Women-centric and -helmed film will not be slowing down in April; the month is set to be filled with interesting and varied projects hitting VOD and streaming platforms, ranging from dread-inducing horror films to intimate and honest depictions of the complex inner lives of teenage girls.
Launching on VOD April 3, “The Other Lamb” follows Selah (Raffey Cassidy), a teenager who has lived her entire life in a remote commune alongside other young women and their leader, a controlling man called Shepherd (Michael Huisman). When Selah begins to experience disturbing nightmares, she comes to question everything she knows about the cult she was born into and the man who leads it.
In Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (April 3), teenaged Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) finds herself pregnant and without support, with the exception of her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder). Together, the girls head to New York City so Autumn can have an abortion. Similarly, “To the Stars” (April 24) follows reclusive teen Iris (Kara Hayward) in her claustrophobic and religious Oklahoma town in the 1960s. She finds friendship in fellow teen Maggie (Liana Liberato), but when Maggie’s past catches up with her, their community is drastically impacted and Iris is forced to stand up for herself.
“Selah and The Spades,” which hits Amazon Prime April 17, offers an equally harsh look into teenage girlhood: writer-director Tayarisha Poe’s film chronicles the underground life of students at a prestigious boarding school, where factions dominate social lives, and Selah (Lovie Simone) sits at the very top of the most powerful group: The Spades.
Arriving April 14, Robin Hauser’s documentary “Bias” explores the various biases we as humans automatically form, and how they define our society. Similarly based on true events and dealing with the ramifications of discrimination, “Tape” (April 10), written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier, tells the story of two aspiring actresses (Annarosa Mudd and Isabelle Fuhrman) who experience the entertainment industry’s mistreatment of women.
Here are the women-centric, women-directed, and women-written films debuting this April. All descriptions are from press materials unless otherwise noted.
April 3
“The Other Lamb” – Directed by Małgorzata Szumowska; Written by Catherine S. McMullen (Available on VOD)
“The Other Lamb”
For her entire life, the cult she was born into has been all that teenage Selah (Raffey Cassidy) has known. Along with a band of similarly cloistered young women she lives seemingly unstuck in time, cut off from modern society in a remote forest commune presided over by a man called Shepherd (Michiel Huisman), a controlling, messiah-like figure with a frightening dark side. But when her insular world is rocked by a series of nightmarish visions and disturbing revelations, Selah begins to question everything about her existence — including her allegiance to the increasingly dangerous Shepherd. Awash in images of primal, dreamlike dread, this provocative fable is a haunting vision of adolescent awakening and revolt.
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” – Written and Directed by Eliza Hittman (Available on VOD)
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”: Angal Field/Focus Features
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery, and compassion.
“Lazy Susan” – Written by Carrie Aizley, Darlene Hunt, and Sean Hayes (Available on VOD)
Susan (Sean Hayes) has always been the self-centered oddball in her family, who lazily skated through life with their grudging support until one day she wakes up to realize she’s middle-aged with no job, no relationship, and an increasingly estranged family. She finally decides to take charge and turn things around, but never having done anything herself before, the struggle is real — and hilarious — as Susan becomes the woman she always wanted to be, all on her own.
April 10
“Sea Fever” – Written and Directed by Neasa Hardiman (Available on VOD)
Siobhán (Hermione Corfield) is a marine biology student who prefers spending her days alone in a lab. She has to endure a week on a ragged fishing trawler, where she’s miserably at odds with the close-knit crew. But out in the deep Atlantic, an unfathomable life form ensnares the boat. When members of the crew succumb to a strange infection, Siobhán must overcome her alienation and anxiety to win the crew’s trust, before everyone is lost.
“Stray Dolls” – Directed by Sonejuhi Sinha; Written by Sonejuhi Sinha and Charlotte Rabate (Available on VOD)
“Stray Dolls”
“Stray Dolls” tells the story of Riz (Geetanjali Thapa), a former gang member starting over in America as a maid in a motel owned by Uno (Cynthia Nixon), who runs the joint with her drug-dealing son. It’s not long before the motel’s other employees and guests pull her back into a life she preferred to leave behind.
“Tape” – Written and Directed by Deborah Kampmeier (Available on VOD)
“Tape”
Based on true events and set in New York City, “Tape” is the story of two aspiring actresses (Isabelle Fuhrman and Annarosa Mudd) who cross paths with the darker side of the entertainment industry. “Tape” addresses burning societal curiosities, taking the audience into the room where questionable behavior goes unseen, finally answering the question, “How could this kind of thing happen?” The film is a visceral moment-by-moment unveiling of the way ambitious and everyday women are systematically coerced and taken advantage of.
