Ep 449 focuses on three new indie films. The first, “Fits and Starts”, is directed by friend Laura Terruso who wrote the screenplay for Michael Showalter’s dramedy “Hello, My Name is Doris” and who was AD on Jonathan Lisecki’s comedy “Gayby”. The plot involves struggling writer (Wyatt Cenac) who can’t seem to escape his wife (Greta Lee)’s literary success. When a road trip to a publisher’s salon takes an unexpected turn, he has to face his own creative shortcomings and find a way to regain control of his life and work. The comedy is currently available for streaming on iTunes, Amazon Video and on demand.
In the second segment, filmmaker Nancy Buirski returns. Nancy was last on Episode 346 where she discussed her last documentary “By Sidney Lumet”. Nancy is back with a new documentary, “The Rape of Recy Taylor“, which had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and its US premiere at the New York Film Festival. Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film is currently enjoying a theatrical role at the Laemmle Monica Center in Los Angeles and will be doing the same at the IFC Center in NYC beginning this Friday, December 15th.
Last up, a great new documentary which is currently screening at the Quad in NYC, “Quest“. Filmed with vérité intimacy for over a decade, “Quest” —which world premiered at Sundance 2017— is the moving portrait of a family in North Philadelphia. Christopher ‘Quest’ Rainey, along with his wife Christine, aka ‘Ma Quest,‘ who open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Over the years, the family evolves as everyday life brings a mix of joy and unexpected crisis. Set against the backdrop of a country now in turmoil, Quest is a tender depiction of an American family whose journey is a profound testament to love, healing and hope. The film will have a theatrical in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Monica Center beginning this Friday, December 15th. Check the website for other cities and dates. I’m joined in this segment by director Jonathan Olshefski, producer Sabrina Schmidt Gordon and Quest & Ma Quest Rainey.
