KUCI: Film School Mike Kaspar

In Marija Kavtaradze’s latest film, SLOW, contemporary dancer Elena meets Dovydas when he is assigned to interpret via sign language in a class she is teaching to deaf youth. Their connection is immediate, kinetic, and frictionless. As they gravitate toward each other, resisting the forces and interventions of their separate daily lives, their bond deepens from platonic to romantic. When Dovydas discloses his asexuality, the couple commits themselves to honoring their individual needs in tandem. As they continue to weave more tightly together, they struggle to negotiate sacrifice and compromise and are forced to discover the edges of their generosity toward the other. The result is an instantly recognizable dance between self and other, this one choreographed with elegance, grace, and love. The two leads, Greta Grinevičiūtė (Elena) and Kęstutis Cicėnas (Dovydas), conjure up undeniable chemistry that is heartbreakingly complicated, stubborn, and humanizing. Director and writer Marija Kavtaradze’s (Summer Survivors) sophomore feature shows off her fine tuned ability to portray intimacy and psychological exploration through dance, tense quietude, and stunningly singular examination of asexuality. Kavtaradze emphasis on the couple’s physicality and how the inherent limitations of a full physical expression plays out with own unique emotional expectations is superbly realized.

For more go to: kimstim.com/slow

Director Francis Galluppi’s feature film debut, The Last Stop in Yuma County, is a rockin’ good time of genre hopping mix of Western, Noir and desert dry humor. While awaiting the arrival of the next fuel truck at a middle-of-Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-begotten fortune. THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY boasts an outstanding ensemble cast of Jim Cummings (The Wolf of Snow Hollow), Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Sierra McCormick (The Vast of Night), Nicholas Logan (I Care a Lot), Michael Abbott Jr. (Killers of the Flower Moon), Connor Paolo (A Creature Was Stirring), Alexandra Essoe (The Haunting of Bly Manor), Robin Bartlett (The Fabelmans), Jon Proudstar (Reservation Dogs), Sam Huntington (Being Human), Ryan Masson (Good Girls), and Barbara Crampton (Suitable Flesh, Re-Animator), with Gene Jones (Killers of the Flower Moon), Faizon Love (Elf) and Richard Brake (Barbarian). Director / Writer / Producer / Editor Francis Galluppi joins us for a geeked out conversation on the orgin story and cinematic inspirations for this film, gathering together this terrific cast, and his personal filmmaking favorites.

For more go to: wellgousa.com/last-stop-yuma-county

RESISTANCE - THEY FOUGHT BACK provides a much-needed corrective to this myth of Jewish passivity. There were uprisings in ghettos large and small, rebellions in death camps, and thousands of Jews fought Nazis in the forests. Everywhere in Eastern Europe, Jews waged campaigns of non-violent resistance against the Nazis. For decades, the world believed that Jews faced their fate passively during the Holocaust, much like sheep to the slaughter. Most people have no idea how widespread and prevalent Jewish resistance to Nazi barbarism was. This ambitious and groundbreaking film unveils a different story, shedding light on the heroic stories of Jews who actively resisted their oppressors. They engaged in over 60 armed uprisings in ghettos, 25 within concentration and slave labor camps, numbered in the thousands among partisan units in the forests of Europe, and joined in non-violent resistance campaigns against the Nazis. Co-directors Paula S. Apsell and Kirk Wolfinger traveled to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel, and the U.S. to illuminate the forgotten, and largely unknown, stories of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust — and honors the fighters' soulful bravery and leadership. Through interviews with historians, survivors, and their families, the film belies a long-held myth and shines a new light on a lost chapter of history.

National release thru abramorama.com/resistance-they-fought-back

For more go to: theyfoughtback.com

Opening May 10 - Laemmle Town Center, Encino

For many Anita Pallenberg was at various points in her life a newspaper headline: a “rock n’ roll goddess,” a “voodoo priestess,” and an “evil seductress.” She was accused of trying to break up the Rolling Stones, among other things. What is made clear in co-directors Alexis Bloom & Svetlana Zill’s compelling documentary CATCHING FIRE: THE STORY OF ANITA PALLENBERG those who loved her considered her an exciting cultural force, and a loving mother – and innocent of the accusations. The film includes never-seen-before home movies and family photographs explore life with the Rolling Stones and tell a bittersweet tale of both triumph and heartbreak. From Barbarella to the Swiss Alps, and the Lower East Side to London, Anita Pallenberg was a creative force ahead of her time. CATCHING FIRE: THE STORY OF ANITA PALLENBERG is a vital portrait of the charismatic and fierce rock ‘n’ roller, actress, muse, and mother who rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s after a chance encounter with the Rolling Stones. Scarlett Johansson voices Anita (based on the words of her unpublished memoir) and the film includes her children, Marlon and Angela Richards, and their father, Keith Richards. Co-directors Alexis Bloom & Svetlana Zill join us to talk about setting out to give voice, figuratively and literally, to a spirited woman who lived many lives in one lifetime. Working with producer and son of Anita and Keith Richards, Marlon, together they have succeeded brilliantly.

For more go to: magpictures.com/catchingfire

Within hours of his funeral, Hong Kong movie studios began to produce hundreds of unauthorized biopics, spin-offs and rip-offs starring a competing roster of Bruce Lee lookalikes. Over the next decade, ‘Bruceploitation’ would become a staple of global cinema. Director David Gregory examines this fascinating phenomenon via interviews with Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Liang and Dragon Lee; martial arts legends like Angela Mao, David Chiang, Phillip Ko and Sammo Hung; and the producers, directors, distributors and experts – along with copious clips from the films themselves – that for the first time reveal the history, controversy and legacy behind one of the most bizarre genres in movie history. Director, cinema aficionado and founder of Severin Films David Gregory (Lost Souls: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau) joins us for a spirited conversation on the twisted tale of Bruce Lee’s actual career in film, the shadow careers of look-a-likes and the filmmakers willing to push the limits of credibility and propriety to satiate an audience of martial arts cinephiles.

For more go to: severinfilms.com/enter-the-clones-of-bruce

Available at: tv.apple.com/enter-the-clones-of-bruce

In this quietly powerful documentary, Little Empty Boxes a strong and independent woman, Kathy Lugavere finds herself struggling with her own memory. In a quest to find his mother the best care, 32-year-old son Max moves home to New York City and begins to consult with top health experts to investigate the origins of Dementia, a disease which now affects a staggering 55 million people globally. The deeply personal film chronicles Kathy’s experience with Dementia as Max explores methods outside of prescription medication to slow her illness down. LITTLE EMPTY BOXES presents a raw perspective of Kathy's journey, the hardships of being a caretaker, and a son willing to do anything to save his mother. Co-directors Max Lugavere (Genius Foods) and Chris Newhard (Are You Lonely, Self Tape) join us for a conversation about their loving and observant film about a woman grappling with her own mortality and a devoted son doing his best to help her navigate the relentless cruelty of dementia.

For theatrical screenings and more: littleemptyboxes.com

Or go to: abramorama.com/film/little-empty-boxes