Pieces of April is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Hedges. Marking Hedges' directorial debut, the film stars Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Sean Hayes, Alison Pill, Oliver Platt and Patricia Clarkson. The film follows April (Holmes), as she attempts to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for her estranged family.
The Spitfire Grill is a 1996 American drama film written and directed by Lee David Zlotoff, and starring Alison Elliott, Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden, Will Patton, Kieran Mulroney and Gailard Sartain. It tells a story of a woman who was just released from prison and goes to work in a small-town café known as The Spitfire Grill.
Maria Makarena Owen, known professionally as Rena Owen, is a New Zealand actress in theatre, television and film. Owen is best known for her leading role as Beth Heke in Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors and as Taun We in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
Ondi Doane Timoner is an American filmmaker and the founder and chief executive officer of Interloper Films, a production company located in Pasadena, California.
Go Fish is a 1994 American comedy drama film written by Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche and directed by Rose Troche. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, and was the first film to be sold to a distributor, Samuel Goldwyn, during that event for $450,000. The film was released during Pride Month in June 1994 and eventually grossed $2.5 million. The film was seen as groundbreaking for celebrating lesbian culture on all levels, and it launched the career of director Troche and Turner. Go Fish is said to have proved the marketability of lesbian issues for the film industry.
Once Were Warriors is a 1994 New Zealand tragic drama film based on New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling 1990 first novel. The film tells the story of the Heke family, an urban Māori whānau living in South Auckland, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence, mostly brought on by the patriarch, Jake. It explores the detrimental effects of the colonisation of New Zealand suffered by Māori, and the survival of Māori culture against all odds.
Rooney Mara Phoenix is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Adam is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Max Mayer and starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne. The film follows the relationship between a young autistic man named Adam (Dancy), and Beth (Byrne). Mayer was inspired to write the film's script when he heard a radio interview with a man who had Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Forgetting the Girl is a 2012 American thriller drama film directed by Nate Taylor, adapted for the screen by Peter Moore Smith, from his short story of the same name. It wrapped principal photography in August 2009, finished post-production in January 2012. The film had its world premiere at the Cinequest film festival on March 2, 2012. The sold out screening was well received and critics declared the film as "a beautifully dark psychodrama", "an impressive directorial debut" which "delivers something truly original and startling".
River of Grass is a 1994 American independent film directed by Kelly Reichardt in her feature film directorial debut. Reichardt wrote the screenplay from a story by her and Jesse Hartman. It was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, and was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and four Independent Spirit Awards.
Lay the Favorite is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and written by D.V. DeVincentis, and stars Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Joshua Jackson. Based on Beth Raymer's 2010 memoir of the same name, the film follows a young, free-spirited woman as she journeys through the legal and illegal world of sports gambling.
Escape from Tomorrow is a 2013 American independent horror film written and directed by Randy Moore in his directorial debut. It tells the story of an unemployed father having increasingly bizarre experiences and disturbing visions on the last day of a family vacation at the Walt Disney World Resort. It premiered in January at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was later a personal selection of Roger Ebert, shown at his 15th annual film festival in Champaign, Illinois. The film was a 2012 official selection of the PollyGrind Film Festival, but at the time filmmakers were still working on some legal issues and asked that it not be screened.
White Bird in a Blizzard is a 2014 art drama thriller film co-produced, written, directed and edited by Gregg Araki and starring Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, and Angela Bassett. Based on the novel of the same name by Laura Kasischke, the film follows several years in the life of teenager Katrina "Kat" Connors (Woodley), beginning on the day her mother, Eve (Green), disappeared and the effect this event has on her and the people of her life, frequently alternating between the present time and flashbacks. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014 before being given a limited theatrical release on October 24, 2014.
Infinitely Polar Bear is a 2014 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Maya Forbes, and starring Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Imogene Wolodarsky, and Ashley Aufderheide. The film premiered in competition at the 30th Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. The film was released on June 19, 2015, by Sony Pictures Classics.
Two Small Bodies is an American 1977 two-character thriller play by Neal Bell.
Liar's Dice is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language road movie written and directed by Geetu Mohandas and starring Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film tells the story of a young mother from a remote village who, going in search of her missing husband, goes missing herself. The film examines the human cost of migration to cities and the exploitation of migrant workers.
Certain Women is a 2016 American drama film edited, written, and directed by Kelly Reichardt. Based on "Native Sandstone", "Travis, B." and "Tome"—three short stories from Maile Meloy's collections Half in Love and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It—it stars Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams, Lily Gladstone, James Le Gros, and Jared Harris.
Searching is a 2018 American screenlife mystery thriller film directed by Aneesh Chaganty in his feature debut, written by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Set entirely on computer screens and smartphones, the film follows a father trying to find his missing 16-year-old daughter with the help of a police detective. This was the first mainstream Hollywood thriller headlined by an Asian-American actor.
CODA is a 2021 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. An English-language remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film La Famille Bélier, it stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, the child of deaf adults (CODA) and only hearing member of her family, who attempts to help her family's struggling fishing business while pursuing her aspirations to become a singer.
Hive is a 2021 Kosovan drama film written and directed by Blerta Basholli in her directorial debut. The film stars Yllka Gashi, Çun Lajçi and Aurita Agushi. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021 and became the first film in Sundance history to win all three main awards – the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award – in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. It was selected as the Kosovan entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
