The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) has announced the February — May lineup for its year-round “Screen Forward” series: Four films from female filmmakers will be highlighted, focusing on wide-ranging topics such as a sexual surrogate and unmotivated grad students. Viewers will have the chance to check out Approaching the Elephant, directed by Amanda Rose Wilder, She’s Lost Control, directed by Anja Marquardt, I Believe in Unicorns, directed by Leah Meyerhoff, and L for Leisure, directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn.
“Screen Forward” is a monthly program curated by the IFP and provides the chosen self-distributed and micro-distributed features a one-week theatrical run at the MADE in NY Media Center in Brooklyn. The recent initiative was launched with the goal of providing “unique cinematic experiences to content creators and the public. Each “Screen Forward” release is accompanied by a post-screening Q&A with the creator(s) and many films are programmed with concurrent special events.”
“At IFP we are constantly working with emerging artists and filmmakers to engage and build new audiences that will champion their work on a long-term basis,” noted Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “To do this for such an excellent group of filmmakers — four of the five of them being female filmmakers — and to provide them with a unique opportunity in the release of their films demonstrates how perfectly Screen Forward represents IFP’s mission.”
See below for dates and descriptions of the films (courtesy of the IFP). For more information on tickets, you can visit the Screen Forward webpage.
February 20 — February 26: APPROACHING THE ELEPHANT (Dir. Amanda Rose Wilder)
Amanda Rose Wilder’s acclaimed feature debut dives head first into the inaugural year at Teddy McArdle Free School in New Jersey where all classes are voluntary and rules are created by democratic vote. Wilder is there from the beginning to end of the school year, documenting and observing founder Alex Khost and an indelible cast of outspoken young personalities as they form relationships, explore their surroundings and intensely debate rule violations, until it all comes to a head. Evoking the immersive nonfiction styles of Frederick Wiseman and Allen King, APPROACHING THE ELEPHANT is a rare, inspired portrait of unfettered childhood.
This startling documentary had its world premiere at the 2014 True/False Film Festival and was recently nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award. It also was named one of the Best Undistributed Films of the Year by Film Comment. Director Amanda Rose Wilder is an alumnus of the IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs.
March 20 — March 26: SHE’S LOST CONTROL (Dir. Anja Marquardt, Cast: Brooke Bloom, Marc Menchaca)
SHE’S LOST CONTROL centers on Ronah, a sexual surrogate in New York City who teachers her clients about the very thing they fear most: intimacy. Her life unravels when she starts working with a volatile new client, Johnny, blurring the thin line between professional and personal intimacy in the modern world.
Marquardt’s debut feature had its world premiere at the 2014 Berlinale and went on to screen at New Directors/New Films and SXSW. The film was recently nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay. The film is being released by Monument Releasing.
March 27 — April 2: I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS (Dir. Leah Meyerhoff, Cast: Natalia Dyer, Peter Vack, Julia Garner, Amy Seimetz)
I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS tells the story of Davina, a strong-willed and imaginative teenage girl who escapes into a beautifully twisted fantasy life. As the sole caretaker of her disabled mother, Davina grew up too fast. Now, she looks for salvation in a relationship with a young man and is swept into a whirlwind of romance and adventure. But, the enchantment of her new relationship begins to fade as the young man’s volatile side comes to light.
Meyerhoff’s debut feature had its world premiere at SXSW 2014. Director Meyerhoff is an alumnus of the IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs & IFP Independent Film Week. The film is being released by Gravitas Ventures.
May 15 — May 21: L FOR LEISURE (Co-directors Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, Cast: Gabriel Abrantes, Benjamin Coopersmith)
L FOR LEISURE is an impressionistic, episodic comedy about laziness, wandering, and wasting time. Set to the rhythms of the school-year calendar, Kalman and Horn’s sophomore feature tracks the changes to the collected spirit of a group of graduate students through 1992–93 as they go on various vacations. In Its focus on highly thoughtful but somehow clueless characters, L FOR LEISURE is an homage to the 90’s films of directors like Hal Hartley, Whit Stillman, and Eric Rohmer.
The film had its world premiere at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam and went on to screen at BAMCinemaFest. It also screened at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the series Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You. Kalman and Horn were also featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2014.
