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Next month film critics and cinephiles everywhere will make plans to travel to the wintery mountain-filled terrain of Park City, Utah to watch some good old-fashioned independent movies and more!
Each year, we work to highlight films featuring Black talent and directed by Black filmmakers. So if you need to know what Black films are playing at Sundance 2023? We’ve got you covered!
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Raven Jackson, Producers: Maria Altamirano, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak) – A decades-spanning exploration of a woman’s life in Mississippi and an ode to the generations of people, places, and ineffable moments that shape us. Cast: Charleen McClure, Moses Ingram, Kaylee Nicole Johnson, Reginald Helms Jr., Sheila Atim, Chris Chalk. World Premiere. Available online.
Magazine Dreams / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Elijah Bynum, Producers: Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman) — An amateur bodybuilder struggles to find human connection as his relentless drive for recognition pushes him to the brink. Cast: Jonathan Majors, Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Page, Harriet Sansom Harris. World Premiere. Available online
A Thousand and One / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: A.V. Rockwell, Producers: Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, Brad Weston) — Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City. Cast: Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, Aaron Kingsley Adetola. World Premiere. Available online.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, Producer: Tommy Oliver) — Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy. World Premiere. Available online.
Little Richard: I Am Everything / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Lisa Cortés, Producers: Robert Friedman, Liz Yale Marsh, Caryn Capotosto) — This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Through archival and performance footage, the revolutionary icon’s life unspools with all of its switchbacks and contradictions. World Premiere. Available online. DAY ONE
The Stroll / U.S.A. (Directors: Kristen Lovell, Zackary Drucker, Producer: Matt Wolf) — The history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights. World Premiere. Available online.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Girl / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Adura Onashile, Producers: Rosie Crerar, Ciara Barry) — Eleven-year-old Ama and her mother, Grace, take solace in the gentle but isolated world they obsessively create. Ama’s growing up threatens the boundaries of their tenderness and forces Grace to reckon with a past she struggles to forget. Cast: Déborah Lukumuena, Danny Sapani, Le’Shantey Bonsu, Liana Turner. World Premiere. Available online.
Mami Wata / Nigeria (Director and Screenwriter: C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, Producer: Oge Obasi) — When the harmony in a village is threatened by outside elements, two sisters must fight to save their people and restore the glory of a mermaid goddess to the land. Cast: Evelyne Ily, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe, Emeka Amakeze, Rita Edochie, Tough Bone. World Premiere. Available online.
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Milisuthando / South Africa (Director and Screenwriter: Milisuthando Bongela, Producer: Marion Isaacs) — Set in past, present, and future South Africa — an invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging by the filmmaker, who grew up during apartheid but didn’t know it was happening until it was over. World Premiere. Available online.
NEXT
Bravo, Burkina! / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Walé Oyéjidé, Producers: Giulia Alagna, Heather Barnes) — A Burkinabé boy flees his village and migrates to Italy. When disillusioned by heartbreak and haunted by memories of home, he travels through time in hope of regaining all he has lost. Cast: Alain Tiendrebeogo, Mousty Mbaye, Noel Minougou, Aissata Deme, Afissatou Coulibaly. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online.
KOKOMO CITY / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: D. Smith, Producers: Harris Doran, Bill Butler) — Four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves, while confronting issues long avoided. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online.
To Live and Die and Live / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Qasim Basir, Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Amin Joseph, Dana Offenbach, Samantha Basir) — Muhammad returns home to Detroit to bury his stepfather and is thrust into settling his accounts, but Muhammad’s struggles with depression and addiction may finish him before he finishes the task. Cast: Amin Joseph, Skye P. Marshall, Omari Hardwick, Cory Hardrict, Dana Gourrier, Maryam Basir. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online.
