Focusing on a year in the life of three adult students — Melissa, Greg and Shynika — enrolled in Indianapolis’ Excel Center, a publicly-funded high school for those seeking a second chance, Andrew Cohn’s Night School has only grown more vital since its premiere at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Like For Ahkeem and this year’s Step, Night School offers a frank examination of inner-city poverty and the extra burden faced by those without the kinds of advantages that many take for granted. Its subjects make every attempt to buck the trend of poverty for themselves and their children, despite systemic constraints.
Cohn’s vérité-style documentary observes the lives of its three characters in and out of the classroom as they navigate self-doubt and oppressive systematic poverty, from employers who aren’t quick to grant second chances to those that can’t seem to understand why someone wouldn’t...
Cohn’s vérité-style documentary observes the lives of its three characters in and out of the classroom as they navigate self-doubt and oppressive systematic poverty, from employers who aren’t quick to grant second chances to those that can’t seem to understand why someone wouldn’t...
- 6/16/2017
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
“I don’t want a job, I need a career,” declares one of the subjects of Night School. The statement effectively sums up the emotional impact of Andrew Cohn’s (Medora) documentary chronicling three African-American adults working over the course of a year to earn their high school diplomas. Feeling particularly relevant these days because of the ever-growing obstacles faced by less-educated people struggling for economic gains, the moving film depicts the American dream in action.
The cinema verite-style documentary introduces us to 31-year-old Greg, a former drug dealer and single father to an epilepsy-afflicted young girl; 26-year-old Shynika, reduced to...
The cinema verite-style documentary introduces us to 31-year-old Greg, a former drug dealer and single father to an epilepsy-afflicted young girl; 26-year-old Shynika, reduced to...
- 6/9/2017
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With Oscilloscope releasing his latest documentary, Night School, this Friday in New York at the IFC Center and June 23 at the Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles (with nationwide roll-out to follow), filmmaker Andrew Cohn posts this guest essay about his choice to make films largely in America’s heartland. Here he recounts his experience making his previous film, Medora, and how it made him question the motives and strategies many non-fiction filmmakers bring to their depiction of Midwestern subjects. Oscilloscope will donate a portion of all proceeds from ticket sales to educational initiatives at Goodwill Industries’ McClelland Scholars, the organization […]...
- 6/7/2017
- by Andrew Cohn
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Here’s a tough reality of American life: Entire futures hinge on a thin scrap of paper, rolled up and handed out to teenagers. Stranger still, this particular scrap of paper, so crucial to so many career paths, can only be acquired at an age when the brain is almost comically resistant to thinking ahead. Well, at least that’s historically when you could get one. With Night School, documentarian Andrew Cohn (Medora) takes his camera behind the walls of the Excel Center in Indianapolis, where high school dropouts can enroll for free in an intensive adult-education program. If they pass all their final exams, these returning students earn a diploma—not a Ged, but the real deal, basically indistinguishable from what they would have received if they had graduated the first time around. It’s like an accelerated version of high school, minus the dances and the extracurricular activities...
- 6/7/2017
- by A.A. Dowd
- avclub.com
With the Indiana Film Journalists Association, we get the usual suspects -- "12 Years a Slave" winning the top award! But I'm happy to report that the Association also gave the film's helmer, Steve McQueen, the best director award (not the favorite Alfonso Cuaron for "Gravity").
Other surprising choices -- Adèle Exarchopoulos won Best Actress for "Blue is the Warmest Color," and Barkhad Abdi winning the Best Supporting Actor trophy for "Captain Phillips."
Here's the complete list of winners of the 2013 Indiana Film Journalists Association:
Best Film: "12 Years a Slave" (Runner-up: "Her")
Other Finalists (alphabetical)
"All is Lost"
"Before Midnight"
"Captain Phillips"
"Frances Ha"
"Mud"
"Prisoners"
"Spring Breakers"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
Best Director: Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" (Runner-up: Spike Jonze, "Her")
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave" (Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club")
Best Actress: Adèle Exarchopoulos, "Blue is the Warmest Color" (Runner-up: Brie Larson, "Short Term 12...
