In one of the first scenes of “Lady Liberty,” Shea (Julia Lindon) awkwardly comes out to her gynecologist, who is painfully unprepared for the news. Shea saying “no penis” to indicate that her sexual partner doesn’t need to be using condoms is perhaps the funniest line of the whole short film. Lindon, who plays the main character, is also the writer and producer of the short, which premiered at Tribeca TV last year.  Unfortunately for her, this scene was mined from Lindon’s own experience at a...

A coming of age story meets The Smiths' fandom of the '80s in The More You Ignore Me. This film weaves Morrissey's legacy into the befuddled homelife of Alice (Ella Hunt), her loyal father, Keith (Mark Addy), and mentally disabled mother, Gina (Sheridan Smith) in rural England. The film is an adaptation of Jo Brand's darkly comic novel. Yet, beneath Brand's comedic writing, The More You Ignore Me tackles difficult themes like mental illness and loss as Alice is bent between her devotion to her...

Content warning: The following Q&A as well as the film included contains discussion of sexual and physical abuse.  In the short film Garden of Ants, by Jenni Hensler, a young woman exists in two warring realities, one in innocence and the other in the throngs of an abusive relationship. The film is an abstract reflection of Hensler’s personal experiences with abuse and how she continues to work through its effects on her relationships. Hensler is a freelance creative director, stylist and filmmaker who has produced art...

The new comedy Save Yourselves! stars Sunita Mani and John Reynolds as a couple who decide to unplug from their phones by going to a cabin for the weekend. Little do they know that, as they checked out, an alien invasion started happening. The movie is a sharp comedy about phones but, most importantly, relationships. We talked with Sunita Mani about her experience playing lead character Su. What attracted you to this project and what stood out to you about it when you read the script? I’m really [close] with...

The frightful cocktail of sitting by a fire on a cold winter's night, eyes aglow with flickering flames while sharing scary stories sounds like any child’s Halloween dream. Josh Ruben’s new film, released on Shudder October 1, is called Scare Me and takes this recipe seriously, outfitting the film with eerie music, jump scares and skin-prickling tension.  His tale, first released at Sundance Film Festival in January, only has four characters, Fanny (Aya Cash), Fred (Josh Ruben), Carlo (Chris Redd) and Bettina, the driver (Rebecca Drysdale)....

IF MRS. AMERICA on FX whet your appetite for boundary-busting scenes from feminist icon Gloria Steinem’s life, then The Glorias, based on Steinem’s memoir, My Life on the Road, should be next on your watch list. Starring Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Lulu Wilson, Alicia Vikander, and Julianne Moore as different-aged Steinems who occasionally interact with each other at pivotal moments, the biopic also boasts A-list supporting actors including Bette Midler as U.S. Representative Bella Abzug and Janelle Monáe as Ms. magazine co-founder Dorothy Pittman Hughes. Poignant and...

Trigger Warning: scenes in film of child sexual exploitation discussed.  Spoiler Alert! Pivotal scenes mentioned.  Cuties (2020) was written and directed by Maimouna Doucoure, a French-Senegalese filmmaker. The film is described as a coming-of-age drama starring Fathia Youssouf as the main character, Amy, an eleven-year-old Senegalese immigrant. Unsatisfied with the prayer, piety and religious customs of her Muslim culture, Amy becomes obsessed with her neighbor Angelica (Medina El Aidi-Azouni). At school, Amy finds that Angelica is a member of a twerking dance troupe called ‘Cuties,’ which glares...

BlackbirdDirected by Roger MichellOut September 18 Minutes into Blackbird, we know how it will end: Lily (Susan Sarandon) is going to die. Diagnosed with a terminal illness that will cause gradual physical deterioration, Lily decides that she’d rather take her death into her own hands—she’s going to swallow a lethal combination of pills. But first, she wants her whole family to visit for one last weekend. Lily and her husband are joined by her longtime best friend, Liz (Lindsay Duncan), and her two clashing daughters, the...

ANTEBELLUMWritten and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher RenzOut September 18 Janelle Monáe stars as the author and academic Veronica Hensley in Antebellum, the latest horror movie produced by the team behind Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us. We first see her identified, however, as Eden, and in very different circumstances: as an enslaved woman in the Antebellum South. Monáe, who previously appeared in Moonlight and Hidden Figures, gives us another incredible performance in Antebellum. Her ability to disappear into her character and perform within two different time...

HBO Max’s Unpregnant isn’t a typical buddy comedy; it’s not your average film about an abortion, either. When college-bound Veronica (Haley Lu Richardson) discovers she’s pregnant, it’s a no brainer: she doesn’t want to be. Unfortunately, she learns early on that the nearest clinic that doesn’t require parental consent is several states away, and she can’t exactly tell her parents or her gossip-obsessed group of friends. Enter Bailey (Barbie Ferreira), her oddball ex-best friend…and possibly the only person Veronica can turn to. “I feel like making a movie...