Odessa Young
#FIRSTLOOK: ZIA ANGER’S “MY FIRST FILM” COMING TO MUBI CANADA
MUBI, the global streaming service, film distributor, and production company, has released today the new official trailer and artwork for Zia Anger’s semi-autobiographical debut feature My First Film, which is a meta exploration of her own artistic and personal experiences, blending both documentary and feature film-making into a story about the transformative power of artistic self-reflection. My First Film premiered at this year’s CPH:DOX film festival and will stream exclusively on MUBI in Canada from September 6, 2024.
Synopsis
Nearly 15 years after her initial efforts, Vita (Odessa Young) recounts the tumultuous process of directing her semi-autobiographical first feature about a young woman who gets pregnant and decides to leave home. The production, featuring her friend Dina (Devon Ross), spirals into chaos due to Vita’s enthusiastic but inexperienced approach, leading to significant disruptions and a near-fatal accident. As Vita’s project unravels, the film transitions into a reflective critique of artistic truth and the construction of narrative from personal experiences.
Following the success of her 2019 multimedia performance of the same name, MY FIRST FILM serves as Zia Anger’s return to her artistic roots, revisiting her never-released film, ALWAYS ALL WAYS, ANNE MARIE, from earlier in her career. Departing from the original performance’s interactive visuals and typed-out monologues, Anger’s feature debut skillfully dramatizes this past chaotic shoot and its untold truths, positioning itself as an autofictional journey that challenges the traditional confines of memoir.
Director’s Biography
ZIA ANGER works in moving images. In 2018 she began touring a new performance that traced the last ten-years of her lost and abandoned work, titled MY FIRST FILM. The performance has since been adapted into a feature film. She has made music videos for various artists including: Mitski, Beach House, and Jenny Hval. Her work has been called “an exceptional commitment to radical transparency.”
MY FIRST FILM WILL STREAM EXCLUSIVELY ON MUBI IN CANADA FROM
SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
#TIFF21: “MOTHERING SUNDAY” REVIEW
Review by Amanda Gilmore
Director Eva Husson poetically brings Graham Swift’s post-WWI secret romance novel to the screen.
Jane (Odessa Young) is a maid for the wealthy Nivens (Olivia Coleman and Colin Firth). Behind their back, she’s having a secret affair with their neighbour’s son Paul (Josh O’Conner). Their affair has to remain a secret because of their status differences and because Paul is engaged. When Jane gets the day off on Mother’s Day, the two spend the afternoon having one final rendezvous.
Mothering Sunday is a sexy, lyrical Period Drama that’s as much about the ties between people as it is about the power of discovering oneself. This is captured in Alice Birch’s beautiful screenplay that jumps through past, present and future. Additionally, Birch’s time changes create a poetic flow that Husson amplifies on-screen. She and cinematographer Jamie D. Ramsay SASC thrust audiences into Jane’s emotional state. Particularly in one sensual scene where Paul undresses Jane. Rather than show Jane’s entire naked body, Husson brings us into close-up shots that intensify Jane’s emotions. Therefore, making audiences experience those emotions with her.
One of many themes in the Film is about female agency. This is outstandingly displayed when Husson uses a wide tracking shot. She follows Jane around Paul’s mansion while no one is home as she touches books, eats cake and drinks a beer. This all happens in a house that isn’t hers and in a time where women didn’t have agency. In that sequence, Jane has agency. It’s impossible to imagine anyone but Young playing Jane. She is a force of nature, captivating at every turn. She embodies Jane’s compassion, desire and ambition.
Both Young and O’Connor have an undeniable, palpable chemistry that’s integral to telling this forbidden love story. O’Conner gives a powerful performance as Paul. He displays Paul’s desire for Jane and his survivor’s guilt, as the only son to return from WWI. O’Conner shows Paul’s need to comply with his family’s wishes for his future and the pain of giving what he wants away. In minor but memorable roles is Firth and Colman. Each makes their mark as the adults grieving for all the lost men of WWI.
