Actualités

Alice Rao as has been named senior vice president of publicity by Hallmark Media. She is based in Los Angeles and reports to Chief Communications Officer Annie Howell.

Overseeing the company’s publicity team, Rao spearheads publicity campaigns that promote Hallmark Media’s networks and services, programming, talent, executives, and more. She also liaises with corporate communications, talent relations and events, programming, and various internal and external parties to align efforts and provide strategic guidance.

“Alice is simply fantastic. I have known and worked with her over several decades and am ecstatic that my team and our company has gained such a tremendous executive to lead our strategic publicity efforts,” said Howell. “In addition to her impeccable reputation and impressive professional background, Alice’s kindness, warmth, and sense of humor make her a perfect fit for Hallmark. Her positive, infectious energy is a welcome addition to our talented communications team.

IFC has announced the first round of casting for the “53rd season” (not really 53rd season) of “Documentary Now!,” headlined by Cate Blanchett, Jamie Demetriou, Trystan Gravelle, Jonathan Pryce, John Rhys-Davies and Harriet Walter. Tom Jones is also joining the original comedy series.

The newly announced cast will be a part of the three previously announced episodes for the upcoming season, all of which are written by co-creator Seth Meyers.

Blanchett and Walter will star in “Two Hairdressers in Bagglyport,” a portrait of a hair salon owner and her staff in the small coastal village of Bagglyport as they prepare their yearly stylebook. Co-creator Fred Armisen will star as well in the homage to fashion documentaries “3 Salons at the Seaside” and “The September Issue.”

The episode “How They Threw Rocks” will feature Welsh actors Gravelle, Pryce and Rhys-Davies and Welsh singer Jones. In the vein of “When We Were Kings” and other explorations of sport,...

When a Christie’s auction sold a Nft of Beeple’s work “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for $69 million in March 2021, it seemed like a trip to outer space or a cryotherapy home spa: the latest absurdist fad of the super wealthy. A year later, everyone loves NFTs: Snoop Dogg is planning to turn Death Row Records into “an Nft label.” McDonald’s wants to use NFTs in virtual restaurants that deliver real food.

Even Hollywood, usually behind the curve on consumer technology, is starting to catch up: Last week, Disney promoted an executive to lead “Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences,” while Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine signed a partnership with Nft collective World of Women to turn its characters into movies and TV shows.

The non-fungible token has started to reveal its utility. In the entertainment world, NFTs give creators new ways to interact with their audiences, raise money, create new distribution windows,...

On Saturday, news broke that 39-year-old actor Nelsan Ellis had passed away from complications of heart failure. While Ellis was best known for his role on “True Blood,” he also appeared in a number of films, most recently 2016’s “Little Boxes.” Here, the film’s director, Rob Meyer, recalls his experience with the actor.

I’ve never met anyone like Nelsan. I had the great honor of directing him in “Little Boxes,” a feature film written by Annie Howell. It’s a quiet story based loosely on Annie’s life and it addresses a number of sensitive themes — race, class, gender, and regionalism — as explored through the lens of one family. Our hope was to make a personal, gentle and honest film about issues that often polarize audiences. We knew the only way we could hope to pull that off was to find outstanding actors for the leads, which we did: Melanie Lynskey,...

One of the standout films at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival was “Little Boxes,” the latest picture from director Rob Meyer (“A Birder’s Guide to Everything“) and screenwriter Annie Howell (“Small, Beautifully Moving Parts“). Tackling the story of a young family from New York City relocating to a small town in Washington, Howell’s script draws on her family’s own experiences to paint a compelling and sympathetic portrait of what it’s like to be a mixed-race family in a decidedly non-diverse new city.

Continue reading Exclusive: Watch A New ‘Little Boxes’ Clip And Read Screenwriter Annie Howell’s Real-Life Inspiration For The Film at The Playlist.

If there’s one tenet this country can agree on, it’s that the United States isn’t even close to being the post-racial hearth we’d like to believe it to be. “Little Boxes” explores racism in America via an upscale family who moves from New York City to the Pacific Northwest. The man is black and the woman is white, and their 11-year-old son seems to get confused only after they’ve relocated and quickly get schooled on small-town life. Directed by Rob Meyer from a script by Annie Howell (“Claire in Motion”), “Little Boxes” has good intentions if not the subtlest delivery.

