February 2019
FLIX PREMIERE Close-Up
this month’s UPCOMING PREMIERES
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome Readers: The purpose of this magazine is to share with our movie-goers, the industry and our partners updates about what is happening at Flix Premiere each month. We aim to highlight and explore the upcoming month’s ďŹ lm premieres in each market, and occasionally announce new developments on our platform. Happy reading! De ar Co wa rd on the Mo on
IN THIS ISSUE:
Sug ar
Lipst ikka
February Premieres Snapshot Learn about our exclusive new premieres showing each week. US February Premieres Snapshot - pg. 3 UK February Premieres Snapshot - pg. 4
Th is is U s
Close Up: Premieres Feature Reviews A chance to immerse yourself in the wonderful stories premiering each week.
Summ er of 8
Fantail - Sophie Henderson, Stephen Lovatt, Jarod Rawiri, Jahalis Ngamotu - pg. 5 Summer of 8 - Carter Jenkins, Shelley Hennig, Nick Marini, Natalie Hall, Michael Grant - pg. 6 This is US - Raymond Creamer, Jessica Parsons, Becca Scott, Amelia Brantley, Kayli Tran - pg. 7 Lipstikka - Clara Khoury, Daniel Caltagirone, Nataly Attiya - pg. 8 Dear Coward on the Moon - Ashley Shelton, Mallory McGuire, Linds Edwards, Andrew Tolstedt - pg. 9
HOME OF AWARD-WINNING CINEMA AND MORE “A perfect example of cinema’s incredible capacity to capture moments of love and loss“
US PREMIERE February 8, 2019 - 7pm EST A young woman breaks things off with her boyfriend but finds out the universe has other plans.
WATCH ON
Apple TV
Amazon Fire
iOS, Android, Web
ChromeCast
Roku
Smart TVs
“Nuanced, beautifully photographed, and haunting in its realism.”
US PREMIERE February 22, 2019 - 7pm EST A woman is forced to confront her past when her nine-year-old sister runs away after discovering a family secret.
www.flixpremiere.com
3
US PREMIERES SNAPSHOT
Starring: Sophie Henderson, Stephen Lovatt, Jarod Rawiri, Jahalis Ngamotu
February 1, 2019 - 7pm EST
Starring: Raymond Creamer, Jessica Parsons, Becca Scott, Amelia Brantley, Kayli Tran
February 8, 2019 - 7pm EST
Starring: Daniel Caltagirone, Nataly Attiya, Clara Khoury
February 15, 2019 - 7pm EST
Starring: Ashley Shelton, Mallory McGuire, Linds Edwards, Andrew Tolstedt
February 22, 2019 - 7pm EST
4
UK PREMIERES SNAPSHOT
Starring: Carter Jenkins, Shelley Hennig, NickHennig, Marini, Starring: Carter Jenkins, Shelley Natalie Hall, Hall, Michael Michael Grant Grant Nick Marini, Natalie
February 2, 2019 - 7pm GMT
Starring: Raymond Creamer, Jessica Parsons, Becca Scott, Amelia Brantley, Kayli Tran
February 9, 2019 - 7pm GMT
Starring: Daniel Caltagirone, Nataly Attiya, Clara Khoury
February 16, 2019 - 7pm GMT
Starring: Ashley Shelton, Mallory McGuire, Linds Edwards, Andrew Tolstedt
February 23, 2019 - 7pm GMT
Fantail
5
Close Up: Premiere Feature Review US Premiere FEBRUARY 1 - 7PM EST
A
ccording to Maori legend, the fantail - a small, brownish bird equipped with a large white tail that spans out like the wings of a fan - is a ghostly premonition. It foreshadows death. And it haunts and shares its name with the masterful film Fantail, shot on location in New Zealand. Directed by Curtis Vowell, and written by Sophie Henderson, who also stars as Tania, a young, blonde petrol station attendant who thinks that she is Maori. She cares for her ailing mother and listless younger brother Pi (Jahalis Ngamotu), with whom she is saving money to visit her father in Queensland, until Pi takes a job as a fruit-picker in the Bay of Pigs, and begins hanging out with the wrong crowd. Up until the film’s dramatic conclusion, the centrality of the film takes place during her dreamy, slipstream graveyard shifts at the service station. It’s where she faces misogyny, and also builds a friendship with co-worker Rag (Stephen Lovatt).
