Women take control!
JANE GOT A GUN This riveting and epic love story told amidst the sprawling expanse of the American west, tells of Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman), who has built a life on the rugged western plains with her husband Bill “Ham” Hammond (Noah Emmerich) and young daughter. When Ham stumbles home riddled with bullets after a run-in with the relentless John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) and his gang, she knows they will not stop until her family is dead. In desperation, Jane turns to Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton), a man from her past, for help. Haunted by old memories, Jane’s past meets the present in a heart-stopping battle for survival. When 27-year-old Brian Duffield started Jane Got a Gun as a spec script in 2011, he had a very clear idea of the type of story he wanted to write. “I wanted to write about a woman whose big victory was going to be in making a stand,” says Duffield. After experimenting with different genres, Duffield decided to write a western with a woman named Jane as the main character. Watch the trailer. Read more about the film
TOUCHED WITH FIRE A first rate drama about two poets, Carla (Katie Holmes) and Marco (Luke Kirby), struggling with bipolar disorder and the painful truth that their romantic relationship fuels their mania. For director, first-time filmmaker Paul Dalio, the subject was important to him because it was based on his own experience dealing with mental illness. The film is based on Dalio’s “feeling of being misunderstood for a long time, and the rebirth of fully showing the world what this thing really is. It was cathartic,” Dalio said, adding that before he got healthy, he had been through a period of hospitalization and suicidal depression and “the shame of being a freak and not knowing who you are anymore — and then, romanticizing your difference. The heaven and hell we all go through.” Dalio was a student at NYU’s film program, and his professor Spike Lee took an interest in his work, and eventually agreed to produce his film. “He gets behind projects he believes in. When it was time for me to graduate, I showed him a commercial script I had written, and he advised against doing it,” Dalio said, “and this script, my wife really liked it, and she made a point that I had already come out of that stuff, and by wallowing down in there it wouldn’t help anyone, and if I wrote a story with real reflection, it could help people. You listen to the wife.” Holmes’ co-star Kirby, best known for playing attorney Jon Stern on “Rectify,” said he prepared for the role by talking with Dalio about his experiences and by reading “Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament” by psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison, which is referenced heavily in the film (Jamison even makes an appearance at the end) and the poems of William Styron, who battled mental illness. Watch the trailer
THE GIRL IN THE BOOK is about a young writer’s transformation when her past invades her present. Forced to face difficult memories and make bold decisions, she ultimately overcomes her demons, allowing her to find love and rediscover her creative voice.Emily VanCamp plays Alice, a 28 years old, living in a small apartment in the upper east side. While she has her fair share of one-night-stands, she’s been single for far longer than she’d like to admit. She’s finally met a guy worth keeping around, but is in danger of screwing it up, as always. Relationships aren’t the easiest things for her. By day, Alice works as an assistant editor for a notable book publisher. Like anyone climbing the ranks, she’s trying to make her mark. By night, in between her various dates, Alice tries to write. She has an incredibly compelling story to tell – her story. But that story was written fifteen years ago…by someone else.Michael Nyqvist plays Milan, is a 35 year-old aspiring writer on the eve of releasing his first novel. Represented by Alice’s father, a prominent book agent, Milan becomes close to 14 year-old Alice, and during that time writes the novel that makes him a world renowned author. Today, 15 years later, Milan and Alice’s paths cross once again, forcing the two to confront events that have long gone unaddressed. Alice’s work life and personal demons converge when her boss tasks her with promoting the one book she would most like to forget exists. This American drama was written and directed by Marya Cohn in her directorial debut. Marya has written and directed several award-winning short films. Her short, Developing, starring Natalie Portman and Frances Conroy, screened at Sundance, won grand prizes at the Belgian Festival Mondial du Cinéma de Court Métrage and the St. Petersburg Message to Man Film Festival, and aired on The Sundance Channel. She received her MFA from NYU’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television and her BA from Harvard, where she was awarded the Louis B. Sudler Award for Achievement in the Arts. Watch the trailer
MOTHER’S DAY In this big-hearted comedy, Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) is a stressed-out, single mom who learns that her ex-husband is marrying a younger woman. Her friend Jesse (Kate Hudson) is a fitness freak who doesn’t tell her parents that she has a family. Bradley is a widower (Jason Sudeikis) who’s trying to raise two daughters on his own, while Miranda (Julia Roberts) is too busy with her career to worry about having children. When their respective problems start coming to a head, the Mother’s Day holiday takes on a special meaning. It shows what happens if three generations come together in the week leading up to Mother’s Day. Watch the trailer