“Lakota Nation vs. United States” Director Jesse Short Bull & Editor Laura Tomaselli Bring a Profound Injustice to Life
Director Jesse Short Bull knew he’d found the right collaborator in editor Laura Tomaselli when he watched her early cut of Lakota Nation vs. United States, their documentary about the Lakota’s ongoing quest to reclaim the Black Hills of South Dakota, sacred land that was stolen by the government in violation of the Black Hills treaty of 1868.
“Laura cut an amazing scene with a ‘50s western where a man and woman are in a wagon signing about the Black Hills and why ‘the Indians fight so hard for their land,’” recalled Short Bull.
“Joy Ride” Screenwriters Cherry Chevapravatdumrong & Teresa Hsiao Embrace the Raunch
Adele Lim’s feature directorial debut Joy Ride cruised into theaters this past weekend, boasting critical raves. The laughs come early and often in Lim’s ensemble film, thanks in large part to screenwriters and producers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao. The talented duo began writing the script for Joy Ride on spec, and that sense of freedom and play is on full display.
The screenwriters both met in the writer’s room in Seth MacFarlane’s joke-a-second animated raunch-fest Family Guy and in Joy Ride,
Provincetown International Film Festival Honors the Great Billy Porter
The irrepressible Billy Porter, actor, singer, and style maven, fit in perfectly with the quirky but sophisticated vibe of the Provincetown International Film Festival, which celebrated its 25th year June 14-18.
The Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award winner was this year’s Excellence in Acting Honoree at PIFF. Audiences also got an early look at his latest film, director Bill Oliver’s indie drama Our Son. Porter and Luke Evans portray husbands going through a divorce and fighting over the custody of their 8-year-old son.
“The Perfect Find” Director Numa Perrier on Creating Space For Romance With Gabrielle Union
The Perfect Find (now streaming on Netflix) begins with Gabrielle Union’s New York City fashionista Jenna recovering from a bad breakup at her mother’s house. What makes matter most is this is happening in the wake of the humiliating collapse of her high-profile career. But Jenna’s not the type to pout, so she stages a comeback and, along the way, falls for a much younger man, Eric (Keith Powers). As rom-com fate would have it,
“The Blackening” Cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis on Lensing a Horror-Comedy Romp
It’s almost hard to believe The Blackening is cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis’ first feature film. He’s been in the business for decades, having shot a variety of television shows, including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bosch: Legacy, and Entourage. Before becoming a cinematographer for a long list of hit shows and music videos, he even worked on two Jean-Claude Van Damme classics, Hard Target and Double Impact,
“Atlanta” and “P-Valley” Costume Designer Tiffany Hasbourne’s Singular Style
Costume designer Tiffany Hasbourne began her journey as a stylist to some of the biggest names in music, including Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, French Montana, and Busta Rhymes. She got the attention of gatekeepers in Hollywood by styling the cast of High School Musical, and then rose to prominence by designing costumes for shows like Shooter, Raising Dion, and Ballers. It was her work on Ballers that got her the gig on Atlanta,
“Flamin’ Hot” Screenwriter Linda Yvette Chávez Serves Up a Story Straight From the Heart
Linda Yvette Chávez tells the story of Flamin’ Hot with faith, passion, and romance. The co-creator of the Netflix series Gentefied saw herself in the true story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), the Frito Lay janitor who dreamed of a snack that connected with his Mexican American community. With his great coach and partner in life, his wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez), Richard fulfilled his dream with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Chávez doesn’t focus on a single person with a singular vision.
Gina Prince-Bythewood, MPA Creator Award Recipient, Tells Her Story
An elite force of female soldiers, the Agojie, is all that stands between the African Kingdom of Dahomey and the combined forces of the Oyo Empire and Mahi people. The Oyo and Mahi plan to raid Dahomey villages and sell their captives to European slavers. We open on a Mahi village where raiders heat their machetes over a fire at night. Their leader hears something in the tall grass surrounding them and quiets his men,
“Never Have I Ever” Star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan on the Final Season & Devi’s Send Off
“I’m dealing with cramps.”
That’s the first thing 21-year-old Maitreyi Ramakrishnan tells me when she hops on our Zoom. It’s wholly indicative of her character — an actress plucked out of obscurity at 17, grounded, down-to-earth, unapologetically herself no matter the circumstance.
It’s something she says she’s never had to think about — being herself in the public eye.
“When I first got the role and then, like, the Deadline article came out,
“Poker Face” Editor Shaheed Qaasim on Cutting Rian Johnson’s Ambitiously Clever Crime Drama
In the Peacock murder mystery series Poker Face, star Natasha Lyonne drifts across the country as Charlie Cale, an itinerant human lie detector who unexpectedly solves a new homicide each week. No single Poker Face story is like any other. And provoked by malice, rage, or envy, neither are the murders. “We really treated each episode as its own independent movie,” explained editor Shaheed Qaasim (Modern Family,
“The Little Mermaid” Hair Designer Camille Friend on Creating Ariel’s Locks From Halle Bailey’s Natural Hair
When director Rob Marshall cast Halle Bailey to play Ariel in the new live-action film The Little Mermaid, he knew it was important to both bring mermaid energy and believability to everything about this updated version of the character, and that included Halle’s hair. Of all the memorable aspects of Ariel from the 1989 animated feature, her redheaded, flowing locks became one of the most iconic.
