movie gourmet

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Little Richard in LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Little Richard: I Am Everything and Jews of the Wild West:. Plus a reminder that Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is now available to stream.

Gordon Lightfoot died this week, so it’s fitting to stream the amiable biodoc Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind from Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV or KinoNow.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Rodents of Unusual Size: 5 million orange-toothed critters and a Cajun octogenarian. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Satan & Adam: more than an odd couple. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Levinsky Park: refuge for refugees? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • The Speed Cubers: odd, and then profound. Netflix.
  • The 11th Green: a thinking person’s paranoid conspiracy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Wave: Everything you want in a disaster movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Magallanes: some wrongs cannot be righted. AppleTV.

ON TV

Vampira and Tor Johnson in Ed Wood’s PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE

First, the good movies – on May 9, Turner Classic Movies will be presenting the best work of Preston Sturges:  The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, Sullivan’s Travels, Hail the Conquering Hero and The Great McGinty. I’ll be writing more about them on Sunday.

And now, the bad one – on May 11, TCM will air Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), often ranked as the worst movie of all time and #1 in my Bad Movie Festival.

This movie is so bad that Tim Burton made a Johnny Depp movie about it – Ed Wood, named for its zealously persistent, but pathetic, creator.  Ed Wood throws everything at the screen, hoping that something interesting will stick:  dying vampire star Bela Lugosi, the TV fortune teller Criswell, the horror movie hostess Vampira, zombie-look-alike pro wrestler Tor Johnson and stock footage of a nuclear explosion.  None of it is tied together with any coherence, and it’s all unintentionally funny.  This one’s good for the whole family.

Lugosi died while making this film and was replaced by a taller, non-speaking “double”, who stalks about covering his face with his cloak.  The double shows up in the trailer.

JEWS OF THE WILD WEST: desperadoes, cowpunchers…and Jews

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Okay, so this is one of those rare movies that had me at the title. One doesn’t automatically think of Jews among the wagon trains, desperadoes and cowpunchers of the Wild West. But, in Jews of the Wild West, documentarian Amanda Kinsey brings us an anthology of impressively well-researched Jewish experiences on the Western frontier.

Kinsey starts off with a saloon girl who married an iconic gunslinger (and buried him in Colma’s Jewish cemetery) and the marketer of the clothing item most identified with the American West (hint – not Wranglers). As a Western history buff, I was familiar with those first two stories, but then I started learning a lot:

  • Why many of the first mayors of frontier towns were Jewish;
  • How Eastern European occupational restrictions on Jews prepared them for a pivotal role in the development of the great Denver and Greeley, Colorado, cattle stockyards;
  • That most Jews found markedly less antisemitism in the West than in the East;
  • That teenage Golda Meir ran away to high school in Denver.

My jaw dropped at the shocking story of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, which in 1881-84, until taken over by the reputable United Hebrew Charities, was helping new Jewish emigrants resettle in the remote West. The seeming benevolence, it turns out, was motivated by an earlier wave of now prosperous Jews who didn’t want the impoverished Orthodox arrivals from Eastern Europe to challenge capitalism and make them look bad.

Interestingly, filmmaker Kinsey, a longtime NBC News producer and five-time Emmy winner, is NOT herself Jewish.

I attended a screening of Jews of the Wild West at the San Luis Obispo Jewish Film Festival that included a Q&A with Kinsey and local historians. Jews of the Wild West is streaming on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.

HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG: a reflective artist, a reflective movie

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Photo caption. Leonard Cohen in HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG. Courtesy of Leonard Cohen Family Trust.

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is a biodoc as reflective as the subject himself. That subject is poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, creator of profound verse and ear-worm melodies. Cohen was such a seeker that he secluded himself for five years at a Buddhist monastery on Mount Baldy. I’m reposting about this film because it is finally widely available to stream.

Co-writers and co-directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine have comprehensively sourced the film with Cohen intimates and a substantial dose of Cohen himself. Geller and Goldfine have braided together Cohen’s journey with that of his most sublime song, Hallelujah.

