Middle of Nowhere When: January 13 Where: DVD/VOD Director: Ava DuVernay Starring: Emayatzy Corinealdi, Daniel Oyelowo Why We’re Excited: Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed Selma is generating the biggest buzz of awards season (It snagged five Spirit Award Nominations including Best Director and Best Feature.) This month you can catch her small-budget Spirit Award winning drama, Middle of Nowhere on DVD. The film features strong, breakthrough performances from Emayatzy Corinealdi and Daniel Oyelowo, and tells the story of a woman who undergoes major life changes when her husband is sentenced to eight years in prison.
Honeymoon When: January 13 Where: DVD/VOD Director: Leigh Janiak Starring: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway Why We’re Excited: It’s best to know as little as possible about Leigh Janiak’s dark and creepy feature debut before sitting down to watch it. It’s the story of a newly married couple who retreat to a log cabin in the woods for what’s meant to be a romantic honeymoon. But what occurs is both baffling and terrifying, relying on psychological and natural scares rather than special effects and genre cliches.Janiak made the film on a very modest budget, with only four actors and minimal sets and locations.
Match When: January 14 Where: Theaters/IFC VOD Director: Stephen Belber Starring: Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino, Matthew Lillard Why We’re Excited: Based on the Broadway play that launched his writing career, Match is an adaptation by Stephen Belber of his own material for the big screen. Fans of Patrick Stewart (especially those who love the movie Jeffrey) will be excited to see him in this new leading role, as Tobi, a Julliard professor with a juicy past.
Appropriate Behavior When: January 16 Where: Theaters Director: Desiree Akhavan Starring: Desiree Akhavan, Rebecca Henderson Why We’re Excited: Introducing herself to the indie film world as a triple threat, Desiree Akhavan takes on writing, directing and starring in her first feature. Drawing inspiration from her personal life, this comedy hones in on how cultural barriers can prevent family members from truly knowing each other. Akhavan (who earned a Best First Screenplay Spirit Award Nomination for the film) plays a young woman struggling to be an ideal Persian daughter and coming to terms with the fact that her closeted bisexuality could be part of the problem.
Little Accidents When: January 16 Where: Theaters Director: Sara Colangelo Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Chloe Sevigny, Josh Lucas Why We’re Excited: Another Spirit Award Nominee for Best First Screenplay, Little Accidents also happens to be from a first-time female filmmaker. In Sara Colangelo’s dramatic debut, a small town is turned upside-down by the tragedy of a coal mining accident and the disappearance of a teenage boy. Produced by Film Independent Fellow Summer Shelton, the film features an all-star cast of indie favorites, including the young Jacob Loftland, who made his debut in the Spirit Award Winning film Mud.
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz When: January 20 Where: DVD/VOD Director: Brian Knappenberger Why We’re Excited: Aaron Swartz was a programming prodigy, a co-founder of Reddit and one of the brains behind the development of basic internet protocol RSS. While the young mastermind became lauded for his work on the web, his social justice work left him in a two-year legal battle. At the age of 26, Swartz tragically took his own life, launching many debates over technology and its affect on civil liberties. Judging from its Sundance premiere, this emotionally charged documentary is bound to spark heated discussion and provoke thought.
Cake When: January 23 Where: Theaters Director: Daniel Barnz Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Felicity Huffman, Anna Kendrick Why We’re Excited: One of the most talked about performances this year comes from Jennifer Aniston. In this stripped down, uncharacteristically dramatic turn—(think: Oscar-bait)—Aniston plays the survivor of a nearly fatal car accident, who joins a chronic pain support group to cope with the post-traumatic stress of cheating death. The film is produced by Film Independent Fellow Shyam Madiraju.
Mommy When: January 23 Where: Theaters Director: Xavier Dolan Starring: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon Why We’re Excited: The latest from twenty-something French filmmaker Xavier Dolan revisits the mother-son dynamic that inspired his debut feature I Killed My Mother. Far grittier than his debut dramedy, the film follows a widowed mother who decides to remove her violent ADHD-diagnosed son from a detention center, only to discover she may not be able to care for him. In its Cannes debut, the film won a Jury Prize and competed for the Palm d’OR and is now up for Best International Film at the upcoming Spirit Awards.
Coming Home When: January 30 Where: Theaters Director: Yimou Zhang Starring: Li Gong, Daoming Chen Why We’re Excited: Li Gong and Daoming Chen star as happily married couple Feng and Lu, who endure a tragic separation when Lu is sent to labor camp as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. Lu finally comes home only to discover his wife no longer remembers him. After premiering in China, the film kicked off its festival run at Cannes. If you love Zhang’s previous films, including Raise the Red Lantern and House of Flying Daggers, you’ll want to catch this romantic and heartfelt drama when it hits the states at the end of the month.
Chris Lombardi / Film Independent Blogger
Key Film Independent Fellow or Member Los Angeles Film Festival Alum Spirit Award Winner First-time Filmmaker Microbudget Female Filmmaker Filmmaker of Color LGBT Filmmaker
