Walter Salles-directed I’m Still Here caps weeks of packed screenings after a Best Actress Golden Globe win by star Fernanda Torres with a theatrical release from Sony Pictures Classics on five screens in New York and LA. The distributor’s The Room Next Door jumps from 44 screens to over 850, the widest release of a Pedro Almodovar film.
Mubi is out with documentary Grand Theft Hamlet, A24’s Colman Domingo-starring Sing Sing is back at 500+ theaters, Bleecker Street’s Hard Truths by Mike Leigh, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, expands to 120 screens.
Torres of I’m Still Here is the daughter of Brazilian icon Fernanda Montenegro who was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Salles’ breakout film Central Station. Earlier this month, Torres dedicated her Golden Globe to her mother, saying, “She was here 25 years ago and this is like proof that art can endure through life.” Her speech was a hit, so is she, so is the film, which SPC co-President Michael Barker said, “speaks to our moment in so many countries.” It’s the true story of a boisterous close-knit family in Rio de Janeiro facing creeping terror under the dictatorship that seized power in Brazil in 1964. Torres is Eunice, the mother of five. When tragedy hits, she grieves silently, staying strong for the children, and takes her life in an unexpected direction.
Salles and Torres “have done so much over the last weeks and the response has been tremendous,” said Barker. “There’s been an uptick in Academy members seeing the movie” with standing ovations at screenings from Palm Springs, to Ojai to NYC. Torres sat with Jimmy Kimmel Live last night.
The film premiered at Venice where it took Best Screenplay for Heitor Lorega and Murilo Hauser. Deadline review here.
If Torres nabs a Best Actress Oscar nomination, it may be the first time a mother and daughter were both so honored since Judy Garland (1954 for A Star is Born) and Liza Minnelli (Cabaret).
Oscar nominations, twice postponed amid the LA wildfires, are set for Jan 23.
I’m Still Here opens in New York at Lincoln Square, Angelika and Cinemas 1,2,3 and in LA at the AMC Grove and Laemmle Royal. It expands to 8 more markets next week building to its widest release on 500+ screens Feb. 7.
Mubi’s SXSW-winning documentary Grand Theft Hamlet — Shakespeare Meets GTA – opens on 75 screens in top 20 market with event shows in most locations. Certified Fresh at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, see Deadline review.
In the midst of the Covid pandemic, two out-of-work actors face a bleak future. Desperate for purpose, they stumble upon an idea: stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet within the ultra-violent world of Grand Theft Auto Online. Shot entirely in-game, Grand Theft Hamlet explores their attempt to merge classical theatre with a chaotic digital landscape as they battle violent gamers to bring the project to fruition. Directed by Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls.
Blue Fox Entertainment debuts family-friendly adventure Autumn And The Black Jaguar by Gilles de Maistre on 550 screens. A young girl (Lumi Pollack) must leave her home and her jaguar cub in the Amazon rainforest for New York City but dreams of going back and finally does when her childhood village is under threat from animal traffickers.
Limited release indies: Disfluency from Buffalo 8, written and directed by Anna Baumgarten, starts a week-long run at Laemmle Noho today where ticket sales will be donated to LA Fire victims. Stars Libe Barer as a young woman known as Jane The Brain in high school who flunks out of college and moves back home with her parents.
Magnolia’s Magnet Releasing opens Night Call in 15 theaters. The French thriller marks the feature directorial debut of Michiel Blanchart, whose live-action short You’re Dead Hélène was shortlisted for the 94th Oscars. Follows a young locksmith (Jonathan Feltre) who gets way more than he bargained for after responding to an emergency call that puts him in the crosshairs of a ruthless mob boss.
Re-releases: Oscilloscope presents DIG!XX in New York (IFC Center), LA (Vidiots) and Dallas (Texas Theater), expanding to another 50+ markets next week. The rockumentary by Ondi Timoner about two Gen-X bands and their journey to alt-rock glory rocked Sundance 20 years ago. Shot over nearly a decade, DIG!XX explores the collision of art and commerce through the star-crossed friendship and bitter rivalry of dueling 90s bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Through their loves and obsessions, gigs, arrests and death threats, uppers and downers, and ultimately to their shot at mainstream success, they stage a self-proclaimed revolution in the music industry.
DIG!XX is “a bigger, better, crazier expanded reimagining of the original cut – reminds us why the original is canon and why sometimes, more is better,” the distributor says.
Film Movement is bringing Jim McKay’s 1996 Girls Town remastered to the IFC Center. Stars Lili Taylor, Bruklin Harris, Anna Grace and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as high school seniors and best friends preparing for life after graduation when tragedy strikes.
The distributor’s doc Oceans Are The Real Continents by Tommaso Santambrogio, a black and white triptych set in contemporary Cuba, is at Film Forum and Time & Space Limited in Hudson, NY.
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