By Vernon Nickerson Murmur, a film written and directed by Heather Young, making its debut at the 2020 Slamdance Film Festival, takes an intimate look at the intersections between 1. a lonely and heartsick mother who longs to love and be loved in return, 2. the substances the mother has used to numb her pain,…
By Monteque Pope-Le Beau Director Alonso Llosa’s tragicomedy La Restauración will have its World Premiere at the 2020 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. La Restauración is a poignant cautionary tale about excess, greed, disillusionment and elitism. The story takes place in a period of rapid urban growth in Peru when money is flowing freely allowing…
By Vernon Nickerson Ouch! That’s what many black preachers jokingly tell their congregants to shout when the sermon is directly applicable to their lives. i.e., stepping on their toes. As a second-year special education teacher at an inner-city Title 1 school, “Ouch!” was my immediate reaction to Erica Tremblay’s visually powerful short, “Little Chief”, from…
By: Vernon Nickerson, How I Found Limerence, the fun film In the midst of a winter of interminable international crises and drama give yourself a break and go see Limerence, a Slamdance Festival feature film and the brainchild of Writer/Director/Producer/Lead Actor Tammy Minoff, The film begins by defining itself in its opening…
By Vernon Nickerson “Love is beautiful and painful…what else is there?” Thankfully, there is also Shoot to Marry, a 2020 Slamdance Film Festival selection. Written, produced, and directed by documentarian Steve Markle, Shoot to Marry is a quirky video memoir of one man’s journey (Markle) in search of a life partner. From a home base…
TRIBES, or, what humankind might accomplish if it only had eleven minutes in a speeding subway car! By Vernon Nickerson, TRIBES, directed by the incredibly talented Nino Aldi, is an absolute gem of an emotional roller coaster and a featured short at the 2020 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Full-disclosure, toy guns particularly and toy…
By: Brian Sebastian and Monteque Pope-Le Beau The documentary “Carl Leammle” is an extraordinary study of a man who was the original father of independent film, the creator of the star system and who would go on to lay the groundwork for Universal Studios. Anything is possible. Carl Leammle Director James L. Friedman’s superb documentary…
By William Engel “The Rebound” takes us through the lives of the Miami Heat Wheels, a wheelchair basketball team on the verge of going to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) National Tournament. The film delves into the genesis of the league, the personal lives of several of the teammates, and what they have to…
By William Engel “Letter from Masanjia” tells the story of Sun Yi, a Chinese man who spent years detained in a prison camp for taking part in Falun Gong, a spiritual practice outlawed by the Chinese government. In the camp, he and the other detainees were forced to make cheap products to export to the…
By William Engel “Surviving Home” takes us through the lives of four different veterans, each of whom fought in a different war – Richard Green, a World War II veteran, Claude Thomas, a Vietnam war veteran, Robert “Bobby” Henline, a Gulf War veteran, and Tracey Cooper Harris, an Iraq War veteran. The film alternates between…