One doesn’t think of a song even HAVING a journey, but Cohen wrote Hallelujah over years and years, possibly composing over 150 verses, only to have Columbia refuse to issue the album that it had commissioned. Then the song was rescued by John Cale, rejuvenated in the animated movie Shrek, and became iconic with the spectacular cover by Jeff Buckley. Along the way, Cohen himself would reveal alternative lyrics in live performance. Helluva story.

I’ve seen splashier documentaries – this is, after all, about a poet. The one forehead-slapping shocker for me was the initial rejection of Hallelujah. At almost two hours, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is a settle-in-and-be-mesmerized experience.

(BTW, could there be a bigger producer/artist mismatch than Phil Spector and Leonard Cohen?)

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song is now available to stream from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING: never denying his identity, but renouncing it

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Photo caption: Little Richard in LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Little Richard: I Am Everything traces the life of the trailblazing rock-and-roller, and it is NOT your paint-by-the-numbers showbiz biodoc. Director Lisa Cortés (Primetime Emmy winner) has superbly framed the two defining aspects of Little Richard – an unfettered confidence in his exuberant performances and an uneasy assessment of himself as a flamboyant gay man.

As one would expect, Cortés lays out Little Richard’s importance in the very beginning of rock and roll – writing hard-driving hits, many with unmistakably sexualized lyrics and performing them with then unseen animation. Before Elvis. During Jim Crow. Before African-American music was played on mainstream radio.

Most strikingly, from the very beginning, Little Richard never tried to dress or act like a heterosexual male. (Baby Boomers will recall that this was the age of an unconvincingly closeted Liberace and no other hints of homosexuality in American mass culture)

As much as we see Little Richard in later work by artists like David Bowie, Elton John and Prince, there were performers that Little Richard himself emulated. In a staggering achievement in sourcing, Cortés brings us photos and film of queer black performers of the 1940s whom Little Richard saw – and some he worked with as a teenager. I’ve seen plenty of documentaries on showbiz, LGBTQ and African-American history, and I’ve never seen much of this material.

Little Richard is a difficult case for queer people because, although he was an important role model who never DENIED being a gay man, he sporadically RENOUNCED his own sexual identity. He is a difficult case for all of us, because his music would celebrate sex as naughty fun, but then he would occasionally scare himself back into backwoods religion.

Little Richard: I Am Everything also reveals the original lyrics of Tutti Frutti, and how they were cleaned up to Tutti frutti, oh rootie.

David Bowie is joined by Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Tom Jones in appreciating Little Richard’s pioneering career. John Waters reveals that his own pencil-thin mustache is an homage to Little Richard’s.

Little Richard: I Am Everything touches on rock music, race in America, drugs, sex and sexual identity – and spends a lot of time on sex and sexual identity sex drugs. It’s a remarkable insightful profile of a complicated man who was himself very fun for us to watch.

Movies to See Right Now

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Harris Dickinson and Lola Campbell in Charlotte Regan’s SCRAPPER at the SLO Film Fest. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’m attending the SLO Film Fest (tonight is Surf Nite), and here’s my Best of the 2023 SLO Film Fest. Plus there’s a recent Oscar coming up on TCM, and I’ve got a a remembrance of Harry Belafonte. Watch for a new review of new review of Little Richard: I Am Everything.

Note that I’ve launched my Best Movies of 2023 – So Far and have completely refreshed The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE.

REMEMBRANCE

Harry Belafonte in ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW.