Marshall enlisted hair designer and educator Camille Friend to create an equally iconic design for Ariel’s hair in the new film,
“American Born Chinese” Production Design Team Cindy Chao & Michele Yu’s Dazzling Details
It’s rare enough to see a production design team and rarer still to see a team of two female Asian American designers, but Cindy Chao and Michele Yu have been collaborating together successfully on both the large and small screens for over a decade. Recently they got a Primetime Emmy nomination for their work on A Black Lady Sketch Show, and now their new project, American Born Chinese, has arrived on Disney+ boasting rave reviews.
“Awkwafina is Nora From Queens” Composer Tangelene Bolton Drops the Needle
“I’ve been playing music since I was two or three, piano specifically, and then I was really into film starting in middle school, and I thought, ooh, maybe I’ll be a director one day,” says composer Tangelene Bolton, whose work can currently be heard on season three of Awkwafina is Nora From Queens. “I started experimenting with making a bunch of short films, and I realized the music heavily influenced how I approached cutting the footage and telling the story.
Director Dawn Porter Details a Complex First Lady in “The Lady Bird Diaries”
In filmmaker Dawn Porter’s newest documentary, The Lady Bird Diaries, Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson speaks for herself. Porter’s film is based on 123 hours of audio diaries that Lady Bird recorded during the presidency of her husband, Lyndon Baines Johnson. The personal, often poignant diaries reveal the First Lady’s key role as her husband’s advisor and confidante during his tumultuous presidency.
“I knew very little about Lady Bird, though I knew a lot about President Johnson,” says Porter,
“Polite Society” Writer/Director Nida Manzoor on Her Genre-Melding Feature Debut
Writer/director Nida Manzoor grew up on martial arts, action, and Bollywood, so it makes sense that her feature directorial debut Polite Society would be a genre mashup that includes all that and more. An idea she’s been kicking around since her teen years, the film is a celebration of sisterhood, inspired, in part, by her experiences as a kid learning karate with real-life sister Sanya. Though you might know Manzoor for her iconoclastic and very feminist series We Are Lady Parts,
Change Begins at Home — Diversity Initiatives Across MPA Member Studios
During the Berlinale Film Festival earlier this year, the Motion Picture Association’s European team brought together a panel of industry veterans to discuss the state of diversity in filmmaking and how to ensure that efforts to foster it have real teeth. The lively, hopeful discussion was indicative of a bigger internal shift taking place across the MPA’s member studios, two of which have recently launched their own ambitious internal diversity initiatives, embarking on new approaches to find and foster talent in previously overlooked regions,
Industry Veterans Discuss Diversity in Filmmaking – From Below the Line to Front & Center
After two alternative years, the Berlinale Film Festival returned in person in February to alleviate the doldrums of late winter Berlin. Per tradition, the Motion Picture Association held their annual topical panel discussion (in the past, they’ve covered themes like artificial intelligence and greening the industry) in conjunction with the law firm Morrison and Foerster. A 100-plus audience crowded into the firm’s office above Potsdamer Platz to hear industry veterans discuss diversity in filmmaking — where it stands and how it can get better — and more broadly,
“Beef” Costume Designer Helen Huang on Dressing “Chill” Angelenos Seething With Rage
Girl honks boy. Boy gets revenge. Complications ensue.
Beef features Oscar-nominee Steven Yeun and comedian Ali Wong as star-crossed L.A. malcontents whose lives go haywire after a road rage incident. Created by Lee Sung Jin (Silicon Valley, 2 Broke Girls), who was tapped last week to write Marvel’s upcoming Thunderbolts movie, the ten-part Netflix series (streaming now) presents outwardly chill characters who are seething on the inside.
“Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham” Composer Stefan L. Smith Draws out the Darkness
Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham submerges Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli) in a world of magic, myths, and monsters. Set a century ago in the roaring 20s, the glamour and grandeur of Gotham glimmer beneath an evil awakening set to consume the city. The edgy animated style based on the 2000-2001 comic book miniseries by Mike Mignola and Richard Pace is appropriately avant-garde and calls for an epic, atmospheric score. Composer Stefan L.
Michelle Yeoh Makes History & “Everything Everywhere All At Once” Wins Big
In what was one of the smoothest, most genuinely pleasant Oscars telecasts in recent memory, Michelle Yeoh made history, Everything Everywhere All At Once won just about everything everywhere, and the 95th Academy Awards rolled into the history books with nary a bump in the road and backed by a gentle breeze.
Yeoh became the first Asian person to win an Academy Award in the lead actress or actor category, taking home her first Oscar for Best Actress for her astonishing performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
