Independent Films – Page 12 – Unspool Hollywood

View the New Trailer for Sci-fi Thriller KARMALINK Opening Theatrical and on VOD This Week

Director: Jake Wachtel
Cast: Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, Rous Mony and Sveng Socheata
Year: 2021
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
Run time: 1 hour 42 minutes

Theaters include:
Lumiere Music Hall - Los Angeles, CA
Rialto Lakeside Elmwood - Berkeley, CA
Rialto Lakeside Sonoma - Sebastopol, CA
SIFF Film Center - Seattle, WA

VOD Platforms include:
US: Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, XFinity Cable, and more.Canada: Apple TV/iTunes, Google Play.

Sahajak Boonthanakit in Jake Wachtel's KARMALINK (Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment)

Conceived as a way to interrogate processes of neo-colonialism, and highlighting the alienating effects of technological progress, Jake Wachtel's KARMALINK is a mind-bending tale of reincarnation, artificial consciousness, and the search for enlightenment.

In near-future Phnom Penh, the rich and privileged are augmented with nanotech, and new skyscrapers crowd the skyline. In Tralop Bek, a tight-knit community threatened with forced eviction, 13-year-old Leng Heng is having vivid dreams of his past lives. He and his friends are convinced they are meant to find a buried Buddhist statue to save their homes, and they seek out help from a street-smart girl in the neighborhood, Srey Leak. Together they follow clues across town and into the past, uncovering a link with a genius neuroscientist on a quest for digital nirvana. As Leng Heng’s dreams converge on the present, his very sense of identity begins to unravel. When it becomes clear that the stakes are higher than they imagined, the two friends must decide how far they are willing to go to find their treasure and the truth.

American-born filmmaker Jake Wachtel began his career making short documentaries for nonprofits and social impact ventures working in the global south. His work has been featured on NYTimes.com, Wired, NPR, and MSNBC.

In 2015, he moved to Cambodia to teach a year-long class in filmmaking to children as a part of the Filmmakers Without Borders initiative. His Phnom Penh-set short film THE FOREIGNER HERE premiered at the Cambodian International Film Festival, and he has gone on to collaborate with many of the growing new wave of young Cambodian filmmakers. He also served as on-set editor for Jimmy Henderson's Cambodian-Chinese coproduction THE PREY. Phnom Penh became his home base for several years as he developed his first feature KARMALINK—Cambodia’s first sci-fi movie—set in the community where he taught and produced with a majority Cambodian cast and crew, including his former students.

ABOUT GOOD DEED ENTERTAINMENT

Good Deed Entertainment (GDE) is an Ohio based independent studio dedicated to producing, financing, and distributing quality entertainment for under-served audiences. Its distribution slate includes recent releases Summertime, Ma Belle, My Beauty, and Lucky Grandma, in addition to the Academy Award nominated, Loving Vincent, and Spirit Award nominated, To Dust.

Website: http://www.gooddeedentertainment.com/

View New Trailer for Liongate’s FALL in U. S. Theaters August 12th

Cast: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Director: Scott Mann
Writers: Scott Mann, Jonathan Frank
Producers: Christian Mercuri, James Harris, Mark Lane, Scott Mann
Genre: Thriller
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes

For best friends Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner), life is all about conquering fears and pushing limits. But after they climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower, they find themselves stranded with no way down. Now Becky and Hunter’s expert climbing skills will be put to the ultimate test as they desperately fight to survive the elements, a lack of supplies, and vertigo-inducing heights in this adrenaline-fueled thriller costarring Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Lionsgate Films and Capstone Global Present a Tea Shop Production and Capstone Studios Production in Association with Flawless and Cousin Jones.

OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.lionsgate.com/movies/fal

FOLLOW FALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
https://www.instagram.com/fallmovie/

https://twitter.com/fallmovie

KARMALINK: Movie Review

Production Year: 2021
Director: Jake Wachtel
Writers: Jake Wachtel, Christopher Larsen
Cast: Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, Rous Mony and Sveng Socheata
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery
Country: Cambodia
Language: Khmer with English subtitles
Run Time: 1 hour 42 minutes

Children are the Future!

