After theatrical releases, The Story Won’t Die will have a worldwide Video on Demand on June 21, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
The Story Won’t Die, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since World War II. Sundance Award-winning producer Odessa Rae produces the film. (The Story Won’t Die, 2022)
Rapper Abu Hajar, together with other celebrated creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi and Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam and Diala Brisly), use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war.
The Story Won’t Die was released theatrically in Los Angeles last Friday and will be released in New York today, June 17, 2022. A worldwide Video On Release on major platforms will follow on June 21, timed to World Refugee Day. Video On Demand platforms include Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google TV, Vimeo, and more.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Watch Docs, and many more. WINNER! Best Director at Doc LA and Best Feature Doc at FIC Autor Guadalajara.
David Henry Gerson is a filmmaker whose work has won prizes from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Film Festival, and has been acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the American Film Institute, where he was the recipient of the AFI Richard P. Rodgers Award for Creative Excellence. His film, All These Voices, won the Student Academy Award®. David’s spec screenplay, Above Kings, was nominated to the Tracking Board Hit List and was a semifinalist for the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. His documentary film Ultra Violet for Sixteen Minutes, screened at festivals worldwide, the Pompidou Museum in Paris, and was acquired into the permanent collection of the MoMA. The Story Won’t Die is his debut feature.
Feature Documentary/ Not Yet Rated / Running Time: 83 Minutes Country: USA/GERMANY Director: David Henry Gerson Producer: Odessa Rae Co-Producers: Abdalaziz Alhamza, Colleen Ritzau Leth and Martin Marquet Featuring: Medhat Aldaabal, Tammam Azzam, Diala Brisly, Abu Hajar, Bahila Hijazi, Omar Imam, Lynn Mayya, Anas Maghrebi, and Mhd Sabboura.
We Banjo 3 appeals to fans of bluegrass, Celtic, and Americana music. Open The Road will be out July 15, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Traditional Irish music and traditional American music share a lot of similarities in instrumentation, lyrical content, and community participation. Still, there are a surprisingly few number of acts who straddle that musical gap across the Atlantic—and even fewer who have made a decade-long, award-winning career out of it like Galway-based quartet We Banjo 3. Containing two sets of two brothers—Enda & Fergal Scahill, and David & Martin Howley—We Banjo 3 have built their legacy on seamlessly combining the virtuosity and precision in each genre’s traditional disciplines with the artful song-craft and infectious live performance of today’s musical landscape. Their upcoming album Open The Road—out July 15—meets on the corner of complex-but-nimble instrumentation and magnetic, well-crafted songs; a combination of which their fans have been enjoying from studio to stage since the band first landed on American shores ten years ago. (We Banjo 3, 2022)
We Banjo 3 shared the first track from Open The Road, the driving jig-turned-indie pop love song, “Hummingbird.” First conceptualized in March 2020 during the great lockdown, David Howley had ample free time. David and his Nashville roommate Scott Mulvahill, an accomplished musician in his own right, spent time in Scott’s home-studio to lay down some new songs. “We had a house full of instruments, microphones, coffee and whiskey, so we did what we could to stay sane,” Howley remembers. Having mentioned to Mulvahill that he had a tune he liked but that needed it still needed to be finished, Mulvahill replied while tearing open a new bag of coffee beans, “Well let’s finish it then!”
Fast-forward to almost two years later, We Banjo 3 finished tracking “Hummingbird” and it landed in the lead-off spot on Open The Road. In addition to the guest musicians who contributed to the initial session—Danny Young on drums and Josh Shilling on keys—The Infamous Stringdusters’ Andy Hall plays his dobro on the final track. Fans can hear “Hummingbird” right now at this link and pre-order or pre-save Open The Road ahead of its July 15 release right here.
We Banjo 3 shares a musical intimacy that emanates in the rolling banjos, soaring fiddle and mandolin runs, and bright and vibrant guitar strums that swirl around propulsive vocals and perfect harmonies. On their new album, Open The Road, it’s the band’s prolific tune-writing skills, and their inciting lyrics that are somehow ubiquitous and intimate all at once, that pull the listener in. Buoyed by musical virtuosity and well-crafted song structure, their complex instrumentation feels nimble and willowy, shaping a contended and canny listening experience. The album’s ten tracks offer up the infectious melodies and musical brilliance fans have come to expect from We Banjo 3, and introduces the band to an even wider swath of music fans at festivals across the U.S. and the world.
