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Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Talk To Me"
Director:
Kasi Lemmons
Writers:
Michael Genet & Rick Famuyiwa
Producers:
Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Don Cheadle portrays the one and only Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green, Jr. in Talk to Me,
directed by Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou) from screenplay by Michael Genet and Rick
Famuyiwa. Petey's story is funny, dramatic, inspiring - and real. In the mid-to-late
1960s, in Washington, DC, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio
gig. He forges a friendship and a partnership with Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
that will redefine and empower both men.
Marcus Carl Franklin - "I'm Not There"
Director:
Todd Haynes
Writer:
Todd Haynes & Oren Moverman
Producers:
Christine Vachon, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, James D. Stern
I'm Not There is a biographical film reflecting the life of musician Bob Dylan. The
iconic singer-songwriter is be depicted through seven distinct stages of his life by six
different actors. The film tells the story using rather non-traditional techniques,
much like the poetic narrative style utilized in Dylan's songwriting. The title I'm Not
There is a reference to the Dylan outtake recorded during The Basement Tapes
(Sessions). I'm Not There is one of the most famous and highly regarded outtakes,
not just of the Basement Tapes, but Dylan’s whole career.
Kene Holliday - "Great World Of Sound"
Director:
Craig Zobel
Writers:
Craig Zobel & George Smith
Producers:
Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green, Richard Wright, Craig Zobel
An audience-pleasing riff on the dirty underbelly of the American Idol phenomenon,
GREAT WORLD OF SOUND stars Pat Healy and Kene Holliday as Martin and
Clarence, two normal southern guys who get caught up in the excitement of a record
industry talent scouting scheme. A playful, contemporary take on the classic
American story of the confidence man, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND evokes conflicted
hucksters from Willy Loman and the Maysles Brothers’ SALESMAN to the seedy
charmers of seventies Robert Altman. With real-life audition footage weaved into the
fictional narrative, Craig Zobel’s provocative debut explores the outer limits of our
desire for celebrity, where big dreams beget bigger illusions, and fame always has its
price.
Irrfan Khan - "The Namesake"
Director:
Mira Nair
Writer:
Sooni Taraporevala
Producers:
Lydia Deal Pilcher, Mira Nair
Spanning two generations, two clashing cultures and two very different ways of life
that crash into each other only to become lovingly intertwined, THE NAMESAKE is
ultimately about the imminently relevant question: what does it mean to be an
American family? In her most personal film to date, acclaimed director Mira Nair
(VANITY FAIR, MONSOON WEDDING) brings to the screen a poignant and
transporting version of Jhumpa Lahiri’s best-selling novel, which won reader’s hearts
across the world with its exploration of the ties that can both tangle and bind global
families as they brave the modern vicissitudes of change, conflict and disaster.
Steve Zahn - "Rescue Dawn"
Director/Writer:
Werner Herzog
Producers:
Steve Marlton, Elton Brand, Harry Knapp
There is no other story like that of Dieter Dengler, the only American to ever break out
of a POW camp in the impenetrable Laotian jungle. Now, from legendary director
Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man,” “Fitzcarraldo”) and starring acclaimed actor Christian
Bale (“Batman Begins,” “The Prestige”) comes the incredible true story of a man who,
from the depths of total darkness, blazed his own willful path to freedom. A blistering
action-adventure and a stark epic of survival, RESCUE DAWN reveals how Dieter
Dengler relied on the most primal qualities of evasion, endurance, tenacity and
courage to find his way home.
