News

Chinese filmmaker Jing Zou, director of the narrative feature film “A Girl Unknown,” has been named as the winner of the fifth annual Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant from Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum (Nwff). This grant includes an unrestricted cash award of $25,000 to support her directorial debut, which follows a girl from age six through her 30s as she’s passed between multiple families and is inspired by the true story of generations of Chinese girls who were abandoned as a result of the country’s defunct one-child policy.

“I am absolutely honored to be selected as the recipient of the 2024 Lynn Shelton ‘Of a Certain Age’ award for my first feature, ‘A Girl Unknown.’ Thank you for this recognition and for your support,” Zou said in a statement. “I am committed to making the most of this award and to creating a film that honors the spirit of Lynn Shelton.

More than four years since her passing in 2020, and filmmaker Lynn Shelton continues to leave a characteristically positive mark on the indie filmmaking community. Now in its fifth year, the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” grant is now seeking applicants for its latest iteration.

The grant awards $25,000 to a U.S.-based woman, non-binary, or transgender filmmaker, age 39 or older, who has yet to direct a narrative feature. Similar to the previous iterations, the grant will be a national open call, and seeks to recognize a film director for their distinct vision, storytelling, and singularity. Previous recipients include Erica Tremblay, who has said the grant was integral to the development of her debut feature, the lauded “Fancy Dance,” and most recent winner, Mirta Desir, who is in active development on her own first feature now.

“The Lynn Shelton ‘Of a Certain Age’ Grant is an amazing source of support...

Exclusive: The Love List has released its inaugural list highlighting the best 14 unproduced romance-centered screenplays and pilots of the year just in time for Valentine’s Day.

The list was read and curated by a group of anonymous readers, in addition to writer Lindsay Grossman and Olive Bridge TV exec Madison Jones, who launched the Love List last month.

“We were blown away by the response we got, especially in the Love List’s first year,” Jones told Deadline. “We were really encouraged by the quality of submissions sent our way. And we’re excited we’re able to highlight a lot of up-and-coming writers too.”

Grossman added, “Our hope is that these projects will be read by the industry at large and that they will ultimately be sold and produced. Coming out of a pandemic, and then a double-strike, we know there’s a need for stories that inspire and touch our hearts,...

The actor who plays Jeremiah in The Summer I Turned Pretty offered a confusing update on the show's status and potential filming dates. Filming for season 3 may begin in the spring, but nothing is confirmed. Season 3 will adapt the third and final novel in Jenny Han's series, We'll Always Have Summer.

The Summer I Turned Pretty gets a confusing update from Gavin Casalegno, who plays Jeremiah. The popular Prime Video adaptation, based on creator Jenny Han's novel trilogy of the same name, centers on Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung) and what happens once she finds herself in a love triangle with the Fisher brothers — Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah. The Summer I Turned Pretty cast also includes Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, Colin Ferguson, and Tom Everett Scott.

Casalegno spoke to Et at a recent event, offering a confusing update on The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3. Although the actor...

The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 will begin filming this coming spring in North Carolina, but plans could change. The season 2 finale focuses on Belly choosing Jeremiah over Conrad and the trio dealing with the aftermath. Season 3 will follow the third book, showing Belly graduating high school, going to college, and exploring her future.

The Summer I Turned Pretty gets a massive update from an insider source. The hit Prime Video show, which is based on creator Jenny Han's novel trilogy of the same name, tells the story of Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung) and what happens once she finds herself in a love triangle with brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). The Summer I Turned Pretty cast also includes Jackie Chung, Rachel Blanchard, Colin Ferguson, and Tom Everett Scott.

People has shared information from an insider source that confirms The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 is...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to Megan Griffiths’” I’ll Show You Mine,” a Duplass Brothers Productions film, starring Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown. The drama will be released in theaters and on demand on June 23, 2023.

“I’ll Show You Mine” follows an author who has made a career by examining her own trauma as she sits down to interview her beguiling pansexual nephew Nick for a new book about his history as a model. Over the course of a weekend, the two challenge each other to confront and reveal their buried secrets.

“‘I’ll Show You Mine’ was made to engage in an entertaining way with universal themes–sexuality, the effects of trauma, and the need to release the shame that holds us back. It’s a deeply hopeful film that I think will really resonate with audiences and I just couldn’t be more excited...

