Film-Forward

Pop Culture

Birth of the Living Dead

Edited, Written, Produced & Directed  by Rob Kuhns Released by First Run Features USA. 76 Minutes, Not rated Feat George Romero, Elvis Mitchell & Larry Fessenden The first thing you must know before you see this documentary about the cultural impact of 1968’s Night of the Living Dead is that it’s not necessary in the […]

I Am Divine

Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz Produced by Mr. Schwarz, Lotti Pharriss Knowles, Lance Robertson & Jon Glover Released by Automat Pictures. USA. 90 min. Not rated At Paramount, Josef von Sternberg turned Marlene Dietrich into a screen goddess. Forty years later, shoestring Baltimore filmmaker John Waters did the same, helping to mold a screen icon of […]

Shepard & Dark

Directed by Treva Wurmfeld Produced by Amy Hobby Edited by Sandra Adair Released by Music Box Films USA. 89 min. Not rated Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Academy Award nominated actor Sam Shepard accepts a proposal to publish decades-worth of correspondence between himself and best friend Johnny Dark. He looks at the opportunity as a new creative venture. […]

Harry Dean Stanton

Directed by Sophie Huber Produced by Christian Davi, Chiemi Karasawa, Christof Neracher, Thomas Thümena Released by Adopt Films Switzerland. 77 min. Not rated With Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Deborah Harry, Win Wenders, Sam Shepard & Kris Kristofferson Roger Ebert once noted that no film with character actor Harry Dean Stanton could be all that […]

My Father and the Man in Black

Written & Directed by Jonathan Holiff Produced by Holiff, Tanya Lyn Nazarec & Jennifer Phillips Released by New Chapter Productions Canada. 88 min. Not Rated My Father and the Man in Black settles two scores. One is the personal odyssey of a son, debut documentary director Jonathan Holiff, finally reconciling with the memory of his […]

When Comedy Went to School

Directed by Ron Frank & Mevlut Akkaya Produced by Lawrence Richards, Frank & Akkaya Written by Richards Released by International Film Circuit USA. 76 min. Not Rated When Comedy Went to School sometimes rises above schmaltzy nostalgia to become an informative and entertaining history of the stand-up comic. What makes it worth watching are the […]

The Secret Disco Revolution

Produced & Directed by Jamie Kastner Released by Screen Media Canada. 84 min. Not rated Were such hits as “Boogie Wonderland,” “Boogie Fever,” or “Boogie Oogie Oogie” songs of political protest? In his amicable and gossipy overview of 1970’s dance music, director Jamie Kastner poses that question to powerhouse singer Martha Walsh, forever known as […]

Big Star

Directed by Drew DeNicola Co-directed by Olivia Mori Produced by Mori & Danielle McCarthy Released by Magnolia Pictures USA. 113 min. Rated PG-13 Director Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori’s documentary rediscovers the Memphis band whose three albums all feature in Rolling Stone’s top 500, even though commercial success eluded them. It’s a story of frustrated ambition, […]

20 Feet From Stardom

Directed by Morgan Neville Produced by Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers Released by Radius-TWC USA. 90 min. Rated PG-13 With Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Tata Vega, Claudia Lennear, Gloria Jones, Lynn Maybry, Cindy Mizelle, Susaye Greene, Jo Lawry, The Waters Family, Rose Stone, Janice Pendarvis, and Mable John The first 45 […]