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Exclusive: Workaholics and I’m Dying Up Here alum Erik Griffin is set as a lead opposite Shannon Woodward, Jane Lynch and Nicole Richie in ABC comedy pilot Bucktown, from The Conners‘ Emily Wilson, Tom Werner and Sara Gilbert and ABC Signature.

Written by Wilson and directed by Betsy Thomas, Bucktown centers on Amy (Woodward), who, after being dumped by her boyfriend and kicked out of her apartment on the eve of a big promotion, finds refuge at her mom’s house in the blue-collar neighborhood where she grew up.

Griffin will play Finn, Amy’s boss. The sweetest, most open-hearted man who adores his wife and partner, Jan (Richie) but is not afraid to call her out.

2021 ABC Pilots & Series Orders

Wilson executive produces with Werner, Gilbert, Thomas, Marc Provissiero (Pen15) — principal at management firm Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment — and Mandy Summers. ABC Signature is the studio.

Griffin is best...

Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you have not seen “The New Decas,” the season 5 premiere of Showtime’s “Billions.”

Can the group of hardcore characters who fuel the “Billions” universe overcome their baser instincts to find success and happiness? These are the broad themes of the fifth season of “Billions,” Showtime’s twisty-turny drama series set against the backdrop of New York’s investment and high-finance community.

Brian Koppelman and David Levien, series co-creators and showrunners, join the Variety After Show, presented by National Geographic, to break down the season premiere and offer some insights about the rest of the season ahead. The opener, “The New Decas,” was penned by Koppelman and Levien and directed by Matthew McLoota.

In the Q&a with Variety business editor Cynthia Littleton, Koppelman notes that the challenge of steering a new season is always to take the characters to new places while continuing the overarching storylines.

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Tomb Raider [my review]

Alicia Vikander stars as a puzzle-solving adventurer in this action movie. Cowritten by Geneva Robertson-Dworet. (male director)

Love, Simon [IMDb]

Elizabeth Berger cowrites this dramedy about a gay (male) teenager coming to terms with his sexuality. (male director)

7 Days in Entebbe [IMDb] pictured

Rosamund Pike costars in this historical thriller about the 1976 hijacking of a commercial airliner.

limited

No Light and No Land Anywhere [IMDb]

Amber Sealey writes and directs this drama about a woman (Gemma Brockis) grieving the death of her mother and her failed marriage.

In the Land of Pomegranates [my review]

Hava Kohav Beller directs this documentary about the Palestinian/Jewish conflict in the Middle East.

Keep the Change [IMDb]

Rachel Israel writes and directs this romantic comedy about a couple who meet at an autism support group. Costarring Samantha Elisofon.

Maineland [IMDb]

Miao Wang directs this documentary about two students (one female) from mainland China attending school in the United States.

Add “Furlough” to the long list of Tessa Thompson movies hitting the big screen in 2018. The actress already has the acclaimed “Annihilation” in theaters nationwide, and “Furlough” is the second of two indies after “Sorry to Bother You” dropping later this year. The film is directed by “The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe” filmmaker Laurie Collyer.

Thompson stars as a prison guard who is tasked with bringing a hell-raising inmate (Melissa Leo) home to say goodbye to her dying mother. The two form an unexpected bond as their trip spirals out of control. Anna Paquin, Whoopi Goldberg, and Edgar Ramirez co-star.

“Furlough” is set to be released by IFC Films later this year. Watch the trailer below.

"I think it's best if we forget about this weekend..." A trailer has arrived for an indie film titled Furlough, which went under the working title Emergency Furlough while filming, made by director Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby). The film stars Tessa Thompson as a rookie correctional officer at a prisoner. She spends half of her time caring for her mother, played by Whoopi Goldberg, and working at the prison. She gets a chance to prove her mettle when she's tasked with accompanying a hell-raising inmate, played by Melissa Leo, on an emergency furlough to visit her dying mother, ending up on a hilarious road trip together. The cast includes Anna Paquin, Édgar Ramírez, and La La Anthony. I haven't heard about this film before, but it looks good. It's more of a dramedy than a drama, but seems to have plenty of heart driving the story. Here's the first official trailer for Laurie Collyer's Furlough,...

Queen Latifah has been set to topline Hope’s Wish, an inspirational drama based on a true story from the Blade Runner 2049 team of Alcon Entertainment and Torridon/16:14, along with Walden Media. Laurie Collyer will direct the film, which begins production April 9 in Charlotte, NC.