Gunpowder & Sky Distribution has set Rob Meyer’s “Little Boxes” for a theatrical and on demand release for April 14th. Written by Annie J. Howell, “Little Boxes” stars Melanie Lynskey (“Togetherness”), Nelsan Ellis (“Get on Up”), Armani Jackson (“The Last… Continue Reading →...

Remember Jordan Horowitz, the producer who reacted with uncommon grace when he realized he hadn’t actually won Best Picture? “La La Land” isn’t the only movie he’s worked on lately, and the next one is due in theaters next month. Watch the trailer for “Little Boxes” below.

Read More: Tribeca Review: ‘Little Boxes’ Is a Sensitive Look at Racism in Suburbia

Nelsan Ellis (“True Blood,” “Get On Up”) and Melanie Lynskey (“I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore”) star as a married couple who move from New York City to a college town in Washington after she lands a job there. After arriving, the mixed-race couple and their son (Armani Jackson) are treated…strangely by their new neighbors, whose initially welcoming vibe gradually turns into something else.

Read More: James Schamus Comments on Barry Jenkins and Jordan Horowitz: ‘What a Moment’

Rob Meyer...

After kicking off the year leading the Sundance-winning I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Melanie Lynskey is back with the dramedy Little Boxes. Directed by Rob Meyer (A Birder’s Guide to Everything), following a premiere last year at Tribeca, it’ll arrive in theaters next month, and now the first trailer has landed. The Cary Fukunaga-executive-produced feature follows a family moving from New York City to the other side of the country and having trouble fitting into the Caucasian-filled community.

We said in our review, “With its picket-fence sameness and routine tedium making it a hot bed for deep-rooted repression — at least as depicted in many a film — the horrors of suburbia have been captured in virtually every genre. Little Boxes, directed by Rob Meyer and written by Annie J. Howell, employs this setting to explore societal racism with a grounded, realistic approach, making it all the more alarming.

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– IFC Films has picked up North American distribution rights to the J. D. Salinger drama “Rebel in the Rye,” which stars Nicholas Hoult as J.D. Salinger. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It will receive a theatrical release in the fall of 2017.

The film was written and directed by Danny Strong, and follows the early years of Salinger’s storied career. It also stars Kevin Spacey, Sarah Paulson and Zoey Deutch. The news was first reported by Variety.

– Gunpowder & Sky Distribution has acquired Rob Meyer’s “Little Boxes,” with a theatrical release set for April 14. Written by Annie J. Howell, the film stars Melanie Lynskey, Nelsan Ellis, Armani Jackson, Oona Laurence and Janeane Garofalo.

Separately, Films We Like has acquired Daniel Warth’s Slamdance award-winner Dim The Fluorescents.

Gunpowder & Sky Distribution has acquired Us rights and set a theatrical release for April 14.

Rob Meyer directed Little Boxes from a screenplay by Annie J. Howell. Melanie Lynskey, Nelsan Ellis, Armani Jackson, Oona Laurence and Janeane Garofalo star in the story of an interracial family that struggles to adjust when they move from New York City to a small, predominately white town in Washington State. The film premiered at Tribeca 2016.

“Little Boxes is as heartwarming as it is timely,” said Gunpowder & Sky Distribution’s Jake Hanly. “Rob unpacked a very complex issue in a way any audience can understand and relate to.”

Meyer said: “It’s a thrill and an honour to team up with Gunpowder & Sky Distribution for the theatrical and VOD release. They distribute the kind of movies that I want to watch.”

Producer Jared Ian Goldman added: “The Gunpowder & Sky team...

Gunpowder & Sky Distribution announced today that the company has acquired Rob Meyer’s “Little Boxes,” with a theatrical release set for April 14th. Written by Annie J. Howell, “Little Boxes” stars Melanie Lynskey (“Togetherness”), Nelsan Ellis (“Get on Up”), Armani… Continue Reading →...

