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Joint Venture has acquired all North American rights to “If You See Something,” a new thriller from Iraqi filmmaker Oday Rasheed.

The story follows a romance between an American woman and an Iraqi doctor seeking political asylum in the United States. It examines how the life they’ve built together is threatened as secrets begin to bubble to the surface. The film made its world premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival in October of 2024. Joint Venture, a newly launched indie film studio, will release “If You See Something” in theaters later this year.

“’If You See Something’ enthralled us with unexpected twists and turns. At its heart, it is a story about community and we want audiences to be able to experience this gripping and emotional film with their own communities,” said Chris Lane, president of distribution and audience at Joint Venture, in a statement.

“If You See Something” stars...

Exclusive: Sara Boustany has joined the cast as one of the leads in Hello, Beautiful, which is based on the Christine Handy novel Walk Beside Me. Handy is producing along with Michael Espinosa, and Ziad H. Hamzeh–who will also serve as director. The film also stars Tricia Helfer and Tarek Bishara.

Hello, Beautiful revolves around Willow, a successful model, struggling with the facade of a perfect life while confronted with a crumbling family dynamic and then, breast cancer diagnosis. Sara will play “Isabel,” her wild and resentful teenage daughter who is struggling with her own obstacles.

Boustany hails from Lebanon. She moved to the U.S. as a teenager, where she landed the recurring guest star role of Miranda in the Emmy-nominated Hulu series, Pen15. She also appeared in a lead role in Netflix’s Dolly Parton produced anthology series Heartstrings, playing a young Sarah Shahi.

She is represented by D2 Management.

Anthony Hopkins takes on the role of Sigmund Freud in "Freud's Last Session," engaging in a captivating debate on the existence of God. The film is based on the stage play and Armand Nichol's book, drawing from the fascinating conversation between Freud and C.S. Lewis. Hopkins' impressive career spans from acclaimed movies like "The Silence of the Lambs" to major franchises such as Marvel and Transformers, making Freud another intriguing challenge for the celebrated actor.

Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins never gets tired of leaving his mark on film history, and will soon play one of the most influential men of the 19th and 20th centuries in Freud's Last Session, the new film by Matt Brown (The Man Who Knew Infinity). Based on the stage play of the same name that has already captivated the world of theater (which at the same time is based on Armand Nichol's book The...

“I’ve never been to Lebanon,” Lebanese-American high-schooler Marjoun (Veracity Butcher) tells us in voiceover. “Just here: Arkansas.” There’s the slightest uninflected irony in her delivery of that last word, suggesting that her story will archly observe the conundrum of many a second-generation immigrant: belonging to a place that often fails to recognize you as one of its own. But over the course of the thematically ambitious but dramatically uneven “Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf,” from director Susan Youssef (“Habibi”) that paradox emerges as only one of many — too many — contradictions and complexities that beset our (eventually) hijabi heroine.

In good and bad ways, “Marjoun” bears the hallmarks of its 15-year gestation and its expansion from Youssef’s short film of the same name. It is both over- and under-worked, bristling with ideas and issues and subplots that have but little connective tissue holding them together. It’s almost...

Isabelle Fuhrman as Isabelle in Deborah Kampmeier’s harrowing, true-story based #MeToo drama Tape. Photo courtesy Full Moon Films.

Tape opens with images of the mutilated character Lavinia from Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus,” followed by horrific footage of a young woman strapping a camera to her belly to film herself engaged in self-mutilation. The scene looks like something out of a horror film but the film shifts gears, as she turns her camera towards secretly filming a predatory male director/producer as he moves in on a young actress, with a pretense of coaching her acting. The echos of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk are unmistakable, and this based-on-a-true story about a Me Too experience offers a harrowing journey with a gut-punch ending.

The fact that it is based on a true story adds power to director/writer Deborah Kampmeier’s taut drama Tape, is a chilling drama for the MeToo era,...

Long before struggling actress Pearl (Isabelle Fuhrmann) finds herself at the mercy of a powerful man who demands sex in exchange for her career advancement, she’s already been violated by another person bent on trading on Pearl’s personal trauma for their own ends. That Deborah Kampmeier’s “Tape” — per a title card, “based on true events” — is unable to reckon with the implications of its own plot in service to a story about pervasive sexual misconduct is one of many missteps the lo-fi #MeToo drama makes, highlighting how far even the most eager of allies still has to go.

At least the film, Kampmeir’s fourth feature (she’s likely best known for her similarly discomfiting drama “Hounddog”) Before we meet wide-eyed, nearly manic Pearl, there’s Rosa (Annarosa Mudd), clearly reeling from her own trauma and working through it by preparing for an upcoming audition. But Rosa...

“Tape,” a guerrilla indie drama that confronts some of the ways sexual harassment has been embedded in the entertainment industry, begins with Rosa (Annarosa Mudd) getting ready to go undercover — but really, she’s dressing for battle. After rigging herself up with a hidden camera, she mutilates her body in homage to Lavinia in “Titus Andronicus,” piercing her own tongue and using a razor blade to carve a bracelet of blood around her wrist. She then shaves off her long curly brown hair, leaving a scalp that’s more patchy than chic, and completes the look with dark magenta lipstick, a long black “Matrix” coat, and big sunglasses.

She then heads to a reality-show audition, pretending to be an actress in the waiting room. But really, she’s there to surreptitiously film what she sees, especially once she connects with Pearl (Isabelle Fuhrman), an ambitious but naive young actress. We’re not sure,...

Tagline: “Do You Have a Hero in You?" American Terrorist is a crime thriller from director Charles Kopelson and writer John Buffalo Mailer. In the film, two brothers believe they have stopped a terrorist event. Set just after the September 11th attacks, these two brothers are forced to face the truth, when their prisoner escapes. As well, American Terrorist stars: Peter Cambor ("NCIS: Los Angeles"), Lacey Dorn (Torch) and Tarek Bishara. A trailer and poster have been released, for the film, ahead of the March 27th launch date. The official synopsis also mentions vigilante justice. Caught on a moral line, these two brothers must confront what they have done, once they have kidnapped a suspicious man. Once loose, this man turns the tables on the two brothers. Indican Pictures will release American Terrorist in a few theatres, before a wider home entertainment release. On March 27th, this film will show in select theatres.

"Following my method will get you where you need to go in the quickest route possible." Full Moon Films has debuted an official trailer for an indie drama titled simply Tape, the latest film by director Deborah Kampmeier. Based on true events and set in New York City, Tape is the story of an aspiring actress who crosses paths with the darker side of the entertainment industry. The film sounds a bit inspired by Harvey Weinstein (and Rose McGowan) and what he would make actresses go through. Here's a more compelling description: "This film addresses burning societal curiosities, taking the audience into the room where questionable behavior goes unseen, finally answering the question 'how could this kind of thing happen?' More than a film, Tape is a visceral moment-by-moment unveiling of the way ambitious and everyday women are systematically coerced and taken advantage of." This stars Isabelle Fuhrman, with Annarosa Mudd,...

Full Moon Films announced today that Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan, The Hunger Games) is joined by Thom Bishops (pictured below; The Tale, Time Out of Mind) and newcomer Annarosa Mudd in writer/director Deborah Kampmeier’s new film Tape, Bloody Disgusting learned. The film is based on the true story of an innocent young actress, a powerful producer and a woman looking for revenge. “Tape tells the story of […]...

Exclusive: The Hunger Games actress Isabelle Fuhrman has been tapped as the lead in Full Moon Films’ indie drama Tape, along with Thom Bishops (The Tale, Time Out of Mind) and tyro Annarosa Mudd. Deborah Kampmeier is directing the film from her own script, and will also produce the project with Veronica Nickel (First Match) from Full Moon.

Based on a true story, the pic follows a young, ambitious actress (Fuhrman), who meets a producer (Bishops) at an open call audition. Taken with her, he invites her to his hotel to discuss another role. What he doesn’t know is that another actress (Mudd), is waiting to exact her revenge against him.

Fuhrman, who co-starred on Showtime’s Masters Of Sex, is reuniting with Kampmeier, who wrote and directed the 2007 film Hounddog, which marked Fuhrman’s feature debut.

Ken and Marie Romanski will serve as exec producers. Additional casting is...

Wow, the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival already has been amazing!

Sliff’s main venues are the the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Tivoli Theatre, Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium, Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium and the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Il

The entire schedule for the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival be found Here.

http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2012

Here is what will be screening at The 21st Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival today, Thursday, November 15th

Shorts Program 8: Quirky Relationships

Shorts Program 8: Quirky Relationships plays at 5:00pm at the Tivoli Theatre

Shorts that give romance a twist.

Boo! (Rupert Reid, Australia, 2012, 5 min.): An aging married couple keep their love alive by staying one step ahead of each other. Coffees (Alex Beh, U.S., 2012, 11 min.): As a last-ditch effort, Mikey decides to go to his ex...