Don’t-Miss Indies: What to Watch in April
So, what are you hoping to see this month? Whether you’re seeking a 420-friendly road movie, body horror with a fairy tale twist, based-on-a-true-story exorcisms, or romantic comedies with green cards and gay couples, there’s bound to be a Don’t-Miss Indie in this April edition… two of which will be featured in Film Independent Presents screenings on April 2 and 15 – will we see you there?
SECRET MALL APARTMENT
When You Can Watch: April 2 (Film Independent Presents)
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Theater, Theaters (limited)
Director: Jeremy Workman
Cast: Michael Townsend, Colin Bliss, Adriana Valdez-Young
Why We’re Excited: “Let’s all live at the mall” is the tagline of this documentary about eight artists who did just that – for four years. As Providence, Rhode Island’s historic mill district was getting a facelift in the early 2000s, art spaces were getting ousted in favor of shopping centers and power plants. Michael Townsend and his wife, Adriana Valdez-Young tell the story of their secret communal housing project between two wings of a busy mall, making space for artists to live and work together. But beyond the intrigue of secret walls and hidden cameras, the unconventional post-production process that Jeremy Workman (Lily Topples the World) undertook with editor Paul Murphy (In Vitro) played a major role in the film’s storytelling style. Passing edits back and forth from New York to Australia led to perpetual surprises for both. As director and editor focused on cutting full segments on their own, avoiding the paper edit and going straight for the screen, Workman told IndieWire, “In a weird way, this process really lent itself to the form we wanted the movie to take.” Film Independent Members Hannah Marianetti and Ivan Williams are Associate Producer and Executive Producer, respectively.
GAZER
When You Can Watch: April 4
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Ryan J. Sloan
Cast: Ariella Mastroianni, Renee Gagner, Jack Alberts
Why We’re Excited: This paranoid thriller from self-taught co-producers Ryan J. Sloan and Ariella Mastroianni feels a lot like Memento. But rather than hunting down a shadowy villain, single mom Frankie (played by Mastroianni, Island Escape) is just trying to earn a paycheck. She’s lost custody of her daughter, and in order to afford to get her back she needs to take this shady job opportunity from a shady lady. Things don’t go as planned. To make matters worse, Frankie suffers from dyschronometria, which obscures her perception of time and makes it difficult to grasp reality. Gazer depends on lighting, music, and clever camerawork to draw viewers into an out-of-time experience, with Mastroianni’s compelling performance doing the heavy lifting to usher us into this disorienting world. The labor of love was self-funded, shooting on weekends over the course of two years – then premiering at Cannes in 2024. Film Independent Member Sean Glass is the Executive Producer.
A NICE INDIAN BOY
When You Can Watch: April 4
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Roshan Sethi
Cast: Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff, Sunita Mani, Zarna Garg
Why We’re Excited: “We think it’s wonderful that you’re white,” says Naveen’s mom (Zarna Garg in her feature debut). The twist on this Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner setup is that Naveen (Karan Soni, Deadpool & Wolverine) brings home a fiancé who is white, but was raised by Indian parents. In fact, Jay (Jonathan Groff, Hamilton) may be more culturally Indian than Naveen, wholeheartedly embracing the emotional range of Bollywood, family relationships and love itself. It’s a romantic comedy appropriately filled with colorful vivacity that feels a bit corny to Naveen’s practical doctor sensibilities, while also enticing him to let his hair down and go with it. “It’s a double bonus the story naturally has something to say – but also you can just watch it as a movie,” said Soni in an interview with GLAAD. “The characters are not just there to represent. They’re fully formed characters – including the parents.” Edited by Film Independent Member Stephanie Kaznocha.
WAKE UP
When You Can Watch: April 4
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Directors: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Cast: Turlough Convery, Benny O. Arthur, Jacqueline Moré
Why We’re Excited: First, it’s a slasher movie in an IKEA-like home goods store (complete with showrooms and opportunities to build things with an Allen wrench). Second, three directors? Yes, three. The team of Canadian filmmakers goes by Roadkill Superstar (We Are Zombies) and has made three previous features. “We’ve been directing the three of us together for more than twenty years now and I think it’s second nature,” said Yann-Karl Whissell in an interview with The Hollywood News. “We can split up, we can cover more ground, and especially in indie horror… time is of the essence.” The team was drawn to the high concept of a slasher about animal rights activists, in which the group’s extended act of vandalism prompts a hunting enthusiast night guard (Turlough Convery, Killing Eve) to hunt them for sport. The result is an inventive mix of idealism and scrappy utilitarianism, where it’s not so much a matter of who can survive, but by which piece of DIY coffee table they could be killed.
SACRAMENTO
When You Can Watch: April 11
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Michael Angarano
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Michael Angarano, Michael Cera, Maya Erskine
Why We’re Excited: Rickey (Michael Angarano, Sky High) drops an unwelcome surprise on his long-time chum Glenn (Michael Cera, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) in this fresh take on a buddy comedy road movie, driving up the coast from Los Angeles to the title city, Sacramento. In Angarano’s second feature which he also co-wrote, the two thirty-something men reconnect while dealing with the anxieties of grownup life – Rickey struggling to accept his father’s recent death and Glenn struggling to accept what it means to become a father himself. The friendship they keep alive with an annual lunch gets a chance to find new legs as Rickey’s free-spirited immaturity prompts Glenn to meet him partway. In a blessing of production scheduling, not only was the film able to be shot in the actual city of Sacramento, but filming commenced as both Angarano and Cera were becoming fathers in real life. Lending to the overall realism and art imitation of both performers who have grown up onscreen.
