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Amber Heard has been announced as part of the cast for Spirit of the People.The project is a departure for the actress into theatre as it’s a new play by Jeremy O. Harris set to premiere at the 2025 Williamstown Theatre Festival. He said about the work: “I wanted to challenge myself.”The 79th edition of the Massachusetts-based festival, which begins its summer run next year, will include Spirit of the People as a centrepiece. The production is directed by Katina Medina Mora and will feature 38-year-old Amber alongside Brandon Flynn, 30, and Lío Mehiel, 33. Harris, 35, known for Slave Play and the film Zola, and is leading the festival’s new Creative Collective, a shared leadership model also comprised of model and actor Kaia Gerber, 23, producer Alyssa Reeder, entrepreneur Alex Stoclet and choreographer Christopher Rudd.The play’s cast also includes Tony Award nominees Ato Blankson-Wood, 39, and James Cusati-Moyer, 35, as well as Amandla Jahava,...

Amber Heard has lined up a comeback project, but it won't be on the big or small screens. Instead, the Aquaman actress has joined playwright Jeremy O. Harris’ stage production, Spirit of the People.

Heard will be part of the Williamstown Theatre Festival's world premiere production of the play, according to Variety. Harris has also cast Brandon Flynn (True Detective and The Parenting) and Lío Mehiel (Dear Evan Hansen), in addition to previously-announced cast members Amandla Jahava (Dmz), Emma Ramos (New Amsterdam) and Julian Sanchez (Jack Ryan).

Amber Heard Lines Up Comeback With Stage Drama

Tony Award nominees Ato Blankson-Wood and James Cusati-Moyer round out the cast of Spirit of the People, along with Zachary Booth (Damages) and Tonatiuh (Kiss of the Spider Woman). Spirit of the People is told through dual languages – Spanish and English – despite the fact that Harris didn't actually speak Spanish before writing the play.

“I wanted to challenge myself,...

“The Biggest Fan” stars Kate del Castillo and Diana Bovio, who form a comedic duo in this film that delves into the turbulent world of modern celebrity and fan obsession.

The premise centers on Lana Cruz (del Castillo), an actress whose Hollywood career has been derailed by cancellation, forcing her to seek a comeback opportunity in Mexico. Her path to redemption, however, takes an unexpected turn when she encounters Polly Melgar (Diana Bovio), her self-proclaimed biggest fan.

“The Biggest Fan” is a movie that doesn’t aim for much more than entertaining and amusing us for a while: simple characters lead us into hilarious situations with two talented actresses who, in their opposing roles, end up understanding and getting along with each other. It’s a formula we’ve seen work countless times before, and it still works.

A Comeback Complicated by Obsession

The main plot follows Lana Cruz’s...

by Nick Taylor

As beloved, disgustingly over-productive Tfe writer Cláudio Alves phrased it to me, In the Summers would pair well with Janet Planet as studies of girls observing their parents over formative summers. Here, we see sisters Violetta (Lio Mehiel) and Eva (Sasha Calle) making four visits with their dad Vicente (Rene "Residente" Perez Joglar) in Las Cruces, New Mexico over the span of at least a decade. Vicente and their mother are separated, and the girl's trips are part of a regular visitation schedule. Costuming, personal styling, physical changes, and performance notes do a lot of work to suggest how much has changed in Violetta and Eva's lives without ever spelling out exactly what they've been up to, who they are now, or what they might think of their father. The family regularly visits a bar owned by Carmen (Emma Ramos), a wary, longtime friend of Vicente's…...

Seven Cemeteries is a classic Western, a tale of vengeance, redemption and zombies. When Santana Bravo (Danny Trejo) is finally released from prison on parole, he's called upon by a young widow, Dolores (Emma Ramos) to protect her ranch from Abuelo (Sal Lopez), the remorseless and violent drug lord responsible for her husband's death and Bravo's imprisonment decades prior. The problem is, Bravo's loyal squad of friends, criminals and ne'er-do-wells died years ago. However, the local bruja or, witch portrayed by Maria Canals-Barrera, has the perfect solution. He should just bring them back from the dead. Granting him a magical ritual knife and her living-impaired husband, Miguel (Efren Ramirez), la Bruja sends Bravo back on his quest for redemption, with a little help from friends from the other side.

In this exclusive interview with Cbr, actress Maria Canals-Barrera discusses her grimy and unconventional role as a witch, her gnarly makeup,...

Almost twenty years ago, viewers of the Project Greenlight reality TV series got to watch as John Gulager was hired to direct the creature feature Feast for a producing team that included Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Wes Craven. Feast went over well enough that Gulager was brought back to helm back-to-back sequels, Feast II: Sloppy Seconds and Feast III: The Happy Finish. Since then, he has gone on to direct Piranha 3Dd, Zombie Night, and Children of the Corn: Runaway. His latest movie is the action thriller Seven Cemeteries, which was just given a theatrical and digital release today, October 11th, and on Amazon it’s available to rent for the price of $6.99 or purchase for $14.99. To help you decide whether or not Seven Cemeteries is a movie you’d like to check out, we have the trailer embedded above.

Directed by Gulager from a screenplay he crafted with Joel Soisson,...

The following contains spoilers for Seven Cemeteries, hitting theaters on October 11th for limited release.

Directed by actor and filmmaker John Gulager, Seven Cemeteries is an upcoming movie that blends black comedy, irreverent horror, revenge drama and the classic Western. It casts parolees and zombies as the unlikely heroes of the Oklahoma farmlands. Santana Bravo (Danny Trejo), the leader of a gang, has just gotten parole, having spent the last few decades serving time for a crime he didn't commit. He's just gotten a taste of freedom when a recently widowed young woman, Dolores (Emma Ramos), comes to him for help to save her ranch from Santana's nemesis: the ruthless and violent drug lord, Abuelo (Sal Lopez). Alone, Santana is no match for Abuelo but with the help of a Witch (Maria Canals-Barrera) and her awkward zombie lover, Miguel (Efren Ramirez), Santana is able to bring back his beloved posse from the dead.

"You guys wanna stay?" Music Box Films has unveiled an official trailer for a film titled In the Summers, an indie drama from filmmaker Alessandra Lacorazza that originally premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The film won the festival's top prize at the end, dubbed the U.S. Grand Jury Prize, along with the Directing Award - two big awards for this thoughtful, authentic indie drama. Siblings Violeta and Eva live with their mother, but every summer they travel to New Mexico to spend time with their loving but unpredictable father in this moving that drama follows them from adolescence to adulthood. The story is set only "in the summers" whenever they arrive in Nm to spend time with their estranged father, played by René "Residente" Pérez Joglar in an unforgettable role. On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their...

For most independent filmmakers, winning any prize at the Sundance Film Festival on a first feature would be a dream come true. But Alessandra Lacorazza took things a step further on her directorial debut “In the Summers,” winning both the U.S. Grand Prize and the Directing Prize at the 2024 edition of the festival.

The semi-autobiographical film stars Puerto Rican rapper Residente as a divorced father who spends his summers with his two daughters in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The daughters are recast multiple times throughout the film, illustrating how they change over the years while the film remains in a single setting.

“In the Summers” earned largely positive reviews following its Sundance bow, with many critics singling out Lacorazza’s sensitive directorial touch and praising the film’s fragmented narrative structure as an effective storytelling device that allowed it to juxtapose change and consistency.

“The film, which won this year’s U.

Music Box Films has bought domestic rights to “In the Summers,” a coming-of-age tale from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio which won Sundance’s grand jury prize and directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition.

A directorial debut, “In the Summers” tells the story of two daughters navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Latin-American family portrait is headlined by Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, and actor René Pérez Joglar (known in the music industry as Residente), who plays the divorced father, while the two siblings, Violeta and Eva, are played at different ages by several rising actors, including Sasha Calle (“The Flash”) and Lío Mehiel (“Mutt”). The cast is completed by Leslie Grace (“In the Heights”) and Emma Ramos (“New Amsterdam”).

The critically lauded movie will have its New York premiere in June at the Tribeca Film Festival,...

Cinema favors melodrama, and so fathers and children often engage in big arguments and reconciliations on screen. Writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s In the Summers manages a singularly painful approach to this subject matter, as it’s less concerned with a great fracture than an ongoing erosion. The film has its harrowing moments, but no episode is coded as the moment of fissure in this family. The father keeps doing what he does, his eccentricities and liabilities growing more tedious and negligent, and the children’s love is gradually tempered with frustration, anger, resentment, and, most poignantly, pity.

Setting her film across four summer visits over a period of 20 years, Lacorazza Samudio manages the illusion of capturing a man’s diminishment in something like real time. At the beginning of each episode, we see Vicente (Renè Pérez Joglar) picking up his daughters, Violet and Eva, in front of the small airport in Las Cruces,...

A still from In ‘The Summers’ by Alessandra Lacorazza (Courtesy of Sundance Institute.)

In the Summers took home the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Porcelain War was named the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary winner at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Sujo and A New Kind of Wilderness were also recognized with Grand Jury Prizes during the awards ceremony held on February 26, 2024 at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah.

Daughters, directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, was named the Festival Favorite Award winner and also received the Audience Award: U.S. Documentary.

“This year was especially meaningful to all of us for being the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival,” stated Joana Vicente, Sundance Institute CEO. “We congratulate all of our artists in the program this year for their contributions to an incredible slate and Festival experience. Something we were pleasantly surprised by was how...

While there’s still a few days left of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Ferrari, Sundance 2024, Once Within a Time, Four Daughters & More”>including the opportunity to watch many titles from the comfort of your own home, the juries have now handed out their awards. Grand Jury Prizes were awarded to: In The Summers (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Porcelain War (U.S. Documentary Competition), Sujo (World Cinema Dramatic Competition), and A New Kind of Wilderness (World Cinema Documentary Competition).

Check out the full list below and see all of our reviews here.

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to In The Summers / U.S.A. — On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Cast: René Pérez Joglar, Sasha Calle, Lío Mehiel, Leslie Grace, Emma Ramos,...

A backyard swimming pool tells part of the story in Colombian American writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s “In the Summers.” As it goes from refreshing site of joyful congregation to an ignored eyesore in mounting disrepair, the recreational amenity establishes itself as a potently grave motif for the passage of time in this unsentimental, and yet immensely affecting debut feature about a complicated parent-children relationship. Told in four elliptical segments, it spans roughly two decades.

Grammy-winning, Puerto Rican urban music hitmaker René Pérez Joglar (better known by his stage name Residente), part of the now defunct duo Calle 13, stars as Vicente. The nonchalant dad lives alone in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a sleepy desert town with a predominantly Latino population. With a cigarette over his ear and much eagerness, he picks up his daughters Violeta and Eva (played as children by Dreya Castillo and Luciana Elisa Quinonez), in from California for summer vacation,...

In the relationship between parents and children, memories can be ravaged battlefields. The validity of certain experiences is tested and accusations of wrongdoing are negotiated. It’s within this charged arena that Alessandra Lacorazza sets her quiet debut film, In the Summers. The feature is a visual poem, an enveloping four-stanza ode to experiences shared by a man and his daughters.

It starts in the summer when Violeta (Dreya Renae Castillo) and Eva (Luciana Quinonez) visit their father, Vincente (René Pérez Joglar) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Their first encounter, in the parking lot of the tiny town airport, is thick with the stilted awkwardness of distance. Lacorazza, who also wrote the screenplay, avoids specifying why Vincente hasn’t seen his kids, but some information can be gleaned from their bilingual conversations. We know it’s been a minute — so long that Vincente can’t remember what year of school his kids have just finished,...

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in ‘A Real Pain’ (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

82 films have been selected to screen during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, eight episodic titles and a New Frontier interactive experience have made the cut and will be included in the upcoming festival.

17,435 projects were submitted for 2024 inclusion, setting a new festival record.

“From the first edition in 1985, Sundance Film Festival has aimed to provide a space to gather, celebrate, and engage with risk-taking artists that are committed to bringing their independent visions to audiences — the Festival remains true to that goal to this day,” stated Robert Redford, Sundance Institute Founder and President. “It continues to evolve, but its legacy of showcasing bold work that starts necessary conversations continues with the 2024 program.”

The 40th Sundance Film Festival will take place January 18 – 28, 2024, in Park City and Salt Lake City. Ticket packages and passes are currently on sale.

It’s almost time again for me to pack my bags and head to Park City, Utah, for the 2024 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. The last few years have been challenging for the fest, with the 2021 and 2022 editions only being online due to the pandemic. The 2023 edition was a hybrid version that sported a few high-profile debuts, including A24’s horror hit Talk to Me, but overall was a bit of a modest year in terms of stuff that broke out. However, 2024 seems to be a high-end year for the fest, with tons of big stars on the way to the festival, including Pedro Pascal, Kristen Stewart (there with two movies), Sebastian Stan, Woody Harrelson and many more.

It’s always interesting to note the trend in storytelling at this famous indie fest. In recent years, the pandemic weighed highly on the fest, with many films acknowledging the toll it took,...

Exclusive: The indie feature In The Summers has wrapped production in New Mexico and Deadline has your first look at stars René “Residente” Pérez Joglar, in his acting debut, Sasha Calle (The Flash), Lío Mehiel (Mutt) and Leslie Grace (In The Heights) below.

Exile Content Studio, a Candle Media Company produced the project in association with Lexicon Development, alongside 1868 Studios and Luz Films.

From writer and director Alessandra Lacorazza in her feature debut, In The Summers tells the story of Latine sisters, Violeta (Lío) and Eva (Calle), who visit their loving but reckless father Vicente (Pérez Joglar) every summer. He creates a world of wonder but under the fun facade, he battles addiction which gradually erodes the magic, culminating in a devastating tragedy. Vicente tries to make up for the past, but wounds aren’t easily healed.

Grace portrays the character of Yenny. The character of Violeta will also...

The finalists for the 13th Annual NBCUniversal Short Film Festival were announced Monday with the fest setting a record for female representation in front of and behind the camera. The finalists will be recognized at an awards ceremony Oct. 24 at the Director’s Guild of America in Hollywood where their short films will be screened.

Known for celebrating diverse storytelling and storytellers, the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival finalists explore race relations, women’s rights, as well as gender and sexual identity. The finalists include a variety of perspectives — both dramatic and comedic — from diverse communities including B.U.T.S: Spanish Class, Kyenvu, Masks, Monday, Rani, and We Know Where You Live.

The finalists were selected from 15 semi-finalist shorts after being showcased at public screenings in New York City this past August. They have already earned acclaim at prominent festivals including CAAMFest, the New York Television Festival, Outfest and the Pan African Film Festival.

The semifinalists have been named for the 13th annual NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, which celebrates diverse stories in a search for the next generation of storytellers.

Chosen from more than 3,400 submissions, the semifinalists feature stories about people of ethnically diverse backgrounds, the Lgbtq community, and women. Of the 15 projects that made the cut this year, 11 are directed and/or directed by women, topping 2017’s record inclusion rate, and about half feature stories centered on female protagonists.

“In a time where female storytellers are powerfully calling on the industry for more opportunities and recognition, it is fitting that our Short Film Festival has set a new record for female writers and directors represented in our semifinal shorts,” said Karen Horne, Svp programming talent development & inclusion at NBC Entertainment. “I’m proud that our festival not only puts more female storytellers into the spotlight but also features an array of impactful shorts about diverse people.