American Honey Directed by: Andrea Arnold What it’s about: A wild teenager (played by newcomer Sasha Lane) who joins in with a group of similarly crazy kids who travel around the U.S. working for a multi level marketing scheme. This is also known for being the movie that Shia Labeouf cut his hand on. If the description isn’t enough to convince you then you should be convinced to watch it by Arnold’s talent alone. She’s an Oscar winning director who’s best known for Fish Tank and two of her previous films have played at Cannes. Crossing my fingers this one makes it there too. Release date: Undetermined as of yet but A24 says they’re dropping this in the fall (so maybe they have an Oscar push in mind?)
The Fits Directed by: Anna Rose Holmer What it’s about: An 11 year old tomboy named Toni who falls in with a dance troupe while she’s supposed to be boxing at the gym. But things start to go awry when the girls in the dance troupe succumb to violent fainting fits. The film already got rave review at Venice last year and is getting positive review at Sundance. Release date: Undetermined so far but indie distributor Oscillope bought it before its festival premiere so the good news is this will be hitting theatres in limited release in 2016. Follow @TheFitsFilm for updates.
The Invitation Directed by: Karyn Kusama What it’s about: A man attends a dinner party thrown by his ex-wife and her new husband and slowly suspects that they have sinister intentions towards him. The low-key thriller stars Tom Hardy look-alike Logan Marshall-Green along with Michiel Huisman and Emayatzy Corinealdi. It has a mostly white cast but Kusama remains one of the few Asian-American women to have a strong and continuous career as a film director. Release date: March 25, 2016
Equity Directed by: Meera Menon What it’s about: A female wall street trader played by Anna Gunn who is mired in a world of corruption, greed and scandal. Billed as the first wall street movie centered about a woman this has a predominantly (possibly entirely?) white cast however director Meera Menon is Indian-American. Release date: No official date yet but this was picked up by Sony Picture Classics before its official Sundance premiere.
Loving Directed by: Jeff Nichols What it’s about: Real life couple Mildred and Richard Loving who married when interracial marriage was still illegal in their state and became plaintiffs in Loving vs. Virgina, the court case that made interracial marriage legal within the whole of the U.S. Ruth Negga plays Mildred with Joel Edgerton as Richard. Release date: None yet, but this will probably head to festivals sometimes this year looking for a distributor.
Miles Ahead Directed by: Don Cheadle What it’s about: A passion project for Cheadle the movie examines the life of Miles Davis as he is interviewed by a Rolling Stone reporter, played by Ewan McGregor, in the 1970s. This one got mixed reviews when it played at festivals but by all acounts Cheadle’s performance is awards worthy. Release date: April 1, 2016
Moana Directed by: John Musker and Ron Clements What it’s about: Ayoung woman who sets off on an adventure helped by a famed demi-God. The nice thing about this one is that not only is it about polynesians but the main vocal cast (which includes Dwayne Johnson) also are of polynesian ancestry. Release date: November 23, 2016
The Queen of Katwe Directed by: Mira Nair What it’s about: A biopic based on Ugandan prodigy Phiona Mutesi who grew up in a slum and then turned her life around after her teacher taught her how to play chess. It’s also going to be Lupita Nyong'o’s first live-action role post-Oscar and also stars David Oyelowo. Release date: Undetermined but this is owned by Disney so it will likely get a wide release sometime this year.
Race Directed by: Stephen Hopkins What it’s about: A biopic on Olympian athlete Jesse Owens during his time at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany. Owens is played by relative newcomer Stephan James, and the rest of the cast includes William Hurt, Jeremy “I’m a sexist creep” Irons, and Carice van Houten. Release date: February 19, 2016
Songs My Brothers Taught Me Directed by: Chloe Zhao What it’s about: Set in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation the film, about a young girl who goes looking for a father figure after her father drinks himself to death and her older brother starts making plans to leave for a better life, played at Sundance in 2015. This got great reviews but it struggled to find distribution until director Zhao announced she would self-distribute in 2016. The even better news? Indie distributor Kino Lober stepped up to give it a proper release! Release date: March 2, 2016. Follow @songsthemovie for more info.
6 of these movies are directed by women btw and out of those 6, everything but American Honey and The Fits are directed by woc.
American Honey Equity The Fits The Invitation The Queen of Katwe Songs My Brothers Taught Me
We’re currently fundraising on seed and spark for an incredible new transmedia web series about a young girl who comes of age with the study of martial arts and medicine. Check it out and let us know what you think!
What?! You missed our amazing table read back in February?! Let me tell you about it. Hosted by the marvelous Teka Lark Fleming of the Blk Grrl Book Fair and fab production designer Skira Martinez at the glorious Cielo Galleries in the heart of central LA it was pretty live! The event opened with Teka Lark interviewing the writer-director-producer Rae Shaw who talked about her passion for martial arts movies, ethnically diverse characters, and female heroines including martial arts dynamos like Michelle Yeoh, Angela Mao Ying, and Pei Pei Cheng.
Next up the actors performed in a table read of the pilot episode: lead actors La’Raia Gribble and Jim Lau led the spectacular night by endowing their charming teacher-student relationship with comedic moments but some tender ones too. Supporting cast was also on point and included Ace Gibson, Angela Monique Imperial, Kwesiu Jones, Jason Gilmore and Trenekia Gilmore.
Later in the evening Rae Shaw also described the path to creating this incredible web series and its pilot season of 10 episodes on Youtube and mobile app. That’s right a BKC App that explores a young girl’s journey to becoming a doctor as she defends her community from local menaces with the help of her premed teacher who also happens to know kungfu. The app would include the webisodes and a game and some other interactive components. She also spotlighted a few reference films in telling the story: Girlhood, Karate Kid, and A Touch of Zen—a legendary King Hu film that’s been referenced by everybody in the martial arts world from Quentin Tarantino to the Wachowski’s sibs! Then at the end, there was a great raffle giveaway that included some cool gifts like the Chang Cheh’s kungfu classic Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, a framed African stenciled pic, and the super cool handmade BKC leather bracelets— made in South LA! Yeeeeeah Compton! Check them out on our rewards site HERE!
Black Kungfu Chick is in motion! We’re steadily moving forward mapping out and chilin’ at locations in South LA and still gathering up our awesome crew! We just finished our first series of camera tests at glorious Panavision Woodland Hills where we compared the gritty real super8 color reversal and negative to super 16 and digital and digital VHS. That’s right folks! We’re going super8 on this one! Yeah JJ!! To capture the look and feel of those 70’s martial arts films! Black Kungfu Chick is happening right now with the nostalgia of the past! Don’t miss out!
As we get closer to the funding and production we’ll locking down locations in Compton, Watts and Willowbrook, looking for local musicians, and trying to roll up with a crystal sync max 8 super 8 cameraaaa. Our favorite art-inspired location is the watts towers but there’s a chance we may be headed into Leimert Park too—shhhh! But mainly now we’re concentrating on funding ($50KKKKKs) to get what we need to secure all those super8 film rolls and camera, a fantastic crew, and some dope set dressing and props cause Tasha’s all that and a bag of chips!