Jake Wachtel’s KARMALINK is a fascinating tale of Srey Leak (Srey Leak Chhith) and Leng Heng (Leng Heng Prak) and a group of his friends, as they, their families and all the members of the community are being left behind with new technological advancements and at the same time, trying to save their community, the Tralok Bek neighborhood of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from being forced to relocate, in order to make room for a speed train. They believe they must find the buried gold Buddhist statute to save them all.

Leng Heng Prak in Jake Wachtel's KARMALINK (Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment)

Watching Srey and 13year-old Leng, along with his friends, devise a plan to save their Tralok Bek neighborhood and their determination to not be left behind with the new technology. Is a reminder, that it is the kids of today that will eventually inherit the good and the bad that is left behind by the adults currently in power, and will have to develop solutions to those problems.

It is a reminder of what the United States is called eminent domain. It gives the government the right to to force owners to sell their private property, for what is suppose to be for the public good. Be it, freeways or highways that leads to people being forced to move and also divide communities.

The backdrop of the skyscrapers hoovering over the slums where Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, Rous Mony and Sveng Socheata call home as they go about their daily lives is a stark reminder of the class-difference between the wealthy and those living in extreme poverty that while the kids are trying to save their close-knit community.

Srey Leak Chhith in Jake Wachtel's KARMALINK (Photo Credit_ Good Deed Entertainment)

(L-R) Cindy Sirinya Bishop and Leng Heng Prak in Jake Wachtel's KARMALINK (Photo Credit_ Good Deed Entertainment)

KARMALINK brings Girl Power! into sharp focus with Srey Leak (Srey Leak Chhith). Whether it is the interaction with her older brother, who appears to be irresponsible, or leading a group of boys, who call her the detective, as they search to find a buried gold Buddhist statute.

Reminded of the gentrification of marginalized communities from around the world and how they are left behind socially, economically and technologically too. Even here in the U. S. people do not have access to the internet, something that is now considered a basic service that is denied to many.

And, commonly used by governments, eminent domain that forces private citizens to sell their private property to state and/or federal government, is used to force people from their home in order to build a speed train. A train that those in the Tralok Bek neighborhood will most likely never use.

Director Jake Wachtel weaves together the reality of life in the slums of Cambodia, the technological advancements taking place around those who are struggling for their survival and their dominate societal belief in reincarnation thorough Sci-Fi to tell a captivating narrative in KARMALINK.

Photo 1- Leng Heng Prak in Jake Wachtel's KARMALINK (Photo Credit_ Good Deed Entertainment)

Cinematographer Robert Leitzell captures a vivid picture of Heng's reincarnations through out time., the nitty gritty life in the slums, where the actors Srey and Leng Heng were born and live. The dark lighting provides the ambiance and intensity for Leng Heng’s journeys back in time.

Editors Harrison Atkins, Stephanie Kaznocha work flows effortlessly from scene to scene, helping to tell a very compelling story.

The clothes worn by the characters give a clear indication to their social and economic status within the society they live.

The use of the actual homes and conditions of the residences in the Tralok Bek neighborhood adds to the movie experience of the Set Design (does the setting influence other elements. does it add or subtract from my experience.)

KARMALINK takes place in the Tralok Bek neighborhood of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tralok Bek is where Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak lived and called home. Being filmed in a real place, where real actors lived depicting their actual day to day experiences gives the film a believably story line.

Composer Ariel Marx’s musical score works well with the various scenes providing the suspense needed for a mystery and travel through time.

KARMALINK is a great film, that is sure to captivate your attention, with its cast of kids ready and able to take on the world for the greater good.