Already a big musical star, Harry Belafonte burst on screen with searing performances in the 1950s – Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun, Odds Against Tomorrow. He only made a few movies after 1959, but they were good ones: Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher, Robert Altman’s Kansas City and The Player, Spike Lee’s BlacKKKlansman. Belafonte could have had an even bigger film career, but, early on, he refused roles that he found demeaning and then devoted the last six decades of his life to civil rights work, where he made immense contributions.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Return to Seoul: brilliantly crafted and emotionally gripping. In theaters.
  • Hannah Ha Ha: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Roise & Frank: therapy dog and hurling coach. In theaters.
  • The Lost King: not all cranks are cranky. In theaters.
  • Living: what is it to live? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • A Dark, Dark Man: rounding up the usual suspects in Kazakhstan. MHz.
  • Reggie: it’s not just about Reggie. Netflix.
  • I’m an Electric Lampshade: the final score is Doug 1, Expectations 0. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

WATCH AT HOME

Damián Alcázar in MAGALLANES; Courtesy of Cinequest.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

Peter Reigert and Peter Capaldi in LOCAL HERO

On April 29, Turner Classic Movies will air the sly comedy Local Hero. An oil company sends a corporate lackey (Peter Riegert) on a scheme to buy a remote Scottish village – the entire village. The canny locals, however, are not without their own wiles. Scottish writer-director Bill Forsythe made Local Hero to follow up his art house hit Gregory’s Girl. Forsythe went on to make my favorite of his films, the wonderfully droll and absurd Comfort and Joy. But then he made three box office bombs with big movie stars and stepped away from filmmaking in the mid 1990s.

On April 30, TCM will broadcast the Iran hostage thriller Argo, already officially a Turner “Classic” from 2012. Of course, Argo was a big Ben Affleck Hollywood movie that won the Best Picture Oscar and a Supporting Actor Oscar for Alan Arkin. But, besides, Arkin, Argo is rich with brilliant supporting performances. Victor Garber, Clea Duvall, Scoot McNairy, Zeljko Ivanek, Christopher Denham are especially good as “house guests”.  Farshad Farahat is compelling as the commander of the final revolutionary checkpoint.  The rest of the cast is equally superb:  Bryan Cranston, Philip Baker Hall, Richard Kind, Michael Parks and Chris Messina.  Watch for a bit role played by 80s horror maven Adrienne Barbeau.

A reflection on Ben Affleck, who has become easy to lampoon. Affleck has “gone Hollywood” in a big way, made bombs like Pearl Harbor and Gigli, has been on a bumpy journey with and without alcohol, and his dating history is made-for-TMZ.

Let’s remember that Affleck was the youngest person ever to win the screenwriting Oscar (for Good Will Hunting). He’s directed Argo and Gone Baby Gone. After beginning with two exceptional indies, Dazed and Confused and Chasing Amy, he’s acted in some of the very best big Hollywood movies: Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, Argo, Gone Girl, The Last Duel. This body of work demonstrates that Ben Affleck is an important filmmaker – we’ve been lucky to have him.

Ben Affleck in ARGO.

The Best of the 2023 SLO Film Fest

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Harris Dickinson and Lola Campbell in Charlotte Regan’s SCRAPPER at the SLO Film Fest. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The 2023 SLO Film Fest has opened. I’ve screened over a dozen of the features, and here are eight that you shouldn’t miss:

  • Scrapper: Georgie, a precocious 12-year-old girl, thinks that she is independently living her best life, until the unexpected appearance of the dad she hasn’t known. In her first feature, British writer-director Charlotte Regan has created a deliciously charming character, played to roguish perfection by Lola Campbell. Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) is very good as the dad. The screenplay, about loss, connection and second chances, is brimming with humanity. Won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema/Dramatic at Sundance.
  • BlackBerry: This is the funny true story of Canadian geeks who find themselves suddenly dominating the nascent smartphone market…but only for a while. It’s an odd couple pairing of co-CEOs – a shy and brilliant engineer (Jay Baruchal) and brutally obnoxious master of the pitch (Glenn Howerton). Engineering and marketing genius, paired with breathtaking audacity, take them to the top. Unfortunately, hubris is generated, too. BlackBerry is a a surefire audience-pleaser. Make sure you watch the end credits to see what happened to the real guys.
  • Rodeo: A remarkably fierce young woman invites herself into a crew of dirt riders, Rodeo is set with remarkable verisimilitude in a subculture of young bikers from France’s hardscrabble immigrant communities. First feature for French director Lola Quivoron, who is the real star of this ever kinetic, roller coaster of a movie. If she wants to, Quivoron will be making big Hollywood action films like The Fast and the Furious. Won the Un Certain Regard coup de coeur prize at Cannes.
  • The Grab: This exposé is an important documentary at the level of An Inconvenient Truth. The Grab documents and clearly explains the global grab for food and water resources by corporations and nations. Impressively researched, The Grab is engrossing and sobering.
  • Mediterranean Fever: A depressive writer becomes friends with his shady neighbor and the two embark on a dark journey. Second feature for Palestinian director Maha Haj. I don’t want to describe the tone of Mediterranean Fever, like I do many films, as “darkly funny” because the tone is singular. Haj has written a story about that unfunniest of topics, depression, and keeps us watching with subtle, observational humor. Won the Un Certain Regard screenplay prize at Cannes.
  • Everybody Wants to Be Loved: This German dramedy is a triumph of the harried mom genre. As a psychotherapist, Ina (Anne Ratte-Polle) spends her workdays listening to whining and naval-gazing. Then she goes home to her self-absorbed boyfriend and her teen daughter – and the job of teenagers is to be self-absorbed. Nobody is more narcissistic and entitled than Ina’s mom. It’s the mom’s birthday, and she is rampaging with demands. The daughter is threatening to move in with Ina’s ex, and the boyfriend wants to move the family to Finland for his career. As Ina is swirling around this vortex of egotism, she gets some sobering news about her own health. As everyone converges on the birthday party, what could possibly go wrong? First feature for director and co-writer Katharina Woll. 
  • Searching for Sugar Man: Great choice for a retrospective by SLO Film Fest programmers. This doc is about a modest guy who didn’t know that he was a rock star. For real. Won the 2013 Oscar for Best Feature Documentary.
  • Dusty and Stones: For an unadulterated Feel Good movie, it’s hard to beat this little documentary that layers on the improbabilities. It’s about a Country Western duo from Swaziland (since renamed Eswatini) who get a chance to visit Nashville and compete in a Texas country music festival. Who knew there was a Country Western music scene in Swaziland, complete with line dancing and Stetsons? There are plenty of nuggets here., beginning with the guys’ unbounded joy at hearing their music recorded with the very best Nashville studio equipment and session musicians. And they explain to the denizens of an African-American barbershop that they are headed for a country music festival in a small East Texas town. And, sitting in a Nashville motel, they contemplate their first Taco Bell cuisine. It’s a little movie, but it’s a hoot.

The SLO Film Fest runs in-person through April 30 in San Luis Obispo. The encore week, from April 30 through May 7, will feature both live screenings in Paso Robles and much of the program being available virtually. Peruse the program and get your tickets at SLO Film Fest. Here’s a teaser for BlackBerry.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Park Ji-min in RETURN TO SEOUL. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – my first coverage of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival – SLO Film Fest is just around the corner. There’s also a new review of Hannah Ha Ha. I’ve launched my Best Movies of 2023 – So Far. And I have a completely refreshed The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

Note: Bill Nighy’s superb performance in Living can now be streamed.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Return to Seoul: brilliantly crafted and emotionally gripping. In theaters.
  • Hannah Ha Ha: what makes for human value and fulfillment? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Roise & Frank: therapy dog and hurling coach. In theaters.
  • The Lost King: not all cranks are cranky. In theaters.
  • Living: what is it to live? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • A Dark, Dark Man: rounding up the usual suspects in Kazakhstan. MHz.
  • Reggie: it’s not just about Reggie. Netflix.
  • I’m an Electric Lampshade: the final score is Doug 1, Expectations 0. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

WATCH AT HOME

Adam Gussow and Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee in SATAN & ADAM. Courtesy JFI

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Satan & Adam: more than an odd couple. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Levinsky Park: refuge for refugees? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
  • The Speed Cubers: odd, and then profound. Netflix.
  • Rodents of Unusual Size: 5 million orange-toothed critters and a Cajun octogenarian. Amazon, AppleTV.
  • The 11th Green: a thinking person’s paranoid conspiracy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Wave: Everything you want in a disaster movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Magallanes: some wrongs cannot be righted. AppleTV.

