2018 Festival to Screen Five World Premieres, In Addition to Excitingly Diverse Roster of Special Events
(September 25, 2018 | Memphis, TN) Indie Memphis Film Festival is pleased to announce the full slate of films for its 2018 incarnation, spanning from November 1st - 5th, 2018. This year’s festival promises to be a very exciting and wildly varied one, featuring five World Premiere screenings and one U.S. Premiere screening, as well as Special Presentations such as CABIN BOY with Chris Elliott in attendance and Barbara Loden’s feminist masterpiece WANDA presented by Amy Seimetz (Showtime’s “The Girlfriend Experience”), as well as a retrospective of the recent films of filmmaker Hong Sangsoo.
The Opening Night film is Melissa Haizlip and Samuel D. Pollard’s MR. SOUL!, a documentary chronicling Ellis Haizlip, the host of a groundbreaking weekly TV show called SOUL! that aired from 1968-1973, Barry Jenkins’ IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK as the Centerpiece Presentation, and Andrew Bujaski’s SUPPORT THE GIRLS as the Closing Night selection, followed by Bujalski presenting the “Indie Memphis Actor of the Year” award for an unforgettable role by a promising new performer to one of the film’s stars, Shayna McHayle (aka Junglepussy). As previously announced, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU filmmaker Boots Riley will be the festival’s keynote speaker for the Black Creatives Forum as well as presenting BRAZIL (1985, Terry Gilliam). The festival also includes 165 short films and over 50 music videos.
"The 21st edition of Indie Memphis Film Festival marks considerable growth for our organization, as we continue to build programs that support the development of filmmakers,” says Indie Memphis Executive Director, Ryan Watt. “Miriam Bale and Brighid Wheeler have formed arguably the richest festival slate in our history. I'm so excited to talk with the audiences and artists during this year's Indie Memphis experience."
This year’s festival should prove to be a very diverse one, as fifty percent of the films in the Narrative Competition are directed by female-identifying filmmakers and fifty percent are directed by people of color; in the Documentary Competition, forty-three percent are directed by women and seventy-one percent by people of color. In addition to films from the United States, the festival also boasts titles from Spain, France, South Korea, Israel, Germany, Australia, Zambia, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Senior Programmer Miriam Bale says, “I’m really proud of this lineup put together by our screening committee and our all-women programming team. We made an effort to seek out films that were a little wild or challenging, or that offered something we hadn’t seen in films. We also aimed to decolonize the festival film, seeking out filmmakers who were exploring their own communities whenever possible.”
The 2018 slate was unveiled publicly on the evening of September 25th at the venue Rec Room in Memphis, TN. For more information, please visit http://indiememphis.com/.
The full roster of 2018 Indie Memphis Film Festival is below
2018 Indie Memphis Film Festival Slate
Alphabetical by Category
OPENING NIGHT
MR. SOUL! (Dirs. Melissa Haizlip, Samuel D. Pollard)
Before Oprah - Before Arsenio - there was Mr. SOUL! Ellis Haizlip makes television broadcast history with SOUL!, America's first "black Tonight Show." Featuring archive footage of Sidney Poitier, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Harry Belafonte, among others. Filmmaker Melissa Haizlip in attendance.
2018, 90 min, Documentary
CENTERPIECE
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Dir. Barry Jenkins)
After her fiancé is falsely imprisoned, a pregnant young woman in Harlem sets out to clear his name and prove his innocence.
2018, 117 min, Drama
CLOSING NIGHT
SUPPORT THE GIRLS (Dir. Andrew Bujalski)
The general manager at a highway-side ''sports bar with curves" has her incurable optimism and faith, in her girls, her customers, and herself, tested over the course of a long, strange day. Filmmaker Andrew Bujalski will present “Indie Memphis Actor of the Year” award to Shayna McHayle (aka Junglepussy).
2018, 94 min, Comedy
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
CLARA’S GHOST (Dir. Bridey Elliott)
Set over the course of a single evening in the Reynolds family home in suburban Connecticut, Clara's Ghost tells the story of Clara Reynolds who, fed up with constant ribbing from her self-absorbed showbiz family, finds solace in and guidance from the supernatural force she believes is haunting her. Filmmaker Bridey Elliott in attendance. Actors Abby Elliott, Chris Elliott, and Paula Niedert Elliott in attendance.
2018, 98 min, Comedy/Drama
JINN (Dir. Nijla Mumin)
A shape-shifting, pepperoni-loving, black teenage Instagram celebrity explores her identity and sexuality in the midst of her mother's conversion to Islam. Filmmaker Nijla Mumin in attendance.
2018, 92 min, Drama
JOBE’Z WORLD (Dir. Michael Bilandic) - World Premiere
Jobe is a roller-blading delivery dude in NYC who, one endless night, delivers drugs to his favorite actor, Royce David Leslie. Filmmaker Michael Bilandic in attendance.
2018, 67 min, Comedy
NEW MONEY (Dir. Jason B. Kohl)
A struggling woman abducts her estranged father after he cuts her out of his will.
2018, 85 min, Drama/Thriller
SEPULVEDA (Dirs. Jena English, Brandon Wilson)
An existential urban road movie about three best friends who decide to drive L.A.' s longest street. Filmmaker Brandon Wilson in attendance.
2016, 82 min, Comedy/Drama
SHOOT THE MOON BETWEEN THE EYES (Dir. Graham Carter) - World Premiere
Jerry and Carl have conned their way from one small Texas town to another. The plan for their final con goes haywire when one of them falls in love with Maureen, all while there’s a bumbling P.I. out for vengeance and hot on their trail. Filmmaker Graham Carter in attendance.
2018, 73 min, Comedy/ Drama /Musical/Romance
SOLACE (Dir. Tchaiko Omawale)
A 17-year-old orphan named Sole is shipped off to her estranged grandmother (Lynn Whitfield from EVE’S BAYOU) in Ladera Heights, Los Angeles. Sole plots her escape to New York while navigating a foreign environment, new friendships and a hidden eating disorder. Filmmaker Tchaiko Omawale in attendance.
2018, 127 min, Drama
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