Mothering Sunday screens at TIFF ’21:
Thur, Sep 9 at 9:30 PM at Princess of Wales
Fri, Sep 10 at 7 PM on Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox
Fri, Sep 17 at 3 PM on Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox
#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “MOTHERING SUNDAY”
Premiering at TIFF ’21, here is your first glance at Eva Husson’s MOTHERING SUNDAY starring Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth and Olivia Colman.
Synopsis:
On a warm spring day in 1924, house maid and foundling Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young) finds herself alone on Mother’s Day. Her employers, Mr and Mrs Niven (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman), are out and she has the rare chance to spend an afternoon of abandon with her secret lover, Paul (Josh O’Connor), the boy from the manor house nearby who is Jane’s long-term love despite the fact that he’s engaged to be married to another woman, a childhood friend and daughter of his parents’ friends. But events that neither can foresee will change the course of Jane’s life forever.
(Photo/video credit: Lionsgate Films)
#INTERVIEW: SAM LEVINSON, ABRA, HARI NEF, SUKI WATERHOUSE ON “ASSASSINATION NATION”
By Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Assassination Nation had its International Premiere in the Midnight Madness Programme at TIFF this year. However, if you happened to miss it you’re in luck it will be releasing in theatres on September 21. While it was showing at TIFF ’18 we had the chance to sit down with the Director of the Film, Sam Levinson and Cast members Hari Nef, Suki Waterhouse and Abra about this imminent cult classic.
See the Trailer:
Q: Sam, why did you feel you needed to write this and bring this world to life?
LEVINSON: I started writing this five days before my wife gave birth to our first child. I was really nervous about where our country was headed, just the amount rage that seemed to be bubbling up. And I think I wanted to emotionally unpack it and deal with it in the only way I know how to, as a Writer and a Filmmaker. And I think that was part of it but also, I wanted to write a Film that I thought mirrored the emotional intensity and vitality of the internet. You open up your phone any morning and you’re reading about someone getting shot or here’s a street fight or here’s someone singing a song to a dying family member. And that’s all in the span of about 5 minutes. and it’s an emotional rollercoaster. It’s so intense and it adds this kind of, I don’t know the best way to describe it as, but this sort of dizzying feeling about how do you navigate this world and keep your sanity. If you were to take that and mix it with young people today in some way this movie sort of serves as a road map for how to navigate the world… and the fantasy of sometimes how you wish you could navigate this world, which is by, you know what, saying “fuck you, I don’t give a shit. I’m not going to take it anymore.” Its [The Film] this sort of crazy piece but I wanted to reflect the sort of madness of the internet.
WATERHOUSE: Its like being on the other side of being so scared about your privacy and not wanting anyone to know anything about you, and then the other side is like, you know my worst parts you know things I’m capable of and like “two fingers up to you. I don’t care what you think, I’ going to survive this.”
Q: If there is one thing you want audiences to take away from this Film, what would it be?
ABRA: I wish we all and the people watching, on how we watch each other, we should have more empathy, and be less judgmental about everything. Just take less judgement, be less harsh and step away from the lens and question you’re lens for a minute. Even if it’s the right one, just step away for a minute.
NEF: I would like people to question their own certainty of the truth, of what is right, of what is kind, of what is good. I think that our nation is stratified on to lines right now that are 100% sure of their own rightness, righteousness. And if this Film could parochialize that kind of view a little bit and dig deeper and perhaps question it — that could be a catalyst for positive conversations.
LEVINSON: Yeah, and conversations that I think can ultimately move things forward because right now, at least in American, I feel like we are in this sort of stand off. And standoffs don’t normally end well. Its nerve wracking for all of us, in many ways.