Gunpowder & Sky has picked up the rights to Rob Meyer’s “Little Boxes” starring Melanie Lynskey and Nelsan Ellis, the studio announced on Monday. Written by Annie J. Howell, “Little Boxes” will hit theaters on April 14. The film also stars Armani Jackson, Oona Laurence and Janeane Garofalo. “Little Boxes” follows Clark (Jackson) who is the new biracial kid in a very white town. He discovers that to be cool, he needs to act “more black.” Meanwhile, his parents try to adjust to small-town living after having lived in New York. See Video: Tribeca: Cary Fukunaga's 'Little Boxes' Finds Melanie Lynskey,...

The second feature written and directed by Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell (“Small, Beautifully Moving Parts”),”Claire in Motion” has an appealing stillness and intensity. It works as both a quiet, meditative study of grief and a muted examination of identity, but not as a compelling mystery. We first meet the low-key academic Claire (Betsy Brandt, “Breaking Bad”) in the lowest key of positions — lying down, half asleep. She rouses somewhat to bid her husband Paul (Chris Beetem, “Inside Amy Schumer”), a fellow professor at a small Ohio college, goodbye as he heads out on a solo backpacking trip.

After co-starring in “Breaking Bad,” actress Betsy Brandt has stayed in the spotlight with a host of TV projects, including a starring role in the CBS sitcom “Life in Pieces,” as well as a new missing person drama “Claire in Motion.” Brandt stars as Claire who hasn’t given up on searching for her missing husband despite her son’s doubts and the police closing their investigation. Soon, Claire discovers troubling secrets about her husband, including a mysterious graduate student with whom he had formed a close bond, and starts to loser her grip on her own identity. The film co-stars Anna Margaret Hollyman (“Sleeping with Other People”), Chris Beetem (“Black Hawk Down”) and Sakina Jaffrey (“Mr. Robot”). Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: ‘Claire in Motion’ Review: Betsy Brandt Shines in Twisty Missing Person Drama

The film is written and directed by Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson.

Review by Stephen Tronicek

There’s a lot of expectation going into a film that has a premise like Claire in Motion. Claire’s husband has disappeared after leaving for a survivalist trip out in the woods, and she has been left alone to care for their child. When starting this type of film, one finds expectations to be frustrating. This isn’t to insult. In fact, many of the films that come from this mold crackle with an unmatched sense of energy and passion. The premise here though almost requires a kind of exploitative use of character and story, some horrible thing having happened to the husband, and some wrenching but familiar catharsis that you can get anywhere from any somewhat shamelessly offensive exploitation flick living and dying on the violence and sex at its core. The nice surprise of Claire in Motion is that this is not what...

Too heavy-handed and clumsy to land with a real knockout punch, Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson’s second feature benefits immensely from the quietly moving work of its lead, Besty Brandt. The former “Breaking Bad” star is the eponymous Claire of Howell and Robinson’s “Claire in Motion,” a film about the messier aspects of grief and loss that shines only when it pulls back from its worrying tendency to hit themes so firmly on the head its a wonder they don’t start bleeding.

“Be careful,” Claire whispers to her husband Paul (Chris Beetem) as he slips out of their home to partake in his apparent favorite past time — a solo survivalist hiking trip into the woods, during which he’ll tote the bare minimum of supplies and only eat what he can find and hunt — an understandable sentiment made all the more crucial by her mention of Paul’s previous dizzy spells.

People who seemingly have the most fulfilling lives can often times experience the most despair when they discover their existence has been built on a lie. Disillusionment arises when secrets that threaten their pristine presence in both their homes and society can ultimately lead them to question their relationships and sense of identity. What begins […]

The post Interview: Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson Talk Claire in Motion (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

"Love" goes awry in Eric England's Get the Girl, a new film hitting theaters in January from Orion Pictures. A poster for the movie was recently released, and we have it to share with readers at the top of today's Highlights, which also includes a poster for Parasites and release details for Claire in Motion.