Open The Road track list: Hummingbird Garden Song Long Way Down Heart In Hand Open The Road Rialto Gift Of Life The First Second Gentleman Alive With You Believe In Us
Catch We Banjo 3 on tour: June 17 – Dayton, OH – Levitt Pavilion June 18 – Lakeside, OH – Lakeside Chautauqua: Hoover Auditorium June 19 – Charleston, WV – Mountain Stage (Culture Center Theater) June 23 – Memphis, TN – Overton Park Shell (formerly Levitt Shell) June 24 – Owensboro, KY – ROMP 2022 July 16 – Oak Hill, NY – Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival 2022 July 19 – Rockport, MA – Shalin Liu Performance Center July 20 – Natick, MA – Center For Arts In Natick July 29 – Ventura, CA – Ventura Music Festival 2022 July 30 – Denver, CO – Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox July 31 – Lyons, CO – RockyGrass Festival 2022 August 1 – Crested Butte, CO – Center for the Arts Crested Butte August 3 – Portsmouth, OH – Vern Riffe Center for the Arts August 5-7 – Dublin, OH – Dublin Irish Fest 2022 August 9-10 – Bethlehem, PA – MUSIKFEST August 12 – St. Paul, MN – Irish Fair of Minnesota 2022 August 13 – La Crosse, WI – IrishFest La Crosse 2022 August 14 – St. Paul, MN – Irish Fair of Minnesota 2022 August 19 – 21 – Milwaukee, WI – Milwaukee Irish Fest September 2-4 – Kansas City, MO – Kansas City Irish Festival 2022 October 21 – Frederick, MD – Weinberg Center For The Arts October 22 – Manteo, NC – Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival
2023 (Rescheduled) Tour Dates: January 27 – Sacramento, CA – The Sofia January 29 – Berkeley, CA – Freight & Salvage February 1 – Flagstaff, AZ – Orpheum Theater February 2 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre February 3 – Wickenburg, AZ – Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts February 4 – Chandler, AZ – Chandler Center for the Arts
‘Down to the River’ is Anne Whitney Pierce’s new novel. Photo: amazon
Anne Whitney Pierce is a life-long Cantabrigian and the author of two books, “Galaxy Girls: Wonder Women” (1993) and “Rain Line.” (2000) She has taught in the graduate writing program at Emerson College in Boston. Her short fiction has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, The Chattahoochee Review, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kansas Quarterly, Crosscurrents, TheSouthern Review, among others. Her work has been included in the O’Henry Prize Story Collection and has won several awards, including the Nelson Algren Award, the Willa Cather Fiction Prize, the Paterson Fiction Prize, New Voices Award and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. Her new book “Down to the River” is a family saga set in the late 1960s in Cambridge, Massachusetts against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. (amazon, 2022)
“Down to the River” – Whitney Pierce has set this novel in a time similarly turbulent to our own. It tells the story of how the Potts family, bred from privilege, falls to their knees amongst the revelries, riots, and raging uncertainty of the 60s. It is a family that hides deep secrets, as dark and murky as the Charles River which divides Cambridge and Boston. The town of Cambridge is a city so storied and distinct it becomes a living, breathing character.
Twin brothers, Nash and Remi Potts, have grown up as entitled, Harvard-educated, golden boys, heirs to an old, but dwindling family fortune. With the passage of time, the gold veneer of prosperity begins to chip away, and their lives begin to falter. It is 1968, and they are in their mid-forties and partners in a sporting goods store in Harvard Square. The twins’ marriages are in trouble. Their youngest children, Chickie and Hen, are coming of age during the turbulent urban wilderness of the late 1960s— school bomb threats, racial tensions, war protests and demonstrations at Harvard and beyond. With all hell breaking loose at home, and any semblance of “parenting” hanging ragged in the wind, the two cousins are left largely to their own devices. Suddenly freed from old rules and restrictions, they head out onto the streets of Cambridge, which become their concrete playground, tumbling headlong into a world of politics, sex, drugs, rock and roll.