NEF: I found myself questioning my own points of view, just during the filming of the Movie. When we were going to the Louisiana gun range and I was like “oh guns. I hate guns.” And I still have perhaps Liberal views on gun control, but you know, I was in a part of the country that I have never been in for an extended period of time. My prejudices about the conservative south or the lower belt where totally changed and shifted just by the time I spent down there. If you open your eyes and your heart you will be surprised.
LEVINSON: The thing with guns is, if I hear a gun shot I just wanna drop to the ground and hide. So it’s weird being in a gun range because you’re hearing shooting and you’re not supposed to react to it.
NEF: But also working with those guns, holding them and firing them, I understand why these things are important to people. Especially for people who feel extra vulnerable.
LEVINSON: 100% I get it. I think the emotional motivation and the psychological thought of being able to protect yourself. I completely understand that aspect of it no matter what my views are on the context of it. But I think that’s what the Movie is ultimately about. Their ideology in and of itself is bound to fail. And this Film is about discourse it’s about the way in which we communicate. It’s about the idea that if you operate with an absolute certainty that you are right, and that your actions are therefore just, then that is a recipe for a horror film and that’s what this Movie is about.
Elevation Pictures release ASSASSINATION NATION on Friday, September 21, 2018.
#TIFF18: DAY SIX – RYAN GOSLING, NICOLE KIDMAN, ODESSA YOUNG, TROYE SIVAN, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, CLAIRE FOY + MORE
By Mr. Will Wong
TIFF ’18 officially has reached its cooling point, but that doesn’t mean that Day Six wasn’t filled to the brim with starpower! Ryan Gosling was out and about promoting FIRST MAN with his Castmates and Director Damien Chazelle, while Nicole Kidman continued to do the rounds for her latest, BOY ERASED. While TIFF ’18 heavyweight Lucas Hedges couldn’t make it to Toronto to promote his three Films at the Festival, it was a pleasant surprise that Singer/Songwriter/YouTuber Troye Sivan could make it for the Film in which he stars. Also, you might want to know about Sundance breakout hit ASSASSINATION NATION which premiered to much fanfare at Ryerson Theatre for Midnight Madness, as we expect this one to catch on in this post-#MeToo climate.
See who was saw!
FIRST MAN – Ryan Gosling, Damien Chazelle, Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler, Olivia Hamilton, Patrick Fugit x Corey Stoll
BOY ERASED – Nicole Kidman, Troye Sivan x Joel Edgerton, an Australian triple!
COLETTE – Keira Knightley x Dominic West
VITA AND VIRGINIA – Elizabeth Debicki
ASSASSINATION NATION – Odessay Young, Suki Waterhouse, Abra and Hari Nef
Expect things to start slowing down in terms of star-spotting, but we look forward to focusing on the Films of the Festival!
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
#TIFF18: “ASSASSINATION NATION” REVIEW
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Sam Levinson’s women empowerment to the power-of-four Film Assassination Nation is a violent, visceral, eye opening look at what it’s like to be a female teenager in the modern age with a bloody twist. Coming off the positive word of mouth from Sundance, it is no wonder why people loved this Film. It is an absolute blast and insanely entertaining, the Midnight Madness crowd is sure to devour the Film with absolute delight.
The Film centers around Lily (Odessa Young), Hari Nef (Bex), Sarah (Suki Waterhouse) and Em (Abra) as they’re the “it” girls around high school. A hacker slowly starts to leak info about the residents of Salem, and it turns into a witch hunt massacre.
Assassination Nation screens on Tuesday September 11, 10:45 PM at the Ryerson and Wednesday, September 12 at 9:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre.
#SUNDANCE18: “ASSASINATION NATION” REVIEW
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Assassination Nation follows four female high school best friends in Salem. When a hacker releases personal web and phone data of Salem’s citizens, the girls have to protect themselves at all costs.