A well-crafted chamber piece interested in fame, trauma, and performative allyship, “I’ll Show You Mine” works towards a well-earned breakthrough for its audience and characters yet does little with it once secured. A true two-hander, the film by director Megan Griffiths gives off theater vibes, harkening back to Samuel Beckett and even Edward Albee with its conversational backbone and philosophical underpinnings. This one’s got fun characters working through intriguing stuff, to be sure, yet neither the ultimate substance of the narrative nor the form in which it is presented mark it as particularly notable.

Continue reading ‘I’ll Show You Mine’ Bares All To Minimal Effect [Siff Review] at The Playlist.

Marc Maron opened up about his “state of shock” following partner Lynn Shelton’s sudden passing in March 2020. The writer, director, producer, and actor died at age 54 of undiagnosed acute myeloid leukemia.

“There’s no way to explain what happened there,” Maron told People April 15. “I was grieving somebody that I was in love with, but also the loss of possibilities of a life that didn’t happen for us.”

At the time, Maron honored Shelton on his Wtf podcast by replaying their prior conversation in an interview from 2015.

“My producer was like, ‘Look, man, we can take time off,’ And I’m like, ‘It might be important for me to be honest with my feelings right now,'” Maron recalled to People. “I set it up in the place that I was in. And it was gnarly and horrible and hard.”

Per the “Bad Guys” actor, the “grief sort of comes and goes” still,...

Exclusive: Sarah Jeffery (The CW’s Charmed), Emmy nominee Jane Adams (Hacks), Jake Weber (Those Who Wish Me Dead) and Balthazar Getty (Twin Peaks) will star in Year of the Fox, the latest feature from award-winning director Megan Griffiths, which has wrapped production in the state of Washington.

The film written by Eliza Flug is a fictionalized depiction of teenage experiences and personal encounters she had while growing up in Aspen, Colorado, during the last of its utopian heyday. Set in 1997, it tells the story of 17-year-old Ivy (Jeffery), who was adopted as an infant into a wealthy and notable Aspen family and is now navigating the fallout of her parents’ bitter divorce.

Ivy’s mother, Paulene (Adams), prepares to relocate to her native Seattle, taking Ivy with her. But Ivy’s influential and controlling father, Huxley (Weber), pulls Ivy ever closer by inviting...

When filmmaker Lynn Shelton died suddenly in May 2020, much of the independent film community was beside itself. One month later, several of her peers came together in a powerful hourlong tribute posted to YouTube, one of the first pandemic-era specials that actually seemed to work in the format. “Her Effortless Brilliance: A Celebration of Lynn Shelton Through Film and Music” assembles many of Shelton’s collaborators to provide an overview of her career, with stunning musical performances from many of her credits interspersed throughout. It was exactly the sort of DIY initiative that Shelton embraced throughout her career, but for director Megan Griffiths, it was just the starting point for bolstering Shelton’s legacy.

Shelton broke out of the Seattle film scene with her lo-fi comedy “My Effortless Brilliance” in 2008. Appreciation for her naturalistic style grew around her poignant character studies like “Humpday,” “Your Sister’s Sister,” and “Laggies,” but she...

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There’s a new coming-of-age drama series to binge this Memorial Day weekend, and anytime after that. Amazon’s “Panic” arrived on Prime Video on Friday complete with some of the thrilling twists and turns that you’d expect from a binge-worthy show.

If you’re not an Amazon Prime member, sign up now to watch the new series and other Amazon content for free your first month. Amazon Prime is currently running a free 30-day trial but the membership will only cost you $12.99 a month (or $119 a year) after the trial ends, and you can cancel at anytime. Amazon Prime members get special access to a bunch of cost-saving perks such as discounted prices,...

To honor the legacy of beloved filmmaker Lynn Shelton, Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum and Duplass Brothers Productions have today announced the launch of the Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant. The $25,000 unrestricted cash grant will be awarded each year to a U.S.-based woman or non-binary filmmaker, age 39 or older, who has yet to direct a narrative feature.

Shelton, who passed away in May, was among the leading voices of American independent film, working on all sides of the camera on such films as “Humpday,” “Your Sister’s Sister,” “Outside In,” and “Sword of Trust.” Like the filmmakers the grant is intended to help, Shelton didn’t direct her own first feature (“We Go Way Back”) until she was 39. In the 15 years that followed, Shelton built a prolific and respected canon of both feature and television work.

“This grant seeks to reinforce that great filmmakers can emerge at any age,...

A grant fund has been set up in honor of the late “Humpday” filmmaker Lynn Shelton that will provide a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant to U.S. based women and nonbinary filmmakers, age 39 or older, who have yet to direct a narrative feature.