Adapted by Brokeback Mountain co-scribe Diana Ossana and based on Stuart Stout and Shelby Stout's book Hope's Wish: How One Girl's Dream Made Others Come True, the story centers on the true story…...

Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby) to direct.

Queen Latifah will star in the true-life drama Hope’s Wish for Alcon Entertainment, about a young girl with cancer whose last wish inspired a community.

Los Angeles-based finance and production company Torridon/16:14 will finance and produce with Alcon Entertainment following their partnership on Blade Runner 2049.

Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby) will direct the film and production is scheduled to commence on April 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay from Stuart and Shelby Stout’s non-fiction book Hope’s Wish: How One Girl’s Dream Made Others Come True, about Hope Stout, a young girl who was diagnosed with bone cancer and asked for $1m be raised in a month to fund the wishes of all the children in the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s list for central and western North Carolina.

Walden Media will produce alongside Steven P. Wegner and Val Hill and Yale Badik of Torridon/16:14. Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs...

Queen Latifah has signed on to star in Hope’s Wish, an inspirational true-life drama from Alcon Entertainment.

Alcon is reuniting with Los Angeles-based finance and production company Torridon/16:14, with which it worked on Blade Runner 2049, to finance and produce the movie, which is scheduled to go before cameras April 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Laurie Collyer, who directed the Maggie Gyllenhaal drama Sherrybaby, will helm Wish, which has a script by Diana Ossana, who won an Oscar for writing Brokeback Mountain. The project adapts the non-fiction book Hope’s Wish: How One Girl’s Dream Made Others Come True by Stuart...

Author: Zehra Phelan

Thor: Ragnarok actress, Tessa Thompson has been confirmed to star in Lionsgate’s Codeblack Film biopic on the Notorious Jewel Thief Doris Payne.

Thompson will both star in and co-produce the film about the still-living 87-year-old jewel thief. Payne has reportedly committed countless robberies. Payne’s career as an international jewel thief spans six decades, with a criminal record dating back to 1952. Her modus operandi is to enter jewellery stores posing as a well-to-do woman, typically looking for a diamond ring. Using her charm, she would engage the clerk, asking to see an assortment of items. Eventually, she would “cause the clerk to forget” just how many items were outside the case; and, at some point, she would leave with one or two pieces.

Tessa Thompson Interview

Payne is most noted for stealing a 10-carat diamond ring, valued at $500,000 (Us), from Monte Carlo in the 1970s. She fled to France,...

IFC Films has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the road trip comedy Furlough, starring Tessa Thompson and Melissa Leo, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Directed by Laurie Collyer, the film stars Thompson as a woman who cares for her aging mother while working at a jail. She gets assigned to accompany a rowdy prisoner (Leo) on an emergency furlough to visit her dying mother, but the duo's trip goes haywire.

Whoopi Goldberg plays Thompson's onscreen mother, and Anna Paquin, Edgar Ramirez and La La Anthony are also among the cast of the completed movie.

Barry Strugatz wrote the script. Leo and...

After announcing the nominees for best film direction yesterday, the Directors Guild of America revealed the slate for TV direction in dramas and comedies today.

"Game of Thrones" seeks to add to its trophy haul for David Nutter's direction of the season 5 finale, "Mother's Mercy," which won an Emmy last September. But HBO's epic fantasy series will be challenged by the series finale of "Mad Men," directed by creator Matthew Weiner.

On the comedy side, "Transparent" will vie with the usual suspects, "Veep" and "Silicon Valley." Here is the full list of nominees:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series

Michael Engler

Downton Abbey, "Episode 8" (PBS)

Lesli Linka Glatter

Homeland, "The Tradition of Hospitality" (Showtime)

David Nutter

Game of Thrones, "Mother's Mercy" (HBO)

Steven Soderbergh

The Knick, "Williams and Walker" (Cinemax)

Matthew Weiner

Mad Men, "Person to Person" (AMC)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series

Chris Addison

Veep, "Election Night" (HBO)

Louis C.K.

Louie,...

The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...

