💥 Out on Film breaks records

A post-festival check-in Oct Happy Friday We ve got a full slate for this day s newsletter so let s get right to it But first following this year s Out on Film festival I spoke with Festival Director Jim Farmer about their record-breaking year Learn more about that as well as which films took home the awards here Without further ado Action Craig Miller founder of the film production company Craig Miller Productions passed away earlier this week Read Georgia Entertainment CEO Randy Davidson s remarks about Miller here Create Dunwoody is hosting its inaugural Illuminated Concert Epic Film Scores event which will feature a string quartet playing iconic film scores at Dunwoody United Methodist Church The icon Diane Keaton famous for her roles in movies such as Annie Hall Something s Gotta Give and my favorite guilty pleasure Book Club passed away at the age of In remembrance here s a montage showing off her wonderful talent for yelping Netflix is getting into the podcast event The streamer just inked a deal with Spotify bringing the platform s video podcasts to Netflix According to a Bloomberg overview Warner Bros has rejected Paramount Skydance s bid to take over the company This week s newsletter includes an interview with the founders of On Set ATL an interview with a homegrown talent making zombie movies out in Los Angeles and a review of two new films I quite enjoyed The Mastermind and Urchin Plus a new edition of Spotlight what s at the movie theater this weekend and specific reading and listening recommendations for your lunch break Thanks for reading Sammie Photo by Nya Woodard On Set ATL founders on area and filmmaking excellence When Martina Lindo and Jhaneal Hector first met they discovered they had a lot in common They were both Jamaican-born American-raised and both working in the film industry in Atlanta They fast became friends and started talking about starting specific type of venture together But you know how it is you talk and talk about making moves but you never do Then suddenly an opportunity arose Screen Room ATL created by Khalimah Gaston used to be one of the big screening collectives for Black creatives in Atlanta When Gaston moved to Los Angeles there was suddenly a gap in the territory So in Hector and Lindo started On Set ATL a film organization that hosts local screenings and serves as a gathering space for Atlanta s filmmaking society Their next screening event will be on Nov at Ambient Plus Studio I lately spoke with Hector and Lindo about their journey with On Set ATL You can read that conversation here Flavor and fun starts in Chamblee SPONSORED BY DISCOVER DEKALB In Chamblee flavor and fun collide Join us the next morning Oct for A Taste of Chamblee where global dishes local favorites and sweet treats fill the streets Then catch every thrilling moment with the rd Spot Watch Party Series where fans gather under the sky to cheer for SEC matchups and celebrate locality spirit Taste cheer and connect with neighbors who love good food and great games In Chamblee every bite and every play brings people together Come hungry come loud and be part of the action Photo provided by Big Squid Productions Erin ine talks the undead and indie filmmaking with ZombieCON Vol Buckhead native Erin ine has been acting since she was just a little kid She signed with her first agent when she was years old and continued to book gigs all the way through her college years at Vanderbilt University Now she lives in Los Angeles with her husband Kyle Valle and while she continues to act has taken on a far larger role in the film industry ZombieCON Vol is a zombie movie set in the world of cosplay directed by Valle and written by Valle ine and Manny Luke The film stars Luke ine Punkie Johnson and Christian Casillas as a group of cosplayers who have to take on an apocalypse when a sudden plague turns every sshole in the world into a zombie This week the film celebrated its DVD release Ahead of that milestone I spoke with ine about making the movie Check out that conversation here Photo provided by - Special With Urchin Harris Dickinson offers assured and complex debut about addiction WEEKLY FILM REVIEW About halfway through Urchin Mike Frank Dillane comes face to face with a man he once assaulted and robbed It s a purposeful meeting and is part of Mike s recovery and rehabilitation he s an addict but about seven months sober at this point The meeting is meant to give both Mike and Simon Okezie Morro a chance to hash it out Simon starts detailing his feelings in a blunt yet remarkably sensitive manner that doesn t do anything to make Mike feel any better In fact Simon s civility seems to just make Mike feel worse As Simon talks the camera lingers on Mike who gets increasingly uncomfortable until he completely starts to cry Then before he can say anything the film abruptly cuts to the next scene leaving us in that lurch right before we reach catharsis refusing to revel in Mike s despair Written and directed by Harris Dickinson his feature film debut Urchin features countless scenes like this one moments that skirt the norm of what we expect from a movie about addiction As a filmmaker Dickinson certainly wears his references on his sleeve but he also avoids a lot of the pitfalls that first-time filmmakers can so easily fall into Read my full review here Photo