The “Of a Certain Age” grant was established by Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum alongside Duplass Brothers Productions, and the prize will be awarded each year.

“This grant seeks to reinforce that great filmmakers can emerge at any age, and to elevate the voices of a segment of the filmmaking community who have precious few resources dedicated to supporting them yet plenty of stories to tell,” Megan Griffiths, Shelton’s longtime friend and collaborator who is working in her capacity as a member of the board of Northwest Film Forum to help establish the grant, said in a statement. “Lynn was 39 when I met her on her first feature,...

A tribute to the life of the late director Lynn Shelton will air Wednesday night live on YouTube and will feature special dedications and performances by Emily Blunt, Reese Witherspoon and Shelton’s partner Marc Maron, among many more.

The program titled “Her Effortless Brilliance: A Celebration of Lynn Shelton Through Film and Music” will air live on YouTube on June 10 at 9 p.m. Et/6 p.m. Pt and will be available for streaming and sharing immediately afterwards. The stream will be available here.

Shelton, the director of “Humpday,” “Your Sister’s Sister” and episodes of “Glow” and “Mad Men,” died suddenly on May 16 at 54 of a previously undisclosed blood disorder.

Also Read: Director Lynn Shelton's Death Stuns Hollywood: 'I Can't Believe I'll Never Hear Her Laugh Again'

Some of Shelton’s closest collaborators, including Emily Blunt, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, the Duplass Brothers, Jeff Garlin, Joshua Leonard, Sean Nelson, Michaela Watkins,...

Marc Maron, Emily Blunt, and many more are set to appear during the star-studded streaming telecast of “Her Effortless Brilliance: A Celebration of Lynn Shelton Through Film and Music.” The Lynn Shelton tribute will air live tonight at 9pm Et/6pm Pt on YouTube and will continue to be free to stream on the platform afterwards. Viewers can watch the live stream in the embedded video below.

Shelton’s longtime friend Megan Griffiths directed the tribute and produced it alongside Mel Eslyn, the Duplass brothers, and Adam Kersh. Among the actors slated to speak are Blunt, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark and Jay Duplass, Jeff Garlin, Joshua Leonard, Sean Nelson, Michaela Watkins, and Reese Witherspoon. Musicians scheduled to perform include Maron, Andrew Bird, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Laura Veirs, and Tomo Nakayama.

“It has been really meaningful to me to work on this project,” Griffiths said in a statement.

Friends and colleagues of Lynn Shelton, the popular indie filmmaker who died on May 16, have organized “Her Effortless Brilliance” as a music-driven tribute to Shelton’s life and work that will air Wednesday on YouTube at 6 p.m. Pt.

Shelton’s partner Marc Maron, the comedian, podcaster and actor, is among the musical performers, along with Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Andrew Bird.

Megan Griffiths, Shelton’s longtime friend and collaborator, directed the tribute and produced with Mel Eslyn, directors Jay and Mark Duplass and Adam Kersh. Among the actors slated to speak are Emily Blunt, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, the Duplass Brothers, Jeff Garlin, Joshua Leonard, Sean Nelson, Michaela Watkins and Reese Witherspoon.

“It has been really meaningful to me to work on this project. Lynn was one of my dearest friends and losing her has been leveling,” said Griffiths. “It has given me comfort to...

The unexpected loss of Lynn Shelton is a devastating blow to the independent film community, where the multi-hyphenate filmmaker cut her teeth before blossoming beyond her roots to become a voice who helped shape the Golden Age of TV. The news of her death, caused by an undiagnosed blood disorder, was shared by her creative and romantic partner Marc Maron, and, at the age of 54, Shelton was still very much in her prime. Her most recent project was directing four episodes of Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere,” and as revealed in an IndieWire interview earlier in May, the “Humpday” and “Your Sister’s Sister” director was at work on a new film project with Maron while in quarantine.

IndieWire has reached out to members of the independent film community asking for their thoughts on why Shelton and her work meant so much to them. Those responses are shared below as they come in,...

Exclusive: Fledgling UK distributor Lightbulb, which specialises in home ent releases, has picked up four films for its slate, including SXSW 2018 drama Sadie and Polish fantasy-thriller Sword Of God.

The former is a U.S. indie pic starring Melanie Lynskey (Togetherness), John Gallagher, Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane) and Sophia Mitri Schloss (The Kicks) in the title role. Directed by Megan Griffiths (Lucky Them), the film charts the story of a girl who will stop at nothing to preserve her father’s place on the home front. The deal was brokered by Philippe Louis Galliano of The Movie Agency.

