COTTONTAIL
Filmmaker Patrick Dickinson brings audiences a nuanced tale of loss and love in COTTONTAIL. Following the death of his wife, Kenzaburo travels with his son and his young family to fulfill his late wife’s last wish, to scatter her ashes at Lake Windemere in England. The film flashes back in time, giving us intimate details of the love story between Kenzaburo and Akiko. 
Tae Kimura gives an award-worthy performance as Akiko. The depth is mesmerizing. You will remember it. Lily Franky delivers a stunning complexity in Kenzaburo. Dickinson skillfully draws out the rift between him and his son Toshi (a fantastic Ryo Nishikido). The built-up guilt and regret flow off the screen as Franky moves from scene to scene. So, too, does the fierce adoration for his wife. COTTONTAIL
Dickinson places the audience in a precarious emotional state once we witness the hardships of Akiko’s progressing condition and Kenzaburo’s increasing frustrations with losing the wife he vowed to love through thick and thin. The discussion of the impact of acting as a primary caregiver hangs above the film like a dark cloud, allowing the redemption narrative to hold your heart. COTTONTAIL is about the individuality of grief, keeping secrets, and human connection. It is an undeniably beautiful and affecting film.
COTTONTAIL will be released exclusively IN THEATERS on June 7th and On Demand July 9th thereafter
Starring Academy Award® Nominee CIARÁN HINDS (Belfast, First Man, “Game of Thrones”), LILY FRANKY (Analog, “The Naked Director”), AOIFE HINDS (Belfast, The Commuter), RYÔ NISHIKIDO (A Boy and His Samurai, Eight Rangers), TAE KIMURA ( “House of Ninjas,” “The Unbroken,” “24 Japan”), RIN TAKANASHI (Love for Beginners, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger Movies), YURI TSUNEMATSU ( “Tokyo Vice,” The Pink Panther 2, Letters from Iwo Jima).
The heightened sound editing by Andrew Siedenburg and Nikolay Antonov is a character in the film. There is no better way to articulate its effect. The camera work from Lidia Nikonova swings from following closeups to static long takes, and it is nothing short of magnificent.
There is a theatrical delivery of much of the dialogue. Deragh Campbell is marvelous playing Katy. She delivers a compelling performance, reminding us how much we rely on the family matriarch to set our boundaries. Campbell’s pervasive anxiety flows on the screen.
The film brilliantly captures the poetic chaos of family gatherings. A myriad of intimate vignettes are all swirling together in an authentic picture where time loses all meaning. FAMILY PORTRAIT is haunting in so many ways. It will leave you breathless and wanting more.
Danell Leyva does a great job of being entirely unlikeable. Victoria Vertuga gives Tasha a fierce presence. She is very watchable. It is Jamie Bernadette who steals the show playing Briar. Everything from her blunt haircut to her unsettling delivery is star quality. I want a prequel where she and Torrey Lawrence lead.
Filmmaker Eric Williford starts his new film off with a bang. The editing by Timothy Widmann is effective. Practical FX are solid and in your face. Cold Blows The Wind is a mysterious story of body-snatching possession on unholy ground. So much of the film feels inspired by the Evil Dead franchise, with a few other classic homages mixed in. Williford offers bits and pieces of backstory. Even though we are left to fill in the blanks, the potential is clear. There is enough meat on the bone (pun intended) to keep audiences hungry.
SWEATY LARRY
Our introduction to Sweaty Larry is as ridiculous as it should be, and the original song saying over the credits (written and performed by ATL’s 
DEATH PERCEPTION
Kevin Bohleber gives Cody a know-it-all environmentalist vibe. He hides a much more nuanced undertone. Kelley Mack is Wilda. She mixes a breezy girl-next-door quality with authentic emotional baggage. 
The titular location is a real place in Utah. It is striking and entirely isolated, making for an immediately tense premise. The score is haunting and ethereal, comprised of disembodied voices. Scenes in which Grant trips on mushrooms utilize a combination of ever-evolving animation and VHS-style imagery to illustrate his POV. It is trippy. 
Stimson Snead takes us on a comedy of trial and error in DWF: LA sci-fi feature TIM TRAVERS AND THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX. This film is a story of a mad genius’s guide to what if, get ready to have your mind blown.