Young. Wild. Free. / U.S.A (Director: Thembi L. Banks, Screenwriters: Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Producers: Charles D. King, James Lopez, Poppy Hanks, Tommy Oliver, Baron Davis, Tracy “Twinkie” Byrd) — High school senior Brandon is drowning in responsibilities when his world is turned upside down after being robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams. Cast: Algee Smith, Sanaa Lathan, Sierra Capri, Mike Epps. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online.
Rye Lane
Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson), two twenty-somethings both reeling from bad break-ups, connect over the course of an eventful day in South London – helping each other deal with their nightmare exes, and potentially restoring their faith in romance.
Other Notable Black Stories
Drift
Invisible Beauty
SLAM (From the Collection)
Talk to Me
Landscape with Invisible Hand
Black Filmmakers
· The Stroll/Kristen Lovell
· Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project/Joe Brewster
· All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt/Raven Jackson
· Magazine Dreams/Elijah Bynum
· Bravo, Burkina!/Wale Oyejide
· Kokomo City/D. Smith
· To Live and Die and Live/Qasim Basir
· Young. Wild. Free./Thembi L. Banks
· Invisible Beauty/Bethann Hardison
· Cassandro/Roger Ross Williams
· Rye Lane/Raine Allen-Miller
· Milisuthando/Milisuthando Bongela
· Girl/Adura Onashile
· Mami Wata/C.J. “Fiery” Obasi
· Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project/Michèle Stephenson
· Little Richard: I Am Everything/Lisa Cortés
· A Thousand and One/A.V. Rockwell
· A Thousand and One- Lena Waithe (producer)
· All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt- Barry Jenkins (producer)
· To Live and Die and Live & Fancy Dance– Forest Whitaker (producer)
· Young. Wild. Free.– Baron Davis (producer)
The 2023 Festival will take place January 19–29, 2023, in person in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24–29, 2023. In-Person Ticket Packages are currently on sale through December 16, Online Ticket Packages go on sale December 13 at 10 a.m. MT, and single film tickets go on sale January 12 at 10 a.m. MT.
Next month film critics and cinephiles everywhere will make plans to travel to the wintery mountain-filled terrain of Park City, Utah to watch some good old-fashioned independent movies and more!
Each year, we work to highlight films featuring Black talent and directed by Black filmmakers. So if you need to know what Black films are playing at Sundance 2023? We’ve got you covered!
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Raven Jackson, Producers: Maria Altamirano, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak) – A decades-spanning exploration of a woman’s life in Mississippi and an ode to the generations of people, places, and ineffable moments that shape us. Cast: Charleen McClure, Moses Ingram, Kaylee Nicole Johnson, Reginald Helms Jr., Sheila Atim, Chris Chalk. World Premiere. Available online.
Magazine Dreams / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Elijah Bynum, Producers: Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman) — An amateur bodybuilder struggles to find human connection as his relentless drive for recognition pushes him to the brink. Cast: Jonathan Majors, Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Page, Harriet Sansom Harris. World Premiere. Available online
A Thousand and One / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: A.V. Rockwell, Producers: Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Lena Waithe, Rishi Rajani, Brad Weston) — Convinced it’s one last, necessary crime on the path to redemption, unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps 6-year-old Terry from the foster care system. Holding on to their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability in New York City. Cast: Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, Aaron Kingsley Adetola. World Premiere. Available online.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project / U.S.A. (Directors and Producers: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, Producer: Tommy Oliver) — Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy. World Premiere. Available online.
Little Richard: I Am Everything / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: Lisa Cortés, Producers: Robert Friedman, Liz Yale Marsh, Caryn Capotosto) — This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Through archival and performance footage, the revolutionary icon’s life unspools with all of its switchbacks and contradictions. World Premiere. Available online. DAY ONE
The Stroll / U.S.A. (Directors: Kristen Lovell, Zackary Drucker, Producer: Matt Wolf) — The history of New York’s Meatpacking District, told from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights. World Premiere. Available online.