Polish language pic Sword Of God, set during the medieval period, sees two Christian knights arrive at a pagan village, intent on converting the villagers to their religion. Soon their faith, and the bond between them, are brutally tested and the men must decide how far they are willing to go for their religion.

Getting a film made is one of the most challenging experiences anyone can go through. From writing the script, to securing the financing, to picking a crew, to casting the film, to finally shooting and editing it, filmmaking requires a huge diversity of technical and creative skills. But in today’s media-saturated world, it’s arguably just […]

The post ‘Sadie’ Director Megan Griffiths Tells Us How to Get People to Care About Your Indie Film appeared first on /Film.

You can take the filmmaker out of indie film, but you can’t take indie filmmaking out of Mark Duplass. The co-creator of “Room 104” has a niche at HBO: He makes the genre-shifting, episodic anthology series cheap and fast. So fast, in fact, the next season is already done.

“Here’s the scoop on Season 3 — we already shot it,” Duplass said in an interview, weeks before the Season 2 finale aired. “We have shot it, we have edited it, and we have delivered it. We did two seasons back-to-back because it was going to be so much cheaper.”

Duplass said that’s why the crew shot 24 episodes in a row; now the first 12 have aired, it’s up to HBO as to when the next set drops. Duplass is already hard at work writing Season 4.

It may not replace outgoing HBO juggernaut “Game of Thrones,” but Duplass is filling the...

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready collaborates with two members of Seattle hard-rock band Thunderpussy, vocalist Molly Sides and guitarist Whitney Petty, on his simmering new song “Show Your Colors.” On the track, which appears on the soundtrack to Megan Griffiths’ coming-of-age drama Sadie, Sides belts bluesy lines about “broken secrets and shattered frames” over droning electric guitars and distorted bass.

“For ‘Show Your Colors,’ I wanted Molly Sides [and] Whitney Petty from Thunderpussy to play [and] write what they felt,” McCready told Rolling Stone in a statement. “It is important to me to collaborate with great artists,...

Timothée Chalamet charmed audiences last fall with his Oscar-nominated performance in Call Me By Your Name. This season he’s opposite Steve Carell in bio-drama Beautiful Boy, based on two best-selling memoirs by father and son David and Nic Sheff. The feature, from Amazon Studios, opens this weekend in New York and L.A., leading to national expansions in early November. Rupert Everett comes out with his directorial debut, The Happy Prince, based on the final days of Oscar Wilde. Everett also wrote, and stars along with Colin Firth and Emily Watson in the feature which opened Wednesday in limited release via Sony Pictures Classics.

Roadside Attractions’ The Oath takes a comedic look at a divided America. The film by Ike Barinholtz, co-starring Tiffany Haddish, opens in 10 locations Friday before jumping to 250 next week. And SXSW debut Sadie opens in a self-release by Megan Griffiths.

Other limited releases include Paladin...

The struggle faced by military families is well-known. When a loved one chooses life in the armed forces, that choice normally entails frequent, and long, deployments overseas. While many civilians only know about those incredibly emotional reunions caught on video, as a husband and wife embrace after months apart, with the little child holding up a hand-made sign, there’s a lot more to the story. And that’s exactly what writer-director Megan Griffiths’ emotionally-charged “Sadie” presents audiences.

Continue reading ‘Sadie’ Trailer: A Young Teen’s Concerns Lead Her Down A Dark Path In This Exclusive Look At The SXSW Standout at The Playlist.

In today’s film news roundup, teen drama “Sadie” gets a release, “Younger” star Molly Bernard and a comedy about Chuck Taylor sneakers is in the works.

Release Date

Filmmaker Megan Griffiths and producers Lacey Leavitt and Jennessa West will independently release their drama “Sadie” starting with openings on Oct. 12 in Los Angeles and New York.

“Sadie,” which debuted at SXSW and won the Gryphon Jury Award at the 2018 Giffoni Film Festival, centers on a 13-year-old girl, played by Sophia Mitri Schloss, whose behavior worsens due to a fierce affection for her faraway father, a solider she hasn’t seen during the several years he has pulled multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Joe Leydon said in his SXSW review for Variety, “Equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller, writer-director Megan Griffiths’ quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting drama is a genuine rarity.”

Melanie Lynskey stars as the mother along with John Gallagher Jr.,...