‘We Were Dreamers’ is Simu Liu’s new memoir; now available everywhere. Photo: google
Simu Liuis an actor and writer best known for his work on Marvel Studios’ Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, in five seasons of the beloved family sitcom Kim’s Convenience, and for manifesting his dreams into existence with a Tweet. He wishes he had tweeted for something a bit better – like world peace, or for his parents to finally say “I love you.” His new book “We Were Dreamers” is more than a celebrity memoir – it is a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family, and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstance. (Barnes and Noble, 2022)
“We Were Dreamers”– The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime. In this honest, inspiring and relatable memoir, newly-minted superhero Simu Liu chronicles his family’s journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with razor-sharp wit and humor.
Simu’s parents left him in the care of his grandparents, then brought him to Canada when he was four. Life as a Canuck, however, is not all that it was cracked up to be; Simu’s new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings. His parents, on the other hand, find their new son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to – although they are related by blood, they are separated by culture, language, and values.
As Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious child flawlessly – he gets straight As, crushes national math competitions and makes his parents proud. But as time passes, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the path that has been laid out for him. Less than a year out of college, at the tender age of 22, his life hits rock bottom when he is laid off from his first job as an accountant. Left to his own devices, and with nothing left to lose, Simu embarks on a journey that will take him far outside of his comfort zone into the world of show business. Through a swath of rejection and comical mishaps, Simu’s determination to carve out a path for himself leads him to not only succeed as an actor, but also to open the door to reconciling with his parents.
The Black Phone, from Joe Hill’s ’20th Century Ghosts’ has been adapted into a movie and will be released in theaters on June 24, 2022. Photo: amazon
Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels “The Fireman,” “NOS4A2,” “Horns,” and “Heart-Shaped Box;” “Strange Weather,” a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections “Full Throttle” and “20th Century Ghosts.” He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, “Locke & Key.” Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), and In the Tall Grass (Netflix). The Black Phone is a short story in his “20th Century Ghosts” collection and has been adapted into a major motion picture from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. It stars Ethan Hawke and will be released in theaters on Friday June 24, 2022. (amazon, 2022)
The Black Phone – Jack Finney is thirteen, alone, and in desperate trouble. For two years now, someone has been stalking the boys of Galesberg, stealing them away, never to be seen again. And now, Finney finds himself in danger of joining them: locked in a psychopath’s basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children.
With him in his subterranean cell is an antique phone, long since disconnected . . . but it rings at night anyway, with calls from the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
“The Black Phone” is one of fifteen stories in Joe Hill’s first story collection, originally published as 20th Century Ghosts—the inventive and chilling compendium that established this award-winning, critically acclaimed, and bestselling author as “a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction” (Washington Post).
A Town Full of Ghosts’ digital release date is June 17, 2022. Photo: google
For fans of ‘found footage’ horror movies: Some towns should stay forgotten. This June, travel to Blackwood Falls. From filmmaker Isaac Rodriguez, A Town Full of Ghosts premieres on digital platforms June 17. (A Town Full of Ghosts, 2022)
A Town Full of Ghosts– Mark and his wife Jenna sell everything they have to purchase a western ghost town in the middle of nowhere called Blackwood Falls. They plan to turn the ghost town into a tourist attraction with hotels, restaurants, and attractions. They hire a small film crew to document their journey and upload the videos to their video channel. When funding falls through, they find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere. Things take a twist when Mark discovers the town has a horrible history of death. He secretly digs deeper into the past and stumbles upon something evil.
Tensions start to rise when one of the film crew goes missing, and everyone finds themselves trapped in the town. Jenna comes up with a plan to escape, but Mark begins to lose his mind and takes matters into his own hands. Jenna makes one last attempt to escape the town. She gets lost in the wooden maze while something evil goes after her. She must escape or become an eternal resident in Blackwood Falls.
