News

Indigenous American filmmakers have created a diverse range of movies that highlight their culture, history, and personal experiences while also providing engaging stories that anyone can connect with. Many Indigenous films are not high-profile projects or big-budget blockbusters, but they still deserve to be seen and connected with by a wider audience. These films cover a variety of genres, from character studies to sci-fi and horror, providing something for everyone to enjoy and appreciate.

While most people associate Hollywood with North American movies, there are a number of Indigenous creators, artists, and filmmakers who have produced complex, narrative-rich movies. Ranging from small indie character dramas to entertaining genre flicks, Indigenous American directors, writers, and actors have all produced great works of art that manage to highlight their culture, history, and personal experiences while also creating overall engaging stories that anyone can follow and connect with. Whether it be a small...

Stars: Madison Ekstrand, Evan Adams, Sasha Anne, Clint Carmichael, Joe Estevez, Anthony Jensen, Julia Kelly | Written by Sandy Lo, Tricia Aurand, Suzanne DeLaurentiis | Directed by Dale Fabrigar

Reed’s Point reunites several of the people behind 2018’s D-Railed, including director Dale Fabrigar (They Crawl Beneath), and co-writer Suzanne DeLaurentiis (Area 401) who wrote the script along with Sandy Lo and Tricia Aurand (Middleton Christmas). I found it to be a fun mash-up of monsters, ghosts, and a heist gone wrong. So a film from them about The Jersey Devil seemed like it had a chance to be the first film about the creature to actually be good.

It starts with Kelsey (Madison Ekstrand) her boyfriend Alex (Evan Adams; The Wrong Valentine) and cousin Sarah (Sasha Anne) joining Kelsey’s father Greg on a business Rv trip. However, on the way to pick up the client, the driver swerves to avoid a deer and crashes.

Reed's Point: "Reed's Point is psychological-thriller/creature-feature that tells of Sarah and Alex, two survivors of an Rv crash near the New Jersey Pine Barrens. On the anniversary of the accident, Sarah and Alex drive to Reed’s Point to investigate the crash site. Things go downhill quickly as they find themselves stuck in the woods unsure of who they can trust and questioning if monsters really do exist.

Written by Tricia Aurand, Suzanne DeLaurentiis and Sandy Lo, and directed by Dale Fabrigar (D-Railed), Reed’s Point stars Sasha Anne, Julia Kelly, Evan Adams, Madison Ekstrand, Anthony Jensen, Joseph Almani, Lanett Tachel, and veteran actor Joe Estevez"

On Digital And DVD April 12

----

Watch the Short Film Ad Lib: "Ad Lib is a fantasy thriller in the world of karaoke. A story of appearances. Starring Thomas Alden, Pauline Helly, Nouritza Emmanuelian and Cynthia Curto. Written and directed by Joseph Catté.

Exclusive: Tony Amendola (Stargate Sg-1) will topline Rough Magic: Exit Shakespeare, a new film from veteran TV director Andy Wolk (The Practice) and Silver Spring Road Films that has recently wrapped production.

The film is set in 1611 on a single night where Shakespeare (Amendola) is at a crisis point in his career. It’s about how writers age, their jealousies, resentments, and regrets, why they can’t revisit their old glories, and how their writing can overwhelm their life. Shakespeare has sacrificed much of his family life for his theatrical success and now—haunted with guilt about missing his young son’s death to the plague—he is forced to reflect on the price at which glory comes.

WGA and Humanitas Award winner Wolk directed from a script he wrote with Elliot Krieger, and produced alongside Matt Handy.

***

Exclusive: Lisa Ann Walter (Abbott Elementary), Jaren Lewison (Never Have I Ever...

Vivica A. Fox’s “The Wrong Valentine” premieres Thursday, marking the star and producer’s 25th film in Lifetime’s “The Wrong” franchise. And 25 installments into her made-for-tv series, Fox says there is only one thing she could possibly do in a “Wrong” film that wouldn’t be right.