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Girl / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Adura Onashile, Producers: Rosie Crerar, Ciara Barry) — Eleven-year-old Ama and her mother, Grace, take solace in the gentle but isolated world they obsessively create. Ama’s growing up threatens the boundaries of their tenderness and forces Grace to reckon with a past she struggles to forget. Cast: Déborah Lukumuena, Danny Sapani, Le’Shantey Bonsu, Liana Turner. World Premiere. Available online.
Mami Wata / Nigeria (Director and Screenwriter: C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, Producer: Oge Obasi) — When the harmony in a village is threatened by outside elements, two sisters must fight to save their people and restore the glory of a mermaid goddess to the land. Cast: Evelyne Ily, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe, Emeka Amakeze, Rita Edochie, Tough Bone. World Premiere. Available online.
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Milisuthando / South Africa (Director and Screenwriter: Milisuthando Bongela, Producer: Marion Isaacs) — Set in past, present, and future South Africa — an invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging by the filmmaker, who grew up during apartheid but didn’t know it was happening until it was over. World Premiere. Available online.
NEXT
Bravo, Burkina! / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Walé Oyéjidé, Producers: Giulia Alagna, Heather Barnes) — A Burkinabé boy flees his village and migrates to Italy. When disillusioned by heartbreak and haunted by memories of home, he travels through time in hope of regaining all he has lost. Cast: Alain Tiendrebeogo, Mousty Mbaye, Noel Minougou, Aissata Deme, Afissatou Coulibaly. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online.
KOKOMO CITY / U.S.A. (Director and Producer: D. Smith, Producers: Harris Doran, Bill Butler) — Four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves, while confronting issues long avoided. World Premiere. Documentary. Available online.
To Live and Die and Live / U.S.A. (Director, Screenwriter, and Producer: Qasim Basir, Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Amin Joseph, Dana Offenbach, Samantha Basir) — Muhammad returns home to Detroit to bury his stepfather and is thrust into settling his accounts, but Muhammad’s struggles with depression and addiction may finish him before he finishes the task. Cast: Amin Joseph, Skye P. Marshall, Omari Hardwick, Cory Hardrict, Dana Gourrier, Maryam Basir. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online.
Young. Wild. Free. / U.S.A (Director: Thembi L. Banks, Screenwriters: Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Producers: Charles D. King, James Lopez, Poppy Hanks, Tommy Oliver, Baron Davis, Tracy “Twinkie” Byrd) — High school senior Brandon is drowning in responsibilities when his world is turned upside down after being robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams. Cast: Algee Smith, Sanaa Lathan, Sierra Capri, Mike Epps. World Premiere. Fiction. Available online.
Rye Lane
Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson), two twenty-somethings both reeling from bad break-ups, connect over the course of an eventful day in South London – helping each other deal with their nightmare exes, and potentially restoring their faith in romance.
Other Notable Black Stories
Drift
Invisible Beauty
SLAM (From the Collection)
Talk to Me
Landscape with Invisible Hand
Black Filmmakers
· The Stroll/Kristen Lovell
· Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project/Joe Brewster
· All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt/Raven Jackson
· Magazine Dreams/Elijah Bynum
· Bravo, Burkina!/Wale Oyejide
· Kokomo City/D. Smith
· To Live and Die and Live/Qasim Basir
· Young. Wild. Free./Thembi L. Banks
· Invisible Beauty/Bethann Hardison
· Cassandro/Roger Ross Williams
· Rye Lane/Raine Allen-Miller
· Milisuthando/Milisuthando Bongela
· Girl/Adura Onashile
· Mami Wata/C.J. “Fiery” Obasi
· Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project/Michèle Stephenson
· Little Richard: I Am Everything/Lisa Cortés
· A Thousand and One/A.V. Rockwell
· A Thousand and One- Lena Waithe (producer)
· All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt- Barry Jenkins (producer)
· To Live and Die and Live & Fancy Dance– Forest Whitaker (producer)
· Young. Wild. Free.– Baron Davis (producer)
The 2023 Festival will take place January 19–29, 2023, in person in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24–29, 2023. In-Person Ticket Packages are currently on sale through December 16, Online Ticket Packages go on sale December 13 at 10 a.m. MT, and single film tickets go on sale January 12 at 10 a.m. MT.
