Sundance 2016: A24 Picks Up Craig Robinson’s ‘Morris From America’Posted by Wilson Morales
January 24, 2016
Source: Deadline
Deadline is reporting that A24 has picked up the Sundance film, ‘Morris From America’ directed by Chad Hartigan and starring newcomer Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, and Lina Keller.
Premiering last Friday in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, the site states A24 is working with DirecTV in a deal that is close to $1M.
Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas) is a 13-year-old, overweight, African-American boy who fancies himself the next Notorious B.I.G. He’s entering puberty, self-conscious, and new to living in Heidelberg, Germany, where nobody else looks or acts like him. His single father Curtis (Craig Robertson) is better at relating to Morris as a friend than a father, bonding with his son over their shared love of music. Initially, Morris only interacts with Curtis and Inka (Carla Juri), his kind – if naïve – German language tutor, but when forced to attend summer classes at a youth center, he instantly falls in love. 15-year-old Katrin (Lina Keller) is just the girl for Morris: rebellious, cool as ice, and not as indifferent toward him as the other kids.
As the two begin to develop a slow friendship (albeit one that Morris hopes will be the start of something deeper), Morris drifts further from Curtis, who is having a hard time of his own adjusting to his son’s burgeoning adolescence. In the wake of these changing relationships, Morris risks everything in a journey far outside of his comfort zone toward self-confidence and acceptance in this new, foreign environment.
