Category Archives: Festival award winner

SXSW 2023 documentary review: ‘PLAN C’ features the saving grace of abortion access.

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PLAN C

*This review originally appeared on AWFJ.org*

The modern-day version of The Janes are revolutionaries protecting people who seek abortion access in SXSW 2023 documentary PLAN C. Elisa Wells and Francine Coeytaux are co-founders and the creator of the organization Plan C. “They are not providers. They share information.” They and their team of doctors and regular women across the globe do everything they can to provide the healthcare that is being stripped away by the minute.

The film begins in 2019 and progresses into 2023. As the laws change and public tensions rise, tactics must shift in kind. In-person meetings turn into zoom calls. When the 6-week abortion ban took effect in Texas on September 1st, 2021, Francine got extra creative, making QR code stickers that led to the site and paying for a brightly lit digital advertisement truck. Private mailboxes across state lines became a lifetime. Accessing the abortion pill once again becomes a clandestine operation. Plan C is careful to protect its volunteers and those they serve. It is all hands on deck, lawyers on call, with states battling between righteous morality and freedom.

Some women hide their faces for safety. Frankly, I don’t blame them. The hysteria from the right has become a full-blown Handmaid’s Tale situation. The film features audio from users of Plan C. Each woman explained her intensely personal motives. The stigma attached to abortion can be soul-destroying. Family planning and body autonomy should not be an issue! PLAN C is more important than ever. It is required viewing for champions of basic human rights. You’ll never stop abortions, no matter what laws you pass. Pre-Roe came “The Janes.” Post-Roe, Francine, Eisa, and innumerable women take up their mantle. SXSW 2023 audiences get a peek behind the curtain of the women fighting the good fight, the ones you won’t regularly see in the spotlight.

Film Screenings

Plan C at ZACH Theatre
Mar 12, 2023
11:00am—12:39pm
 
Plan C at Alamo Lamar A
Mar 14, 2023
5:45pm—7:24pm
 
Plan C at Alamo Lamar A
Mar 18, 2023
3:00pm—4:39pm
 

Credits

Director:

Tracy Droz Tragos
Executive Producer:

Jess Jacobs, Dr. Holly Corn & Jonathan Kaufelt, Kopcho Reproductive Justice Fund, Margaret Munzer Loeb, Kathryn Everett, Bryn Mooser, Tracy Droz Tragos
Producer:

Tracy Droz Tragos
Cinematographer:

Emily Topper and Derek Howard
Editor:

Meredith Perry
Music:

Nathan Halpern
Additional Credits:

Impact Producer: Jess Jacobs

SXSW 2023 review: ‘THE ARTIFICE GIRL’ is everything we’ve hoped and feared.

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THE ARTIFICE GIRL

Writer-Director-Editor Franklin Ritch brings his festival hit THE ARTIFICE GIRL and its mesmerizing premise to SXSW 2023 audiences. When an FBI team discovers an advanced AI that entices men online, they team up with its reclusive creator. But as the years pass, technology grows beyond human capabilities, begging questions about morality in ways you won’t see coming.

The first thirty-nine minutes, or chapter one, occur in one room. One single scene sets up the plot. The dialogue is acid-tongued, and the performances are outstanding. The concept of an AI child helping catch predators makes all the sense in the world. It appears to save innumerable lives, but nothing in this world is as straightforward as it seems. What

Admittedly, it took me too long to realize that the second chapter is a jump in time. It is a brilliant visual shift in the narrative and a moment that deserves another watch. It is here our three adult battle one another from a moral standpoint. Amos realizes that Cherry has advanced to the point of “feelings.” He challenges her sensibilities with an assault on Gareth. Everything changes from this moment.

Chapter three features another jump forward, breaking the mold by exiting the unit set and bringing Cherry into the real world. We see her tethered to the wall via power cables but moving about her midcentury home. Now Lance Henriksen takes on the role of now wheelchair-bound Gareth with a calmer, wiser demeanor. This chapter is the most personal and revelatory.

David Girard plays Amos with wide-eyed astonishment and fatherly intuition. Amos’ arc proves complex and integral in Cherry’s development. Girard never fails to astound with the slightest change in facial expression. Sindra Nichols plays Deena with a seemingly hardened demeanor, basically bad cop to Girard’s good cop. Underneath, her motivation reveals the best of intentions. Nichols is captivating.

Ritch plays Gareth, and rightfully so. As the puppet master of this creation in real life, it only seems fair that his extensive knowledge is laid bare for the audience to experience in all its nuance. He hits each beat with intensity and sharpness. With a striking resemblance to a young Sarah Polley, Tatum Matthews plays Cherry with a maturity beyond her age. Ritch’s script allows her to play multiple roles. Most of her performance is delivered directly to the camera because she is an AI. Witnessing her journey is breathtaking.

The script tackles morality, science, privacy, entrapment, children’s rights, autonomy, and unresolved trauma. THE ARTIFICE GIRL would also make a spectacular stage play. The quality of Franklin Ritch’s storytelling is mesmerizing and complex. The possibilities are endless for this story. I am here for whatever comes next.

PS- A perfect ending.