The 44th Seattle International Film Festival announced its winners at the festival’s concluding ceremony Sunday, with Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” taking home prizes for best film and best actress for star Elsie Fisher. Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” which has drawn attention since the release of its nostalgic trailer, won the best documentary prize for director Morgan Neville.

See the full list of winners below.

Best Film

“Eighth Grade,” directed by Bo Burnham (USA 2018)

Best Documentary

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” directed by Morgan Neville (USA 2018)

Best Director

Gustav Möller, “The Guilty” (Denmark 2018)

Best Actor

Miguel Ángel Solá, “The Last Suit” (Argentina/Poland/Spain/France/Germany 2017)

Best Actress

Elsie Fisher, “Eighth Grade” (USA 2018)

Best Short Film

“Emergency,” directed by Carey Williams (USA 2017)

Lena Sharpe Award for Persistence of Vision

Presented by Women in Film – Seattle

Dana Nachman, “Pick of the Litter” (USA 2017)

Siff...

War can be waged on many fronts, but don’t overlook or underestimate the subtle, but deadly psychological warfare campaign fought by a profoundly disaffected teenage girl. These notions clash and resistance are one of the ideas explored in “Sadie,” a troubled, coming of age trailer park drama from writer/director Megan Griffiths (“The Night Stalker,” “Lucky Them“) bolstered by an unnervingly cold, but breakout performance by Sophia Mitri Schloss.

While on its surface, Sadie is not an explicitly political film about the present American condition, it is a story of the “forgotten men and women” hidden from the public eye in various social contexts. Following a troubled young woman who may one day become a problem society will deal with the only way it knows how–branding her a monster and putting her in a state prison–Megan Griffiths’ film could be read as an origin story. But if there’s a silver lining to this tragedy, it’s that there’s some small level of intervention from adults to prevent this possibility, even if they never know quite what to say to help.

12-year old Sadie (played brilliantly by Sophia Mitri Scholoss) spends her days roaming around the scrap yards that flank her trailer park. Her seemingly only friend is her younger neighbor, Francis (Keith L. Williams), and his grandfather.

Known for films including Eden and The Off Hours, writer/director Megan Griffiths is back at SXSW this year with a family drama titled Sadie. The film centers on Sadie, a young girl (played by breakout star Sophia Mitri Schloss) who struggles with the absence of her military father. As her mother (Melanie Lynskey) begins dating another man (John Gallagher Jr.), Sadie takes matters into her own hands to tank the relationship. “I started writing this in 2009. It was sort of…...

No one is happy in the hazy, dank world of Megan Griffiths’ trailer-park drama, “Sadie.” But no one is as compelling in their discontent as the eponymous lead, an outcast 13-year-old played by breakout star Sophia Mitri Schloss. Unhappy with her lot in life, she’s ignored at nearly every turn, only finding solace in her doting mother Rae (Melanie Lynskey) and her long-time best pal Francis (Keith L. Williams).

However, Sadie’s fragile existence is made worse by the protracted absence of her father. A daddy’s girl through and through, Sadie is convinced that her soldier dad is the only one who really understands her — not only with their shared interest in gory horror movies, military strategy, and sensible flak jackets, but also in emotions and worldview. That her father has been out of the country and her life, for years (save for his bi-monthly letters) stings Sadie,...

Girl Talk is a weekly look at women in film — past, present, and future.

While Hollywood continues to struggle towards parity in the director’s chair, the film festival world is playing major catch-up. At this year’s SXSW Film Festival, the push towards parity is becoming more of a reality than ever before, as 33% of all feature films at the fest are directed by women, while the shorts section boasts 59% female directorship across its slate. It’s a stark difference to the studio side of the industry.

The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s latest study, “Inclusion in the Director’s Chair? Gender, Race & Age of Directors across 1,000 films from 2007-2017,” found that, of the 109 film directors associated with the 100 top movies of 2017, 92.7 percent were male; 7.3 percent were female. Days later, the San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film followed with the “Celluloid Ceiling” study,...

SXSW 2018 is upon us. Here are 10 films, without Tomatometers to guide us comfortably, premiering at this year's fest that you can bet on.

Relaxer - Joel Potrykus

Dogged to deteriorate ‘til he clobbers the unclobberable, Abby can’t flee his dent in the couch til he bests his brother’s bet to beat level 256 of Pac-Man. The stakes are, in that Potrykus way, only as strong as the disillusioned hero can envisage. Sleepless, stagnating, running on processed dairy, Abby’s obstacle might be Potrykus’s most menacing yet.