Get the Girl Poster & Release Details: “In Get The Girl, a wealthy young man is conned into staging a fake kidnapping in order to be a hero and win the affection of a girl he's madly in love with. But when one of the hired kidnappers is accidentally killed during the charade, he's forced to actually save her life while not revealing that it's been a ruse all along.”

Written and directed by Eric England, Get the Girl stars Justin Dobies, Elizabeth Whitson, Noah Segan, Adi Shankar, and Scout Taylor-Compton. Orion Pictures will release...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Full Lineup Announcements

– “3-D Auteurs,” a 19-day, 34-film festival spotlighting stereoscopic movies by some of history’s most distinguished directors, will run at Film Forum November 11 – 29. The festival spans 3-D’s earliest days (including some turn-of-the-century films by pioneer Georges Méliès) to the present, and represents virtually every genre, including Westerns, Film Noir, and Science Fiction. Hollywood’s first big 3-D craze (sometimes called 3-D’s “golden era”), intended to offset the threat of television, came in the early 1950s, with such movies as Hitchcock’s “Dial M For Murder,” André De Toth’s “House of Wax” and Jack Arnold’s “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (all included in the series).

Hollywood produced roughly 50 movies in the process from 1952 to 1954, before fizzling out and being overtaken by...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Full Lineup Announcements

– The sixth annual Napa Valley Film Festival (Nvff) has announced its complete line-up, Opening Night and Red Carpet screenings, special events and additional honorees for its Celebrity Tributes. Nvff returns in full force with a five-day festival showcasing the year’s best new independent films in 13 unique screening venues in the Wine Country towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga, running November 9 – 13.

The Festival will play host to a strong selection of films, including many of this year’s award contenders, like The Weinstein Company’s “Lion,” which will be this year’s Opening Night film, and Open Road Films’ “Bleed for This.” As the perfect bookend to the festival, the independent documentary “Pisco Punch: A Cocktail Comeback Story” will serve as the Closing Night film.

The director and Oscar-winning actress will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film at this year’s Amd British Academy Britannia Awards presented by Jaguar Land Rover and American Airlines.

The annual BAFTA Los Angeles celebration will take place on October 28 in Beverly Hills.

Foster directed this year’s release Money Monster and recently directed episodes of House Of Cards and Orange Is The New Black. Her last outing as feature director was 2011’s The Beaver starring Mel Gibson.

A24 has updated release information for 20th Century Women starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup and Lucas Jade Zumann. The comedic drama will open in limited release on December 25 and expand wide on January 20, 2017. Mike Mills directs in his follow-up to Beginners.Shooting has begun in and around Toronto on psychological thriller The Wanting starring Adam Brody and Amanda Crew. Yam Laranas directs the story in the vein of Rosemary’s [link...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Exclusive: Zeitgeist Films has announced that it has acquired “Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story,” a documentary about two fascinating (and unsung) heroes of 60+ years of Hollywood history. Directed by Daniel Raim and executive produced by Danny DeVito, the film had its premiere in the Cannes Classics section of the Festival.

The film will open in the first quarter of 2017 with a national rollout to follow.

– Open Road Films has acquired all North American rights to the romantic comedy “Home Again,” which will star Reese Witherspoon. The film was written by Hallie Meyers-Shyer and will be directed by Meyers-Shyer in her directorial debut. Nancy Meyers is producing alongside Black Bicycle Entertainment’s Erika Olde, who also financed the film.

Exclusive: The distributor has moved for North American rights to the SXSW mystery drama by Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell.

Claire In Motion premiered at SXSW and stars Betsy Brandt, Chris Beetem, Sakina Jaffrey and Anna Margaret Hollyman.

The film centres on a woman who unravels the mystery of her missing husband and begins to question her own identity in the process.

Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff negotiated the deal with Visit Films president Ryan Kampe.

”Claire In Motion is such an incredible cinematic achievement anchored by compelling performances, beautifully atmospheric visuals, and a thrilling script,” said Breaking Glass senior vice-president of distribution and sales.

“Writer-director team Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson are supremely talented, and we are honoured to be working with them.”

Breaking Glass has earmarked a day-and-date theatrical and premium VOD release for early 2017.