Andrew C. Fisher, Mandy Lee Rubio, Lauren Lox, Sarah Froelich, Isaac Rodriguez, Keekee Suki, and Vania Vasquez star in an Isaac Rodriguez film,
“After visiting the J. Lorraine, TX, ghost Town in Austin, TX, I was immediately inspired to make my next film there. The town was actually all built by the current owner. Some of the buildings were very small and looked fake, but I knew I could incorporate that into the story. A few months back, I saw a YouTuber who sold everything and moved into a real ghost town in California. I wanted to use that basic idea with a married couple and add a The Shining vibe to it.” – writer/director Isaac Rodriguez
Times Square subway closed in Emmett Adler’s End of the Line. Photo: Gravitas Ventures, used with permission.
Award-winning filmmaker Emmett Adler’s feature documentary End of the Line is a character-driven political drama about the New York City subway crisis and a long overdue reckoning on infrastructure. End of the Line will be released on digital and video on demand platforms in the United States on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (Gravitas Ventures, 2022)
Video on demand platforms include Apple/iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Vudu, Microsoft, and more.
End of the Line – Establishing the vital economic importance and grandeur of New York City’s historic subway system, the film dives into its dire modern-day troubles picking up in the late 2010s when flooding, overcrowding, power failures, and derailments have become commonplace. After a particularly bad spate of disasters in the summer of 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaims a state of emergency and hires a new international wunderkind executive named Andy Byford to save the subways. Byford, an earnest Briton with an impressive resume, enters as a charismatic would-be hero. As the political turmoil behind the subway’s decline comes into sharp focus, scenes in barbershops, bodegas, and bakeries show the frustration and devastation among business owners and residents who are caught in the middle.
Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic furthers this, and brings to light America’s need to shore up its infrastructure in cities across the country and the inequality struggles that are central to this debate. A heartfelt and scrupulous exploration, this film poses the question: what happens when the lifeline of a city goes flat? This film is dedicated to the heroic New York City transit workers who lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive Producer: Emmett Adler, Ian Mayer Producers: Emmett Adler, Ian Mayer; Co-Producer Mariah Wilson Official selection: Doc NYC
Feature Documentary/ Not Yet Rated / Running Time: 65 Minutes
Emmett Adler is an Emmy-winning filmmaker who has taught art in Shenzhen, China, was once a chess champion in the state of Illinois and can juggle pins while walking on stilts. He has over a decade of experience as a freelance documentary and commercial film editor. In 2021, he made his directorial debut with the feature documentary End of the Line which premiered to sold out audiences at DOC NYC film festival.
Gravitas Ventures is a leading all rights distributor of independent feature films and documentaries. Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe. Working with talented directors and producers, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films into over a hundred million homes in North America – over one billion homes worldwide.
The Local Honeys, Kentucky’s favorite duo, will release their self-titled album with La Honda Records on July 15, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
When a master songsmith like Tom T. Hall calls someone “a great credit to a wonderful Kentucky tradition,” it is time to pull up a chair and pay attention. As it pertains to the nearly-decade-running duo The Local Honeys, he was right on the money. The duo—Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs—have long been an integral part of Kentucky’s musicscape, and on July 15, they will be adding a new entry into the Bluegrass State’s rich musical canon. Their first release on La Honda Records (Colter Wall, Riddy Arman, Vincent Neil Emerson), The Local Honeys features ten winsome vignettes of rural Kentucky, conjuring 90’s alternatives sounds with hillbilly Radiohead lilts, soaring above layers of deep grooves and rich tones masterfully curated by longtime mentor Jesse Wells, a GRAMMY-nominated producer, musician (currently a member of Tyler Childers’ band The Food Stamps), and Assistant Director at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State. (The Local Honeys, 2022)
The Local Honeys shared their first taste of the new album with “Dead Horses,” an emotional look at the tragedy of animal husbandry. With lines like “Suppose we’re all just animals with slightly different hides,” Stokely displays a cut and dried existence on the farm and the world at large while drums and banjo meld together propelling the tune from verse to verse. The accompanying music video finds Stokley and Hobbs surrounded by nostalgic photos of their equine counterparts, contributed by the band’s fanbase, adding weight to the meaning of the song itself. The “Dead Horses” video is available hereand fans can pre-order or pre-save The Local Honeys ahead of its July 15 release at this link.
Over the years, The Local Honeys have paid their dues, garnering countless accolades and accomplishments (tours with Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, praise from the New York Times), and have become the defining sound of real deal, honest-to-god Kentucky music. With The Local Honeys, Stokley and Hobbs ended up with the most nuanced, moody, deep-holler sound they have captured to date. “This is the first time we’ve actively gotten to express who we are and where we’re from” says Linda Jean, “The songs on the album speak for us,” adds Montana “they’re about what we know, reflections of us as people. We realized we have the power to add our own narrative into Kentucky music.”
Throughout The Local Honeys, the duo demands to be interpreted as creators and storytellers, not just purveyors of tradition. Similarly, the sounds captured within the project cement their place as innovators and rule-breakers. Rollicking banjo meets overdriven guitar hooks and blue-collar rural grit is met with lush melodies and nimble harmonies; it is a project filled with juxtaposition and it is not by accident. It is reflective of who they are and who they run with. Wells, along with the rest of Childers’ band The Food Stamps – Rod Elkins (percussion) Craig Burletic (bass) and Josh Nolan (guitar) from Clay City, Kentucky, all lent their expertise and signature groove as collaborators during the session creating a fluidity, warmth, and cohesion that can only be created through friendship.
The songs on The Local Honeys speak to a new generation, a new Appalachian, the people who understand the beauty, the struggle, and the complexity of contemporary Appalachian life. In “The Ballad of Frank and Billy Buck,” Hobbs describes the grace, humor, and irony of an aging hillbilly leading up to the final moments of his unjust demise. Or there is “If I Could Quit,” a song that grapples with the horrors of the ongoing opiate epidemic and the guttural pain of watching a friend deteriorate through addiction. Pride and sense of place run deep in songs like “Throw Me in the Thicket (When I Die),” a love letter about Linda’s family orchard in Central Kentucky. Playful colloquialisms and regional idiosyncrasies also permeate throughout the record as illustrated in “Better Than I Deserve,” a song built around an informal greeting Montana’s Papaw used throughout her childhood. The album is rounded out with “The L & N Don’t Stop Here No More,” (the only cover on the record written by Appalachian royalty and kin to Hobbs, Jean Ritchie) a song highlighting the hardships of post-coal communities painting an all too familiar scene of contemporary rural Appalachia. Reflecting upon these songs Linda notes, “Songwriting can freeze people in time like a photograph, preserving little nuances particular to specific cultures and I love that.”
Catch The Local Honeys on tour: June 10 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre July 10 – Crossville, TN – Byrd’s Creek Music Festival July 15- Nashville, TN- The Basement (album release show) July 17- Knoxville, TN- Barley’s Taproom July 19- Asheville, NC- The Grey Eagle July 20- Decatur, GA- Eddie’s Attic July 21- Memphis, TN- Hernando’s Hideaway July 22- St. Louis, MO- Off Broadway July 23- Kansas City, MO- Knucklehead’s July 26- Denver, CO- Lost Lake Lounge July 28- Red Lodge, MT- One Legged Magpie July 29- Emigrant, MT- The Old Saloon July 30- White Sulphur Springs, MT- Red Ants Pants Festival July 31- Bozeman, MT- Live from the Divide
Jaret Ray Reddick’s Just Woke Up is available now. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Critically-acclaimed Texas musician Jaret Ray Reddick’s debut country album, Just Woke Up (Brando Records/Que-So Records), is now available worldwide. Just Woke Up is a sincere love letter to Texas and pays homage to the greats before him while giving a refreshing, unique spin on the genre, with one example being his single “One Of The Good Ones,” which blends elements of both country and rock. Written by Reddick alongside Zac Maloy, the track is now at Texas Country Radio and is currently climbing the charts. (Jaret Ray Reddick, 2022)
“Making this album is a long time coming for me. And part of all of that was being able to write songs from the heart and not hold back. ‘One Of The Good Ones’ is a song written with a few folks in mind and how much they mean to me. Friends are rampant in life. But, sometimes, we are lucky enough to find those folks that not only make us better people but can also soften the blows that take the wind out of us.” – Jaret Ray Reddick
Jaret Ray Reddick might be a name you recognize, but his voice is one that pretty much everyone will know, whether it is from being the singer of pop-punk pioneers Bowling for Soup with hits like “1985,” “Girl All The Bad Guys,” or “High School Never Ends,” to voicing Chuck E Cheese or singing the theme to Disney’s long-running hit series Phineas and Ferb.
