by William Engel Who’s “Jenna?” is very Funny, daring, and surprisingly intense. The film follows Jonathan Burke (Bill Sorvino), a financial advisor who starts dating a lawyer named Jenna Casey (Tracey Birdsall) after meeting her at a bar. His best friend, Andy Roma (Joseph D’onofrio) notes that she bears a striking resemblance to a…
by William Engel If there’s any doubt in your mind that synchronized swimming is a legitimate sport, that doubt will be extinguished upon viewing “Perfect”, a spellbinding documentary about one of the athletic world’s most under-appreciated pursuits. “Perfect” gives us an inside look at the Canadian synchronized swimming team as they prepare for the…
By William Engel “Fear, Love and Agoraphobia” is a sobering, poignant story of two people struggling to break free from their respective prisons – one confined by mental illness, the other by grief. The film follows two different people, whose lives converge about one-third through. The first, a man named Chet (Dustin Coffey), suffers…
By William Engel “Russian Doll” follows Viola Ames (Melanie Brockmann Gaffney), a veteran police detective who’s assigned to investigate the disappearance of a woman who stumbled upon a murder plot behind the scenes of an upcoming play called The Russian Doll. As opening night draws closer and closer, Viola and her partner, EJ (Sarah Hollis)…
By William Engel The film follows Jimmy Percer (Kogon), an aging tap dancer who seeks to enter an international dancing competition. On one hand, he has plenty of people in his corner, including his wife, Tess (Beverly Mitchell), his boss, Mr. Dalyrmple (Jim O’Heir), and his niece, Kit (Hayley Shukiar). On the other hand, a…
By William Engel A powerful story of one man’s task to clear his family name and save his family’s property. The film follows Nohea Kanekoa (Moronai Kanekoa), a one-legged war veteran who finds himself in a desperate bid to save his ancestral homeland. His ailing grandmother (Marlene Sai) owes thousands of dollars in property taxes,…
By William Engel Bare tells the harrowing yet uplifting story based on the short story written by Rebecca Hall (a friend of the filmmaker Kerith Lemon), who’s own devastating breast cancer diagnosis at age drastically 25 changed the course of her life. The story is of a woman (Aurora Perrineau) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctor prescribes…
By William Engel Director Lisa France captivated the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival audiences with “Roll With Me”, a sobering yet inspiring look at a disabled man’s attempt to overcome his limitations and accomplish something extraordinary. The documentary follows Gabriel Cordell, a newly sober paraplegic who sets out to be the first person to roll…
By William Engel Santiago Rizzo made his directorial debut last year with the striking “Quest”. One of the reasons filmmaker Santiago Rizzo made his 2018 Slamdance Film Festival narrative feature “Quest” was to fulfill a promise to his life-changing mentor and friend, Tim Moellering. Moellering was a humble Berkeley, California middle school teacher and football…
by William Engel What does it take to build a world-class French restaurant? What if the staff is almost entirely men and women just out of prison? What if most have never cooked or served before, and have barely two months to learn their trade? The message of the Oscar-nominated documentary “Knife Skills” is…