In our ever-more-fragmented media landscape, we're seeing fewer and fewer recognizable brand-name stars for *everybody*, but we're probably getting more and more recognizable brand-name stars for *somebody*.  And that means that people who, to certain individuals, are clearly stars of a certain stature are virtual unknowns to great masses, possibly to majorities. And that's even the case with culture-watching professionals. Take Britt Robertson. I didn't see many "Tomorrowland" reviews calling her an unknown or even a newcomer, thankfully, but plenty of critics are still bending over backwards to reference credits like "Dan in Real Life" or "Delivery Man" as if audiences may struggle to place her. I hear her name and I think of an actress who has been the unquestioned star of at least two network TV shows and one of the stars (if only for a for a season) of a bona fide hit. In the sphere of what I do,...

Marilyn Monroe was a study in contradictions. She was the giddy, cooing blonde who became one of America’s haughtiest sex symbols, as well as a woman haunted by a thorny relationship with her mentally ill mom and the pressures of fame. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, a two-night mini-series on Lifetime, tries to peer into the woman behind the legend, opening up the scars that most viewers couldn’t see under the flash and sizzle of the big screen. However, the mini-series is too disjointed and melodramatic to completely work as a biopic. Nevertheless, Kelli Garner is masterful as Monroe, digging into the pain and vulnerability of a cultural icon without ever succumbing to mere impersonation. It’s a terrific performance, the magnetic core of an otherwise muddled misfire.

Based on J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe aims to be an all-encompassing retelling...

Lifetime has found its Marilyn in Pan Am and The Aviator actress Kelli Garner. EW has confirmed that Garner will star as Marilyn Monroe in the network's upcoming four-hour miniseries about the Hollywood icon. Based on The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Marilyn also stars Susan Sarandon as Monroe's mentally ill mother with whom she has a rather complicated relationship. According to Lifetime, the miniseries will reveal "what the iconic superstar succeeded in hiding from an all-too-invasive world." Here's the official synopsis from the network: "Marilyn is both the personification of sex, whose first marriage ironically collapses because of her frigidity,...

Hello, Norma Jean.

Kelli Garner (Pan Am, My Generation) has scored the title role in Marilyn, Lifetime’s upcoming miniseries about Marilyn Monroe, TVLine has learned.

As previously reported, Oscar winner Susan Sarandon is set to play the bombshell’s mentally ill mom, whose struggle with her own demons had a profound affect on her famous daughter’s life.

Marilyn, based on J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, promises to reveal “for the first time what the iconic superstar succeeded in hiding from an all-too-invasive world.”

Stephen Kronish (The Kennedys) penned the script and Laurie Collyer (Sunlight Jr.) will direct.

Susan Sarandon is coming to a small screen near you. EW has confirmed that Sarandon has joined Marilyn, Lifetime's upcoming four-hour miniseries. Based J. Randy Taraborrelli's New York Times bestseller, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, the miniseries promises to reveal "what the iconic superstar succeeded in hiding from an all-too-invasive world." Sarandon will play Monroe's mentally ill mother. The official description adds, "Marilyn is both the personification of sex, whose first marriage ironically collapses because of her frigidity, and a fragile artist who seeks the approval and protection of men. But after tumultuous marriages with Joe Dimaggio and Arthur Miller,...

Susan Sarandon has signed on to play the mother of all bombshells in Lifetime’s upcoming Marilyn Monroe miniseries, TVLine has learned.

The Academy Award winner will portray Monroe’s mentally ill mom, whose struggle with her own demons had a profound affect on her famous daughter’s life.

Marilyn is based on J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Stephen Kronish (The Kennedys) will pen the script and Laurie Collyer (Sunlight Jr.) will direct.

The four-hour miniseries, which has not yet cast its title role, is slated to air in 2015.

Sarandon is best known for...

When it comes to its 2015 development slate, Lifetime prefers blondes.

The female-skewing cabler has given the green light to a miniseries about iconic Hollywood bombshell Marilyn Monroe, TVLine has confirmed.

Photos Fall TV Preview: Get the Scoop on 50+ New Shows

The project, titled Marilyn, is based on J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe. Stephen Kronish (The Kennedys) will pen the script and Laurie Collyer (Sunlight Jr.) will direct.

So, getting back to the question posed in the headline: Who’s on your short list to play the (thankless) title role?

Related storiesWayward Pines' M. Night Shyamalan,...

