SXSW: “PRETTY PROBLEMS”
By David Baldwin
Lindsay (Britt Rentschler) and Jack (Michael Tennant) are stuck in a rut. She dreams of working in fashion, but is stuck working the cash at someone else’s shop; he is a disbarred lawyer who is now a door-to-door salesman – and he has mandatory court ordered drug testing once a week. Things change when Lindsay meets obscenely rich housewife Cat Flax (J.J. Nolan). They become fast friends and soon Lindsay and Jack are invited on a weekend getaway with Cat and others in ...
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SXSW: “DIAMOND HANDS: THE LEGEND OF WALLSTREETBETS”
By David Baldwin
Whether you know everything or absolutely nothing about investing in the stock market, chances are you heard about a group of Redditors who took on Wall Street and won early last year. Or at least, how they made an obscene amount of money and changed long held perceptions about the industry at large.
Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari’s Documentary DIAMOND HANDS: THE LEGEND OF WALLSTREETBETS gives an overview of the events as told by many of the Redditors who were part ...
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#SXSW: “STAY THE NIGHT”
By Amanda Gilmore
Canadian talent is on display at SXSW ’22 with Romantic Drama Stay The Night.
Reserved and very single Grace (Andrea Bang from Kim’s Convenience) spends her days focused on her career and rarely goes out. But when she misses out on a job opportunity at her workplace she decides to take-up her friend and roommate, Joni (Humberly González) on her offer for a night out. When Joni ditches her for a guy, Grace meets Carter Stone (Joe Scarpellino), who unbeknownst to ...
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#SXSW: “STILL WORKING 9 TO 5”
By Mr. Will Wong
It is hard to imagine a time where there was any doubt that 9 to 5 would've connected with audiences. The 1980 Colin Higgins Comedy starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton would go on to gross $103 million at the Box Office (second only to Star Wars that year), a TV Series, over 1,500 stage productions worldwide, a theme song which won Grammys and of course, sparking the conversation about equity in the workplace for women.
Co-Directors Camille Hardman and Gary ...
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#SXSW: “MAMA BEARS”
By Amanda Gilmore
This thought-provoking Documentary examines the struggles the LGBTQ+ community and their families face in relation to their Christian faith. It follows two conservative Christian mothers, Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, and how their love for their LGBTQ+ children has made them advocates for the Queer community. This leads them to join an online community of like-minded Christian mothers called “Mama Bears”.
Director Daresha Kyi has found subjects who are ...
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#SXSW: “SOFT & QUIET”
By Amanda Gilmore
Blumhouse Thriller Soft & Quiet might go down as one of the most uncomfortable to watch films of SXSW ’22.
The Film follows Emily (Stefanie Estes), a White Supremacist elementary school teacher, who organizes a club mixer of like-minded women. When they decide to move the meeting to Emily's house, they stop at the local store to pick up refreshments. When two minority sisters enter, the white supremacist club targets them. This interaction sends the club into a ...
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#SXSW: “TO LESLIE”
By Mr. Will Wong
Director Michael Morris (Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why) is known primarily for his work in Television, but makes his feature debut at SXSW with TO LESLIE. The Texas-set Drama centers on Leslie (Andrea Riseborough), a single mother who has made some poor life choices and after winning the lottery some years ago, blowing it all away. She lost custody of her son and has bottomed-out, going from stranger to stranger, turning to alcohol as her sources of comfort. She's ...
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#SXSW: “LINOLEUM”
By Amanda Gilmore
Nothing is working out for Scientist Cameron Edwin (Jim Gaffigan). His wife has filed for divorce and he’s just been fired from his own television program. When a satellite falls from orbit and crashes into his dysfunctional family home, Cameron seizes the opportunity to fulfil his dream of becoming an astronaut by re-building it into a rocket ship. His wife and daughter believe he's experiencing a Midlife Crisis, however, when surreal events begin happening around him, ...
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#SXSW: “THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE”
By Mr. Will Wong
Based on true events, Hulu Series THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE dramatizes the events leading to Michelle Carter's conviction for involuntary manslaughter of boyfriend Conrad Roy. The Screenplay by Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus is inspired by the Esquire article of the same name by Jesse Barron. The then-18-year-old had been struggling with his mental health and commit suicide in 2014 after it was learned that Carter had encouraged him to do so.
In the lead role is the ...
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#SXSW: “THE BLIND MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC”
By David Baldwin
Jaakko (Petri Poikolainen) is blind and suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. He was not always this way, but now spends his days in pain and confined to a wheelchair. He chats daily with his girlfriend Sirpa (Marjana Maijaala), who he has only ever spoken to online and by phone. When she receives some bad news, Jaakko decides he must go to see here – even if the solo trip takes three hours and will involve multiple forms of transportation and relying on the kindness of ...
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