There’s been a lot of buzz hubbub surrounding the recent arrival of so-called “murder hornets” in the US, with factoids and pictures of the relatively large flying monsters terrorizing the internet. But just how frightened should you be of these vicious-looking insect immigrants? It turns out, according to experts and data, not all that frightened. Unless you’re a honeybee.
Asian Giant Hornet in Washington and what honeybee keepers need to know, a collection of resources @WSDAgov
— Holly R. Prendeville, Ph.D. (@HRPrendeville) April 23, 2020
https://t.co/EzzfyHvyek pic.twitter.com/GqJxefv5aS
The Murder Hornets, which are technically referred to as Asian giant hornets, or Vespa mandarinia, are the world’s largest hornets. They are native to temperate parts of East Asia, South Asia, and the Russian Far East, although the reason you’ve only recently heard of them, most likely, is because of the fact that they have now been spotted in the US for the first time ever.
While the news is only breaking now, the Asian giant hornets were actually spotted in the US in December of last year, in Washington State. At that time, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) received and verified four reports of the Asian giant hornets near the cities of Blaine and Bellingham. It’s not clear to officials how exactly the Asian hornets managed to make it to the US, but according to Seth Truscott at WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, “Insects are frequently transported in international cargo and are sometimes transported deliberately.”
#ICYMI Here is our image comparing #AsianGiantHornet to other flying insects. No, its name is not the #murderhornet pic.twitter.com/cwIgIPGC1t
— Washington State Department of Agriculture (@WSDAgov) May 3, 2020
In terms of how deadly these Asian giant hornets are, the answer is: very. The jumbo arial assaulters are armed with quarter-inch-long stingers that are able to inject large amounts of potent venom into their victims, which are most often other insects, but also—very, very rarely—humans. In the latter, the hornets’ venom can reportedly cause skin hemorrhaging and necrosis, organ failure, and death.
In terms of sheer pain factor, according to wildlife educator and YouTuber Coyote Peterson, a person who’s stung by an Asian giant hornet should expect to feel something on par with famed-boxer Mike Tyson “taking an open shot right at your jaw.” In the below video, you can watch Peterson writhe in agony as he willingly injects himself with some of the hornets’ venom and subsequently enters “the sting zone.”
Despite its deadly venom and sizable stinger, you still shouldn’t fear Asian giant hornets, especially if you live in the US. Not only is the WSDA actively trying to eradicate the known populations of the hornets, but the odds of being stung by one are teensy tiny. As in, there have been zero reported stings by Asian hornets in the US. so far, let alone deaths. And even in Japan, where there is far greater number of the insects, there are only a few dozen deaths a year.
For honeybees, however, it’s a different story. A single Asian giant hornet can kill as many as 40 bees per minute, and a group of 30 hornets can annihilate a hive containing 30,000 bees in less than four hours. It’s not all bad news for the bees though, as they can use a tactic referred to as “heatballing” to literally overheat and kill the monster ‘nets. Check out a quick clip of that fantastic eusocial defense mechanism immediately below.
No Sightings in 2022
Just before the end of 2022, the WSDA announced that they found no murder hornets in the US in 2022. We saw this good news on The Verge. While it takes three years before they declare the pests eradicated, this is certainly a good first step. Since they were first spotted in 2019, the agency has diligently been tracking down and destroying their nests in Washington state. Citizen scientists also got in on the project, reporting any sightings.
Featured Image: Gary Alpert
Originally published May 4, 2020. Additional reporting by Melissa T. Miller.
The post How Scared Should You Be of Invading ‘Murder Hornets’? appeared first on Nerdist.