On the heels of the 39th edition of the Toronto Int. Film Festival (Sept 4-14), Ifp’s Independent Film Week is where a plethora of fiction, non-fiction and new this year, web-based series from the likes of Desiree Akhavan and Calvin Reeder find future coin. Sectioned off as projects at the very beginning of financing to those that are nearing completion, there happens to be tons of Sundance alumni in the names below. Among those that caught our attention we have Medicine for Melancholy‘s Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature, produced by Bad Milo!‘s Adele Romanski, Moonlight is about “two Miami boys navigate the temptations of the drug trade and their burgeoning sexuality in this triptych drama about black queer youth”. Concussion‘s Stacie Passon digs into the thriller genre with Strange Things Started Happening. Produced by vet Mary Jane Skalski (Mysterious Skin), this is about “a woman who has...

Today I am writing from Cartagena, Colombia where I attended Ficci, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.

This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.

And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.

Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.

The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.

It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!

The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.

The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.

Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.

Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.

Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”

A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.

Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.

Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history

This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.

150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.

Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.

Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.

The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.

Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.

Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.

A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus

Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.

Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga

Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.

Other winners are:

Official Colombian Film Competition

Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries

Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa

Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.

Additional Awards

Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K

Official Documentary Competition

Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.

Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)

Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)

Official Short Film Competition

JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca

Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.

Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)

Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.

Gems

Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez

Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.

Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)

[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx

[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...

The 54th Edition of the Cartagena Film Festival has come to an end and the winners have been announced. The indisputable protagonists this year were Marmato by Mark Grieco, winning three awards, Rubén Mendoza's Dust on the Tongue, and the Chilean film To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras, with two awards each. Surely these three films and several other winners will become important works at other upcoming festivals since many of them have already done well at Sundance, Rotterdam, and Berlin.

Official Competition: Narrative Feature

Members of the Jury: Wendy Mitchell - Jose Maria Riba - Pawel Pawlikowski

Best Film: Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la Lengua) by Rubén Mendoza (Colombia- Winner of $15K

Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La Tercera Orilla) by Celina Murga (Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany)

Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) (Chile, France)

Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio for El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France)

Fipresci

Members of the Jury: Carlos Heredero - Hiroaki Saitô - Michal Oleszczyk

Best Film: To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile, France)

Other Awards

Oclacc Award (Catholic Organization of Communications for Latin America and the Caribbean)

Special Mention: Mateo by María Gamboa (Colombia

Official Competition: Colombian Cinema

Members of the Jury: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries

Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa

Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.

Additional Awards

Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K

Official Competition: Documentary

Members of the Jury: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer

Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.

Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)

Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)

Official Competition: Short Film

Members of the Jury: Oswaldo Osorio - Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca

Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.

Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)

Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland")  (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.

Gems

Members of the Jury:Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez

Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.

Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)

New Creators

Members of the Jury: Javier Mejía- Diego Vega - Cynthia García Calvo

Best Short Film: Alén by Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle).

Runner-up:  The Earth's Whisper (El murmullo de la tierra) by Alejandro Daza (Universidad Nacional)...

Dust On The Tongue [pictured], Marmato, To Kill A Man take home prizes.

The 54th edition of the Cartagena Film Festival wrapped tonight in Colombia, with the festival’s main Latin American competition prize going to a local film, Ruben Mendoza’s Dust On The Tounge (Tierra En La Lengua). The award comes with $15,000.

The film blends fake documentary and fiction in the story of a crude, violent patriarch (Jairo Salcedo) who brings his cityslicker grandchildren to his ranch to help him die.

The jury gave its best director prize to Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To Kill A Man (Matar a un hombre), a Chilean dark dramatic thriller that also took home Cartagena’s Fipresci prize.

Best actor was Fernando Bacilio for The Mute (El Mudo) by Daniel and Diego Vega from Peru. The special jury prize went to Celina Murga’s The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) from Argentina.

Best documentary...

The International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias has confirmed the rest of its programme.

Cartagena has added a Midnight Cinema section including two Colombian horror films: Gallows Hill (Encerrada), directed by Víctor García and written by Richard D´Ovidio and starring Peter Facinelli; and Demental by young Colombian David Bohórquez, which will have its world premiere at the festival.

The outdoor series Cinema Under the Stars includes:

Gloria, Sebastián Lelio (Chile)La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada Diez (Mexico)The Lunchbox, Ritesh Batra (India)Ciudad Delirio, Chus Gutiérrez (festival opening film)Porro Hecho en Colombia, Adriana Lucía, who will give a concert at the end of the screening.

