{"id":131066,"date":"2019-03-26T16:32:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T20:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=131066"},"modified":"2019-03-26T16:33:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T20:33:01","slug":"clemency-angelo-joy-among-must-see-films-from-new-directors-new-films-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/clemency-angelo-joy-among-must-see-films-from-new-directors-new-films-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Clemency, Angelo & Joy Among Must-See Films From New Directors\/New Films 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Museum of Modern Art<\/strong>\u00a0(MOMA) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center<\/strong> will host the 48th annual New Directors\/New Films<\/strong> (ND\/NF), March 27 \u2013 April 7. Throughout its rich, nearly half-century history, the festival has celebrated filmmakers who represent the present and anticipate the future of cinema, daring artists whose work pushes the envelope in unexpected ways. This year\u2019s festival will introduce 24 features and 11 short films to New York audiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece selections are the New York premieres of three Sundance award-winners: opening the festival is Chinonye Chukwu\u2019s <\/strong>Clemenc<\/strong>y<\/i>, which won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and features a masterful performance from Alfre Woodard as a prison warden grappling with her role in the justice system; Centerpiece is Alejandro Landes\u2019s Monos<\/i>,<\/strong> a contemporary reimagining of Lord of the Flies<\/i> and winner of a World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize; and closing ND\/NF is Pippa Bianco\u2019s Share<\/i>,<\/strong> a powerful portrait of a sexual assault victim, which took home U.S. Dramatic prizes for Breakthrough Performance and Screenwriting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opening Night –\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Clemency<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Director\/Writer: Chinonye Chukwu<\/strong>
\nProducers: Bronwyn Cornelius, Julian Cautherley, Peter Wong, Timur Bekbosunov<\/strong>
\nExecutive Producers: Kathryn Bostic, Johnny Chang, Emma Lee, Alfre Woodard<\/strong>
\nCast: Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff, Wendell Pierce, Richard Gunn, Danielle Brooks<\/strong>
\nComposer: Kathryn Bostic<\/strong> (\u201cDear White People\u201d)<\/p>\n

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Winner of the Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival, Chinonye Chukwu\u2019s sophomore feature is an enthralling drama anchored by a powerhouse performance from the great Alfre Woodard. Bernadine (Woodard) is a prison warden whose psychic toll has been wrought by years working on death row, and which has caused tensions with her husband Jonathan (Wendell Pierce). After a harrowing botched procedure, her growing investment in the inmate who is next to be executed, Anthony (a mesmerizing Aldis Hodge), encourages her to take a long overdue look in the mirror\u2026 Clemency <\/i>is an immersive, atmospheric film as well as a haunting, tough-minded inquiry into the dignity of work and the morality of capital punishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Centerpiece –\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Monos<\/b>
\nColombia\/Argentina\/Netherlands\/Germany\/Sweden\/Uruguay, 2018, 102m<\/span>
\nEnglish and Spanish with English subtitles<\/p>\n

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Director: Alejandro Landes<\/strong>
\nWriter: Alexis dos Santos, Alejandro Landes<\/strong>
\nProducers: Fernando Epstein, Alejandro Landes, Cristina Landes, Santiago A. Zapata<\/strong>
\nExecutive Producers: Andr\u00e9s Calder\u00f3n, Charles De Viel Castel, Jorge Iragorri, Duke Merriman, Gustavo Pazmin, Josef Rebalski, Gloria Maria Restrepo<\/strong>
\nCast: Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Jorge Rom\u00e1n, Sofia Buenaventura, Laura Castrill\u00f3n, Deibi Rueda, Paul Cubides, Karen Quintero, Wilson Salazar, Julian Giraldo<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Monos, <\/i>which won a Special Jury Award at Sundance is sure to be one of the most hotly debated films of 2019\u2014one critic called it \u201cApocalypse Now<\/i> on shrooms.\u201d In Alejandro Landes\u2019s intensely thrilling twist on Lord of the Flies, <\/i>Julianne Nicholson plays a terrorized American engineer held captive by teenage guerilla bandits in an unnamed South American jungle. Leaderless and rootless, the child soldiers puff themselves up with names like Rambo, Smurf, and Bigfoot (the latter a brutal Moises Arias), and survive the tedium and predation of the wilderness through sexual games and cult-like rituals. As they wage physical and psychological warfare on perceived enemies\u2014and, inevitably, among themselves\u2014they are reduced to a state of desperate barbarism. The film\u2019s sense of surreal menace is amplified by Mica Levi\u2019s discordant soundscape and Jasper Wolf\u2019s cinematography.<\/span><\/p>\n