7 Movies to Watch for Artists Sunday This Weekend

The Madlab Post has joined artists and organizations from coast to coast for Artists Sunday, the world’s largest art event dedicated to encouraging the public to buy something special, unique and handcrafted this holiday season – from paintings, sculptures, and pottery to multimedia works, textiles, music, photography and more. 

Artists Sunday is bringing 500 communities around the country together for the fourth time in a movement to recognize the importance of art in our lives and its impact on the local economy.

“It’s a day to fill our lives with beauty, creativity, and joy,” says Christopher V. Sherman, an aerial photographer, videographer and entrepreneur who loves experimenting with cameras and digital software tools. 

What We're Doing This Holiday Season 

There's a lot going on...to start, on Sundays I will be introducing you to several indie film directors, writers and producers who you can support by renting, streaming or buying their films and other merchandise. You can also support many of them by attending the festivals where their films are screening. 

Documentaries to Watch this Weekend...

See extra footage from the documentary Reinventing Freedom directed by Robert J Moore and Eleftherios Koutinas when you rent it to stream from a computer, TV, or mobile device! Reinventing Freedom tells the incredible journey of resilience, redemption, and triumph from homelessness and years behind bars to global recognition. 

Interdisciplinary Artist Anitra Nelson directed, wrote, produced, narrated, and did photography seen in her documentary film Beyond Money: Yenomon -- lively thought experiment of a postcapitalist world without money — a world satisfying everyone’s basic needs, living within Earth’s limits and offering power to people. The documentary is based on a chapter of Nelson’s book Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy, drawing on activists engaged in a fight for a money-free society.

In her book, Nelson aims to deepen our understanding of how money is the driver of political power, environmental destruction and social inequality today, arguing that it has to be abolished rather than repurposed to achieve a postcapitalist future. Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy is available as a Paperback and Ebook. 

Historical & Romantic Drama Movies to Watch this Weekend...

Listen to the Soundtrack of the The Astronot by Pennan BraeA reclusive wishful astronaut strives to overcome his fear of loss during the space race of the 1960s in The Astronot by screenwriter, actor, co-producer & music composer Pennan Brae and Co-Producer/Director Tim Cash. This historical drama film is available to stream on Amazon Prime in the U.S. and UK. 

A singer-songwriter named Sarah Jane moves to London to make it in the music industry, where an industry executive named Russel D leads her down a path that is difficult for her to return from in Purple Beatz written and directed by Lola Atkins. Set in the underground drum and bass scene of 90's London, this coming-of-age romantic drama is available to stream on Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Apple TV, Google Movies and YouTube. 

Comedy Movies to Watch this Weekend...

When a gym bag goes missing, the lives of a ride share driver and a slap fighter intertwine in the comedy Slapped Straight by David Anderson & Raynel Almonte of Luminary Figures Group. You can directly support the artists who created this project by renting the film for 48 hours, or buying it for unlimited streaming. You can also get your very own Slapped Straight gym bag and SFC (Smack Fighting Championship) T-Shirt to match your movie night viewing of this story about a man who gave up on life until he gets slapped into a new perspective by a fighter named Hothands who gives him the courage to face his fears.  

Science Fiction Movies to Watch this Weekend

The Art-house Sci-Fi Drama Foreclosure by Maki recently made its VOD debut and is now available for rent on Gumroad, where you can watch this movie about alien colonization, the desire to live forever and a global Armageddon. Foreclosure re-imagines footage from a 1960s post-apocalyptic Italian horror film based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, I Am Legend. 

Horror Movies to Watch this Weekend...

NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon: Stream the horror film Many Keys - The Heartbreak Monologue by Mike Messier, for Artists SundayHeartbreak welcomes her new friends to "this odd reality" in the horror film, Many Keys - The Heartbreak Monologue by producer, writer and director Mike Messier.

The film features a monologue extracted from Messier ‘s novel/feature film screenplay, A Distance from Avalon - When the Dying and the Dead Reunite.

 Many Keys - The Heartbreak Monologue is available on Amazon. 

The Madlab Post will be highlighting and promoting the giving of art-focused items and experiences for the holidays.

“Every artist that you invest in, whether it's buying something to hang on your wall, or something for your kitchen, or something that you wear, or jewelry, that's going back into the local economy,” says Sherman. 

Another way you can support Artists Sunday is by making a holiday wish-list and encouraging your loved ones to gift you items from local artists and makers. Then send your list to your friends and family. Be sure to include your favorite movies from the list above and upcoming spotlights here on The Madlab Post! 

What fills your life with beauty, creativity, and joy?

Which of these films would you like to watch first?