Special Presentations section include Simon Brand’s Default, Laurie Collyer’s Sunlight Jr, Spike Jonze’s Her, Go for Sisters by John Sayles (the subject of a retrospective), and Medeas by Andrea Pallaoro.

There are also two films that are also part of Tributes: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s [link...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 23 Jan 2014 - 05:44

Our series of lists devoted to underappreciated films brings us to the year 2006, and a further 25 overlooked gems...

With all the major films that elbow their way into their cinemas every year, there's bound to be some casualties among the big hits. And just like any other year, 2006 was dominated by the likes of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Da Vinci Code and Ice Age: The Meltdown. But in tandem, there were dozens of lesser-seen films which shuffled in and out of cinemas (or occasionally, didn't get a release in cinemas at all) without very many people noticing.

As we're sure you're aware by now, these lists aim to redress the balance a little, and hopefully introduce a few films from any given year that you may have missed. There are also one or two films that, although...

It’s a harsh reality of America nowadays.

Every time one turns on the news, they are highlighting about the struggles of people trying to survive on the minimum wage or obtain health insurance.

“Sunlight Jr.” premiered this weekend as a fictionalized look about a middle-aged couple living in a motel and barely surviving below the poverty line. And then the couple had to deal with an unexpected pregnancy.

The movie stars Matt Dillon, Naomi Watts and Norman Reedus. It is directed and written by Laurie Collyer (“Sherrybaby,” “Nuryoican Dream”).

Latino-Review had an exclusive phone interview with Collyer to discuss about “Sunlight Jr.” We talked about the casting, books on poverty, and American struggles.

“Sunlight Jr.” is in theater limited release and VOD.

Read the transcript below.

Latino-Review: For this film that you wrote and directed, what is the inspiration behind this movie?

Laurie Collyer: I read a book in 2006, a while ago,...

The following interview was originally published in May 2013 to coincide with the world premiere of the film at the Tribeca Film Festival. Sunlight Jr.goes on release theatrically today through Gravitas Ventures. While the lives of the working class are not the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of, they are at the heart of Laurie Collyer’s new film, Sunlight Jr. Starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon as a couple dealing with an unexpected pregnancy while trying to survive on minimum wage jobs, Sunlight Jr. premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend where it is sure to stir up a conversation about what it means […]...

The following interview was originally published in May 2013 to coincide with the world premiere of the film at the Tribeca Film Festival. Sunlight Jr.goes on release theatrically today through Gravitas Ventures. While the lives of the working class are not the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of, they are at the heart of Laurie Collyer’s new film, Sunlight Jr. Starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon as a couple dealing with an unexpected pregnancy while trying to survive on minimum wage jobs, Sunlight Jr. premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend where it is sure to stir up a conversation about what it means […]...

Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon bring standout performances to working class drama Sunlight Jr. The spotlight burns red hot this fall for actress Naomi Watts thanks to luxury sets, international locations, a familiar designer wardrobe and arguably the world’s most famous haircut. I’m talking about Watts’ starring role as “the people’s princess,” Diana, the Princess of Wales, in director Oscar Hirschbiegel’s bio-drama Diana. Yet, the true spotlight role, the better movie that showcases Watts’ impressive dramatic skills takes place far away from the red carpet and unfolds on the opposite of the tracks in Florida in the couples dramaSunlight Jr. Watts joins writer/director Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby), and Matt Dillon in a grounded and heartfelt blue-collar story about Melissa and Richie, a working poor Florida couple expecting their first child while experiencing financial difficulties. Watts is something of an expert at melodramas thanks to her roles...

To orient you to a filmmaker who's been away for far too long: If Wes Anderson’s central preoccupation is tightly controlled diorama-like compositions, Tim Burton’s obsession is dark, kooky misfits, and Sofia Coppola’s fixation is alienated teenagers soundtracked to exquisite pop songs, then Laurie Collyer’s main absorption is the forgotten underclass and their perils. The filmmaker behind “Sherrybaby” (and the gripping social documentary “Nuyorican Dream”), Collyer hasn’t made a movie since 2006, but her latest, “Sunlight Jr.,” could easily act as the third in a trilogy about the impoverished, the destitute and the depressed. And severely depressed, “Sunlight Jr.” is. So much so that it may be too hard to watch for some viewers. Set in the indigent, trailer-park trash areas of Southern Florida, Collyer’s latest writer/directorial effort centers on a uneducated, penniless couple struggling to get by on minimum wage. Their daily struggle...