Film Screenings

The Artifice Girl at Alamo Lamar A
Mar 11, 2023
11:30am—1:03pm
 
The Artifice Girl at Alamo Lamar B
Mar 12, 2023
9:00pm—10:33pm
 
The Artifice Girl at Violet Crown Cinema 2
Mar 15, 2023
12:45pm—2:18pm
 
The Artifice Girl at Violet Crown Cinema 4
Mar 15, 2023
1:15pm—2:48pm
 

Credits

Director:

Franklin Ritch
Executive Producer:

Peter Kuplowsky
Producer:

Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead
Screenwriter:

Franklin Ritch
Cinematographer:

Britt McTammany
Editor:

Franklin Ritch
Sound Designer:

Jason Strawley, Dave Chmela
Music:

Alex Cuervo
Principal Cast:

Tatum Matthews, Sinda Nichols, David Girard, Franklin Ritch, Lance Henriksen
Additional Credits:

Co-Producer: Cameron Burns, Co-Producer: Alex Euting, Line Producer: Jason Blankenship
 

Review: Israel’s Official Submission to the 94th Academy Awards, ‘LET IT BE MORNING’ is a slick satirical dramedy with spectacular performances.

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LET IT BE MORNING

Based on the Sayed Kashua novel, Eran Kolirin‘s sharp political satire LET IT BE MORNING hits theaters this Friday. Premiering at Canne in 2022, we find Sami returning to his childhood village to attend his younger brother’s wedding, only to find Israeli soldiers lock down the town without explanation.

On the surface, the film is an intimate character study of the growing tensions in a family and community in close quarters and the disruption of everyday life. Slyly mirroring the Israel-Palestine tensions in a darkly comedic way, LET IT BE MORNING tackles the status quo, the want for power, and the need for change in a superbly brilliant way.

Shai Goldman‘s cinematography captures both the beautiful landscape and the claustrophobic living conditions, smartly accentuated by natural light, soft candlelight, and lone street lamps. Music tracks like SIA‘s “Chandelier” break the tension in seemingly mundane moments. The script gets funnier and deeper under such dark circumstances as everyone approaches their physical and emotional breaking points.

Performances are undeniably fantastic. Most notably, Juna Sulieman as Mira, Ehab Salami as the ever-optimistic Abed, and Alex Bakri as an often indifferent Sami. They wade through politics, flailing relationships, and the facades we curate for survival. LET IT BE MORNING utilizes biting humor, metaphor, and reluctant honesty to tackle happiness and hope.

LET IT BE MORNING opens in theaters on February 3rd in New York City (QUAD Cinema) and LA (Laemmle Royal). 

The film will then expand into select major cities on February 10th and nationwide on February 17th.

The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, then went on to acclaim at other festivals around the world. It also won in nine of the eleven categories in which it was nominated at the Ophir Awards (Israel’s Academy Awards), including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress.

 
QUAD Cinema’s Retrospective Series Honoring Filmmaker Eran Kolirin: 
Quad Cinema in New York will also be presenting a four-day retrospective (Jan 30th-Feb 2nd) featuring select films from Eran Kolirin’s filmography, celebrating the director’s work leading up to the theatrical release of Let It Be Morning. Co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel in NY, the retrospective series will include the 2007 global phenomenon (and Kolirin’s feature directorial debut) The Band’s Visit on 35mm as well as the 2011 Venice-selected, quirky comedy The Exchange and soldier-returns-home drama Beyond the Mountains and Hills, which competed in the Un Certain Regard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Filmmaker Eran Kolirin will be present for Q&A discussions after select screenings throughout the retrospective and during the opening weekend of “Let It Be Morning” at the QUAD Cinema. 

 

About filmmaker Eran Kolirin:

Born in Tel Aviv in 1973, writer/director Eran Kolirin’s feature film debut THE BAND’S VISIT (2007) thrust him into the international spotlight, winning critical acclaim and over 50 prestigious awards from around the globe, including eight Israeli Academy awards, two awards and special mentions at the Cannes Film Festival and two European Film Awards. His second film THE EXCHANGE (2010) competed at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in 2011. In 2016, his third film BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS AND HILLS premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. LET IT BE MORNING is his fourth feature film as writer/director.

 

Slamdance 2023 review: A psychological horror that gets under your skin in jury winner ‘THE UNDERBUG’

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THE UNDERBUG

As India is ravaged by sectarian violence on the eve of its Independence Day, two rioters take refuge in an abandoned house. An eerie presence in the house, however, haunts the men to the edge of sanity.

Spectacular handheld camerawork amplifies the differences between the two men and places the viewer inside the house. The tense score closes in on the audience without them knowing. This skillfully crafted horror succeeds in visual implications of violence and the “blink-and-you-miss-it” terrifying background scares. 

Performances are astonishing. Hussain Dalal brings aggressive alpha energy balancing Ali Fazal‘s fearful submissive tone. This perfect mix of personas creates a manic atmosphere from the moment they meet. The script’s complexity reveals itself through pointed conversations where each man challenges the other’s manhood over a plate of biryani. It is a clever study and subtle dismantling of toxic masculinity, class, power, and sanity. 

Writer-director Shujaat Saudagar, alongside co-writers Abbas Dalal and Hussain Dalal, gives Slamdance 2023 audiences something atmospheric and entirely unique in the genre world. A wow of a feature debut, it is easy to see why it received The Grand Jury Award for Breakout Feature Film.

Boasting a finale you will never see coming, The Underbug is dizzying in the best way possible.