Writer-Director Sam Levinson creates a Film unlike any made before it. He follows his lead characters, four females, and depicts the violence and misogyny they face in their daily life. But he doesn’t make his characters passive and weak. Instead, they are active and powerful. Able to fend for themselves. Its action-packed from beginning to end with humour, violence, and blood … lots of blood. What very refreshing is that Levinson writes his heroes with flaws and questionable decisions. All which add to the believability of his characters in this satirical yet all-too-real world. And Levinson has found a perfect Ensemble of dominant women consisting of Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef and Abra.
Assassination Nation screens at Sundance on Jan. 21 at 11:59PM at PC Library, Jan. 22 at 12:15PM at Ray PC, Jan. 24 at 11:30PM at Prospector PC, Jan. 25 at 12:30PM at Ray PC, Jan. 25 at 11:59PM at Tower SLC, and Jan. 27 at 11:59PM at Tower SLC.
#TIFF15: DAY 1 SPOTTINGS – HELEN MIRREN, EMILY BLUNT, JOHN KRASINSKI, ELLEN PAGE, MICHAEL PENA, PATRICK STEWART, BENICIO DEL TORO, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, SEBASTIAN STAN, JESSICA CHASTAIN, KATE MARA, SEAN BEAN, ODESSA YOUNG, SEAN BEAN, MARILYN LIMA + MORE!
We’ve only just begun! TIFF ’15 officially has kicked-off and we’re out spotting every one we can! See who was spotted around town today!
Chiwetel Ejiofor for The Martian. The Academy Award nominee for 12 Years a Slave is back this year in Ridley Scott‘s latest.
Odessa Young. Be on the lookout for this talented Australian actress who stars alongside Miranda Otto and Geoffrey Rush in The Daughter.
Rising Star #OdessaYoung at #TIFF15 with #TheDaughter. A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Marilyn Lima. This young actress makes her debut in Bang Gang at TIFF ’15.
The brilliant Josh Brolin, everyone. He is at TIFF ’15 with the highly-buzzed Sicario.
#JoshBrolin at #TIFF15 for #Sicario. A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
The radiant Jessica Chastain at TIFF once again with Ridley Scott‘s The Martian.
Veteran actor Sean Bean at TIFF with The Martian.
#SeanBean at #TIFF15 for #TheMartian. #TIFF #TIFF40 #TorontoFilmFestival A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Emily Blunt +John Krasinski. Blunt is getting tons of early Oscar buzz for her performance in Sicario from Canadian Director Denis Villeneuve.
Benicio del Toro at TIFF ’15 with Sicario. Expect warranted Awards Season buzz.
#BenicioDelToro at #TIFF15 for #Sicario. #TIFF40 #TorontoFilmFestival A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Patrick Stewart at TIFF ’15 for Green Room.
Breaking Bad star Dean Norris at TIFF ’15 for Remember.
#BreakingBad’s #DeanNorris at #TIFF15 with #RememberMovie. #TIFF40 #TorontoFilmFestival A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Emily Blunt, stunning. Light makeup.
The brilliant Helen Mirren all smiles, at TIFF ’15 for Trumbo, a Biopic about writer Dalton Trumbo.
#HelenMirren at #TIFF15 for #Trumbo. #TIFF40 #TIFF #TorontoFilmFestival A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Handsome Captain America: The Winter Soldier star Sebastian Stan at TIFF for The Martian.
Kate Mara at TIFF for The Martian. Cute Pixie Cut, right?
#KateMara at #TIFF15 for #TheMartian. #TIFF40 #TorontoFilmFestival A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Veteran Michael Pena at TIFF for The Martian.
Greg Grunberg at TIFF ’15 for Heroes Reborn, making a debut in the Festival’s new TV Programme.
#GregGrunberg at #TIFF15 for #HeroesReborn! #TIFF40 #TorontoFilmFestival A photo posted by Mr. Will Wong (@mrwillwong) on
Ellen Page, who slays it in Into the Forest + Freeheld, premiering at TIFF ’15.
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