Screenings.

Don’t Leave Home - Michael Tully

Michael Tully’s first feature since the low-dose nostalgia trip Ping Pong Summer leaves comfort for myth and mystery, a curiosity and obsession that leads an artist away from the hearth.

Screenings.

Field Guide To Evil - Anthology

This ”Global dark folklore anthology” features shorts from The Lure director Agniezka Smoczynska, Goodnight Mommy’s...

Over the years, we’ve seen films that tackle the life of a person in the military from almost every angle. However, there’s one side of the military life that hasn’t really been explored much on film, until now. Premiering at this year’s SXSW is the newest film from writer/director Megan Griffiths, “Sadie.” In the first teaser trailer for the movie, we see how military life affects the daughter of a soldier, and it’s probably not how you would expect.

Exclusive: There are many teens who will stop at nothing to keep their parents together no matter how broken the relationship. As seen in the new trailer for Sadie, which makes its world premiere at SXSW, the titular teen (played by newcomer Sophia Mitri Schloss) is taking this to another level. Written by Megan Griffiths, the film follows 13-year-old Sadie who lives at home with her mother (Melanie Lynskey) while her father serves repeated tours in the military. Sadie is…...

With Sundance 2018 wrapped up, the next major American festival is South by Southwest Film Festival and today they’ve announced their lineup. Opening with John Krasinski’s horror film A Quiet Place, it also includes some of our most-anticipated films of the year: Jody Hill’s Observe & Report follow-up The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (which Netflix has announced they’ll release), Andrew Bujalski’s Support the Girls, and Julia Hart’s Miss Stevens follow-up, the sci-fi film Fast Color (pictured above) starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Check out the lineup below for the festival that takes place March 9-18 in Austin. It also includes many Sundance 2018 titles, and you can see our reviews of those here.

Narrative Feature Competition

Ten world premieres; ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,408 narrative feature submissions in 2018.

Family

Director/Screenwriter: Laura Steinel

When an emotionally stunted 30 year-old woman is tasked...

"If they hear you, they hunt you." Before it's released in theaters this April, John Krasinski's new post-apocalyptic movie A Quiet Place will have its world premiere as the opening night movie at South by Southwest.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world that's been ravaged by monsters attracted by sound, A Quiet Place was directed and co-written by John Krasinski, who also co-stars alongside Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, and Millicent Simmonds.

Part of the Headliners screening slate, A Quiet Place will make its world premiere on March 9th ahead of the film's April 6th theatrical release from Paramount Pictures. This marks the third feature film behind the camera for Krasinski, who directed Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and The Hollars, as well as three episodes of The Office, on which he played the iconic character of Jim Halpert.

Other genre movies screening at SXSW, including the Midnighters slate, will be announced on February 7th,...

The 2018 SXSW Film and TV lineups have landed, and Austin’s programming of new films and TV shows looks like nothing else out there. As the film section enters its 25th anniversary and the festival’s top programmer Janet Pierson enters her 10th, SXSW remains a distinctive presence on the festival circuit, one that speaks to an ever-changing media landscape and the variability of filmmaking outside of Hollywood. Here are some of the standouts from the announcement.

See More:sxsw Film and TV 2018 Lineup: Jordan Peele, Female Directors, and More Lead Latest Announcement

Daryl Hannah Made an Experimental Western With Willie Nelson

As calls for supporting women filmmakers continue to dominate the industry, SXSW’s program provides a compelling response. Its 10-movie narrative competition is dominated by eight women directors, varying wildly in age and experience. These include first-time director Hannah Marks, who co-directed the drama “Shotgun” with Joey Power. Marks...

Jordan Peele’s The Last O.G to screen in Independent Episodic; Timur Bekmambetov’s Profile among SXSW line-up.

Source: Paramount Pictures

SXSW top brass on Wednesday (January 31) said the world premiere of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place will open the 25th edition of the festival, which runs in Austin, Texas, from March 9-18.

Krasinski directed and stars in horror-thriller A Quiet Place alongside his wife Emily Blunt in the tale of an isolated family living in silence for fear of attack by an unknown force than tracks sound. Platinum Dunes produced the feature, which opens in the Us through on April 6 through Paramount.

SXSW launches the inaugural Independent Episodic section this year, an expansion on the Episodic section launched in 2014. Overall, the festival will screen 132 features, with additional titles to be announced.

The full line-up will include 44 films from first-time filmmakers, 86 world premieres, 11 North American premieres and five Us premieres. The films were culled...