Fantail is gorgeously crafted and will weave an eerie yet resplendent spell.
Henderson delivers a deft and captivating performance as Tania, bringing to life her strength mixed with fear, her naivete combined with an air of being wise beyond her years. She is the emotional core of the terrific Fantail. The dreamy cinematography helps establish a sense of place: the station where she works, too, becomes a character, mirroring the characters’ own volatility and sense of wonder. It is like Tania is the gatekeeper of another word. This mythological quality is particularly fitting, as the film is undergirded by a Maori legend, and Tania herself is living with a particular family mythos. Fantail is both a closed circuit, a world of its own, yet reaches out to poignantly touch on social issues.
The film has an air of simplicity that belies its rich interior life, mirroring Tania herself. It also has a strong sense of comedic timing - but it is a kind of comedy that veers more towards self-preservation that slapstick or physical comedy. It’s comedy as a way of making sense of the world and Tania’s uncertain place in it. The station is quite literally a cage for Tania, as she peers out into the night through metal bars. Fantail is gorgeously crafted and will weave an eerie yet resplendent spell. A film about the complicated nature of identity and becoming, it will make the spectator think for days after watching. It is essential viewing.
Summer of 8
6
Close Up: Premiere Feature Review UK Premiere FEBRUARY 2 - 7PM GMT
F
ew periods of life convey the imminence of dramatic change–the twilight of one chapter and the dawn of another–like the summer following senior year of high school. A liminal time between adolescence and young adulthood, it has a natural cinematic quality as a time for remembrance and closure, a time for hopes, anxieties, and, also, of aspirations for the future. Summer of 8 basks in the warmth and the tension of this transition for eight high school friends who are about to leave for college. The leader among them, Jesse, has arranged for one final perfect day at their favorite beach near his mother’s Oceanside home. He is hoping to decide with his girlfriend, who is going to a different school, if they will stay together in a long-distance relationship or make a clean break. Everyone is wondering if Aiden will finally have the nerve to let Serena knows how he truly feels about her. Some of the friends are apprehensive about moving away from the familiar routine of high school. Others are eager to escape it. But everyone must face the pressing matter of the unknown into which they are about to adventure.
Alive with flirtatious uncertainty. Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
The film’s dialogue, which commemorates the time that the students have spent together – just like that which ponders what new things are on the horizon for them – has a sincere and authentic quality. Even viewers who did not grow up near a beach can relate to the kind of final gathering before college that the eight are having. That’s because Summer of 8 recreates a universal experience of a rite of passage, a shift from youth to the first stages of being an adult. It does so with gorgeous cinematography that recreates a languid day at the beach that carries into a long night of revelry. Carter Jenkins makes for a confident and contemplative ring leader as Jesse. Concerned
about the kind of legacy he is leaving both for his parents and his friends, he is also ready to celebrate what life has brought him so far. Michael Grant and Bailey Noble as Aiden and Serena have a chemistry that is first flirtatious and tentative, and then electric. A brooding Nick Marini plays Bobby, who may have complicated feelings for his best friend Jesse. The entire cast is beach calendar-ready, but it also brings a significant amount of emotion and subtlety to the charged and heady days of adolescence. Summer of 8 is a coming of age drama that celebrates life, friends, and the timeless warm season of youth. Be sure not to miss it.