Bleak House: Collyer Returns to the Slipping Down Life

After her fantastic 2006 directorial debut, Sherrybaby, director Laurie Collyer returns with a sophomore feature, Sunlight Jr., which sees a return to similar themes of downtrodden events in the lives of the economically disadvantaged, as crafted around a strong central female vantage point. As such, it also belongs to a certain subset of indie cinema featuring A list beauties made plain (or as plain as one can try to make them) in working class roles with lives dictated by the trap of minimum wage. Here we have Naomi Watts in another sterling performance in a role that’s the seeming antithesis to her stint as Princess Di in the anticipated biopic that drops next month. But the highest praise here should be reserved for Collyer, once again proving she’s adept at capturing a believable portrait of people living day by...

It can be tempting in fiction to ennoble the struggles of people living in poverty, portraying those scraping to put food on the table as somehow more “real” or “pure” than the rest of us. If nothing else, Sunlight Jr. will disabuse you of this ridiculous idea. In writer-director Laurie Collyer’s character drama, there’s nothing noble about being poor; it’s an endless misery that has no simple solutions. That’s not to say that Sunlight Jr. looks down on its characters—rather, that it looks at them clearly. This is that rare movie that observes the lower class with an eye toward...

For depictions of American poverty, there's a fine line between empathy and exploitation. Sunlight Jr. repeatedly tiptoes on, around, and over that threshold, ultimately coming off as the socially conscious drama it sets out to be thanks to a roster of lived-in, relatable performances. Like her last film, 2006's underseen Sherrybaby, Laurie Collyer's newest shines a light on the fiscally downtrodden by way of a struggling working woman, Melissa (Naomi Watts), a Florida gas station cashier who also supports her wheelchair-bound boyfriend, Richie (Matt Dillon). On any given day, she narrowly fends off a sexually harassing manager, a stalker ex-boyfriend (Norman Reedus), an alcoholic mother (Tess Harper) who herself scrapes by as a foster parent of 11 small children, ...

Plot: Melissa and Richie are a couple trying to survive during hard times in a small town. She works miserable hours at a mini-market and he is a paraplegic who attempts to support her emotionally when he is able. All of it becomes too much to bear when job loss and unexpected pregnancy finds its way into their lives. Review: There is a bleak and disheartening world created in the new film Sunlight Jr. starring Matt Dillon and Naomi Watts. Writer/director Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby) gives...

Currently in theaters portraying royalty in "Diana," the upcoming indie "Sunlight Jr." is a reminder of the range Naomi Watts can deliver. Here in a completely different role, she sheds designer fashion and opulence for discount chain clothes and a grittier tale about two people just trying to make it to the next day. Co-starring Matt Dillon and written and directed by Laurie Collyer ("Sherrybaby"), the story follows Melissa and Ray, a devoted but permanently down-on-their-luck couple struggling to make ends meet and pay the bill for the motel room they live in. And even the good news of Melissa's pregnancy brings with it the knowledge that they may not have the resources to care for a child. It's tough material, but there are moments of hope too, and in this exclusive clip we share one of the lighter times between Melissa and Ray. Featuring a score from Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis,...

Title: Sunlight Jr. Gravitas Ventures/ Samuel Goldwyn Films Director: Laurie Collyer Screenwriter: Laurie Collyer Cast: Naomi Watts, Matt Dillon, Norman Reedus, Tess Harper Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 10/21/13 Opens: On demand October 7, 2013. In theaters November 15, 2013 Have you noticed the way political candidates and office-holders alike deal with the subject of poverty? George W. Bush, questioned on why he did not favor Medicare for all, stated that for treatment, “the uninsured can go to the emergency room,” as though that gives them the same care as the insured. Both major candidates for the U.S. presidency, Barak Obama and Mitt Romney spoke forever about “the middle class.” [ Read More ]

The post Sunlight Jr. Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Writer/director Laurie Collyer's new drama Sunlight Jr. will be available On Demand October 7 and in theaters on November 15 and we've got the first look at the poster for the film. Sunlight Jr. spotlights hard-working convenience store clerk Melissa (Naomi Watts) and her disabled boyfriend, Richie (Matt Dillon), who are trapped in a generational cycle of poverty. Their luck may be changing when they learn that Melissa has become pregnant. But as soon as she loses her job and they get evicted from the motel they live in, their joy vanishes. Through this adversity, the couple realizes that they can never lose everything as long as they have each other. Norman Reedus ("The Walking Dead") and Tess Harper co-star. Click the poster for a bigger version!