With its picket-fence sameness and routine tedium making it a hot bed for deep-rooted repression — at least as depicted in many a film — the horrors of suburbia have been captured in virtually every genre. Little Boxes, directed by Rob Meyer and written by Annie J. Howell, employs this setting to explore societal racism with a grounded, realistic approach, making it all the more alarming. However, while this specific exploration proves to be effective, the drama around which it’s built becomes increasingly unimaginative.

Saying goodbye to their friends in Brooklyn, Mack (Nelsan Ellis) and Gina (Melanie Lynskey) head to the fictional town of Rome, Washington, where the latter has accepted a new tenure-track job teaching photography at the local college, giving her husband the ideal excuse to finally crack his long-gestating second novel as he dabbles in gastronomy journalism (aka writing about YouTube cooking videos). This means their son, Clark...

Articulating the nuances of middle class, suburban racism, Little Boxes settles in a place somewhere between good intentions and a rigid screenplay. When an interracial family moves from New York City to an all-white town outside of Seattle, life becomes complicated, particularly for the family’s black father Mack (Nelsan Ellis) and preteen son Clark (Armani Jackson). Neighborly curiosity turns both Mack and Clark into amusing oddities, though Little Boxes often falls victim of a similarly narrow perspective on character.

In the summer before Clark begins 6th grade, Gina (Melanie Lynskey) adjusts to her new job on campus while her husband and son stay at home around the new neighborhood. Mack – a work-from-home writer – struggles the most outwardly. Apart from a distrust of his new community’s polite façade, Mack bears the responsibility of discovering broken appliances in their new home. His melodramatic overreactions to setbacks – particularly a drunken tirade...

The indie comedy “Little Boxes,” from executive producer Cary Fukunaga, debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival on Friday night, but TheWrap has an exclusive clip from the film, featuring stars Melanie Lynskey, Nelsan Ellis and newcomer Armani Jackson. Rob Meyer directed from a script by Annie J. Howell. The acquisition title makes its world premiere in the Spotlight section at Tribeca, where UTA will be handling sales. The film co-stars Janeane Garofalo, Christine Taylor, and young actress Oona Laurence from “Southpaw” and “Pete’s Dragon.” Also Read: Emmy Breakout Melanie Lynskey on 'Togetherness' Nude Acting, Improv With Amanda Peet...

Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson's Claire in Motion is not so much about dealing with loss as it is about conflicting personality types. A profound and engrossing character study riddled with the subtle undertones of a psychological thriller, Claire in Motion astutely compares Claire with Allison, using Allison as a stand in for Paul -- meaning that we can only assume that Claire probably had some of the same relationship issues with Paul (despite her denial) as she does with Allison.

Five years after premiering their pregnancy road trip drama Small, Beautifully Moving Parts at SXSW, the writing/directing team of Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell return to Austin with their Competition entry Claire in Motion, a drama about a woman grappling with the disappearance of her husband — as well as the secrets of his life that disappearance has caused to surface. Below, we talk to the duo about the nature of their collaboration, being female directors working with female subject matter, and whether comparisons to Gone Girl are accurate or not. Filmmaker: It’s been five years since Small, Beautifully […]...

Exclusive: Ryan Kampe’s New York-based sales agency is in Austin, Texas, with three new titles for buyers.

Visit Films holds worldwide rights to SXSW premieres Claire In Motion and From Nowhere in addition to global rights excluding Greece and Cyprus to its previously announced title and Rotterdam premiere title Suntan.

From Nowhere is styled as a revealing, intimate drama that follows three teenagers as they prepare to graduate from high school in the Bronx and must confront their past.

Matthew Newton directed the film and Julianne Nicholson stars with Denis O’Hare, J. Mallory McCree, Octavia Chavez-Richmond, and Raquel Castro.

Claire In Motion (pictured) stars Betsy Brandt as the eponymous character who questions all around her as she learns a secret about her missing husband’s past.

Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell co-wrote and co-directed the drama and the key cast includes Anna Margaret Hollyman, Zev Haworth, Sakina Jaffrey, and [link=nm...