ON TV

Gene Hackman in the 1975 NIGHT MOVES
Gene Hackman in NIGHT MOVES

On April 23, Turner Classic Movies is airing the 1975 character-driven neo-noir Night Moves, with Gene Hackman as an LA private eye who follows a trail of evidence to steamy Florida. Hackman shines in the role – the detective is deeply in love with his estranged wife (Susan Clark), but unsuited for marriage. Night Moves also features Melanie Griffith’s breakthrough role as the highly sexualized teen daughter in the Florida family; Griffith was right around eighteen-years-old when this was filmed, and had already been living with Don Johnson for three years. Night Moves features an impressive ensemble of supporting actors: Harris Yulin, James Woods, Edward Binns, Max Gail (Wojo on Barney Miller) and the sui generis Kenneth Mars.

SLO Film Fest is just around the corner

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Photo caption: 100 FOOT WAVE at SLO Film Fest’s Surf Nite. Courtesy of HBO.

The 2023 SLO Film Fest opens on April 25 with its characteristic mix of aspirational cinema and sheer fun. The tagline is Let’s Go Back to the Movies, and it’s hard to guess which event figures to be the most exuberant. Here are some contenders:

  • Opening night: Highlighted with a screening of BlackBerry, the funny true story of Canadian geeks who find themselves suddenly dominating the nascent smartphone market…but not for long. SLO Film Fest Executive Director Skye McLennan calls out BlackBerry as especially fun to see with an audience because of its mix of humor and nostalgia. Popular so far with critics and film festival audiences, this movie should be a surefire audience-pleaser.
  • E.T. at the drive-in: Your opportunity to introduce a carload of kids to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial at the Sunset Drive-In. It’s a 4K restoration, and this year you can bike in, just like Elliott and his pal in the basket.
  • Surf Nite: In what McLennan calls “the Rocky Horror Picture Show for surfers”, an episode of HBO’s 100 Foot Wave will presented by Big Wave legend Garret McNamara (who set a world record for surfing 78-foot wave at Nazaré, Portugal). With drinks in the lobby and music from the Boomer Surf Band, the Fremont Theater audience should be stoked.

Cinephiles will be drawn to an impressive cohort of international films, each written and directed by a new female director – and each already an award-winner. Any film festival would be proud to present these four films. As McLennan says, this program “brings the world to SLO.”

  • Scrapper: A precocious 12-year-old girl thinks that she is independently living her best life, until the unexpected appearance of the dad she hasn’t known. Won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema/Dramatic at Sundance. First feature for British director Charlotte Regan.
  • Our Father, the Devil: An African immigrant in France is rocked when an African priest shows up in her workplace – and he could actually be the savage warlord who traumatized her in her homeland. Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and has won the best picture award at 13 film festivals so far. First feature for Cameroon-born, American director Ellie Foumbi.
  • Mediterranean Fever: A depressive writer becomes friends with his shady neighbor and the two embark on a dark journey. Won the Un Certain Regard screenplay prize at Cannes. Second feature for Palestinian director Maha Haj.
  • Rodeo: A remarkably fierce young woman invites herself into a crew of dirt riders, Won the Un Certain Regard coup de coeur prize at Cannes. First feature for French director Lola Quivoron.

There’s plenty more, with over 40 features, workshops and over ten programs of shorts. I’m screening my way through the program, and will post my MUST SEE recommendations before the fest opens.

The SLO Film Fest will be in-person from April 25-30 in San Luis Obispo. The encore week, from April 30 through May 7, will feature both live screenings in Paso Robles and much of the program being available virtually. Peruse the program and get your tickets at SLO Film Fest.