I was saddened to read that Leng Heng Prak had passed away in 2021. He had the potential a future in film making

Release Date: July 15, 2022
Distributor: Good Deed Entertainment
Producer: Valerie Steinberg
Production Co: Valerie Steinberg Productions
Co-producers: Sok Visal (802 Films, Cambodia), Christopher Rompré (littleBIG Films, Cambodia)
Executive Producer(s): Todd Brown, Nate Bolotin, Joe & Freddi Felt
Run time: 1 hour 42 minutes
Cast: Srey Leak Chhith, Leng Heng Prak, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Cindy Sirinya Bishop, Rous Mony, Sveng Socheata, Sokvan So, Sreng Chear, Samneang Chea, No Mo, Ty Li, Tommy Henderson, Rando Henderson, Savern Oum, Pisey Pen, Linda Chhith, Sreyneat Chhith, Morokort Chhith, David Rithyruth Alexander, Channan Moa, Reach Hunchan, Sothun Sok, Socheata Khek, Sotereak Ouk, James Adomian
Director: Jake Wachtel
Writers: Jake Wachtel, Christopher Larsen
Cinematography: Robert Leitzell
Editors: Harrison Atkins, Stephanie Kaznocha
Sound Editor: Vincent Villa
Composer: Ariel Marx
Production Designer: Olga Miasnikova

KDMG, Inc. Brings Moving Coming of Age Drama “Icon” to Audiences Everywhere this August

KDMG, Inc. Acquires Filmmaker Tony Ahedo's Touching Feature Film “Icon” for North American VOD/Digital & Blu-Ray/DVD August 1st Release

(Los Angeles, CA—July 11, 2022) KDMG, Inc. (Kaczmarek Digital Media Group, Inc.) has acquired the Pretty Sweet Films’ production of filmmaker Tony Ahedo’s touching feature film debut “Icon.” This moving coming of age drama charts the perilous journey to adulthood for our charismatic leads Sam (Parker Padgett) and Ana (Devon Hales). KDMG, Inc. will release “Icon” across all TVOD/Digital and Blu-Ray/DVD platforms throughout North America on August 1, 2022.

Young love’s the topic of so many films, but rarely is it handled with earnest, authentic grace, as we see in “Icon”. Anchored in the touching performances of Padgett and Hales, audiences will find themselves moved much like fellow beloved indie film “The Spectacular Now.” When a surprise pregnancy forces Sam to face many brutal realities of adulthood and responsibility, things spiral rapidly out of control as he simultaneously tries to fight to find his own truth: why his absent father hasn’t been in his life since he was one and is only a fading memory.

“Icon” was inspired by a true story and stars Parker Padgett (“Surviving Lunch”) and Devon Hales (Netflix’s “Teenage Bounty Hunters,” “Stan Against Evil”), along with Julia Denton (“The Fundamentals of Caring,” “Geostorm”), Tony Demil (Succession,” “Zola”), Bryce Anthony Heller (“Education in Love,” “Cobra’s World”), and the feature film debut of Ronald Sansone.

“I am excited for audiences everywhere to see the film and prompt important conversations. My intent is to show the male perspective to a pregnancy in such a way that illuminates the idealization of patriarchy and toxic masculine views of the past and how we move beyond it,” stated Ahedo.

Adapted from an award-winning short that won the presidents’ award at Ringling College of Art & Design, “Icon” was filmed in Ahedo’s hometown of Saint Petersburg, Florida, just prior to the pandemic. The story pulls elements from his childhood growing up in the mid 90’s through the early 2000s in Florida.

“It's not often we see a good coming-of-age film that breaks down the fundamentals of teen adolescence in a relatable way,” stated KDMG, Inc.’s CEO, Kyle Kaczmarek . “I felt this story had an audience and needed to be seen. On behalf of myself and the KDMG team, I am thrilled to be part of Icon's journey.”

Cinematographer Harrison Stagner (“Rosary, Fiona Humphrey: A Family Album,” “Stubbz”), utilized different cameras to best embody the film’s timelines. A Canon C200 was used for the 2010 timeline and BMCC4K with a vintage 60’s lens for the 90’s timeline. “Icon” also features a moving original score by Chris Carlone (“The Red Cocoon,” “Highway to Havasu”).

