Emma Seligman appeared on our annual 25 New Faces of Film list back in 2020 ahead of the release of Shiva Baby, her feature debut starring Rachel Sennott as a young woman navigating anxiety-inducing encounters at a relative’s wake. She reunites with Sennott for her sophomore feature Bottoms, which she co-wrote with the actress who once again stars, this time alongside Ayo Edebiri as queer high schoolers who devise a hands-on scheme for hooking up with otherwise straight cheerleaders. Watch the first red band trailer above. The official synopsis reads: Bottoms, a refreshingly unique raunchy comedy, focuses on two girls, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jun 6, 2023The lynching of Emmett Till—a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was murdered in 1955 after having an “inappropriate” encounter with a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi—has long served as a testament to the odious racism endemic in American culture. As such, Emmett Till has been posthumously considered an icon of the then-burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, but director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu’s biopic Till is particularly invested in documenting the aftermath of Till’s murder as experienced by his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (played by Danielle Deadwlyer). In Chukwu’s sophomore film, the audience follows her journey after this life-altering tragedy […]
by Natalia Keogan on Oct 13, 2022Few directors in the history of American film have presented a perspective on the human condition as complex, varied, and compassionate as that of John Sayles. The quintessential independent filmmaker, he once said, “I’m interested in the stuff I do being seen as widely as possible but I’m not interested enough to lie.” He has remained true to that ethos from his directorial debut, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, to his most recent gem, Go For Sisters. No one tells the truth with as much humor, pain, sympathy, irony, or expansiveness as Sayles, a man to whom no aspect […]
by Jim Hemphill on Nov 10, 2015