Sundance has only just wrapped up, and already we’re thinking abut the next big film festival on our horizon. SXSW 2016 runs March 11th through the 19th in Austin, TX, and while there are still a few more titles to come — including my personal favorite section, the Midnighters — the bulk of the titles playing this year’s fest have just been announced. My own most-anticipated of the festival is John Michael McDonagh’s War on Everyone (pictured above) as his last film, Calvary, was my favorite of 2014. Other highlights include Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice, Ti West’s In a Valley of Violence, and Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special. Narrative Feature Competition Ten world premieres; ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,442 narrative feature submissions in 2016. The Arbalest Director/Screenwriter: Adam Pinney The inventor of the world’s greatest toy reflects on his decade-long obsession with a woman who hates him. Cast:...

Top brass at the festival announced on Tuesday several sections of the features line-up for the 23rd edition, set to run from March 11-19, 2016 in Austin, Texas.

SXSW will screen 139 features of which 89 are world premieres, 13 are North American Premieres and 8 are Us premieres selected from 2,456 feature submissions (1,467 Us and 990 international). Fifty-two films hail from debutants.

Narrative Feature Competition selections are: The Arbalest by Adam Pinney; Before The Sun Explodes by Debra Eisenstadt; Claire In Motion by Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell; collective:unconscious by collective:unconscious (Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker, Lauren Wolkstein); Donald Cried by Kris Avedisian; Hunter Gatherer by Josh Locy; Miss Stevens by Julia Hart; The Other Half by Joey Klein; A Stray by Musa Syeed; and Transpecos by Greg Kwedar.

Documentary Feature Competition entries are: Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America by Matt Ornstein; Alive And Kicking by Susan Glatzer; Best And Most Beautiful Things directed by Garrett Zevgetis; Goodnight...

I am very intrigued by "The Artist." It's a silent film after all (which is pretty cool!), but it's generating enough Oscar buzz that I cannot simply ignore it! But the road to the Oscars is still quite long and tumultuous even though the preeminent Academy Awards vote-getter, the Weinstein company, is behind the Michel Hazanavicius movie. Still, it would be awesome for "The Artist" to score a Best Picture Nomination! The last time a silent film scored a victory was in 1929 with "The Patriot."

The French film (or does language even matter since it's silent?) stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo and takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1931. It has "A Star is Born" story, if you may, that talks about a relationship between a declining male star and a rising actress. It also talks about the end of the silent film era and the beginning of the talkies.

Getty Alec Baldwin

The Hamptons International Film Festival kicks off today and runs until Monday, Oct. 17. The festival, now in its 19th year, includes programs such as conversations with personalities, and draws about 18,000 people each year, according to Executive Director Karen Arikian. Films will be shown in East Hampton, Southampton, Montauk, Sag Harbor, and Westhampton.

“What distinguishes us from other festivals is we’re located in a very incredibly beautiful spot,” Arikian told Speakeasy. “During the fall, it’s very loose and informal.

The Hamptons International Film Festival and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have awarded this year's Alfred P. Sloan Feature Prize to Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson for their film "Small, Beautifully Moving Parts." The award, given to features that inventively explore science and technology themes, comes with a $25,000 cash prize. The comedy centers on Sarah Sparks, a tech-savvy woman who questions her life and priorities after becoming pregnant. The ...

The synopsis for Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson's Small, Beautifully Moving Parts may make its main character, Sarah Sparks, seem a bit hard to relate to. A tech wonk, when Sarah (Anna Margaret Hollyman) discovers she's pregnant, she finds herself much more intrigued by the technology that allows her to look at her baby than the baby itself. But the writing and directing team, along with lead actress Hollyman, have crafted a funny, lovable, and relatable character in Sarah.

Read more on SXSW 2011 Video Interview: Small, Beautifully Moving Parts writers/directors Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson and actress Anna Margaret Hollyman...