Sunlight Jr has released a new trailer.

Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon star in director Laurie Collyer's romantic drama.

Watts plays Melissa, who is struggling to make a living alongside her disabled boyfriend Ray (Dillon).

Her life becomes more complicated with the return of an old boyfriend (Norman Reedus), and it seems that there may be no way to salvage her troubled relationship.

Watts can currently be seen in the poorly-received biopic Diana.

Sunlight Jr will open in November in the Us. A UK date is yet to be announced.

With Diana premiering to less-than stellar reviews in the UK, it’s perhaps kindest for us to focus on another Naomi Watts project hitting theaters just two weeks after its release in the United States – smooth move, Watts. In the Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby) drama Sunlight Jr., Watts plays a convenience store clerk working tirelessly to support herself and her disabled partner (Matt Dillon). When she becomes pregnant, their joy is clouded by the realization that they barely have enough money to take care of themselves. Add the sudden appearance of her stalker ex-boyfriend (Norman Reedus), and everything has gone to hell. The difference between this trailer and Diana (that makes all the difference) is that you get taken in by Watts’ problems and emotional breakdown. Her story seems all too real and miserable. However, our own Caitlin Hughes reviewed the film at Tribeca and wasn’t too convinced, saying that the depiction of the lower class was...

November 15th marks the limited release date for indie "Sunlight Jr.," written and directed by Laurie Collyer ("Sherrybaby") and starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon. The trailer for the drama today made its way online. The film, which world premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, centers an impoverished couple, Melissa (Watts) and her disabled boyfriend, Richie (Dillon). Maintaining the strength to persevere through most hardships, the two encounter their biggest dilemma when Melissa becomes pregnant and loses her job. To worsen matters, Melissa's ex-boyfriend, Justin (played by "The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus), pops back into their lives. Watch the trailer below and let us know your thoughts.

Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to Laurie Collyer's Sunlight Jr., starring Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, and Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon. Gravitas will partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films for the release. The film will have a pre-theatrical VOD opening and will then be released in theaters November 2013. Sunlight Jr. recently played to critical acclaim in competition at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Sunlight Jr. spotlights hard-working convenience store clerk Melissa (Naomi Watts) and her disabled boyfriend, Richie (Matt Dillon), who are trapped in a generational cycle of poverty. Their luck may be changing when they learn that Melissa has become pregnant. But as soon as she loses her job and they get evicted from the motel they live in, their joy vanishes. Through this adversity, the couple realizes that they can never lose everything as long as they have each other.

Sunlight Jr. is...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to Laurie Collyer’s Sunlight Jr., starring Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, and Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon. Gravitas will partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films for the release. The film will have a pre-theatrical VOD opening and will then be released in theaters November 2013.

Sunlight Jr. recently played to critical acclaim in competition at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Sunlight Jr. spotlights hard-working convenience store clerk Melissa (Naomi Watts) and her disabled boyfriend, Richie (Matt Dillon), who are trapped in a generational cycle of poverty. Their luck may be changing when they learn that Melissa has become pregnant. But as soon as she loses her job and they get evicted from the motel they live in, their joy vanishes. Through this adversity, the couple realizes that they can never lose everything as long as they have each other.

Sunlight Jr. is...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to Laurie Collyer's "Sunlight Jr." which stars Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus and Matt Dillon, the company announced on Thursday. Gravitas will partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films for the release. The film will have a pre-theatrical VOD opening before opening in theaters this November. "Sunlight Jr." recently screened in competition at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. Story follows hard-working convenience store clerk Melissa (Watts) and her disabled boyfriend Richie (Dillon), who are trapped in a generational cycle of poverty. Their luck may be changing when they...

Partners with Samuel Goldwyn Films to release the film. Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to Laurie Collyer’s Sunlight Jr., which stars Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, and Matt Dillon. Gravitas will partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films for the release which will get a pre-theatrical VOD debut, then hit theaters in November this year. The film is written and directed Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby), produced by Charlie Corwin, Andrea Roa, and Ariel Elia, and executive produced by William Dietrich, Simon Fawcett, Joshua Skurla, Dan Klabin, and Fisher Stevens. The film stars Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, and Matt Dillon.

