How To Talk To Girls at Parties

From the raucous dual imaginations of fantasy laureate Neil Gaiman (“American Gods,” Coraline) and glam-rock multi-hyphenate John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Itch, Shortbus) comes the electrifying and singular pop extravaganza film, How To Talk To Girls At Parties.  Enn (Alex Sharp) is a shy suburban London teenager in 1977, sneaking out with his best friends to after-hours punk parties. One night they stumble upon a bizarre gathering of sexy teenagers who seem like they are from another planet. In fact, they are from another planet, visiting Earth to complete a mysterious rite of passage. That doesn’t stop Enn from falling madly in love with Zan (Elle Fanning), a beautiful and rebellious alien teenager who, despite her allegiance to her strange colony, is fascinated by Enn. Together they embark on a delirious adventure through the kinetic punk rock world of 1970s London, inadvertently setting off a series of events that will lead to the ultimate showdown of punks vs. aliens, and test the limits of how far each of them will go for true love.

Custody

Miriam and Antoine Besson have divorced, and Miriam is seeking sole custody of their son Julien to protect him from a father she claims is violent. Antoine pleads his case as a scorned dad and the appointed judge rules in favor of joint custody. A hostage to the escalating conflict between his parents, Julien is pushed to the edge to prevent the worst from happening.

Official selection: Silver Lion Award – Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, San Sebastian Pearls

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

In the deserted hills of an Indonesian island, Marlina, a young widow, is attacked and robbed for her cattle. To defend herself, she kills several men of the gang. Seeking justice, she goes on a journey for empowerment and redemption. But the road is long especially when the ghost of her headless victim begins to haunt her.

Official selection: Directors Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

Since igniting the punk movement with ex-partner and Sex Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren, Dame Vivienne Westwood has been redefining British fashion for over 40 years, and is responsible for creating many of the most distinctive looks of our time. The film blends archive, beautifully crafted reconstruction, and insightful interviews with Vivienne’s fascinating network of collaborators, guiding us on her journey from a childhood in postwar Derbyshire to the runways of Paris and Milan. This is an intimate and poignant homage to one of the true cultural icons of our time, as she fights to maintain her brand’s integrity, her principles and her legacy in a business driven by consumerism, profit and global expansion.

With exclusive, unprecedented access, Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist is the first film to encompass the remarkable story of Vivienne’s life, her fashion, her personality, her activism and her cultural importance.

Official selection: Sundance Film Festival

Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Opening Night: Stranger Than Fiction – Spring 2018 Season 

BOOM FOR REAL: THE LATE TEENAGE YEARS OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT follows Basquiat’s life pre-fame and how New York City, the times, the people and the movements surrounding him formed the artist he became. Using never-before-seen works, writings and photographs, director Sara Driver, who was part of the New York arts scene herself, worked closely and collaboratively with friends and other artists who emerged from that period: Jim Jarmusch, James Nares, Fab Five Freddy, Glenn O’Brien, Kenny Scharf, Lee Quinones, Patricia Field, Luc Sante and many others. Drawing upon their memories and anecdotes, the film also uses period film footage, music and images to visually re-recreate the era, drawing a portrait of Jean-Michel and Downtown New York City – pre AIDS, President Reagan, the real estate and art booms – before anyone was motivated by money and ambition. The definition of fame, success and power were very different than today – to be a penniless but published poet was the height of success, until everything changed in the early 1980s. This is New York City’s story before that change.

Theatrical engagement begins Fri May 11

 

The Rachel Divide

Spokane-area NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal ignited an unprecedented media storm when a local news station outed her as a white woman who had been living as black. Since the controversy erupted, Director Laura Brownson (Lemon) and team exclusively filmed with Rachel, her sons and her adopted sister Esther, capturing the intimate, vérité life story of a damaged character who lands squarely in the cross-hairs of race and identity politics in America — and exploring how that character still provokes negative reactions from millions who see her as the ultimate example of white privilege. A Netflix original documentary, THE RACHEL DIVIDE, is executive produced by Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated, God Loves Uganda).

Official selection: Tribeca Film Festival 2018

Feral

Your best friend has just been infected with a horrifying virus that will soon turn her into a rabid, rampaging cannibal-zombie. Do you: a) try to save her? or b) kill her before she kills you? That’s the nightmarish scenario six students find themselves facing when their celebratory camping trip goes terrifyingly wrong. One by one, each falls victim to the “feral” disease, until only Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton, Rob Zombie’s Halloween) and Jules (Olivia Luccardi, It Follows)—two girlfriends testing the waters of their new relationship—are left standing, armed with a shotgun and holed up in a remote cabin. They’ve got a hell of a fight before them if they hope to survive… The Walking Dead’s Lew Temple costars in this grisly blend of survival thriller and contagion shocker.

Gotti: Godfather and Son

GOTTI: Godfather & Son tells the story of the legendary Gambino crime family through the intimate and complicated relationship between John Gotti Sr. and his son, John Gotti Jr., who is telling his story for the first time. Filmmaker and writer Richard Stratton has secured unprecedented access to the Gotti family to tell, for the first time, the complete and uncensored story by the people who lived it, growing up in the first family of organized crime. The narrative spine of the documentary features exclusive footage from the last visit between John Gotti Sr. and his son, at the federal prison medical facility in Springfield, Missouri. Gotti Jr. sits down to ask his father, who is dying of cancer, for his blessing to plead guilty to racketeering charges and bring “closure” to his legal troubles, a coded reference to what father and son both understand means taking the unprecedented step of quitting the mafia.

Screening as part of the Spring 2018 season of Stranger Than Fiction.

Rapture: Nas & Dave East

From Mass Appeal, Rapture stares directly into the bright light that hip hop culture shines on the world and doesn’t blink. Throughout 8 episodes and featuring a diverse swath of artists — Nas and Dave East, T.I., Rapsody, Logic, G-Eazy, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, 2 Chainz and Just Blaze – Rapture dives into the artists’ lives with their families and friends, from sitting front row in the studio and grinding on tour, to experiencing the ecstatic power of moving the crowd.

Screening as part of the Spring 2018 season of Stranger Than Fiction.

The King

Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, two-time Sundance Grand Jury winner Eugene Jarecki’s new film takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America. From Memphis to New York, Las Vegas, and beyond, the journey traces the rise and fall of Elvis as a metaphor for the country he left behind. In this groundbreaking film, Jarecki paints a visionary portrait of the state of the American Dream and a penetrating look at how the hell we got here. A diverse cast of Americans, both famous and non, join the journey, including Alec Baldwin, Rosanne Cash, Chuck D, Emmylou Harris, Ethan Hawke, Van Jones, Mike Myers, and Dan Rather, among many others.

Official selection: Cannes Film Festival