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Lark (Ayumi Patterson) is a quiet kind of person, observant, meditative. She’s never really pushed herself in life, beyond studying hard, so there is surprise when she falls in with the most popular older students in her postgraduate law school and is invited to go on a trip with them. Staying in a converted pilgrim-era chapel of the sort that people in the US think of as really old, she herself becomes a novelty because of her relative youth, but finds herself drifting along, observing, as the others connect and quarrel and do the sorts of things protagonists do. Awkwardly distanced as she is, and denied explanations of the things which initially seem important, she might ultimately end up understanding more about the dynamics of the group than its members do.

Hadley (Isabelle Chester) is the group’s queen bee, but she’s uncomfortable when, on arrival, she finds out that her.

Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American right to Genevieve Adams’ dramedy Simchas and Sorrows, along with worldwide rights to Peter Curtis Pardini’s doc The Last Band on Stage, and North American rights to Jaclyn Bethany’s queer thriller, The Falling World. The Anthem Sports & Entertainment Company will release the former title at the Laemmle Noho in Los Angeles on September 16, and on all major digital and VOD platforms on the 20th. Pardini’s film will hit VOD and theaters in three cities on September 30, with Bethany’s indie unspooling on VOD on October 18.

Simchas and Sorrows tells the story of Agnes (Adams), an atheist actress who attempts to convert to Judaism to marry the love of her life, Levi (Thomas McDonnell). Adams directed the pic from her script, with Hari Nef, Luke Forbes, Julie Haltson, Greg Bello, Annelise Cepero, Billy Calder, Lucy Morris, Chip Zien and John Cullum rounding out the cast.

Tobias Truvillion (Hitch), Taryn Manning (Orange is the New Black), Zach McGowan (Shameless), Chris Tardio (Younger) and Tasha Lawrence (The Looming Tower) have been tapped to star in Sanctioning Evil, an indie action-thriller from Jars Media Group and Novakovic Brothers Films.

Directed by Ante Novakovic, the story centers on Staff Sgt. Barnes (Truvillion), a recently discharged Army veteran who finds his way back into society via a charismatic congressman named Ambrose (McGowan). Barnes and Ambrose walk a fine line between covert military operations on civilian soil and unsanctioned retribution toward an underground criminal element, all while being tracked by FBI special agent Kensington (Manning).

Rounding out the cast are Carrie Kim, James Biberi, Kyle Travis Sharp, Kresh Novakovic, Betsy Beutler, Al Linea, Peter Patrikios, Ebony Jo-Ann, Taheim Bryan, Tony Ferro, Artie Pasquale and Byron Clohessy.

Kyle Travis Sharp and Lance Sharp wrote the screenplay, which is being produced by Rob Simmons,...