This is Us
7
Close Up: Premiere Feature Review US Premiere FEBRUARY 8 - 7PM EST UK Premiere FEBRUARY 9 - 7PM GMT
T
he cinema is an incomparable medium for the telling of love stories. Filmmaking is a constant exchange and interweaving of moments from the past, present and future. It inhabits a liminal space in time and can create such tender and powerful intimacies. Jerry J. White III’s This is Us is a perfect example of cinema’s incredible capacity to capture moments of love and loss. The film is about Daniela (Jessica Lynn Parsons), as she attempts to break up with her boyfriend, Brendan (Raymond Creamer), but the world seems to have other plans for the couple. They are inextricably made to teleport, and Daniela must relive her memories with Brendan. With slight echoes of Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, except, perhaps, in reverse, Daniela must reenact and reexamine the seminal moments of her relationship. The cinematography is particularly exceptional, and it perfectly captures the nostalgia of lost love, the all-encompassing nature of their romance and the gravitas of this juncture in their lives. The film is marked by cool temperatures and long shots that emphasize the emotional distance between Daniela and Brendan.
This is Us makes its audience feel levels of emotional investment that most modern films of its genre can’t even come close to matching. Anthony Ray Bench, Film Threat
The writing is equally strong, and successfully creates a distinctive world for the characters to inhabit. The time jumps always feel natural, fruitful and meaningful, and they perfectly create a sealed-off world for the couple. There are no distractions, seemingly no side characters. Every interaction is urgent. Nothing extraneous inhabits the frame. The actors deliver stellar performances that will not be forgotten, as the chemistry between them is electric and undeniable. Supported by witty and nuanced dialogue, Jessica Lynn Parsons and Raymond Creamer will feel both strangely familiar and foreign to the viewer, who might see aspects of their own relationships reflected in this epic love story.
One of the most inventive and compelling storytelling devices in this film is Jerry J. White III’s playful relationship with time. The characters have a highly complicated relationship with temporality. The more anxious of the future they become, the greater the strain on their relationship. And yet, a dance through time is exactly what provides a possible reexamination of their coupling. Time is not a concept in the abstract here, but is instead the catalyst that reminds them of what is most important, and forces them to be worthy of it. Tender, funny, and above all, true, This Is Us is a heartfelt romantic drama that cannot be missed.
Lipstikka
8
Close Up: Premiere Feature Review US Premiere FEBRUARY 15 - 7PM EST UK Premiere FEBRUARY 16 - 7PM GMT
A
woman sits at a dinner party reflecting on her perfect ruse. Lara’s (Clara Khoury) life, from the outside, seems perfect. A successful husband, large house in a quiet neighborhood outside London, and a cordial young son. She seems to be fooling everybody. No one would suspect that she and her husband have been sleeping in separate beds and recently, in separate rooms - for years. She seems relatively content with the situation, until an old friend stops by her house on the day after her birthday. Inam (Nataly Attiya) arrives at the doorstep, as elegant and charmingly disaffected as always. They haven’t seen each other in years; Inam had to track down Lara’s house. Inam’s arrival has Lara rethinking old and painful memories of their girlhood in war-torn Palestine and later as young immigres in London. Lara has always been more of the silent type, an observer and willing participant in Inam’s sometimes feckless behavior. One nighttime adventure to a local movie theater proves to have lasting and painful consequences. Jonathan Sagall’s Lipstikka seamlessly blends drama with Lara’s coming of age narrative. It’s told primarily through flashbacks, so the viewer can see
Jonathan Sagall has crafted a sophomore feature that isn’t easy to shake. Jared Mobarak, The Film Stage
just how ineluctably intertwined the past and present are here; just how equally painful and riveting the reunion is. Some of the defining characteristics of this film are urgency and intimacy. We can really feel the characters on a visceral and cerebral level. Khoury’s performance in particular is stunning. She is able to communicate so much through even just her body language and eyes - they are deep pools of restraint intermingling with fear and desire. Attiya delivers an unforgettable femme fatale kind of character, but her performance cannot just be pinned down to cinematic tropes. It brings out the ambitions and fears of a character who, at the surface, seem to not have a care in the world, but is really plagued by same anxieties as Khoury’s.