Born in Grapevine and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas, Reddick’s country roots run deep as his pride for the Lone Star State. His parents were Country music fans, and Willie, Waylon, and other classic country artists were on regular rotation at home. Music from fellow Texan The Red Headed Stranger and his outlaw friends would prove vital in his development as a musician and remain a crucial rock throughout his career.
Those familiar with his work as the front man of Grammy-nominated pop-punk band Bowling for Soup will find a familiar voice and sense of humor in the music and lyrics. The album features some special guests, most notably one of Reddick’s favorite musicians and good friend Frank Turner, who lends his vocals on “Drunk as It Takes.” There is also a cameo by Uncle Kracker on the album opener “Way More Country,” Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton performs on “Natalie,” and Cody Canada of The Departed appears on “You and Beer.”
Other highlights include the home state anthem “Songs About Texas,” the family tribute “Royal Family,” and “One of the Good Ones.” There are also country re-workings of two of Bowling for Soup’s most popular songs, “Ohio (Come Back to Texas)” and “The Bitch Song,” which are likely to please fans old and new alike.
Just Woke Up track list:
“Way More Country” (feat. Uncle Kracker) (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy
“One of the Good Ones” (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy
“Songs About Texas” (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy
“Ohio” (Come Back to Texas)” (Jaret Ray Reddick, Ted E Bruner, Zac Maloy
“Royal Family” (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy)
“Doggonit!” (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy
“Drunk as It Takes” (feat. Frank Turner) (Jaret Ray Reddick, Rodney Clawson, Zac Maloy
“You and Beer” (feat. Cody Canada) (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy
“Natalie” (feat. Stephen Egerton) (Charles R Jones
“My Truck Up and Left Me” (Jaret Ray Reddick, Zac Maloy
Francesco Chen and Yu Chieh Chiu in Neysan Sobhani’s GUIDANCE. Photo, Good Deed Entertainment, used with permission.
The movie Guidance, directed by Neysan Sobhani and starring Sun Jia (Han Miao), Harry Song (Mai Zi Xuan) and Francesco Chen (Su Jie) will be released in the US on Video On Demand June 17 on all major platforms including Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, XFinity Cable, and more. (Good Deed Entertainment, 2022)
Guidance – In the not-too-distant future, humanity slowly rebuilds itself a decade after The Great War. Believing that the ability to lie is the root cause of the devastating conflict, a tech entrepreneur creates a pill containing a nanotechnology app known as “Guidance” that allegedly will make everyone more enlightened. Once swallowed, an A.I. “installs” in the person’s nervous system and aids their ability to detect deception in other people among other enhancements. A young couple goes on a weekend retreat to the countryside and they begin to use Guidance. However, recent events have potentially compromised their trust in one another. With the tech in their bodies, the couple tries to subvert Guidance in the hopes of saving their relationship before it’s too late.
China, 2021, 93 minutes, In Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles
Writer/Director Neysan Sobhani is an award-winning writer and director making short films and now his feature debut, Guidance, in Asia. Raised in Asia and North America and at times officially stateless, his identity was shaped by the diverse places he lived, having fled war and conflict twice while young.
As a diaspora filmmaker, Sobhani’s films have flavors of Asian and Western cinema, with his short films appearing in over 40 international film festivals around the world. Reframing audience perceptions of Chinese films through a blended genre approach, his feature film, Guidance (2021), was released in cinemas across China in late 2021.
Good Deed Entertainment (GDE) is an Ohio based independent studio dedicated to producing, financing, and distributing quality entertainment for under-served audiences. Its distribution slate includes recent releases Summertime, Ma Belle, My Beauty, and Lucky Grandma, in addition to the Academy Award nominated Loving Vincent and Spirit Award nominated To Dust.
Photo: Good Deed Entertainment, used with permission.
SA Examiner 