Adam Leon’s fleet-footed Gimme the Loot was a giddy discovery out of SXSW in 2012. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize there, it went on to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and announced Leon as a promising new voice in American independent film, one who married specificity of character and location with keen storytelling chops. Four years later, Leon has made a follow-up feature, Tramps, which premieres in Toronto in the Contemporary World Cinema section. Once more, there’s a man and a woman — in this case, rising stars Callum Turner and Grace Van Patten — and a peripatetic caper. Here, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 9, 2016(Gimme the Loot world premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It was picked up for distribution by Sundance Selects before landing a coveted slot in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. It opens theatrically in New York City on Friday, March 22, 2013. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.) Writer/director Adam Leon’s Gimme the Loot is set firmly in present-day New York City, in the comparatively still rough-and-tumble Bronx. It is filled with curse words. There are drugs. There is thievery. And yet it’s just so gosh darn adorable. How is that […]
by Michael Tully on Mar 22, 2013ADAM LEON’s graffiti-scrawled debut film Gimme the Loot crackles with young romance and the energy of the streets.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 21, 2013Cannes No.64. Côte d’Azur. Film, film, film and more films. As a matter of fact, more films than you can even imagine are made. That was my first impression last year as I popped my cherry at the Palais, bringing my 30-minute short film, The Sea Is All I Know, starring Oscar winner Melissa Leo (above), to the festival. It was overwhelming. How could so many films be made? Where are they seen? Where does the funding come from? How does one sell them? Who were these people selling the films? What are pre-sells? How is that different than distribution? […]
by Jordan Bayne on May 25, 2012Writer-Director Adam Leon’s feature debut Gimme the Loot is an urban drama about two teenage graffiti artists from the Bronx who hatch an elaborate plan to get back at a rival gang for defacing one of their latest creations. Gimme the Loot was part of IFP’s/Lincoln Center’s Emerging Visions program and follows the director’s hugely successful short film Killer which premiered at the New Directors/New Films festival. Filmmaker: What inspired you to make a film about teen graffiti artists from the Bronx? Leon: I grew up in the city surrounded by graffiti and have close friends who wrote while we […]
by Byron Camacho on Mar 10, 2012