The writing is superb, with evocative, sharp dialogue and excellent character arcs. It manages to also capture the feeling of “place” and the alienation that Lara and Inam feel. The camera, too, is able to capture in cinematic language their innermost desires and feelings of loneliness. Lipstikka is a gripping and personal drama that will make the viewer think about what it means to be home - if home is a place, or a person, or something in between that is difficult to access. It’s also poignant in its social commentary on the difficulties of life in London for many migrants. Lipstikka is simply gorgeous.
9
Dear Coward on the Moon
Close Up: Premiere Feature Review US Premiere FEBRUARY 22 - 7PM EST UK Premiere FEBRUARY 23 - 7PM GMT
C
arol Brandt’s Dear Coward on the Moon is a gripping family drama. Jade (Ashley Shelton) is taking care of her little sister Jasmine (Mallory McGuire) in Wisconsin and is struggling, while also keeping charge of an explosive family secret that could tear Jasmine apart. She works overtime to provide for her sister, working as a dishwasher, biking back and forth to the police station to visit her boyfriend during lunch breaks, and rushing home at the end of the day to pick up Jasmine from their aunt’s house. Jade is emotionally and physically exhausted, and Jasmine has big dreams that are currently unfulfilled. She likes to imagine that she is an astronaut and play games like submarine, all by herself (her cousin ignores her, preferring to spend his days writing and describing in his journal). Jasmine develops a penchant for running off, however briefly, that has been getting her into some hot water lately. One night, during a particularly difficult day for Jasmine, she runs off again. This time, however, they have some trouble locating her. Through the search, a family secret is divulged and Jasmine’s life as she once knew it changes irrevocably.
Indicates a talent that will continue to rise. Andrea Thompson, Cultured Vultures
Dear Coward on the Moon is all about storytelling. The viewer is treated to an intimate and moving portrait of an American family in crisis, and we get to really feel for and identify with the characters. They are good yet imperfect people. Hard-working Jade, especially, is the glue that holds everything together. She has recently returned after being deployed in the Army, and she is doing her best to manage her anger. Shelton’s performance is truly stunning here, as she is able to capture so much and bring this character to life: the viewer can appreciate her struggle and see her restraint and goodness, even when things out of her control are bursting out at the seams.
The cinematography and writing add to the film’s convincing realism, and we leave the film wanting to inhabit that story again and to examine the intricacies of these richly complex characters. There’s a universality that is gripping, but what is lasting is the characters that defy easy characterizations. They ask the viewer to appreciate them as they are. Dear Coward on the Moon, part drama, part coming-of-age story, is a must-watch. It is nuanced, beautifully photographed, and haunting in its realism.
HOME OF AWARD-WINNING CINEMA AND MORE
UK PREMIERE
“Alive with flirtatious uncertainty.” Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
February 2, 2018 - 7pm GMT
Eight close friends soak up their last day of summer together on the beach before parting ways for college.
WATCH ON
Apple TV
Amazon Fire
iOS, Android, Web
ChromeCast
Roku
Smart TVs
“a dark, intricate and broody drama about loss and memory” Peter Galvin, SBS Film
UK PREMIERE February 16, 2018 - 7pm GMT Two women reunite in London, where they go over the details of a life-changing event which occurred when they were teenagers in Jerusalem.
www.flixpremiere.com
Home of Award-Winning Cinema and more
LONDON OFFICE
LOS ANGELES OFFICE
2nd Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6BD, UK
468 N Camden Drive, Suite 200, Beverly Hills, California 90210
T +44 2085 880618
T +1(310) 601 3168 Email:
General: info@flixpremiere.com Film Partners: partners@flixpremiere.com Press: press@flixpremiere.com www.flixpremiere.com
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved