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Sean Baker’s 2008 independent drama Prince of Broadway opens with West African immigrant Lucky (Prince Adu) thriving in his element, using his charisma and humor to draw passersby into the small shop where he sells knockoff purses and sneakers. All the while, Baker’s camera pursues Lucky with the same reckless zeal that fuels his daily hustle on the streets. It’s a chaotic dance between director and performer set to the hectic pulse of Manhattan’s wholesale district in the late aughts.

Baker based the character of Lucky on Adu himself, who went so far as to scout locations and find actors for the production. And among those he found was Aidan Noesi, who plays the toddler who Lucky is forced to take care of after his ex, Linda (Kat Sanchez), tells him that he’s the father before then running off, promising to return in a couple of weeks.

Prince of Broadway, Spine #1258, will release in the Criterion Collection on April 29th, 2025.

Sean Baker is currently on top of the world. His most recent film — Anora (which also joins the collection this month) — won five of its six nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture. In an instant, Baker was transformed from a small independent filmmaker known only to film snobs and A24 aficionados, to a recognized artist at the top of his game. Prince of Broadway is undeniable proof that Baker has always had a talent for telling achingly human stories.

Prince of Broadway plot

Lucky (Prince Adu) survives by hustling counterfeit merchandise to unsuspecting tourists on the streets of New York. When an ex-girlfriend shows up unexpectedly and leaves him with a young boy that she claims is his son, Lucky’s life instantly changes. He’s unprepared for fatherhood and...

Physical media culture is alive and thriving thanks to the home video tastemakers hailing everywhere from The Criterion Collection to Kino Lorber and the Warner Archive Collection. Each month, IndieWire highlights the best recent and upcoming Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K releases for cinephiles to own now — and to bring ballast and permanence to your moviegoing at a time when streaming windows on classic movies close just as soon as they open.

“Anora” made indie film history at the Academy Awards this year, with Sean Baker taking home prizes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing — and, of course, Mikey Madison winning Best Actress for her bold and empathetic portrayal of a New York sex worker. IndieWire’s been championing Baker since the days of his first feature, “Four Letter Words” (2000), and while we can’t wait to see what he does next, there’s no better...

The Criterion Collection recently announced its new releases for 2025, and among them are two Sean Baker films—last year’s Anora as well as his 2008 indie drama Prince of Broadway, which also happens to be one of Mikey Madison’s favorites. During a Letterboxd Four Favorites interview with Baker and Madison in October, she listed Prince of Broadway as one of her current favorites, to Baker’s surprise. Prince of Broadway, which was Baker’s third feature film, follows New York City street vendor Lucky (Prince Adu), whose life is upended when his ex-girlfriend drops off his son he never knew he had, and features many of the hallmarks Baker’s films would later become known for. Made on a small budget and featuring a cast of mostly non-professional actors, Prince of Broadway offers an empathetic look into the lives of Lucky and those around him and is one of...

The Duplass brothers, Jay and Mark, put together a list of their top nine favorite films available on Sundance Now, the streaming service with award winning films, documentaries and TV series. Their curated collection features the early works of directors like Barry Jenkins, Andrea Arnold and Andrew Haigh, among others.

Since it’s a list for Sundance Now, the brothers recommended movies that in their mind are “quintessentially Sundancian” and have a “rawness of emotion.”

“In my mind, these films have a surprising number of specific elements in common: pin-pointed specific point of view from the director, a first or early film, non-professional actors, an uncontrolled documentary style, low budget, rawness of emotion, and performances that make your subconscious wonder at times if it’s a documentary,” said Jay Duplass. “More than anything, the films feel like they have been made by someone very specific, and you get the feeling...

Glamour, palm trees, and surgically perfected bodies define Los Angeles in the eyes of the world, but beneath that artificial sunshine there are people and places that never find themselves portrayed on screen. People on the bus, on the not-so-pretty streets, in the neighborhoods that no one’s ever hear of, in those places that have stories that are never told. Even Hollywood, as plastic as it’s often depicted, has areas that have not yet been gentrified and in which people outside the norm are also allowed to be beautiful in their own way. It’s here that director Sean Baker found the stars of his riotous and perfectly acted latest film “Tangerine,” and where he shot it.

At the center of it are Alexandra (Mya Taylor) and Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), two transgender sex workers on Santa Monica Boulevard who struggle to get by while dealing with heartbreak, revenge, and their dreams. Their story, which takes place on a sunny California Christmas eve, exists in the real world without embellishments and its driven by their hilarious banter that's always based on uncompromising sincerity. It's in this sort of uncontrollable environment that Sean Baker found beautiful accidents as his camera, or better said his iPhone, recorded the characters interacting with the city.

We had a chance to talk to Sean Baker about the making of one the year’s best film and a standout at the most recent Sundance Film Festival.

Aguilar: "Tangerine" shows us a side of Los Angeles we rarely see in film, far from all the glamour and artificial beauty. I know the streets where Alexandra and Sin-Dee exist. I've taken those buses, those trains, and been to those places. It feels very real and vibrant in an unpretentious way. Why did you want to tell this singular L.A. story?

Sean Baker: I'm originally from New York and I spent most of my life there, so when I came out to L.A. I was surprised to find that most of L.A. hasn't been shot out. I thought that the studios would have covered L.A. for the last 100 years, but then I realized there is a whole city south of Pico where there are these subcultures or communities that haven't been focused on whatsoever, and also wonderful locations. For example, I told everybody, "I don't want to make this film unless we can lock down Donut Time," because it's such a landmark. Thank god my great producers Darren Dean and Shih-Ching Tsou were able to lock Donut Time. I've fallen on love with Los Angeles and I love to explore it myself. If I'm telling an L.A. story I want to tell a fresh L.A. story and show places that haven't been shown before.

Aguilar: How rough was it to shoot out there in the wilderness of the city? You only have control of your equipment and your actors, everything else is alive and moving without you having power over it.

Sean Baker: I'm kind of used to that because I did it with "Prince of Broadway" and I did it with "Take Out." With those two films I kind of had to accept the fact that there was going to be obstacles, but that those obstacles would lead to happy accidents. If I have a bystander who is stepping into the frame sometimes that would work, as long as we get their permission and get releases everything is fine. I'm open to that. I like the lack of control sometimes. I think that leads to a lot of interesting things, plus I edit my own films, so I almost like to edit from a documentary point of view. It keeps me awake and keeps me surprised in the edit when every take is different and there are new things to be seen on every scene.

Aguilar: You have to two incredible leads in Mya and Kiki, but also two leads who have big personalities. Was it a challenge at first to work with actresses that didn't have much experience or none at all?

Sean Baker: They were as professional as professional could be from day one. I was so incredibly lucky to have found Mya and Kiki. They started impressing me one or two days in. I realized how great they were. I didn't even know they were going to be that great. With a film like this, even though it's scripted and you know where you are going, you kind of still have to find it while you shoot, and then you find it again in the edit. I was going into the shoot knowing that if they weren't good enough I was going to focus on the characters around them or I was going to give them less dialogue. That's how I was going to do it, but then when they started impressing me after the first day I was like, "Why not? They are stealing the show every time, let's roll with it."

Aguilar: Even though the film is a sense dialogue-heavy it feels very vibrant throughout. The only quiet moment is when Kiki sits by the Vermont station to consider her next move. Did you feel like you needed that calm beat before the madness was unleashed?

Sean Baker: In that scene, I didn’t know I was going to be marrying the Beethoven track to it at that moment. I just said, “This is a moment in which I’m going to slow thing down.” It was the quiet before the storm. We already had a shot of adrenaline in the beginning and this was going to be the second shot of adrenaline right after this quiet scene. I basically said, “Look, let’s just take a moment and allow the audience to breathe a little bit.” I told Kiki, “Sorry, you are gonna have to smoke like 10 cigarettes,” because we needed to get every angle possible. I should have gotten even more coverage. I wish I had more coverage.

Aguilar: You weaved in hilarious comedy within this story about two marginalized characters. Was finding that tonal balance difficult? The humor is just so clever. There are lots of quotable material in the film like “You didn’t have to Chris-Brown the bitch”or the whole part about "real fish."

Sean Baker: [Laughs] That was really just because when I was in my research process and I’d be hanging out with them, it was like going to a stand up comedy routine. They were so funny, and they would always finish each other's sentences. They would set up jokes and then deliver a punch line. I realize there is so much humor in that world because the women use that humor to cope. They use it to get by. We all use humor in our lives to get through, but they do so especially because they are sex workers because they have to be. They’ve been so marginalized they don’t have other opportunities. They are faced with discrimination, with danger, and with violence on a regular basis. They have to use humor just to cope and I witnessed this. I thought that if I didn’t inject that humor in the story it would be dishonest.

Aguilar: How did the Armenian driver who lives a very traditional lifestyle at home and finds solace in these transgender girls come about? It certainly adds another layer of complexity to the story.

Sean Baker: The actor, Karren Karagulian, this is my fifth time working with him. I love him. He is great, but he is underrated. This industry hasn’t noticed him yet. He doesn’t even have an agent and yet he’s been the lead of three films now. This is due to the racism of the industry, but I’m hoping that this is the film that finally breaks him in because he is so good. I approached him and said, “Look I’m making a film about two transgender sex workers in Los Angeles, how can we incorporate you? Or how can we find a character for you?” He said, “Look there is a huge Armenian community in L.A, I’ll be a cab driver who is into one of them.” I said, “There we go.” [Laughs]. He is New York-based, so he came out and through his connections I was able to get the stars of Armenia. Alla Tumanian, who plays the mother in law, is a classic actress from Armenia. Arsen Grigoryan, who plays the other cab driver that rats on him, he hosts The Voice over in Armenia. He is our biggest celebrity in the movie. It was really interesting to work with some of the stars of Armenia, such seasoned talent.

Aguilar: Will it ever play in Armenia since you have names that are recognized there? Or is it too non-traditional in terms of its themes to play there?

Sean Baker: Yeah, that’s the thing. We are hoping that it plays at the Golden Apricot, which is their film festival, but we are still not sure.

Aguilar: Out of Sundance most of the talk about the film was related to how it had been shot on an iPhone. Have you gotten to a point where you want to talk about the actual film and not mechanics of how it was made?

Sean Baker: Yeah, I’m sort of sick of it at this point. What started out as a budgetary thing has become sort of a gimmick and it’s not, but it is a selling point at the same time so we can’t dismiss it. Some critics have gone as far as to say that subtextually the fact that we are shooting on this accessible device works with the subject matter about these women who might not have the means to shoot any other way. I’m just happy that it’s accepted and that we were able to find our aesthetic. We were sort of forced into it but I’m happy with the look of the end product. I come from the school of thought that feels that if you can shoot film, you should shoot film. I’m still in that Christopher Nolan, Tarantino thing.

Aguilar: Save film!

Sean Baker: Yeah! If I had the budget I would have shot it on film but then I probably wouldn’t have made the same movie.

Aguilar: Did you ever image that "Tangerine" would go as far as it has or did it catch you by surprise? Despite all the iPhone talk, reviews have been stellar and people seem to really connect with the film and its humor.

Sean Baker: No, I thought that it might have the same acceptance as my last film "Starlet," the critics liked it and it won the Altman Award, but it’s still under the radar and people are still finding it on Netflix. I thought it would be the same, but this one seems to have a bigger impact. I thought it was going to divide critics more and so far it hasn’t really done that. People really seem to accept it, which is a great thing. My hope is that with the trans movement being such a big part of the zeitgeist that Mya and Kiki can really parlay this. That’s the hope.

Aguilar: Do you think it’ll be difficult for them to find more acting jobs after this?

Sean Baker: That’s my fear, but at the same time I’m hoping that with the industry realizing that diversity it so important they may be offered more roles. They are talented enough to play anybody. It doesn’t just have to be a trans role. I’d love to see both of them take on anything. That would be the ultimate success for this film.

Aguilar: They are both amazing, colorful, and brimming with authenticity. How did you find them? I'm sure raw talent like this didn't come from traditional casting.

Sean Baker: You have to put in the time. With “Prince of Broadway,” which is the film I made before ”Starlet,” we spent a year in that district and everybody kept on telling us to find Prince Adu. “Find Prince Adu, he’ll like you. He’ll work with you,” and when we did, it all worked out. He was enthusiastic and he wanted to make the movie with us and everything worked out. In this case I tried to keep that in mind, “If I can just find that one person who is enthusiastic enough.” Then, only two weeks in, we went over to the Lgbt center and there was a courtyard, Mya was about 40 feet away and I saw her and thought, “She has a look. There is something about her. She is the one who stands out in the crowd." We went up to her and introduced ourselves. Next thing you know she was doing what Prince did, she had that enthusiasm. She was like, “I want to make this film with you!” We exchanged information and we started going from there. That’s how it happened and then she brought Kiki to the table. This is also something I haven’t said enough, Mark and Jay Duplass were very supportive. They found us the money to make it. When nobody else was stepping forward they were the only ones that said, “We’ll help you make this film.”

Aguilar: They are like the indie film godfathers.

Sean Baker: Exactly!

Aguilar: I have my own theories about this, but why did you decide to title the film “Tangerine”? Is it the sweet and sour nature of the two leads?

Sean Baker: Yes, you got it [Laughs]. Is that and it's also the color. The sense and the fruit you get from the color of it. I didn’t want to go with a literal title. I’m sick of those. Film is the only art form where we feel we have to title our stuff literally. Musicians don’t have to title their songs literally. It can be more about what’s conjured up when you think of a word. In this case for some reason tangerine just kept sticking and we kept on going back to that.

"Tangerine" is now playing in Los Angeles at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood and in NYC at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema...

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…

Sean Baker: 1) Ruben Östlund – After being blown away by Force Majeure, I made sure to check out all of Östlund’s previous works and they are all amazing. I haven’t been this excited about an emerging filmmaker since discovering Ulrich Seidl back in 2001. 2) Soundcloud. Of course I was aware of it prior to 2014 but over the course of the year, I discovered what a valuable tool it is for indie filmmakers. Soundcloud not only exposes you to new trends in music but allows you to reach out directly to artists. We scored Tangerine with extremely high quality music tracks for a fraction of what licensing with music labels would normally cost. It allowed both parties to work directly with one another and make mutually beneficial deals. 3) Iced Sea Salt Coffee... go to 85°C Bakery – A Taiwanese chain of coffee...

No matter the scale of the production, American cinema largely reflects the conditions of a society that still has a hard time exploring its diversity. To put it simply: A lot of movies are made by white guys and revolve around white guys. American filmmaker Sean Baker is a white guy, but the four features he has written and directed over the last decade delve far deeper into the crevices of a country that contains many more stories beyond the market standard.

Baker maintains a firm grasp of genre — as his other career, creating the dopey comedy shows "Greg the Bunny" and "Warren the Ape" prove — but applies it to unorthodox ends. While both his scrappy first feature, the college romp "Four Letter Words," and his latest effort, "Starlet" (which opens in limited release this Friday), revolve around archetypes of American youth, these familiar access points provide fluid transitions into perceptive looks at deep-seated insecurities.

Jennifer Lawrence and Isaiah Stone in Winter's Bone

Photo: Roadside Attractions The 20th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were held Monday night and Debra Granik's Winter's Bone is opening some eyes as it took home Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance, two of the three categories the night's leading nominee was featured in.

The one category Winter's Bone didn't hear its name called was Breakthrough Actor as sure-to-be-nominated-for-an-Oscar Jennifer Lawrence looked on as Ronald Bronstein took home the award for his role in Daddy Longlegs.

Breakthrough Actor award or not, Lawrence will still get a Best Actres Oscar nomination and Winter's Bone is now looking like a much stronger contender for a Best Picture nomination. Granik's Ozark woods feature beat out Black Swan, Blue Valentine, The Kids are All Right and Let Me In to take home Best Feature, an award last year's Oscar Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker,...

What was once a Sundance darling is now a Gothams Award winner! Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" won big at the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards taking home the Best Feature and the Best Ensemble Performance awards.

It's safe to say that "Winter's Bone," which earned two Sundance prizes last January including Best Drama Film and Screenwriting, is on its way to the Academy Awards. ("Winter's Bone" Movie Review)

"The Hurt Locker" started its ascend to Oscar victory last year with its two-punch Best Feature and Best Ensemble Gotham Awards.

Here's the complete list of winners and nominees of the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards: (Winners are highlighted)

Best Feature

Black Swan -- Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Blue Valentine -- Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company)

The Kids Are All Right -- Lisa Cholodenko,...

Shocker! Does the outcome of this award have the potential to derail Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar chances? I expect an Indie Spirit nom and win, but a showing of confidence in this first award show would have certainly helped with the bandwagon. Instead the winning actor comes from a microscopic indie film picked up by IFC Films. When the Safdie bros. preemed their debut feature in Cannes (film formerly known as Go Get Some Rosemary), I was sort of shocked and admired by what I saw. Daddy Longlegs counts as a strong indication that Ronnie Bronstein might have opened the door to an unexpected extra career to that of filmmaking (his Frownland won at the Gotham awards in 2007). Other Noms: Prince Adu in Prince of Broadway (Elephant Eye Films) Greta Gerwig in Greenberg (Focus Features) Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions) John Ortiz in Jack Goes Boating (Overture...

The 2010 Gotham Awards have been announced, and while the movies nominated are not necessarily a solid indicator of their Oscar chances, who cares? They might win a Gotham Award. Isn't that what really matters?

Actually, you can probably expect many of these movies -- and the people in them -- to be tossed around a lot during the next six months, and I fully expect Black Swan, Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right to be at least in the Oscar mix. Winter's Bone led the way with three nominations, in the same categories that last year's Oscar winner, The Hurt Locker, was nominated. And lookie: Garret Dillahunt got a nomination by virtue of being in the ensemble cast that made up Winter's Bone. Recognize!

I'd also suggest you go see Winter's Bone, though it's probably not in theaters anymore. So, put it in your Netflix queue, along with Please Give,...

So how do you define “independent” again?

The nominees for Ifp’s 20th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards (which some refer to as the official start to awards season) were announced moments ago.

The Gotham Awards will be held on November 29th. More here: http://gotham.ifp.org.

Here’s the list of “Independent Film” nominees:

Best Feature

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Blue Valentine

Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company)

The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko, director; Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Jordan Horowitz, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann, producers (Focus Features)

Let Me In

Matt Reeves, director; Simon Oakes, Alex Brunner, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Donna Gigliotti, John Nording, Carl Molinder, producers (Overture Films)

Winter’s Bone

Debra Granik, director; Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, producers (Roadside Attractions...

The nominations for the 2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards have been announced. It’s a little too early to begin the award prognostications and the Gotham Awards aren’t a good indicator, but it is interesting to see the films they’ve singled out. Winter’s Bone leads the pack with three nominations, including Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, and Breakthrough Actor (Jennifer Lawrence). The other nominees for best feature were Black Swan, Blue Valentine, The Kids Are All Right, and Let Me In.

Hit the jump for a full list of nominees. The Gotham Independent Film Awards will be held on November 29th.

Here’s the full list of nominees:

Best Feature:

Black Swan Blue Valentine The Kids Are All Right Let Me In Winter’s Bone

Best Documentary:

12th & Delaware Inside Job The Oath Public Speaking Sweetgrass

Best Ensemble Performance

The Kids Are All Right Life During Wartime Please Give...

The nominees for the 20th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were announced today and Winter's Bone leads the list with three nominations including one for Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance and Breakthrough Actor for Jennifer Lawrence.

This is something that bodes well for Bone's chances to score a Best Picture nomination as the field has started to stack up against it. Last year The Hurt Locker won the Gotham Award for Best Feature and we all know how that turned out. This isn't to say the Gotham Awards have a major Oscar influence, but for some of these smaller films, The Kids are All Right as well, it helps to remain a part of the conversation as the major studios spend big bucks on more traditional Oscar campaigns.

Winter's Bone also stands a chance for Oscar nominations for Lawrence as Best Actress and I think John Hawkes has a solid...

Are you ready for awards season? Well too bad, because it officially started today with the announcement of the nominees for the 20th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. The best movies of the year determined in mid-October? That's how the Gotham Awards rolls...and the (very strong batch of) nominees are:

Best Feature

"Black Swan" by Darren Aronofsky

"Blue Valentine" by Derek Cianfrance

"The Kids Are All Right" by Lisa Cholodenko

"Let Me In" by Matt Reeves

"Winter's Bone" by Debra Granik

Best Documentary

"12th & Delaware" by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

"Inside Job" by Charles Ferguson

"The Oath" by Laura Poitras

"Public Speaking" by Martin Scorsese

"Sweetgrass" by Lucien Castai

Best Ensemble Performance

"The Kids Are All Right"

"Life During Wartime"

"Please Give"

"Tiny Furniture"

"Winter's Bone"

Breakthrough Director

John Wells for "The Company Men"

Kevin Asch for "Holy Rollers"

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa for "I Love You Phillip Morris...

The Ifp just announced the following nominees for the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards. (Last year’s winner of “best feature,” “The Hurt Locker,” went on to win the Academy Award for best picture, and five of the last six winners of “best breakthrough performance” went on to receive acting nods.) This year’s winners will be announced at a ceremony at Cipriani: Wall Street on November 29th. The nominees are…

Best Feature

“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)

“Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)

“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)

“Let Me In” (Overture Films)

“Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)

Best Documentary

“12th and Delaware” (HBO Films)

“Inside Job” (Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Oath” (Zeitgeist Films)

“Public Speaking” (HBO Films)

“Sweetgrass” (Cinema Guild)

Best Ensemble

“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)

“Life During Wartime” (IFC Films)

“Please Give” (Sony Pictures Classics)

“Tiny Furniture” (IFC Films)

“Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions...

It would appear Sean Baker is equally comfortable with the real and the surreal. On TV, he's one of the perpetrators of the satirical puppet show, Greg the Bunny. In the cinema though, he's far more grounded, employing a documentary- like shooting style and recruiting a largely amateur cast to tell stories of New York populations that are too often ignored elsewhere. Previously, he looked into the arduous life of a restaurant delivery guy in Take Out, now, with Prince of Broadway, he's casting light on the people who hawk counterfeit fashion to the gullible and the not-so-gullible, and how that market affects their ability to discern truth from fiction. For Lucky (newcomer Prince Adu), it's a crucial distinction: Early in the film, a former girlfriend of his (Kat Sanchez) shows up, shoves a baby in his arms, tells him the...

"Wholesale, wholesale, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Prada, got everything," croons Lucky (Prince Adu), his patter and easy charm his livelihood, coaxing customers in from the street to a shop owned by his boss Levon (Karren Karagulian), one whose back room is stacked with counterfeit purses, sneakers and clothing. A Ghanian immigrant in New York without a green card or a visa, Lucky plays at gangster swagger -- "I'm hustlin' like fuck," he boasts -- but he's a teddy bear at heart, proud of and pleased with the life he's carving out for himself, with his rented room, his girl, his roll of cash and friends with which to smoke pot and shoot the shit.

And so we're not that concerned when his ex Linda (Kat Sanchez) tracks him down and leaves his with a toddler she insists is his, telling him that she needs him to take care of his son for a few weeks,...

Filmed in New York’s wholesale fashion district, “Prince of Broadway” opens with the gritty reality of a documentary on the life of street hustlers. Yet the movie avoids depicting the streets with the hyperbole other films commonly portray. The cast is largely unknown players who act with the honesty and language of real people and whose faces bear the scars of an exhausted life steeped in drama.

Lucky, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, makes his money hustling stolen designer bags and shoes and keeps a roll of money hidden in his shabby, one-room living space. He has vague ambitions for a career, knowing only that he wants a better life. Prince Adu, who plays the lead, actually has made his living selling T-shirts, wholesale, in this same area. He has never previously appeared in a movie but his performance stands up to that of a seasoned actor.

CinemaSpy has received the official trailer for the independently made comedy-drama Prince of Broadway. You can view it by clicking on the Trailer tab above.

Prince of Broadway is described as being filmed in a 'fast-paced guerilla style that is akin to the hustler lifestyle.' It is currently showing in only select theaters but has already enjoyed success on the film festival network. It won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Los Angeles and Woodstock Film Festivals, the Grand Jury Prize at the Canary Islands, Florida, Sacramento and Pan African L.A. Film Festivals, the Jury Award at the Torino Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Belfort International Film Festival and Best American Feature at the Cleveland Film Festival. In addition it won the Best New Filmmaker award at the Boulder Film Festival and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Sean Baker...

Prince of Broadway Directed by Sean Baker Prince Of Broadway, the third feature from writer/director Sean Baker (Take Out, Four Letter Words) continues in the minimal, neo-realist vein of his previous films, a slice-of-street-life indie that places a human face on a character not normally seen in mainstream film. The film revolves around the New York world of bootleg apparel, following Lucky  (Prince Adu), an illegal immigrant from West Africa who works as a hustler selling counterfeit purses and sneakers for his Armenian-Lebanese boss Levon (Karren Karagulian). Lucky is confronted at work by an ex-girlfriend (Kat Sanchez) who drops an 18-month-old (Aiden Noesi) into his arms, claiming the child is his, and then disappears. Things get complicated from there. Lucky tries to do the right thing, but he's ill-prepared for the sudden responsibility, and things don't go exactly as planned. Winner of the best narrative feature award at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival,...

I got to see only one film at the Woodstock Film Festival last weekend, "Prince of Broadway," but it ended up taking the top prize at the ninth-annual gathering in the upstate hippie haven.

Shot guerrilla-style on the streets of Manhattan and featuring a cast of amateurs, "Prince" is the story of a Ghanaian street hustler named Lucky who rounds up customers for a sleazy backroom shop that sells knock-off merchandise.

His carefree life is shattered when an ex-girlfriend shows up with a 16-month-old boy, Prince. He's your kid, the ex informs Lucky, and from now on you're taking care of him.