Terese Linden Kohn, Founder of Talk Global Media, negotiated on behalf of the film with Kyle Kaczmarek, CEO of KDMG.

About KDMG, Inc.:
Kaczmarek Digital Media Group, Inc. (KDMG, Inc.) was founded in 2012 to provide a non-traditional, outside the box, hands-on digital approach to entertainment content providers. Deeply passionate about our work, KDMG counsels individuals and companies in all areas of the entertainment industry, including producers, directors, distributors, technology companies, digital retail platforms, sales agents, and cable, telecommunications and satellite companies toward achieving their highest potential.

About Pretty Sweet Films:
Pretty Sweet Films is a full-service narrative production company founded by award-winning filmmaker Tony Ahedo based in Los Angeles. Since its inception in 2019, the company has created and collaborated on a wide variety of projects across the country. From romantic coming of age films to raunchy dark comedies to chilling horror thrillers, PSF is prepared to make any story a compelling piece for the eyes and mind. With more than a decade of production experience, PSF is here to make films pretty sweet.

About TALK Global Media
TALK is veteran sales executive Terese Ann Linden Kohn's global sales agency whose years of indie sales and distribution experience has provided the global marketplaces with quality film, television and new media content. Representing all genres and numerous libraries for all rights and windows, TALK takes pride in the transparency and service it provides to filmmakers, distributors and programmers around the world.

www.TALKglobalMedia.com

View The New Clip for ‘THE STORY WON’T DIE’, Out On VOD in US, Canada, UK and Worldwide on June 21, World Refugee Day

Director: David Henry Gerson
Producer: Odessa Rae (NAVALNY)
Co-Producers: Abdalaziz Alhamza, Colleen Ritzau Leth and Martin Marquet
Featuring: Medhat Aldaabal, Tammam Azzam, Diala Brisly, Abu Hajar, Bahila Hijazi, Omar Imam, Lynn Mayya, Anas Maghrebi and Mhd Sabboura
Genre: Feature Documentary
Rating: Not Yet Rated
Run Time: 1 hour 23 minutes
Country: USA/Germany

VOD PLATFORMS INCLUDE: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, Vimeo + and more|

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Watch Docs and many more!

WINNER! Best Director at Doc LA and Best Feature Doc at FIC Autor Guadalajara.

THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)

Photo 2- THE STORY WON'T DIE (Photo Credit_ RaeFilm Studios)

THE STORY WON’T DIE, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since World War II. The film is produced by Sundance Award-winning producer Odessa Rae (Navalny).

Rapper Abu Hajar, together with other celebrated creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi and Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam and Diala Brisly), use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war.

DAVID HENRY GERSON is a filmmaker whose work has won prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Film Festival, and has been acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the American Film Institute, where he was the recipient of the AFI Richard P. Rodgers Award for Creative Excellence. His film, ALL THESE VOICES, won the Student Academy Award®. David’s spec screenplay, ABOVE KINGS, was nominated to the Tracking Board Hit List and was a semifinalist for the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. His documentary film ULTRA VIOLET FOR SIXTEEN MINUTES (“Totally engaging” - Al Maysles), screened at festivals worldwide, the Pompidou Museum in Paris, and was acquired into the permanent collection of the MoMA. THE STORY WON’T DIE is his debut feature.

Dances with Films West Coast Premiere of Award-Winning Animated Documentary “Eternal Spring (長春)” on June 15th

Loft Sky Pictures groundbreaking filmmaker Jason Loftus (“Ask No Questions”) latest film, the powerful animated documentary “Eternal Spring (長春)” will make its West Coast Premiere at this year’s Dances With Films (June 9^th—19^th, 2022), now on Wednesday, June 15th with a 7pm premiere at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters (in the Hollywood & Highland complex in Los Angeles).

Confronted with government denunciations and human rights violations against their spiritual practice, a group of Chinese activists executes a bold and perilous plan to hack into state television.

“Eternal Spring (長春)” is a multiple award winner, most recently having won Hot Docs Audience Award for best film and the Rogers Audience Award for best Canadian film, and both the audience and jury awards for International Documentary Feature Film at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival! “Eternal Spring As you know reviews from major film critics are a game changer for the release & awards trajectory of an independent film.

This extraordinary harmony of animation & documentary has been awarded and acclaimed across Europe in its Film Festival run thus far for its groundbreaking animation – and of particular note, has been its incredible comic-book-style animation that transports the viewer into the brave and heroic world of a group of Falun Gong practitioners. “Eternal Spring ( 長春)” with its story of survival at all costs & battle for human rights continues to draw powerful comparisons to beloved Oscar nominee “Flee.”

Matt Waldeck’s Directorial Feature Film Debut “Lovely Jackson” has World Premiere at American Black Film Festival on June 17th.

Zodiac Features’ bold new biographical true crime DocuThriller, “Lovely Jackson”, the feature film directorial debut from filmmaker Matt Waldeck, p.g.a. (“I See You”) ahead of its world premiere at the iconic American Black Film Festival on June 17th.

A True Crime – In 1975 YOUNG RICKEY and his two friends are convicted of the robbery and murder of Harold Franks without any physical evidence and based largely on the coerced false eye-witness testimony of then 12-year-old neighborhood paperboy, YOUNG EDWARD VERNON. At just eighteen-years-old, Rickey is sentenced to die in the electric chair. He spends two and a half years on death row and sees a number of his fellow death row inmates complete the “Death Walk”, the name given by the condemned to the “last thirty steps of your life” before getting strapped in to ride the lighting and die. Rickey is just 82 days away from death by electrocution when miraculously, executions in Ohio are temporarily outlawed and all death sentences are commuted to life in prison. Rickey stays alive for now, but before him lay a different challenge—surviving general population in Ohio’s most dangerous prison.

Film Synopsis:

LOVELY JACKSON is exonerated prisoner Rickey Jackson’s daring first-hand account of the psychology of survival and spiritual fortitude required to withstand 39 years of wrongful incarceration for a murder he didn’t commit. At the time of his release in 2014, Rickey was the longest wrongfully incarcerated person in U.S. history—spending 39 years on death row and in Ohio’s most dangerous prisons after being convicted solely on the coerced eye-witness testimony of a 12-year-old neighborhood paper boy.

Lovely Jackson sees Rickey return to the prison where he was sent in 1976 on his way to the electric chair where he narrates and stars in reenactments alongside professional actors (one playing his younger self), and the (then) 12-year-old paper boy, now in his late 50’s.

Lovely Jackson is a boldly cinematic, epic journey that begins in tragedy, hopelessness, injustice, and death, but ends in hope, beauty, and new life.

“Lovely Jackson” is presented by H.E.L.P. in association with Zodiac Holdings and is a Zodiac Features production, directed by Matt Waldeck, written by Rickey Jackson and Matt Waldeck, producers are Rickey Jackson, Matt Waldeck, Ben Hecht (“I See You”), Travis Killian, and Jillian Wolstein, with music by Jacques Brautbar (“It Ain’t Over”),mcinematography by John Turk (“Madtown”), and editing by Mark Andrew Hamer (“The Hunting”) and Lori Lovoy-Goran (“Kid 90”).

‘THE QUEST: Nepal’ Movie Review

Year: 2022
Director and Writer: Alex Harz
Starring: Alex Harz, Tashi Sherpa, Hanuman Baba, Russell Brice, Mike Hamill, and more,
Genre: Documentary

The Many Rewards in Fulfilling a Childhood Promise

Harz said, “often, the best way to get to know the true essence of a city, is walking its streets and talking to its people.”

He is true to his word as he explores the villages and the people of the city of Kathmandou and the country of Nepal, that call it home, as he prepares to take on the Himalayan mountain’s Mt. Everest.

It includes stops along the Bagmati River, a holy river to both the Hindu and Buddhist religions, where cremations are performed for Hindu believers. The Sherpa culture is explained. He visits the town of Namche Bazaar, in the north-eastern area of Nepal, that is a major trading hub for the area.

Alex Approaching the South Summit of Everest

We see the memorial for all those who lost their life in their own quest to climb the mountain

The beauty of the environment and the primitive natural of so much of daily life in the Khumka Valley and the Sherpa culture that required to make the climb, stands out in the film. Human, animals and helicopters are the only mean of transportation for people and transporting of goods.

The cinematography provides a fantastic background and setting for the harrowing climb. The dialogue provides a great opportunity to learn about the people and the history of the region. Hart's editing gives a nice flow from the first the last scene. 

‘THE QUEST: Nepal’ is a good film that accomplishes a promise that is rewarding by itself, when combined with the introduction of the people of Kathmandou and the history of their city and country of Nepal, beauty of Mt. Everest and the surrounding Himalayan mountain adds to magnificence of Harz's journey.

Release May 2022
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures (2022) (USA) (all media), The Quest (2021) (USA) (all media)
Executive Producer:  Alex Harz 
Producer: Tate Zandstra  
Production Co: The Quest
Run time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Starring: Hanuman Baba as Hindu Sadhu, Russell Brice as Expedition Operator, Mike Hamill as Expedition Operator. Alex Harz Alex Harz as Host, Ang Tshering Lama as Mountain Guide,Erlend Ness as Everest Climber,Lama Nawang Paljor as Tibetan Buddhist Monk, Caroline Pemberton as Everest Journalist,Kumar Rupakheti as Nepalese Historian,Lakpa Rita Sherpa as Basecamp Manager,Mingma Chiri Sherpa as Everest Climber,Pasang T. Sherpa as Sherpa Barista,Pasang Temba Sherpa as Puja Monk, Phunjo Lama Sherpa as Mountain Guide,Riten Jangbu Sherpa as Expedition Sirdar, Tashi Sherpa as Trekking Guide, Tshering Sherpa as SPCC Director, Tshering Sarg Sherpa as Expedition Manager
Director and Writer: Alex Harz
Cinematographers: Alex Harz, Ang Tshering Lama, Manish Maharjan, Samuel Emerson Morgan, Alex Schauer, Riten Jangbu Sherpa, Ryan Waters 
Editors: Greg Bartlett, Alex Harz, Nicholas Orris, Tate Zandstra

’18 1/2′: Review

Year: 2021
Director:  Dan Mirvish  
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, John Magaro, Vondie Curtis Hall, Catherine Curtin, Richard Kind, Sullivan    	Jones, Alanna Saunders, Claire Saunders, Ted Raimi, Jon Cryer, Bruce Campbell
Genre: Comedy/Thriller
Run time: 1 hour 28 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English

When You Don’t Know What Happened, Let Your Imagination Run Wild
Director Dan Mirvish’s comical thriller “18 1/2” is about, what was, the biggest political crime in American history, until January 6^th,^tthe erased 18 ½ minutes of Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes. 
Using his vivid imaginations to create a narrative and characters that never existed, it is a White House transcriber, who works for OMB (U.S. Office of Management and Budget), Connie Lashley (Willa Fitzgerald) who, while transcribing her final tape of the day, hears the voices of Nixon (Bruce Campbell) and Haig (Ted Raimi). This leads to a great discovery.

Realizing the importance of what she has heard, she teams up with New York Times reporter Paul Marrow (John Magaro) and they both decide to listen to the tape together, in private, In order to listen to the tape together,  Connie and Paul rent a room from Jack (Richard Kind)  at a local hotel. A creepy and dreary place that provide a great backdrop for the what is to follow.
Having the tape with the missing 18 ½ minutes creates a paranoia of being watched and conversations listened to, leading to Connie and Paul looking over their shoulder at every turn.  Which can not be missed as they encounter a group of hippies and their leader Barry (Sullivan Jones), and staying in the cottage next door, Samuel (Vondie Curtis-Hall) and Lena (Catherine Curtin) that leads to many funny encounters that eventually turn dark.

18andaHalf_HallMagaroFitzgeraldCurtin_4shotsmiling

“18 1/2” transports you right into the 1970s with its authentic costumes, set designs and photography. Every detail of Costume designer Sarah Cogan is realistic of clothes worn during this period, giving the impression of a film made in the 1970s.

“18 1/2” is a must see and very entertaining comedic thriller that feeds into the many conspiracy theories about Nixon, his secretary Rose Mary Woods and the missing 18 ½ minutes of the Watergate tape.

Release Date: May 27, 2022
Distributor: Adventure Entertainment
Co-executive Producer: Dana Altman, Frédéric Forestier
Production Co:  101 Films International, Bugeater Films and  Kyyba Films, Syncopated Daydreams and Terry Keefe Media.

Run time: 1 hour 28 minutes
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, John Magaro, Vondie Curtis Hall, Catherine Curtin, Richard Kind, Sullivan    	    Jones, Alanna Saunders, Claire Saunders, Ted Raimi, Jon Cryer, Bruce Campbell
Director: Dan Mirvish 
Story by: Daniel Moya, Dan Mirvish
Cinematography: Elle Schneider 
Editor:  Dan Mirvish
Music:  Luis Guerra 
Run time: 1 hour 28 minutes

GUIDANCE Released in U. S. on VOD June 17

Guidance US Poster (Good Deed Entertainment)

Director: Neysan Sobhani
Cast: Sun Jia (Han Miao), Harry Song (Mai Zi Xuan) and Francesco Chen (Su Jie)
Country: China
Language: Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles
Year: 2021
Run Time: 1 hour 33 minutes

GUIDANCE on all major platforms including: Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, XFinity Cable, and more on June 17th

(L-R) Francesco Chen and Sun Jia in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE. (Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment)

L-R) Sun Jia in in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE.
(Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment) — L-R) Sun Jia in in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE. (Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment)

In the not-too-distant future, humanity slowly rebuilds itself a decade after The Great War. Believing that the ability to lie is the root cause of the devastating conflict, a tech entrepreneur creates a pill containing a nanotechnology app known as “Guidance” that allegedly will make everyone more enlightened. Once swallowed, an A.I. “installs” in the person’s nervous system and aids their ability to detect deception in other people among other enhancements.

A young couple goes on a weekend retreat to the countryside, and they begin to use Guidance. However, recent events have potentially compromised their trust in one another. With the tech in their bodies, the couple tries to subvert Guidance in the hopes of saving their relationship before it’s too late.

About Neysan Sobhani, Writer/Director/Producer

Writer/Director Neysan Sobhani is an award-winning writer and director making short films and now his feature debut, GUIDANCE, in Asia. Raised in Asia and North America and at times officially stateless, his identity was shaped by the diverse places he lived, having fled war and conflict twice while young.

As a diaspora filmmaker, Sobhani’s films have flavors of Asian and Western cinema, with his short films appearing in over 40 international film festivals around the world. Reframing audience perceptions of Chinese films through a blended genre approach, his feature film, GUIDANCE (2021), was released in cinemas across China in late 2021.

(L-R) Harry Song and Sun Jia in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE.
(Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment) — (L-R) Harry Song and Sun Jia in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE. (Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment)

(L-R) Sun Jia in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE.
(Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment) — (L-R) Sun Jia in Neysan Sobhani's GUIDANCE. (Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment)

ABOUT GOOD DEED ENTERTAINMENT
Good Deed Entertainment (GDE) is an Ohio based independent studio dedicated to producing, financing, and distributing quality entertainment for under-served audiences. Its distribution slate includes recent releases Summertime, Ma Belle, My Beauty, and Lucky Grandma, in addition to the Academy Award nominated, Loving Vincent, and Spirit Award nominated, To Dust.

Website: http://www.gooddeedentertainment.com/

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