“I get to cast myself in characters that normally Hollywood wouldn’t even give me an opportunity to play,” Fox, who has produced all 25 “Wrong” films and has starred in 22 of them, told TheWrap. “I’ve played a detective, a principal, a mom. The only thing David DeCoteau, the director, won’t let me play is the villain, because I’ve always got to deliver that catchy phrase. ‘Well it looks like you’ve got the wrong cheerleader’ or ‘You’ve got the wrong Valentine’ or ‘You’ve got the wrong Mr. Right.’ And people are like, ‘I can’t wait...

The late 1990s were a goldmine for independent cinema, with financiers and distributors willing to gamble on diverse material in the wake of “Pulp Fiction’s” breakout success earlier that decade. “Smoke Signals,” marketed by Miramax as “the first feature film written, directed, and produced by Native Americans,” was a critical success and crowd favorite from its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998, winning the Filmmaker’s Trophy for director Chris Eyre and the Audience Award there before its theatrical release that summer. Two decades years later, it’s not hard to see why “Smoke Signals” resonated: The movie is filled with humor, heart and genuine affection for its characters, hitting notes of sadness, introspection and well-earned catharsis.

“I get caught up in the emotional process of forgiveness, and I think that’s why the movie resonated and has endured,” Eyre says. “We brought a great sense of magical realism to the story,...

Exclusive: Tricoast Worldwide has boarded sales on Zoe Hopkins’ family adventure drama Kayak To Klemtu. The debut feature screens in the market on May 12. Hopkins is a Canadian Heiltsuk/Mohawk filmmaker who co-wrote the picture with Michael Sparaga. The story follows 14-year-old Ella (Ta’kaiya Blaney) on a journey to fulfill her Uncle David’s (Evan Adams) dying wish — to kayak to the remote island of Klemtu and to testify to protect their ancestral land from an oil pipeline. Ella is prepared for the hardships of the trip, but her biggest challenge will be with the mercurial family members who accompany her on the adventure. The movie has played several festivals already and won the Best Canadian First Feature at the Victoria Film Festival. Producers are Sheryl Kotzer and Daniel Bekerman of Scythia Films.

Exclusive: Big Cinema, Lon Haber & Co and Planeta Inform are presenting Russian revenge thriller Unforgiven in the market here.

RuPaul named inaugural and sole Next juror.

Jonas Åkerlund’s Lords Of Chaos, a drama about the tumultuous career of Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, is one of eight features announced on Tuesday (December 19) as late additions to the Sundance Film festival line-up.

Festival top brass are adding a Vr experience and said RuPaul will serve as the inaugural and sole Next Innovator Award juror, and convene a retrospective of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race on the heels of its 10th season and host a panel alongside executive producers and Sundance veterans Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey.

Hearts Beat Loud, announced previously in thePremieres section, is now confirmed as a closing night film.

The additions bring the number of features in play to 121, representing 29 countries and 53 first-time filmmakers, including 30 in competition. Selections were culled from 13,468 submissions including 3,901 feature-length films and 8,740 short films. The Sundance Film Festival is set to...

RuPaul named inaugural and sole Next juror.

Jonas Åkerlund’s Lords Of Chaos, a drama about the tumultuous career of Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, is one of eight features announced on Tuesday (December 19) as late additions to the Sundance Film festival line-up.

Festival top brass are adding a Vr experience and said RuPaul will serve as the inaugural and sole Next Innovator Award juror, and convene a retrospective of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race on the heels of its 10th season and host a panel alongside executive producers and Sundance veterans Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey.

Hearts Beat Loud, announced previously in thePremieres section, is now confirmed as a closing night film.

The additions bring the number of features in play to 121, representing 29 countries and 53 first-time filmmakers, including 30 in competition. Selections were culled from 13,468 submissions including 3,901 feature-length films and 8,740 short films. The Sundance Film Festival is set to run from January 18-28.