The SXSW Conference and Festivals has announced its features lineup and opening night film, plus a selection of episodic titles for the 25th edition of the Film Festival, running this March in Austin, Texas. This year’s festival will open with John Krasinski’s Paramount-produced “A Quiet Place,” playing as part of the festival’s Headliners section. Elsewhere, the film lineup is stacked with a number of offerings from female filmmakers, including its Narrative Feature Competition, which includes eight films (out of ten) directed or co-directed by women, from Megan Griffiths’ “Sadie” to Stacy Cochran’s “Write When You Get Work.”

Other sections of the festival also include a heavily female bent, including three films in the Headliners section (which currently includes five titles), and the Narrative Spotlight section, which includes new films from Lynn Shelton, Miranda Bailey, Julia Hart, and Suzi Yoonessi. Those titles are joined by a slew of other SXSW regulars,...

Tonight on Room 104, The Fight is a fierce and frantic episode which sees two women war with each other as the male-dominated Mma fight system keeps them marginalized financially. In short, and without too many spoilers, they cook up a scheme. The technically accurate and stunning choreography of The Fight proves how few limitations space presents to film when in the right hands, thanks to the eye and skill of Seattle-based director Megan Griffiths (The Night Stalker).  This incredible episode is one of the best so far and the second effort for the series directed by Griffiths, who previously...read more...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: Who is the best TV director? Why? (For old, current or upcoming shows.)

Marisa Roffman (@marisaroffman), TV Guide Magazine

The recent Emmy Awards was a good reminder of just how great television directors are right now. It was the best overall crop we’ve had in years, and one of the few categories where it felt like it could have gone any way.

But in terms of best television director, I’m partial to David Nutter. His 30-plus year resume is impressive (“The Sopranos,” “ER,” “The X-Files,” plus an Emmy win for “Game of Thrones”) and wildly varied (he’s done procedurals like “Without a Trace,...

In last week’s episode of “Room 104,” the inventive TV experiment from the Duplass brothers, two baby-faced Mormon missionaries ask “Heavenly Father” for a sign when their faith begins to flag. Feeling discouraged by their failure to persuade a single convert, Noah (Adam Foster) has recently tried coffee, and Joseph (Nat Wolff) zealously guides him back to the light. When they ask for a sign and the TV magically turns on so-called “pornography,” Joseph flip-flops and proposes breaking all the rules as a way to strengthen their faith. When Joseph returns with a six-pack of beer, they throw the tamest all nighter any hotel has ever seen, which to them is incredibly wild and thrilling. Through passing glances and hidden hard-ons, it soon becomes clear they’d like to switch teams in more ways than one.

What unfolds is a funny and sensitive exploration of repressed sexuality, their earnest...

On tonight’s episode of HBO’s Room 104, the Duplass brothers’ critically acclaimed series on HBO, we meet The Missionaries inside the motel room where anything can and does happen. Actor Nat Wolff is cast as Joseph and newcomer Adam Foster is cast as Noah, two Mormon missionaries who go through a startling journey of self-discovery, faith-testing and a sexual awakening. The incredibly taut and compelling episode was directed by Megan Griffiths, who also directs a future episode titled The Fight. In the confined Room 104, two young men have — at different moments — a ballooning crisis of faith as...read more...

[Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with HBO in support of Room 104, which premieres onJuly 28 at 11:30 p.m. Et.]

“Room 104” isn’t like anything else you’ll see on television this year. The new half-hour, genre-bending HBO series features a number of unique facets, but they all relate back, in one way or another, to the creative minds of Mark and Jay Duplass.

The writers, producers, directors, and actors known for breakout independent films like “The Puffy Chair” and “Cyrus” as well as award-winning television like “Togetherness” and “Transparent” have come together to create the latest exciting original series on the Home Box Office network.

Set in a single room in your typical American motel chain, each week tells a different story and all 12 episodes of Season 1 were produced by the Duplass Brothers. The tone, characters, and era can all change week-to-week, and viewers should be ready for drama, comedy, horror, and at the start of each new entry. What unites each story is the common search for...

Jay and Mark Duplass are creators who don’t like to be put in a box, even if they’re making six hours of television set within the same four walls.

“Room 104,” the new HBO anthology series from the Duplass brothers, tells individual, episodic stories in each of its 12 half-hour installments, and all 12 are set within the same cheap, dingy hotel room. The first episode, which premiered at the Atx TV Festival Saturday evening, is a lot closer to Mark Duplass’ work in indie films “Creep” and “The One I Love” than the brothers’ former HBO comedy.

