A Santa Barbara Film Festival debut, 1-800-HOT NITE is director Nick Richey’s second feature, and he’s already proved he’s a master of looking inside the minds and troubles of young people with a combination of pathos, introspection, and humor. His first film, Low, Low, followed four girls as they finished high school. 1-800-HOT NITE starts with 13-year-old Tommy (Dallas Dupree Young, who’s on the cusp of stardom with appearances in Cobra Kai, Ready Player One, and recurring on The Good Place) loses his family to a police raid, he escapes custody (and foster care) with his friends, Steve, and O’Neill and misadventures ensue. Their urban odyssey is packed with men trying to rob them, cops, a python, a fist fight, a first kiss, and phone sex.
One narrative to watch is COVID-19 Ground Zero makes its West Coast premiere Saturday, June 18, with laurels and awards from several festivals. A synthesis of true stories from frontline hospital workers in New York City, the film is a courageous, heart-wrenching account of a dedicated hospital nurse and her boyfriend trying to make sense of the pandemic that engulfed New York and the nation amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
This film evokes a visceral response, not unlike being transfixed on the train tracks as the train bears down. People who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 will find it tough to watch yet uplifting as Laura Weissbecker’s Jesse and Cyril Durel’s Andy find their way haltingly forward as the city closes in on them. But it’s gotten to the point where most people have had the virus, so the challenges they face feel familiar, and the audience identifies with them and their roots. And, rare among DWF Films, COVID 19 is starting distribution along with the Festival screening. It premiered on Pay Per View, inDEMAND, on most U.S. cable systems on June 1.
Ubuntu is an impact documentary film making its world premiere Monday, June 13. The documentary shines a light on the Mamas of Cape Town, a group of heroic women whose tenacity allowed them to survive and even triumph over the cruel hand they were dealt. “Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others.’ It is often described as reminding us that ‘I am what I am because of who we all are.'” That description came from the open-source operating system page. Together, against the odds and all through Apartheid, they transformed their communities and became the backbone of South Africa.
“A synthesis of true stories from frontline hospital workers in New York City…”
Oscarâ-nominated director Adam Pertosky met Loren Levine about four years ago, and upon hearing her story, he immediately wanted to help in any way he could. “For the last 20 years, Levine has been working with Helen Lieberman and the Mamas of Cape Town,” says Petosky. “The Mamas have created pre-schools, daycares, soup kitchens, senior clubs, and just about anything needed for their communities. They dedicated themselves to their communities all through Apartheid and even today, yet they have never been acknowledged, and most of them still live in poverty. Even if Apartheid has ended, its ramifications have not. To understand the plight of Black people in South Africa is to understand how racism and its ramifications are unfortunately universal.”
Rounding out the features is the June 12 world premiere of Nicola Rose’s Goodbye Petrushka, which comes to DWF with an award from Worldfest Houston. Claire (Lizzie Kehoe), a starry-eyed, awkward young puppeteer, moves impulsively from NYC to Paris. She nannies for the family from hell, battles wacky French bureaucrats, embarrasses herself in front of her Parisian crush, and navigates a toxic relationship—among other faux pas. But as Claire’s best friend tells her, “life is far too short, and true passion is far too rare.”
Alongside the features, Dances with Films celebrates the short film. Like short stories, short films require rigor, discipline, and economy of expression. Now might be the best time ever for short filmmakers to screen their films at film festivals, which have become de facto advance distribution platforms for movies that everyone can watch—from anywhere at the hybrid or digital festivals. Dances with Films had only one digital outing—2020—and went back to in-person only last year. “We do not want to do it again,” says Scallon. “It is not the same. We don’t care what they say.”
El Carrito, by activist and community organizer Zahida Pirani, screening Monday, June 13, is a concept that first saw the light as a documentary. El Carrito follows Nelly, who lives with her elderly father Rico in Queens. She is determined to improve her circumstances as she slogs through day after an unsuccessful day of street vending. After taking a risky business decision that quickly backfires, Nelly wrongly accosts a fellow vendor for her misfortune and is stunned to discover how the community responds to her distrust. A world premiere last year at AFI Fest, El Carrito played SXSW.
[…] come to those who take the risk. Writer/director David Schrader goes big in his sci-fi…"The fact is any film can become an important one because if making a hit film was a formula, t… Film Threat, led by founder and filmmaker Chris Gore, and in conjunction with their partner Magical […]