Julie Ledru in RODEO. Courtesy of SLO Film Fest.

HANNAH HA HA: what makes for human value and fulfillment?

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Hannah Lee Thompson in HANNAH HA HA. Courtesy of Nashville Film Festival.

The indie Hannah Ha Ha is an extraordinary film about an ordinary person. Hannah (musician Hannah Lee Thompson in her first film) is content with her life in a small town – helping her dad (he would be lost without her) and giving music lessons. She touches lives, and townfolks eagerly help celebrate her 26th birthday,  But her brother Paul (Roger Mancusi) points out that she is comfortable with a path that will leave her without a career or, critically, health insurance.

Here’s the rub – Hannah’s family and her community recognize her contributions, but our economic system doesn’t.

Paul wants what is best for Hannah, but every time he talks to her, he makes her feel bad about herself, finally shaming her into finding her place in the conventional economy (which is not at the top of the pyramid). Paul’s advice is sensible – if she wants health insurance and secure housing, she will need a job; it’s just that the entry level jobs in the small town’s fast food chains are so soul-crushing for her. (The movie was filmed in Sharon, Massachusetts.)

Thompson, whose Hannah is smart, witty, capable and utterly ill-suited for life as a corporate pawn, is excellent. With her sarcastic charm, she’s sympathetic and relatable. Thompson perfectly captures how defeated even a talented person can feel when forced into a harsher environment.

Mancusi lets the audience glimpse that Paul himself is not as upwardly mobile as he thinks or portrays. Paul has bought into the “work hard and get rich” ethic, and there’s a hint of desperation and self-loathing that he’s not further up the corporate ladder. He’s like a two-bit insurance salesman who votes Republican because he thinks he’s a “businessman”; in reality, no one in the 1% is going to let Paul control capital.

Filmed in a cinéma vérité style, Hannah Ha Ha is the first feature written and directed by Joshua Pikovsky and Jordan Tetewsky, and it’s masterfully edited by Tetewsky. The 75-minute running time allows for the characters and the plot to meander without dragging.

We are our choices – but who frames those choices? Hannah Ha Ha is a thought-provoking film that explores the profound question of what makes for human value and fulfillment.

Hannah Ha Ha premiered last year at Slamdance, played Tribeca, and I screened it for the Nashville Film Festival, where I featured it in Under the Radar at Nashville. It’s now streaming on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube. Hannah Ha Ha is one of the Best Movies of 2023 – So Far.

Diversity of love at SLO Film Fest

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Not everyone experiences love in the same way, and the SLO Film Fest has curated a program of short films that reflect that diversity.  The five films, which total 76 minutes, are:

  • A Real One: As different as night and day, Lauren and Keisha, two 17-year-old girls entering their final weeks of senior year, stand on the cusp of adulthood when Lauren is forced to reveal a secret that threatens their lifelong friendship.
  • Dear Mama…: Set in the 1990s in South LA, a family grieves a recent loss and is forced to confront the emotional aftermath of their own tragedy before taking the first steps to heal.
  • Jahleel & Star: In an intimate portrayal of the effects incarceration has on families, two siblings travel to see their father in prison. World Premiere.
  • The Marigolds Listen: With a shift in perspective, the filmmaker takes on the point of view of a bouquet of flowers that thrives or wilts in reaction to a couple’s relationship.
  • We Were Meant to: In a world where Black men have wings and their first flight is a rite of passage, Akil must defy his own fears, insecurities, and societal barriers while discovering his perfect launch into manhood.

The moderated in-person screening is sponsored by the City of San Luis Obispo. Before the screening, R.A.C.E. Matters SLO is hosting a brunch mixer with appetizers, bubbles, and exciting updates.

The $30 brunch begins at 10:30 AM at Saint’s Barrel; purchase brunch tickets here. The film program, which is free, starts at 1 PM at the Fremont; register for the free screening here.