Samuel Dunning is Tim Travers. He is funny, charming, and owns this role. Travers is stubborn as hell and honest to a fault. The character has authentic mad scientist vibes. The number of alternative death scenes and distinctly unique versions of the same character is Multiplicity on crack. Dunning eats it up.
One of the most harrowing stories I’ve seen featured in a short film comes from BriGuel‘s HOW I ROLL. This 13-minute emotional rollercoaster is an eye-opening tale of resilience. Robin Cohen lives with MS, navigating Miami, Manhattan, and a family history of shocking violence, loss, and great love. 
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Fa is a wildly unpredictable woman who enjoys creating things with her hands and bouncing from woman to woman. Marie is a doctor whose husband demands a divorce on their 20th wedding anniversary. When the two run into each other, almost quite literally, they discover an unexpected spark between them.
Caroline Peters delivers laughs and heart in the role of Marie Theres. Proschat Madani gives Fa a firecracker spirit. Both offer depth to roles that could easily remain surface-level clichés. Their chemistry is magic, and Rohrer thoughtfully crafts their characters’ journeys.
The film leans into conversations of identity, both sexual and national, with Fa being Iranian. It tackles inherent bias and standing up for what’s right, no matter the issue. WHAT A FEELING dives into the nuance of relationships and the mistakes we make that either force us to grow or flee. It’s a lovely film.
Upon his upcoming release from a specialized mental hospital in Scandinavia, a man suddenly reveals his connection to a string of murders. His therapist and the police officer on the case go down the rabbit hole, putting all three of them in a precarious relationship. 
Gustaf Skarsgård is Mads a deep sadness. His gentle nature is at odds with his confessions, although his true motivations feel evident from the beginning. Nevertheless, Skarsgård delivers an emotionally wrought performance. 
Haunting takes in the gloomy natural light of a rainstorm or afternoon in an unlit room, capturing the dark essence of the narrative. The true story behind the film is one of the most unusual in criminal history. In the 1990s, Sture Ragnar Bergwall (later known as 
FAMILY THERAPY
Sonja Prosenc‘s Tribeca 2024 film FAMILY THERAPY features a nouveau riche household that operates in rigid formality, slowly cracking upon the arrival of a new member.
Mila Bezjak gives Agata a suspicious sass. Her personality gets a boost from her severe hairstyle. Blunt bangs and thick coiffure make her resemble an overgrown doll. Her attention-seeking behavior has everything to do with her parents’ infantilism.
Aleksander never shuts up. He flaunts his eccentricity most ignorantly, fancying himself a writer despite only writing a single piece twenty years prior. Marko Mandic is loathsome in the best way.
Someone seems to be leaving Miriam cryptic notes and clues connected to her life. A kind-hearted and observant Toronto librarian at a quiet branch filled with an eclectic group of patrons, 
Britt Lower
Victoria Jorge gives Elena a tangibility that keeps us engaged. Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge write a fun and authentic character, putting us at ease. Chiara Hourcade delivers a self-aware performance that allows the audience to ride this emotional rollercoaster alongside Adela. Hourcade and Jorge capture our hearts with genuine familiarity in their chemistry.
In the Tribeca 2024 feature film THE EVERYTHING POT, two couples in vastly different places collide, and it all starts with a wedding gift.
Give me all the cheeses. It’s a phrase I should embroider on a pillow in my home. We have an entire drawer dedicated to cheese in our refrigerator. Spending two years in New Haven, my husband and I had the privilege of eating at a restaurant called Caseus (RIP). Their famous five-cheese grilled sandwich was a taste bud revelation. Tribeca 2024 documentary SHELF LIFE is tailor-made for cheese freaks such as myself.
Director Mira Shaib brings a story of perseverance to Tribeca 2024 audiences with ARZÉ. A single mother living with her sister and teenage son makes pies to support the family. Delivering them on foot loses them potential clients. Arzé secretly pawns a piece of her sister’s jewelry to put a down payment on a scooter, but when it’s stolen, she and Kinan embark on a wild goose chase through the streets of Beruit in a race against time.
As the titular Arzé, Diamond Abou Abboud shines with a palpable determination. Her relentless pursuit to make things right will capture your heart. She is abundantly charming. Abou Abboud delivers a shockingly powerhouse performance that sneaks up on you.
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