Other surprising choices -- Adèle Exarchopoulos won Best Actress for "Blue is the Warmest Color," and Barkhad Abdi winning the Best Supporting Actor trophy for "Captain Phillips."
Here's the complete list of winners of the 2013 Indiana Film Journalists Association:
Best Film: "12 Years a Slave" (Runner-up: "Her")
Other Finalists (alphabetical)
"All is Lost"
"Before Midnight"
"Captain Phillips"
"Frances Ha"
"Mud"
"Prisoners"
"Spring Breakers"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
Best Director: Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" (Runner-up: Spike Jonze, "Her")
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave" (Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club")
Best Actress: Adèle Exarchopoulos, "Blue is the Warmest Color" (Runner-up: Brie Larson, "Short Term 12...
- 12/16/2013
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
New Release
Sunlight Jr.
Not Rated, 1 Hr., 35 Mins.
So relentlessly bleak that you’d have to be a masochist to make it to the end credits, Sunlight Jr. stars Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon as doomed Florida lovers who can’t catch a break. He’s a drunk drowning in self-pity in a wheelchair while she busts her hump working the graveyard shift at a convenience store. Here’s one snapshot of the Sunshine State that no one wants a postcard of. (Also available on iTunes and VOD) C- —Chris Nashawaty
New Release
12-12-12
R, 1 Hr., 45 Mins.
After Superstorm...
Sunlight Jr.
Not Rated, 1 Hr., 35 Mins.
So relentlessly bleak that you’d have to be a masochist to make it to the end credits, Sunlight Jr. stars Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon as doomed Florida lovers who can’t catch a break. He’s a drunk drowning in self-pity in a wheelchair while she busts her hump working the graveyard shift at a convenience store. Here’s one snapshot of the Sunshine State that no one wants a postcard of. (Also available on iTunes and VOD) C- —Chris Nashawaty
New Release
12-12-12
R, 1 Hr., 45 Mins.
After Superstorm...
- 11/13/2013
- by EW staff
- EW - Inside Movies
Title: Medora Director: Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn A measured but emotionally effective gut-punch lament for the death rattle of small town America as told through the prism of a hapless high school basketball team, coming-of-age documentary “Medora” examines what it means to struggle, fail and look disappointment in the eye. In the process, while not without its broken spirits, the movie casts a light on the sort of resolve and perseverance that have long been part of the American story. Like Nick Brandestini’s “Darwin: No Services Ahead,” co-directors Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn’s film establishes an affecting, deeply personal connection via a variety of memorably wounded and sympathetic characters — in this [ Read More ]
The post Medora Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Medora Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 11/12/2013
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Watch the trailer and clips, check out the poster and photos for Medora, starring Dylan McSoley, Rusty Rogers, Robby Armstrong, Chaz Cowles, Justin Gilbert, Corey Hansen, Logan Farmer, Josh Deering, Rudie Crane and Dennis Pace. The documentary from Beachside Films, Olive Productions and Seven34 Films opens in theaters and On Demand from November 12th, 2013 and is directed by Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart. In America's basketball heartland, four boys from rural Medora, Indiana fight to end their high school team's losing streak, as their dwindling town faces the threat of extinction.
- 10/15/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The sports drama is a subgenre that audiences eat up at least once every single year. And while most of those films exist as feature film narratives, every now and then those kinds of stories come from real people in the form of documentaries. One such story is Medora, which follows a high school basketball team in a small town that was once a booming rural community with prosperous farms, an automotive parts factory, a brick plant, and a thriving middle class, but now the residents say, "This town's on the ropes." But the triumph of their team, in the middle of a terrible losing streak, just might give them the little bit of hope they need. Now we have the trailer for the documentary which everyone can relate to in some way. Watch! Here's the first trailer for Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart's Medora, originally from Yahoo: Medora...
- 10/11/2013
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
WikiLeaks founder to judge films at the 21st Raindance Film Festival; 2013 line-up unveiled.Scroll down for full line-up of films
Julian Assange has joined the jury of the 21st Raindance Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 6), a London-based event that celebrates independent film in the UK and around the world.
The appointment is a controversial one. The Australian editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about sexual assault allegations.
