gregg Turkington. An official synopsis reads: Each morning Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) leaves her tight-knit community of Afghan immigrants in Fremont, California. She crosses the Bay to work at a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Donya drifts through her routine, struggling to connect with the culture and people of her new, unfamiliar surroundings […]
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Trailer Watch: Carpet Cowboys Doc Executive Produced by John Wilson
Having its world premiere at the inaugural edition of the New/Next Film Festival in Baltimore later this month, a trailer arrives for Carpet Cowboys, the feature debut of co-directors Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier. The doc, executive produced by John Wilson (who appeared on our 25 New Faces of Film list in 2016 before embarking on his excellent How To HBO series, which just kicked off its third and final season) and released by MEMORY, takes a sprawling look at the “Carpet Capital of the World” located in Dalton, Georgia before tackling a worldwide exploration of expat culture and American […]
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Trailer Watch: Stewart Thorndike’s Bad Things
After world premiering at the Tribeca Festival in June, a trailer officially arrives for Bad Things, writer-director Stewart Thorndike’s follow-up to her 2014 debut Lyle. While her first film was a lesbian riff on Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Bad Things is overtly influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining. In my interview with Thorndike out of Tribeca, I detail the film’s plot in an introductory paragraph: Ruthie (Gayle Rankin) is debating whether or not to sell the now-derelict hotel her mother used to run years prior. With a decisive real estate meeting only days away, Ruthie […]
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Trailer Watch: Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus, Co-Directed With Harmony Korine, Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding Refn and More
While rapper Travis Scott stars in Harmony Korine‘s latest film Aggro Dr1ft (announced today as part of the Venice 2023 lineup), today Scott announces another collaboration with Korine (and a handful of other filmmakers): Circus Maximus, the 75-minute visual accompaniment to his forthcoming album Utopia. Scott and Korine direct alongside Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lamb director Valdimar Jóhannsson and celebrated artist and music video helmer Kahlil Joseph. A brief official synopsis reads: Prepare to enter Circus Maximus as Travis Scott takes his audience on a mind-bending visual odyssey across the globe, woven together by the speaker rattling sounds of […]
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Trailer Watch: Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil
A new trailer lands today for Our Father, the Devil, writer-director Ellie Foumbi’s feature debut that earned her a spot on our 25 New Faces of Film list last year. Selected for funding through the Venice Biennale College Cinema in December 2019, the film first screened as a “work in progress” at Venice in 2021 before premiering a final cut at Tribeca in 2022, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Here’s the plot of the film, per an official synopsis: Nominated for the 2023 Best Feature Independent Spirit Award, Ellie Foumbi’s elegant moral thriller and debut feature […]
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Trailer Watch: Lucy Kerr’s Family Portrait
Ahead of its world premiere next month at the Locarno Film Festival, a trailer arrives today for Lucy Kerr’s feature debut Family Portrait. Kerr appeared on our annual 25 New Faces of Film list last year, in part due to the strength of this film. An official synopsis provided by sales company Lights On reads: Set at the dawn of COVID, Family Portrait follows a sprawling family on a morning when they have planned a group picture. After the mother disappears and one of the daughters becomes increasingly anxious to find her and take the picture, the rest of the […]