THE WEDDING BANQUET
When You Can Watch: April 15 (Film Independent Presents)
Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Theater, Theaters
Director: Andrew Ahn
Cast: Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan
Why We’re Excited: In a fresh take on Ang Lee’s 1993 hit, Andrew Ahn (Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award winner, Spa Night) co-wrote the script with Lee’s original collaborator, James Schamus (Eat Drink Man Woman). Ramping up the exuberance quotient with two gay couples living together as a chosen family, the drama centers on Min (Han Gi-Chan, Pandora: Beneath the Paradise) and his need to accommodate his intensely traditional Korean elders and also do something about the impending expiration of his student visa. Min’s bright idea of a green card wedding to his housemate, Angela (Kelly Marie Tran, Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker) – who is trying to get pregnant with her partner, Lee (Spirit Award nominee Lily Gladstone, Under the Bridge) – draws the attention of Min’s grandmother. When she not only insists on meeting Min’s bride, but then steamrolls their desire for a quiet elopement, a traditional wedding banquet for Min and his lesbian betrothed could pave the way for everyone’s happiness. Including Min’s commitment-averse boyfriend, Chris (Bowen Yang, Wicked). Film Independent Members Anita Gou (Producer), Joe Pirro (Producer) and Jenny Jue (Casting) all contributed to the project.
THE RITUAL
When You Can Watch: June 6
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: David Midell
Cast: Dan Stevens, Al Pacino, Patricia Heaton
Why We’re Excited: Film Independent award nominee David Midell (Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award winner, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain) brings to the screen a trial by fire for the struggling faith of Father Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens, Downton Abbey). The ritual in question is an exorcism – and a particularly trying one. The priest overseeing the process is a veteran of such events, Father Theophilus Reisinger (Film Independent Truer Than Fiction Award nominee Al Pacino, Looking for Richard). “We must be resolute and hold back the darkness,” he says to his helpers as they tuck in for a fight. The story is based on true events, namely the 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt in Earling, Iowa – widely publicized in papers and a book written by Father Theophilus. In a MovieWeb.com interview with Patricia Heaton (The Middle), who plays Mother Superior at the convent, Heaton acknowledged a belief in exorcism rituals. “As a Catholic, these are, like the bells and whistles we get to have that Protestants don’t seem interested in. They don’t know what they’re missing. It’s fabulous. Listen, just as God is a reality, evil is a reality too.” Film Independent Member Ricki Maslar handled casting for the project.
THE UGLY STEPSISTER
When You Can Watch: April 18
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Cast: Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp
Why We’re Excited: This fairy tale innovation takes the form of Norwegian body horror with plenty of gore in the title character’s bone-crunching, gut-wrenching sacrifice to desirability. Written and directed by Emilie Blichfeldt in her feature debut, Elvira (Lea Myren, Jenter) is a hybrid of stepsisters in various versions of Cinderella, but the story she swallows about the importance of straight teeth, long lashes and a trim figure is a tale as old as time. To stack on the pressure, the step-family is broke, and a royal marriage is their only way out of financial ruin. We get too close for comfort as Elvira submits to the procedures that will prepare her for the big ball, while relations with her conventionally attractive stepsister become markedly adversarial. “There’s only one Cinderella,” said Blichfeldt in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “The rest of us are the ugly stepsister, struggling to fit into the shoe.” Edited by Film Independent member Olivia Neergaard-Holm.
CHEECH AND CHONG’S LAST MOVIE
When You Can Watch: April 20
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: David Bushell
Cast: Lou Adler, Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin
Why We’re Excited: When Chinese-Canadian Tommy Chong (Up in Smoke) met Mexican-American Cheech Marin (Tin Cup), their unique chemistry as a comedy duo was accented by songwriting and thoroughly infused with marijuana. In his feature debut as a director, veteran producer David Bushell assembles an impressive array of archival footage, including interviews and clips not previously available to the public. Putting his own spin on the documentary style, Bushell mixes up the “moviementary” interviews with animated bits, sketches and new footage of the duo on a road trip in the middle of nowhere (or maybe southwest of it). After fifty years of stoner comedies, standup shows and comic records, the world still has a lot to say about this brotherhood and the era in which they found success.
APRIL
When You Can Watch: April 25
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili
Cast: Ia Sukhitashvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili, Merab Ninidze
Why We’re Excited: April is the story of an OB-GYN under investigation, but it’s also a story of family life in rural Eastern Georgia (the country in Europe, not the US state). The art house film premiered at Venice Film Festival, and follows Nina (Ia Sukhitashvili, Beginning) who is a well-respected doctor, depended upon for her skills in difficult birthing situations. Then she loses an infant patient. In the ensuing scrutiny, her life outside the hospital risks coming to light. Writer/director Dea Kulumbegashvili was inspired while preparing her first feature, Beginning, which involved casting children. She met Georgian mothers with large families, and began hearing their stories. “No one wants to do abortions,” Nina says in the film, “but someone has to do it.”
KEY
Film Independent Fellow or Member
Film Independent Presents Screening, Q&A
Microbudget
Filmmaker or Lead Characters of Color
Film Independent Spirit Award Winner or Nominee
Female Filmmaker
LGBT Filmmaker or Lead LGBT Characters
First-time Filmmaker
LA Film Festival Winner or Nominee
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