During a panel discussion following the episode, Duplass said he felt inspired by the constraints of the premise.

“I have something like 218 ideas in a Word document on my computer,” Duplass said.

Noting how it felt like he was back making low-budget indie films, Duplass said he wrote seven of the 12 episodes...

“I thought I was going to get fired.”

In a perfect world, such a thought would never cross Melanie Lynskey’s mind, for the talented actress would literally never be in danger of getting canned. She could throw fits next to crafty, punch a grip in the face, or burn down the sets, and we’d still forgive her because… Well, because Melanie Lynskey would never do any of that. She’s Melanie Lynskey.

But the actor you fell in love with during “Beautiful Creatures,” “Togetherness,” or the 2017 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” did have the thought cross her mind for the strangest of reasons: Tom McCarthy found out she was a recurring cast member on “Two and a Half Men.”

Read More: The 2017 IndieWire SXSW Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During the Festival

Lynskey, speaking during a SAG-sponsored conversation at SXSW,...

Top brass have unveiled the full line-up for the 42nd annual Seattle International Film Festival (Siff), set to run from May 19-June 12.

This year’s event will screen 421 films from 85 countries, of which 181 are fictional features including four secret films, 75 are documentaries, and eight are archival films.

There are 29 world premieres of feature-length selections, 42 North American premieres and 15 Us premieres.

Woody Allen’s Café Society starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and Kate Winslet in Australian hit The Dressmaker (pictured) bookend the festival.

Documentary Gleason, one of the hits of Sundance at the start of the year and centring on Spokane-born NFL star Steve Gleason’s battle with Als, will screen at the festival’s Centerpiece Gala on June 4.

The roster includes Matt Ross’s Captain Fantastic, which filmed in Washington state and will screen as part of a tribute to Viggo Mortensen on June 11, when the actor will receive the festival’s Outstanding Achievement in Acting...

Indie filmmaker Lynn Shelton ("Laggies," "Your Sister's Sister," "Humpday") is teaming with "This American Life" for a film based on "The Incredible Case of the Pi Moms" radio report, a stranger than fiction style true story about a private investigation agency scandal.

Shelton would direct the film about the "Charlie's Angels"-esque agency, staffed by hot soccer moms and run by a charismatic ex-cop turned P.I. with dreams of mounting his own Lifetime reality series about the agency.

The media loved the agency which looked into insurance scams and cheating husbands, but it actually turned out to be a front - the ex cop was in league with a local drug enforcement official to sell drugs that had been confiscated by the police. The soccer moms were said to be oblivious to the drug conspiracy.

The original story was revealed in an hourlong report for "This American Life" by Joshua Bearman,...

The Portland Film Festival has partnered with the local chapter of Women in Film and the global event #directedbyWomen, the 15-day worldwide film viewing party highlighting female directors and their work from September 1-15. The third annual Portland Film Festival, which runs from September 1-7, showcased some of the films from #directedbywomen, including Heather de Michele's "As Good As You," Dana Nachman's "Batkid Begins," Lauren Shaw's "Angkor's Children" and Gabrielle Demeestere's "Yosemite." Local Portland producer Lara Cuddy has three films in the festival, including opening night film "Birds of Neptune," directed by Steven Richter. Cuddy was represented on the Women in Film panel at the festival, which also included veteran screenwriter Leslie Dixon ("Freaky Friday," "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Limitless"), director Megan Griffiths ("Lucky Them," "Eden," "The Off...

HBO has put into development an anthology comedy series titled “Family Drama” that hails from Lynn Shelton, her frequent collaborator Megan Griffiths and “True Blood” executive producer Gregg Fienberg, TheWrap has exclusively learned. “Family Drama” will follow a different family every season (within the same city — Seattle) as an explosive event or revelation rips open and exposes the family’s driving emotional flaw, forcing its members to finally confront and deal with each other. Shelton, Griffiths and Fienberg will all serve as writers and executive producers on the series, and Shelton would direct the pilot should the project move forward.

You know… based on looks alone, this is great casting. Variety is reporting that Lou Diamond Phillips has signed to play notorious Los Angeles serial killer Richard Ramirez in The Night Stalker from writer-director Megan Griffiths. Inspired by true events,… Continue Reading →

The post Lou Diamond Phillips to Star as Richard Ramirez in The Night Stalker appeared first on Dread Central.