The astonishing way that the filmmakers can teleport audiences back to that day in 1963 will have audiences on the edge of their seats, literally and figuratively, every time they decided that they have to see it one more time. – By Gregg W. Morris
The way that Director Jake Wachtel made his film can mesmerize audiences around the world. He uses a “sci-fi lens to tell the story of a boy facing the alienating effects of technological progress (the literal displacement of his soul) as a mirror for forms of neo-colonialism and cultural displacement.” It is shot through a prism of mesmerizing psychedelic dreamscapes about reincarnation, artificial consciousness, and the Buddhist search for enlightenment, giving KARMALINK an amazing irresistible hallucinatory feel about it.
By Gregg W. Morris
Screened Yesterday, June 21, for Delegates at Austrian University’s Asia Pacific Week, w/ Q&A by Creative Team and Is Now Streaming on Amazon The cinematography of Director Robert H. Lieberman’s ECHOES OF THE EMPIRE brilliantly blends panoramic landscapes and…
LIFT, shot over a period of 10 years, is a riveting 87 minutes because of Director David Petersen’s consummate cinematic story telling about The New York Theatre Ballet’s LIFT scholarship program for selected children to develop untapped skills as classical dancers and pursue their dreams. The kids and their families are in constant peril because of the homelessness plaguing them in the hellholes of the worse Bronx and South Bronx neighborhoods. – By Gregg W. Morris
Bravura 2021 NYC DOC Selection being released on digital and cable on Demand Platforms in the U.S. Tuesday, June 14, 2022. VOD Platforms include Apple/iTunes, Amazon, GoogldePlay, Vudu, Microsoft – and more. Review by Gregg W. Morris
Director Mary Ann Rotond, who won Best Woman Directed Short at the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival this year, believes that the power of shared humanity, which is the essence of empathy, can overpower the centrifugal forces she believes are at the core of racism and bigotry tearing away at America.
She tells her visually stunning movie short through an encounter of a young woman Black and proud who is hitch hiking and the long-haul trucker, White, who gives her a lift. Once inside the cab of the trucker’s rig, the woman discovers that the truck driver is enamored with the culture and mores represented by the Confederate flag that is a banner inside his rig. And the sparks fly. – Film short review by Abigail Jean.
QUEEN OF THE DESERT is Director Mary Ann Rotondi’s creative endeavor to make a movie commentary about what she believed are the dynamic social and political forces menacing this country, writes the WORD’s Luis De Leon. Rotondi, who won Best Woman Directed Short at the 2022 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, uses two characters of different gender, ethnicity, personal values as well as social and political mores to express her point of view that the power of people’s shared humanity can ameliorate the centrifugal forces she believes are tearing away at America.
In other words, people living in the United States of America need to empathize more with people who don’t appear to be like them.
A kinetic, melodramatic romp of orgasmic cinematic delights with a sizzling film score, steamy dance scenes, unflinching cinematographic verisimilitude, savvy directing and acting in a family drama movie genre rarely rendered on screen: A family drama with class fused with drag culture.
A few of its many accolades: FilmOut San Diego, US, Best Supporting Actress Cloris Leachman and Best First Narrative Feature, Phil Connell; L.A. Outfest, US, Grand Jury Prize, International Feature Special Mention, Cloris Leachman; Lovers Film Festival, Italy, Young Lovers Jury, Matthew Shepherd Award, Phil Connell. More accolades inside. – Review by Gregg W. Morris.
Surreally uplifting existential must-see. Filmic hutzpah and derring-do infused throughout the approximately 140 minutes running time. Even the film score has a resonating cosmic touch! – By Gregg W. Morris