Rating: 3/5

Writers: Annie Howell, Lisa Robinson

Directors: Annie Howell, Lisa Robinson

Cast: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Andre Holland, Sarah Rafferty, Susan Kelechi Watson, Mary Beth Peil

Sarah Sparks is a geek girl with “a soft spot for machinery.” She loves anything with cords, screens, keys, Wi-Fi capability, Internet connectivity, if you can plug it in, Sarah (Anna Margaret Hollyman) probably owns it, or wants to own it, or wants to talk about it. But when Sarah ends up pregnant by her charming boyfriend, Leon (Andre Holland), her attention is forced to refocus itself on the one item that doesn’t come with instructions. The problem is, Sarah isn’t just a technogeek – as connected as she is to electronics, she’s equally as out of touch with human emotions and behaviors including, she fears, how to be a mother. A pregnant Sarah embarks on a trip west to hang out with...

Eight films competing in feature category at Austin gathering include story of one man and his boat and film set in an La flat

With its focus on new and up-and-coming film-makers, Austin's SXSW is perhaps the least ostentatious of culture festivals. Perhaps there's something in the Texas water, for the newly announced competition lineup also features a number of movies that adopt a "less is more" approach.

Of the eight films that will vie for the top prize in the narrative feature section, Chris Eyre's A Year in Mooring is about a man (Josh Lucas) and his boat, Terry McMahon's Charlie Casanova takes place mostly in a bar and hotel, and Matt D'Elia's American Animal is a two-hander set in a Los Angeles flat shared by a terminally ill eccentric and his room-mate.

Other films to screen in competition will include Aimee Lagos's 96 Minutes, Janet Grillo's Fly Away,...

The 53rd Sfiff winners have been announced, along with the San Francisco Film Society's Filmmaker Grants. Festival winners include Lixin Fan's Last Train Home (Golden Gate Award Investigative Documentary Feature), Pedro González-Rubio's Alamar (New Directors Award), and Babak Jalali's Frontier Blues (Fipreschi Prize). The complete list of winners is here. The twice-yearly San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Grants, which total $170k, are given to narrative features that have themes of social justice and significance in the Bay Area. In addition to the monetary awards, the recipients are offered various benefits through the Film Society's filmmaker services programs. This Spring's winners include: Annie Howell's Black Kid, a coming of age story of a bi-racial 11 year old who is transplanted from San Francisco to an all-white ...

Going into SXSW, I knew there were going to be a lot of short films screened, and there were several that I had highlighted as must-see’s. I was immediately drawn to Tze Chun’s name, as his film Children of Invention has been on my radar since last year’s Iff Boston. Children of Invention was also among the films chosen to test out YouTube’s new rental service, around Sundance this past January. When I saw that he was going to be directing a sci-fi short film, I knew it would be something worth making myself available to. I didn’t read too much up on the other films in the Futurestates series, apart from the basic synopses that it was a series of short films, centered around the idea of taking current social and environmental problems, and extending them forward in time. Who knew that this screening...

Diversity seems to be the key this year at the SXSW festival, which takes place in Austin, TX from March 12-20, as they’ve now announced the full lineup of Panels and short films that will be at this years event. As with the feature films schedule, this list of panels and shorts should provide an almost endless supply of diverse and interesting programming for attendees.

Following sre some highlights of panels we think are worth checking out. For a full list and descriptions, head over to the SXSW official site. Also, be sure to check back here at The Flickast as we’ll be at SXSW this year to bring you all the details on these great events and much more.

A Conversation with Michel Gondry

The stratospheric rise of Academy Award-winning visionary Michel Gondry is one of the great success stories of modern film. Working with fellow travelers like Spike Jonze,...

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival (March 12 - March 16, 2010) has announced the short film program and the list of panel participants. Michel Gondry, David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, Danny McBride, Ruben Fleischer, Matt Reeves, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and Ti West are among the people scheduled to participate. The full list can be viewed at the provided link. As to the shorts program, the list is featured at the bottom of this post. The lineup is extensive, and full of unique films waiting to be discovered.

Comprehensive Short Films Lineup

Narrative Shorts

A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2011 Academy Award nomination for Best Narrative Short.

Anatinus

Director: David Wanger

A glimpse of the dawn of a strange new era.

Bedford Park Boulevard...