Gravitas Ventures has picked up all North American rights to Laurie Collyer’s Sunlight Jr starring Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus and Matt Dillon.

Gravitas will partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films on the release for a pre-theatrical VoD launch followed by theatrical in November.

The film premiered at Tribeca and centres on a downtrodden working class couple who learn how their love means everything.

Gravitas head Nolan Gallagher brokered the deal with CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Roger Kass for the filmmakers.

Variance Films will release Roger Ross Williams’ God Loves Uganda theatrically beginning in New York on Oct 11 followed by North American expansion.

Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to Laurie Collyer.s Sunlight Jr. , starring Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, and Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon. Gravitas will partner with Samuel Goldwyn Films for the release. The film will have a pre-theatrical VOD opening and will then be released in theaters November 2013. Sunlight Jr. recently played to critical acclaim in competition at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. Sunlight Jr. spotlights hard-working convenience store clerk Melissa (Watts) and her disabled boyfriend, Richie (Dillon), who are trapped in a generational cycle of poverty. Their luck may be changing when they learn that Melissa has become pregnant. But as soon as she loses her job and they get evicted from the motel they live...

Author Erica Jong‘s seminal 1973 novel “Fear of Flying” is still considered a groundbreaking piece of erotic fiction, helped herald in the second wave of feminism, and remains one of the top fifty bestselling novels of all time, but it’s also managed to go four decades without a big screen adaptation. That’s now set to finally change, as director Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby) has been set to direct a feature film based on the work, complete with a script by Piers Ashworth (Burke and Hare, St. Trinians). Jong’s novel centers on poet Isadora Wing who, during a trip to Vienna with her second husband, comes to grips with her unfulfilling marriage and decides to embark on a series of highly sexual encounters with other men. If you’ve ever heard the term “zipless fuck,” you’ve got Jong and her book to thank for it, as she coined the term (which basically refers to a...

Brace yourself for an onslaught of think pieces on the current state of the most casual of all sex, the "zipless fuck": There's going to be a movie of Erica Jong's 1973 classic Fear of Flying. (Possible stories include, Can we still have zipless fucks? Do women want zipless fucks? Do men? Is it okay to have sex on a train? If you are both wearing maxi dresses, technically there is no zipping to be done — but does that mean there's no emotional attachment?) According to Deadline, Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby) will direct the adaptation, though no one is attached yet to star as Isadora Wing, the curious and unsatisfied American traveler making her way to Vienna and to second-wave feminist sexual empowerment.

Exclusive: Laurie Collyer will next direct an adaptation of Erica Jong‘s iconic Fear Of Flying. This was the erotic publishing phenomenon a la Fifty Shades Of Grey, selling over 27 million copies worldwide to become one of the top 50 bestselling novels in publishing history. Donald Kushner (Tron Legacy, Monster), Leigh Ann Burton and Piers Ashworth have set up the project to produce for Blu-Sky Media, along with Mark Damon and Remington Chase (Lone Survivor, End Of Watch) via his Envision Entertainment. Nostradamus scribe Piers Ashworth wrote the script, and producers plan to begin production later this year, shooting throughout Europe. Nice to see the groundbreaking book is still viable as it gets an international re-release marking its 40th year on bookshelves. Fear Of Flying tells the story of Isadora Wing, who combats her failing marriage by taking an existential sexual odyssey across Europe. She searches for the “zipless fuck”, which...

The difficulties of struggling to survive in poverty and battle drug and alcohol addictions pose a harsh reality for many people in this world. That challenge is relatably presented in writer-director Laurie Collyer’s new independent film, Sunlight Jr. The acclaimed drama had its world premiere during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20th at New York City’s Bmcc/Pac theater. Several of the lead actors from the film attended the red carpet before the screening to discuss shooting the independent drama.

Sunlight Jr. follows Melissa Winters (Naomi Watts) and Richie (Matt Dillon), a young couple at odds with the American dream. Set in the usually sunny Florida, Melissa works as a cashier at the local convenience store. She lives in a seedy motel with Richie, her boyfriend, a former television repairman who lives month to month on his government disability checks. However, he spends most of his money at the local tavern.