“The Lost Husband” – Written and Directed by Vicky Wight (Available on VOD)
After the sudden death of her husband, Libby (Leslie Bibb) is forced to move in with her hypercritical mother. Out of the blue, her estranged Aunt Jean (Nora Dunn) offers an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road. Life on Aunt Jean’s goat farm is more wonderful and more mysterious than Libby could have imagined. Beyond the animals and the strenuous work, there is quiet — deep, country quiet. But there is also a shaggy, gruff farm manager with a tragic home life, a feed-store clerk who claims she can contact her husband “on the other side,” and the eccentric aunt she never really knew but who turns out to be exactly who she needs.
“Trolls World Tour” – Written by Maya Forbes, Elizabeth Tippet, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jonathan Aibel, and Glenn Berger (Available on VOD)
Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) discover that they are but one of six different Troll tribes scattered over six different lands devoted to six different kinds of music: Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop, and Rock. Their world is about to get a lot bigger and a whole lot louder. A member of hard-rock royalty, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), aided by her father, King Thrash (Ozzy Osbourne), wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let rock reign supreme. With the fate of the world at stake, Poppy and Branch, along with their friends, set out to visit all the other lands to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb, who’s looking to upstage them all.
April 14
“Bias” (Documentary) – Directed by Robin Hauser (Available on VOD)
The toxic effects of bias make headlines every day: sexual harassment, racial profiling, the pay gap. As humans, we are biased. Yet few of us are willing to admit it. We confidently make snap judgments, but we are shockingly unaware of the impact our assumptions have on those around us. Documentary feature “Bias” follows filmmaker Robin Hauser on a journey to uncover her hidden biases and explore how unconscious bias defines relationships, workplaces, our justice system, and technology. “Bias” contemplates the most pressing question: Can we de-bias our brains?
April 17
“Selah and The Spades” – Written and Directed by Tayarisha Poe (Available on Amazon Prime)
“Selah and The Spades”
Five factions run the underground life of the prestigious Haldwell boarding school. At the head of the most powerful faction – The Spades – sits Selah Summers (Lovie Simone). By turns charming and callous, she chooses whom to keep close and whom to cut loose, walking the fine line between being feared and loved.
“Abe” – Written by Lameece Isaaq and Jacob Kader (Available on VOD)
Twelve-year-old Abe (Noah Schnapp) is an aspiring chef who wants his cooking to bring people together — but his half-Israeli, half-Palestinian family has never had a meal that didn’t end in a fight. Ditching his traditional summer camp, Abe begins working with Chico (Seu Jorge), an adventurous street chef who encourages him to think outside his old cuisines. But when Abe’s deceit is uncovered, he must grapple with his family, his background, and his passions, and whether even the most lovingly-cooked family dinner can heal old wounds.
“Bad Therapy” – Written by Nancy Doyne (Available on VOD)
Married couple Bob and Susan Howard (Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone) decide to see a marriage counselor named Judy Small (Michaela Watkins), who recently relocated close to their home in Los Angeles. When Bob and Susan first meet Judy, she appears competent, intelligent, and trustworthy, with a track record of other couples that she’s treated successfully without incident. But Bob and Susan’s particular emotional dynamic is a trigger for Judy’s dark and conflicted impulses. Suggesting that she see them separately, Judy subtly puts them at odds with one another and brings their marriage to the breaking point in a comically escalating series of manipulations.
“Behind You” (Available on VOD)
Two young sisters, sent to live with their estranged aunt, find that all the mirrors in her house are covered or hidden. When one of the sisters happens upon a mirror in the basement, she unknowingly releases a malicious demon that had haunted her mother and aunt years ago.
April 24
“To the Stars” – Directed by Martha Stephens; Written by Shannon Bradley-Colleary (Available on VOD)
“To the Stars”: Sundance Institute
In a god-fearing small town in 1960s Oklahoma, bespectacled and reclusive teen Iris (Kara Hayward) endures the booze-induced antics of her mother and daily doses of bullying from her classmates. She finds solace in Maggie (Liana Liberato), the charismatic and enigmatic new girl at school, who hones in on Iris’ untapped potential and coaxes her out of her shell. When Maggie’s mysterious past can no longer be suppressed, the tiny community is thrown into a state of panic, leaving Maggie to take potentially drastic measures and inciting Iris to stand up for her friend and herself.