The late additions...

PARK CITY, Utah -- The "Smoke Signals" coming down from the mountain are clear and ringed with good omen.

The deserved winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, this Miramax release is a bracing, entrancing story of a young Native American man's struggle to reconcile his tenuous relationship with his father, a violent alcoholic whose antics disrupted the boy's entire upbringing. A serious insight into the dispiriting lives of many Native Americans on 20th century reservations, "Smoke Signals" is a sharply forged story of personal struggle and acceptance. Laced with humor and imbued with a tender spirit, it's likely to win strong acceptance on the select-site circuit.

A smart scoping of reservation life through the disenchanted eyes of young Victor (Adam Beach), "Smoke Signals" tells the story of the incendiary sparks that underlie the lives of many who dwell on the reservation. In this telling scenario, we are witness to the traumas of the Joseph household, beginning with a drunken Fourth of July party a decade ago when Victor's father, Arnold (Gary Farmer), set the family house afire in an alcoholic haze. While the fire destroyed the family's home, it was emblematic of the smoldering problem that caused it: Arnold's alcoholism. He's a boisterous, lumbering man whose serene countenance was torched when he took to drink.

Screenwriter Sherman Alexie has prismed an incisive saga that paints a larger picture of tribal life in the 20th century. The feelings of dislocation and despair are clearly limned through these flesh-and-blood beings, while, their transcendent powers to cope with their demons, through humor are also wisely shown.

Similar in tone to "Pow-Wow Highway", which highlighted this festival several years back and also featured Farmer as a modern-day Native American, "Smoke Signals" ambulates its narrative territory in an appealing, soft-spoken manner and with an endearing, self-deprecating sense of humor. Director Chris Eyre's sage storytelling lifts these "Smoke Signals" to highest and clearest dimension.

The performances are remarkable, particularly Joseph as the conflicted young man trying to make sense of his heritage. Evan Adams is a delight as his quirky sidekick, and Farmer's forceful performance shows the deviltry of drink that makes him lose respect for himself. Tanto Cardinal is nicely stoic as the beleaguered wife and mother.

Technical contributions are packed with smart shadings, all illuminating the conflicts as well as the uplifting qualities of these well-drawn characters. Praise to production designer Charles Armstrong for the precision and appropriateness of what looks to be -- but clearly isn't -- the characters' thrown-together lives.

SMOKE SIGNALS

Miramax Films

Producers: Scott Rosenfelt, Larry Estes

Director: Chris Eyre

Screenwriter: Sherman Alexie

Co-producers: Tim Eyre, Sherman Alexie

Executive producers: David Skinner,

Carl Bressler

Associate producers: Randy Suhr, Roger Baerwolf

Line producer: Brent Morris

Director of photography: Brian Capener

Production designer: Charles Armstrong

Costume designer: Ronald Leamon

Editor: Brian Berdan

Music: B.C. Smith

Color/stereo

Cast:

Victor Joseph: Adam Beach

Thomas Builds-the-Fire: Evan Adams

Arnold Joseph: Gary Farmer

Arlene Joseph: Tanto Cardinal

Suzy Song: Irene Bedard

Running time -- 104 minutes

No MPAA rating...

It’s a good day to be indigenous,” a radio announcer on the desolate Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation dryly intones at the beginning of “Smoke Signals,” and the remark serves not only as an accurate indication of the quirky, self-deprecating humor to be found throughout the film, but as a sort of prophetic blessing on this evidently first fictional feature written, directed and co-produced in the U.S. by Native Americans. A light, entertaining treatment of serious themes that speaks with a distinctive, unusual voice and instinctively pulls back from the temptation to be solemn and pretentious, pic won both the coveted Audience Award and the Filmmakers’ Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival. All the same, Miramax will have to use all of its ingenuity and muscle to raise anything more than a core paying public for this eminently accessible work, due to perceived lack of interest among urban...