provided by MUBI Kelly Reichardt s The Mastermind paints a portrait of American discontent WEEKLY FILM REVIEW The opening credits of Kelly Reichardt s The Mastermind feature a driving percussive figure from jazz musician Rob Mazurek It s busy it s loud and it s set to the backdrop of suburban Massachusetts More specifically it plays over fall in suburban Massachusetts in the s think vibrant colors brick buildings and a soft ethereal beauty However the visual doesn t quite match up with the explosiveness of Mazurek s tally after all the Danforth Art Museum doesn t necessarily scream avant-garde jazz That disconnect however is the same one that lives inside the film s protagonist big messy and stuck in the suburbs The Mastermind is one of Reichardt s funnier films to date and possibly her the bulk commercial it stars Josh O Connor as a husband and father of two who moonlights as an art thief But while The Mastermind has its humor and a certain kinetic vigor to it that Reichardt pictures usually don t it s still got her signature all over it The Mastermind is exploring the same things Reichardt has perpetually been interested in the psyche of a uniquely American person at any given moment in time a discontent with life and being unsure of what it is they want O Connor proves to be a worthy muse perfectly embodying what it looks like when apathy is no longer enough Read my full review here Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios At the Movies If you re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week here s what you ve got to look forward to Movies releasing this weekend After the Hunt pictured Black Phone Good Fortune The Mastermind Urchin Re-Election Ballad of a Small Competitor The Last Class Peacock Special Events A Chinese Ghost Story II K The Plaza Friday-Wednesday Re-Animator K The Plaza Friday-Wednesday Candyman The Plaza Theatre Friday-Wednesday Tales From the Crypt Demon Knight The Plaza Friday-Thursday Days Later The Plaza Friday-Thursday Perfect Blue K The Plaza Friday-Thursday All Night Marathon Vinegar Syndrome Spooktacular The Plaza Saturday Lifeforce International Cut K The Plaza Sunday-Tuesday Soul Cinema Sundays Get Out The Plaza Sunday Smokey and the Bandit in mm The Tara Friday The Brood The Tara Friday-Tuesday Photo by Miya Mizuno Spotlight Alex Garland and Danny Boyle Years Later Sometimes a perfect partnership is obvious But sometimes two people have a synergy that seems to come out of nowhere They re not obviously meant for each other their creative energies are diametrically opposed even but for whatever reason when they get together it all works That latter category is where I would put Alex Garland and Danny Boyle Boyle has a real lightness to his work that I find endlessly lovely He can ride the wave of darkness evident in movies like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting but even then there s a joyfulness to both of those films that I think characterizes the greater part of Boyle s work Whether he s dealing with spoiled yuppies or heroin addicts or even Steve Jobs he treats those characters and their worlds with a buoyancy that s as infectious as it is chaotic Garland on the other hand seems to have a much harsher view of the world and the people who live in it one that comes to the surface in movies like Civil War He is interested in the grotesque and the strange and while he ll often find beauty in that strangeness such as in films like Annihilation the beautiful thing isn t reliably to be trusted These are two very different artists But when they meet in movies like Days Later and Sunshine something amazing happens That melding of light and dark creates a world that feels both authentic in its horrors and in its hope which pierces through so strongly in their preponderance latest collaboration Years Later The world they build together is rich and vibrant and mysterious and terrifying in equal measure They come to conclusions about family about grief about isolation that are somehow equally as lovely as they are harsh I hope they continue making things together for numerous years to come Lights Camera Action For his final episode of WTF With Marc Maron the podcaster went big Former President Barack Obama sat down with Maron where they talked about Maron s next act and the state of the world You can take a listen to that episode here and I would also highly recommend this Vulture piece from Nicholas Quah that delivers a little closure on the end of WTF Lukas Gage has led a multitude of lives from getting married on Keeping Up With the Kardashians to starring in projects like The White Lotus and Companion But with a new memoir he s diving into his younger years and sharing his journey from attention-seeking child to attention-seeking adult writes Jason P Frank for Vulture I ve invariably enjoyed Gage s presence and I exposed this interview informative and funny Check it out here If you ve ever longed advice from a critic now s your chance No not from me but from the folks over at The New Yorker s Critics at Large podcast Hosts Vinson Cunningham Naomi Fry and Alexandra Schwartz discuss everything from poetry to Rock answering your questions along the way Take a listen here In contemporary times s Scene was edited by Julie E Bloemeke The post Out on Film breaks records appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta