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Laurie Simmons on Kurt Weill's It Never Was You: "I love the words to the song because of Ellie [Laurie Simmons] assuming all these characters. It has so many meanings." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Laurie Simmons has assembled an impressive list of collaborators for her debut feature film My Art, including Barbara Sukowa, Blair Brown, Parker Posey, and Lena Dunham to go along with her film vignette reenactment partners Robert Clohessy, John Rothman and Josh Safdie.

Costume designer Stacey Battat (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer's Still Alice, Scott McGehee and David Siegel's What Maisie Knew, Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled and The Bling Ring) and production designer Kelly McGehee (Oren Moverman's The Dinner and Time Out Of Mind, Reed Morano's Meadowland and I Think We're Alone Now) dressed up the actors and the sets respectively, and Celia Rowlson-Hall brilliantly recreated choreography from Joshua Logan's Picnic, starring William Holden and Kim Novak.

There’s a brief, smile-inducing montage early in “My Art” that sees the lead character Ellie — an artist played by an artist, Laurie Simmons, who also wrote and directed — arriving at the grand upstate New York country house where she’s housesitting for the summer, and throwing open its many doors. Because when you work in the city all year teaching, and you’ve successfully escaped (in this case to focus on your own work), you’re in the mood for possibilities, for fresh air. Ellie’s door-flinging is her way of letting her art-making process know she’s ready for business. But opening...

Laurie Simmons may be new to feature filmmaking, but she is a veteran of the arts scene. A graduate of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, she moved to SoHo in 1973 and soon thereafter commenced the phase of her photography career for which she would be most well-known: the shooting of dolls that have been lit and arranged within a miniature domestic space in a manner that resembled actual images of people within their homes. From the 1980s onward, she expanded on her interest in dolls in various ways, from a series on male ventriloquist dummies to works featuring “walking objects”—large props worn by her friend Jimmy de Sana—to the 1997 Music of Regret series where Simmons commissioned sort-of self-portraits starring a female doll whose face had been made to resemble her own.

The last project is the one that is most widely referenced in My Art,...

Ah, film. That exquisite, unsurpassable medium to which we are all enslaved. Film can do the impossible, taking us to places we’ll never go and introducing us to people we’ll never meet. Film turns people into icons and stories into legends, seamlessly coalescing fantasy and reality. Surrealist photographer Laurie Simmons positions her first feature, “My Art,” on such a precipice, examining the point at which filmic iconography meets everyday banality.

Continue reading Far From A Masterpiece, ‘My Art’ Is A Milquetoast Mess [Review] at The Playlist.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle finally put an end to The Last Jedi's streak of three straight box office wins in a row, taking in an impressive $37.2 million in its third frame. Its reign may very well be short-lived though, with three high-profile new releases hitting theaters this week, Warner Bros.' family sequel Paddington 2, Sony's action-thriller Proud Mary and Lionsgate's action-thriller The Commuter. 20th Century Fox's awards season candidate The Post also expands nationwide after opening in limited release last month. We're predicting that, while it may very well be a close race, Paddington 2 will come out on top with a projected box office win of $21.7 million, beating out Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle's fourth weekend tally of $20.6 million.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which features an all-star cast including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan, has had...

In its third week in theaters, Sony's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has finally managed to take the top spot at the box office, taking in an impressive $36 million. The movie dropped just 28.1% this weekend, playing in 3,801 theaters for a solid $9,471 per-screen average. The movie has now earned an impressive $244.3 million from the domestic box office, with an additional $275 million from foreign markets for a worldwide total of $519.3 million, from just a $90 million budget. While its reign atop the box office may in fact be a short one, its run has been impressive, nonetheless.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which features an all-star cast lead by The Rock himself, Dwayne Johnson, opened on December 20, going up against 20th Century Fox's The Greatest Showman with Paramount's Downsizing, Universal's Pitch Perfect 3 and Warner Bros.' Father Figure opening two days later, with Sony's All the Money in the World opening on Christmas Day.

2017 came to an end with Star Wars: The Last Jedi easily staying put at the top of the box office last weekend, over the final frame of the year. This upcoming weekend marks the first of the new year, with only one new release opening in theaters, Universal's Insidious: The Last Key, the fourth entry in the Insidious franchise, while the true story adaptation Molly's Game expands into a nationwide release after opening in limited theaters on Christmas Day. Despite this new competition, we're predicting that Star Wars: The Last Jedi will repeat for a fourth weekend in a row, although it may be quite the close race.

The Last Jedi pulled in $52.6 million last weekend, its third in theaters, dropping just 26.4% and bringing its domestic tally to $517.3 million, making it the top grossing domestic movie of the year. While it still has a bit of work to do to...

Deal comes as Film Movement aims to expand footprint in documentary arena.

New York-based distributor Film Movement and documentary specialist Bond/360 have struck an alliance to broaden their reach into festivals and the educational sales arena.

Through Film Movement, Bond/360 will enhance the reach of their titles into festivals, community screenings, home entertainment and digital platforms, airlines, and hotels.

Bond/360 will assist in expanding the representation of Film Movement’s catalogue of documentaries and narrative films to educational institutions.

Film Movement has recently moved more aggressively into the documentary space, acquiring more than two dozen features in the last two years, including such titles as My Love, Don’t Cross That River, Randall White’s Hockney, Jack Riccobono’s The Seventh Fire, and Tanja Cumming’s Lodz ghetto film Line 41.

Bond/360 has more than 40 documentary features that will join Film Movement’s library of more than 300 features and 150 short films.

“We are pleased...

Laurie Simmons’ debut feature premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

Film Movement has acquired Us rights to Laurie Simmons’ My Art and will open the film theatrically next winter, followed by a digital and home video release.

The film centres on New York City artist Ellie, who is looking to gain inspiration and tranquility as she housesits for a friend in upstate New York.

Accompanied by her lovable handicapped dog, Bing, Ellie comes of age — middle age — in her new surroundings. She turns the adjoining barn into her new workplace, staging elaborate recreations of classic movie scenes.

The film stars Simmons, who also wrote the script, as well as Josh Safdie, Parker Posey, Robert Clohessy, and John Rothman.

Premiering at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in North America, the comedy-drama also features Barbara Sukowa, Blair Brown, and Simmons’ daughter, Lena Dunham.

Simmons commented: “Film Movement is the perfect fit for us...

Andrew Bolton in front of Body Meets Dress - Dress Meets Body on Rei Kawakubo and collaboration: "I think with Merce Cunningham, they both share notions of chance." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Andrew Rossi's The First Monday In May (2016 Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night Gala selection) brilliantly captured the work behind the scenes for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute China: Through The Looking Glass exhibition, curated by Andrew Bolton with The Grandmaster's Wong Kar Wai as Artistic Director, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour's Costume Institute Gala Benefit. The first Monday in May is here again.

Object/Subject - Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art Of The In-Between Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Julianne Moore, Lena Dunham (seen at Tribeca in Laurie Simmons' My Art), Felicity Jones, Claire Foy, Ruth Negga, Lupita Nyong'o, Reese Witherspoon, Katie Holmes, Sarah Paulson, Madonna, Jeff Koons (Pappi Corsicato's Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait,...

In Flames, which also premiered at Tribeca, real-life artists and filmmakers Zeffrey Throwell and Josephine Decker created a docu-drama about their actual relationship. In My Art real-life artist and filmmaker Laurie Simmons takes a different approach, creating a feature that’s ostensibly narrative but seems intertwined closely with her identity. For one thing the lead character, Ellie, is portrayed by Simmons, who also directs and wrote the screenplay. Ellie is a talented artist frustrated by the distraction of everyday live in New York City, and so steals away for the summer to a friend’s idyllic upstate estate, complete with a barn-cum-art-studio....read more...

There’s no question that photographer and artist Laurie Simmons has an eye for images, and while her feature directorial debut “My Art” relies heavily on a series of homages to some of cinema’s most beloved features, the newbie narrative filmmaker really impresses in an unexpected arena. Simmons pulls triple duty on the film, writing, directing and starring in the feature, and although she knows how to compose lovely shots and her insight into the art world is keen, it’s her performance as artist Ellie that stands out in an otherwise predictable feature about growing up, no matter your age.

Mashing up mid-life crisis narratives (the film is heavy on the Nancy Meyers influence, down to the shades of “Baby Boom” and an attention to great interior design) with various recreations of classic films that run the gamut from “Some Like It Hot” to “Jules and Jim” and plenty of pictures in between,...

Lineup and Pre-Festival Announcements and News

Tribeca 2017: 14 Must-See Films From This Year’s Festival

Tribeca 2017: 10 Must-Attend Events at This Year’s Festival

Why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Is the Most Anticipated Screening of the Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca 2017: New Online Works Showcase Will Premiere Fresh Efforts from Shailene Woodley, Eli Roth and More

Tribeca TV Lineup 2017 Unveiled: ’Handmaid’s Tale,’ Albert Einstein’s ‘Genius,’ Ken Burns’ Vietnam War Doc and More

Tribeca Talks 2017: Scarlett Johansson, Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach, and Lena Dunham Join The Conversation

Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino Will Reunite for ‘The Godfather’ 45th Anniversary Celebration

Tribeca 2017 Lineup: The Obamas’ Virtual Reality White House Tour Leads Experimental Storytelling Program

Tribeca 2017 Short Film Lineup: Elisabeth Moss, Kobe Bryant, Mae Whitman and More Lend Their Talents to This Year’s Program

Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons...

If you like your time travel thrillers with a side of memory loss and taser fights, Kenneth Mader’s “Displacement” is the film for you.

The feature follows a young physics student who sets out to reverse a fatal quantum time anomaly that causes short-term lapses in memory and time slips. Oh, and on top of that, she’s also trying to solve the murder of her boyfriend. Just a totally normal day, right?

Read More: ‘American Assassin’ First Trailer: Michael Keaton and Dylan O’Brien Take on Terrorism in CIA Black Ops Thriller

Courtney Hope stars in the lead role, with Bruce Davison, Susan Blakely, Sarah Douglas, Lou Richards, and Christopher Backus filling out the rest of the cast.

“Displacement” opens in Los Angeles on April 28, with other cities to follow. Check out our taser-filled exclusive clip below.

Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news!

“The Little Hours” had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Otter Media’s Gunpowder & Sky. Now, Jeff Baena’s irreverent and hilarious adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s medieval book “The Decameron” is ready for its theatrical debut this summer, and a red band trailer has just dropped.

Read More: Aubrey Plaza Leads a Hilarious Cast of Sexually Deviant Nuns In Jeff Baena’s ‘The Little Hours’ — Sundance 2017 Review

Written and directed by Baena, “The Little Hours” follows a group of nuns (played by Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Kate Micucci), who lead a non-eventful life in a monastery lead by Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly). When a virile young man named Massetto (Dave Franco) is brought in by Father Tommasso as the new hired hand, the nuns engage in sexual deviance, substance abuse and wicked revelry.

Read More: 50 Movies to See This Summer

Molly Shannon,...

Lionsgate has dropped the first trailer for “American Assassin,” a fast-paced action-thriller about a young man recruited into the nation’s most elite counterterrorism program. The film stars Dylan O’Brien as the new recruit Mitch Rapp and Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley, the head of the covert operations group.

Read More: ‘A Star is Born’ Remake: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper Saddle Up for Coachella-Set Shoot

Here’s the official synopsis:

“American Assassin” follows the rise of Mitch Rapp, a CIA black ops recruit under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley. The pair is then enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets. Together the three discover a pattern in the violence leading them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to stop a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch...

Film features director’s daughter, Lena Dunham.

Mongrel International has picked up world sales rights to Laurie Simmons’s rom-com My Art ahead of its North American premiere at Tribeca.

The film features Simmons, Robert Clohessy, John Rothman, Parker Posey, Blair Brown and Simmons’ daughter, Lena Dunham.

Simmons plays a single New York artist who finds a new joie de vivre when she house-sits for a friend upstate and becomes romantically entangled. Andrew Fierberg served as producer.

“We’re so delighted to be involved with My Art,” Mongrel acquisitions and sales executive Caroline Habib said. “The movie spoke very strongly to our all women team – it’s funny, it’s warm and it’s extremely smart. Laurie gave us, with grace and humor, an honest glimpse into the artistic process.”

“I could not be more excited having Caroline, Charlotte [Mickie, Mongrel International president] and the entire team at Mongrel stand behind our film,” Simmons said.

“To be included...

Acclaimed photographer Laurie Simmons’ debut feature film “My Art” is headed to this month’s Tribeca Film Festival for its North American premiere, after bowing at Venice last year. Mongrel International will be repping the film at the fest, as it recently acquired international sales rights, including U.S., for the feature.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

“We’re so delighted to be involved with ‘My Art,'” said Mongrel Acquisitions & Sales executive, Caroline Habib in an exclusive statement. “The movie spoke very strongly to our all women team — it’s funny, it’s warm and it’s extremely smart. Laurie gave us, with grace and humor, an honest glimpse into the artistic process.”

Simmons added, “I could not be more excited having Caroline, Charlotte and the entire team at Mongrel stand behind our film. To be...

Starz has released the trailer for season 3 of its time travel drama series “Outlander.” The network debuted the teaser during Sunday night’s premiere of the period drama “The White Princess.”

Read More: The Best TV Shows Adapted From Books — IndieWire Critics Survey

Based on Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling 8-book series “Outlander,” the time travel saga follows Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a married British Army nurse from the 1940s who is mysteriously taken back in time to 1743, where she marries a young Scottish warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). As she travels back and forth in time, Claire’s heart is torn between two very different men and two very different lives.

Read More: ‘Orphan Black’ Trailer: The Sestras Are United in The Final Season Fight — Watch

Based on the third book in the series, titled “Voyager,” season three picks up right after Claire returns to her “normal” life in 1948, while,...

Now in its sixteenth year, New York City’s own Tribeca Film Festival kicks off every spring with a wide variety of programming on offer, from an ever-expanding Vr installation to an enviable television lineup, but the bread and butter of the annual festival is still in its film slate. This year’s festival offers up plenty of returning favorites with new projects, alongside fresh faces itching to break out. From insightful documentaries to fanciful features, with a heavy dose of Gotham-centric films (hey, it is Tribeca after all), there’s plenty to dive into here, so we’ve culled the schedule for a few surefire hits.

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 20 – 30. Check out some of our must-see picks below.

Read More: Why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Is the Most Anticipated Screening of the Tribeca Film Festival

“A Gray State”

It might be the craziest story...

You can’t accuse the Tribeca Film Festival (April 19-30) of bandwagon jumping: Back in 2005, it screened the series finale of “Friends” outdoors on a Hudson pier for rapturous fans. Today, TV is a fait d’accompli as Tribeca expands its second annual TV program to 15 shows and five series. Golden-age TV draws viewers, Hollywood filmmakers, and a wider audience.

Last year, the TV program included world premieres of “The Night Of” (HBO, from Oscar-winning executive producer Steve Zaillian), “The Night Manager” (AMC, directed by Oscar-winning Susanne Bier), and “O.J.: Made in America” (Espn, directed by eventual Oscar-winner Ezra Edelman).

Read More: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Review: The Scariest TV Show Ever Made, Because It Feels So Real

This year’s highest-profile debuts include the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) starring Elisabeth Moss and Joseph Fiennes, and directed by indie filmmaker Reed Morano...

There have already been plenty of terrific pictures that’ve unspooled at the Venice Film Festival (check out our full coverage), and as the fest rolls into its second half, there’s more to come. And one picture looking to earn some shine on the Lido is Laurie Simmons‘ “My Art,” which looks to be a slightly […]

The post Venice Exclusive: Trailer For Laurie Simmons’ ‘My Art’ Featuring Lena Dunham, Parker Posey, Josh Safdie, And More appeared first on The Playlist.

In 2010, Lena Dunham inspired a generation of college graduates trying to figure out what to do with their lives with her film Tiny Furniture. Now, she’s hoping a new film will inspire another generation, the generation of baby boomers, to remember their value in the world and start creating again. The kicker? The film, My Art, which premieres at the Venice Film Festival Tuesday, is by her mother, artist Laurie Simmons. Tiny Furniture and My Art are full of parallels, not just in the storytelling of a woman trying to find her place in the world, but also in

read more...

The selection for the 2016 Venice Film Festival has been announced, with new films by Terrence Malick, Pablo Larraín, Lav Diaz, Wang Bing, Amat Escalante, Tom Ford, and more.COMPETITIONVoyage of TimeThe Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)Une vie i (Stéphane Brizé)La La Land (Damien Chazelle)The Light Between Oceans (Derek Cianfrance)El ciudadano ilustre (Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat)Spira Mirabilis (Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti)The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz)La región salvaje (Amat Escalante)Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)Piuma (Roan Johnson)Paradise (Andrei Konchalovsky)Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven)Jackie (Pablo Larraín)Voyage of Time (Terrence Malick)El Cristo Ciego (Christopher Murray)Frantz (François Ozon)Questi Giorni (Giuseppe Piccioni)Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)Les beaux jours D'Aranjuez (Wim Wenders)Out Of COMPETITIONSafariOur War (Bruno Chiaravolloti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri)I Called Him Morgan (Kasper Collin)One More Time with Feeling (Andrew Dominik)The Bleeder (Philippe Falardeau)The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua...

Is there a best picture winner in the bunch? The Venice Film Festival has unveiled its 2016 lineup, including both in competition and out of competition offerings, and with the festival’s strong track record of debuting recent best picture winners — from “Spotlight” to “Birdman” — there might be another big winner among the slate’s ranks.

As had been previously announced, the festival will open with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” which will later hit Toronto (and, presumably, also Telluride). The festival will close with Antoine Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven,” which kicks off its own festival run days earlier, when it will open Tiff.

Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’

Other picks that will also do the Venice-tiff two-step include Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival,” Francois Ozon’s “Frantz,” Nick Hamm...