It is understood that he fears Sweden would extradite him to the Us, where he believes he is wanted in relation to WikiLeaks’ disclosure of a significant amount of classified Us military and diplomatic documents.
Commenting on Assange’s appointment, Raindance founder Elliot Grove said: “Every year Raindance invites interesting people to join our jury. In the past we have had musicians like Mick Jones, Marky Ramone and [link...
Julian Assange has joined the jury of the 21st Raindance Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 6), a London-based event that celebrates independent film in the UK and around the world.
The appointment is a controversial one. The Australian editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about sexual assault allegations.
It is understood that he fears Sweden would extradite him to the Us, where he believes he is wanted in relation to WikiLeaks’ disclosure of a significant amount of classified Us military and diplomatic documents.
Commenting on Assange’s appointment, Raindance founder Elliot Grove said: “Every year Raindance invites interesting people to join our jury. In the past we have had musicians like Mick Jones, Marky Ramone and [link...
- 9/3/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Small things matter in Medora, Indiana. It’s the kind of town where “enormous” only really applies to people’s pride, especially in the minimal size of their community, schools and achievements. But to them it’s relative. What may seem like small victories are really great ones. And no part of Medora is more illustrative of this than the high school basketball team, which is the absolute worst in a state famous for the sport. When — if — they ever win, it’s almost the equivalent of being named national champions. Medora, a gripping and thoughtful documentary about this place produced by actors Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci, focuses on a single season with the Hornets, who in the previous year went 0-22. But it’s really about the endangered small towns having big trouble surviving in modern America, and not just because of the recent economic downtick. Factories have been gone, farms...
- 4/6/2013
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn's upcoming Hs basketball doc "Medora," has received its fair share of comparisons to "Hoop Dreams" over the last couple months, but the film's multi-faceted portrayal of a once booming community is more than capable of standing on its own. Shot over the course of a year, the film provides an impressive scope to its portrayal of a dwindling population and the families and children living within it and giving a new perspective to the financial crisis affects on America's small town communities. What it's about: 4 boys from rural Medora, Indiana fight to end their Hs basketball team's losing ways as their dwindling town faces the threat of extinction. About the filmmaker: Davy Rothbart is the creator of Found Magazine, a frequent contributor to public radio’s "This American Life", and author of the essay collection "My Heart Is An Idiot" and the story collection "The Lone Surfer of Montana,...
- 3/7/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
South by Southwest (SXSW) is just one of many film festivals, we here at Sound On Sight cover yearly. The fest, which takes place every spring in Austin, Texas, began in 1987, and has continued to grow in size every year. The fest announced the first wave of films back in early January, and the lineup included some highly anticipated films such as The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Evil Dead, Downloaded and Spring Breakers. Now the full lineup has been announced, and it just might be one of the best lineups the festival has ever programmed.
SXSW takes place March 8-16 in Austin Texas. Here are just some of the films we are excited about.
Narrative Feature Competition – This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,191 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Awful Nice
Director/Screenwriter: Todd Sklar, Screenwriter: Alex Rennie
Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when...
SXSW takes place March 8-16 in Austin Texas. Here are just some of the films we are excited about.
Narrative Feature Competition – This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,191 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Awful Nice
Director/Screenwriter: Todd Sklar, Screenwriter: Alex Rennie
Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when...
- 2/1/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Some of the best films of the 2012/2013 calender year from Richard Linklater, Harmony Korine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Bujalski, Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green, Shane Carruth and Joshua Oppenheimer are among the headliner names for the 2013 edition of the South by Southwest Film Festival. With a little over 100 plus film line-up (a whopping 2000+ titles were submitted), almost 70 are world premieres: there is the highly anticipated sophomore film (that has been on our radar since it first went into production) with M. Blash’s (The Wait), Joe Swanberg who makes SXSW his second home will premiere Drinking Buddies, veteran indie filmmaker John Sayles saddles in with Go For Sisters, and rounding out the Narrative Spotlight section we’ve got The Bounceback from Bryan Poyser, Loves Her Gun from Geoff Marslett along with titles we thought might break into Park City, but found an Austin home instead with Jacob Vaughan’s Milo and...
- 2/1/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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