'Hungry Now' Documentary Film Connects Food Insecure Kids to Homeless Adults

Where does your food come from? Some people raise chickens. Other folks grow fresh produce on a farm while their neighbors go fishing for lobster and work several jobs to make ends meet. Then, there are those who visit food pantries and soup kitchens if one is available in their town. If you have a picture in your mind of the types of folks who source their goods from the latter, you may be surprised to learn that people from all walks of life frequent such places.  

HUNGRY NOW directed by Alan Kryszak premieres 3p.m. on November 13 at the Collins Center for the Arts. This is a Free event. No ticket purchase is necessary to attend.At least that’s the case at Manna Food Pantry in Maine, where they feed the working poor and people with fixed incomes, as seen in Hungry Now, an upcoming documentary feature film directed by Alan Kryszak. 

 Filmed in Coastal & Downeast Maine over a 2-year period, Hungry Now traces the tragic path where a fresh-faced child starts below the poverty line, and lands with stability or chaos, depending on what lies between his or her middle school and adult years. 

Alan worked with several student crew members from University of Maine at Machias to make this film, looking to connect some dots between food-insecure kids being supported by parents and teachers, to the sketchy shadows off the road. Through direct voices of “the hungry, the homeless and the helpers,” Hungry Now sets out to answer everyday questions about topics from poverty to food deserts to why the grocery shelves are empty.  

"We eat more food than we can produce," says one of the men working at a slaughterhouse as he offers insight on cost-prohibitive issues that the industry deals with, why the supermarkets are low or out of stock and how the supply chain could improve if more residents purchased local meat, directly from butchers. 

Also catch the broadcast premiere of HUNGRY NOW directed by Alan Kryszak November 24 on PBS/Maine Public Television at 9p.m. At the food pantry, it’s not uncommon for the all-volunteer staff to meet someone who has to choose between food and gas for their car to get to work. Yet, one of the most interesting aspects of this film is that whether someone is doing well or are down on their luck, most of the people you will meet think that the next person has it worse than them.

That was the case for a man who’s been homeless following a job-related accident and has since been living on $800 a month for disability. He passed up a food card so that it could be given to a couple near a dumpster, including a mother who had previously dealt with heroin addiction.  

Then there’s the matter of food waste, the Native American recalling having to choose between child abuse and food, and other factors that lead many people to struggle to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and a home. “It's kind of sad being 58 years old and having to rely on a food pantry because you're broke,” says one woman who was living in a domestic violence shelter. Her money was going toward bills, including medical expenses.  

One of the things that stood out about this film is the reminder that food insecurity affects more people than we may know, including many students who get most of their food from school and adults, some who are parents that still have a hard time putting food on the table even when they’re working multiple jobs. As part of the University of Maine’s “Right to Food” film series, Hungry Now connects the struggling child and homeless adult who seem to walk their whole lives uphill, in a nation of wealth and promise. 

Hungry Now premieres 3p.m. on November 13, 2022 at the Collins Center for the Arts, followed by its broadcast premiere at 9 p.m. on PBS/Maine Public Television, November 24, 2022. 

Urbanworld Film Festival Shorts Offer Hope amidst Grim Outlook on Black America

'Covered' directed by Desha DauchanKnown for highlighting diversity in film, the Urbanworld Film Festival kicked off its 2017 run last night with with appearances by music producer Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo, Blackout director Jerry LaMothe and a slate rich in foreign selections from 18 countries.

Together these foreign titles boast a range of stories, from human smuggling in Kareem J. Mortimer’s Cargo (Bahamas) to Japanese women negotiating love across generations in Mayumi Yoshida’s Akashi (Canada). The common thread among domestic films, however, appears to be an unbalanced reflection of the Black American experience.

This year’s program paints a bleak picture of life as an African-American man or woman living in the United States. Issues involving mass incarceration, or trouble with the law, are present in several films such as Keith McQuirter’s documentary Milwaukee 53206, Tesia J. Walker’s narrative short Search Party, Garrett Bradley’s narrative short Alone and John Sinclair’s docu-series Released (presented by OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network). The center of attention is also placed on matters of police brutality, race riots, substance abuse and family dysfunction in films including Sonja Sohn’s documentary Baltimore Rising, Jeff Ray’s Misso – Can I Exist, and Kristen Hester’s The Middlegame, respectively.

While social justice themes are important, being bombarded with film after film about the troubles of our community is a depressing way to spend one’s weekend. For every film playing at Urbanworld that depicts people in foreign lands in difficult situations, there is another movie at the festival to counteract its subject matter. Where are the stories of promise for African-Americans?

Film director and actor Eden Marryshow at the 2017 Urbanworld Film Festival. Photo by Brown Eyes Photos.“We’re either on top of the world like the Huxtables or we’re slinging rocks like in The Wire,” says director Eden Marryshow whose highly anticipated comedy film Bruce received a warm welcome by the AMC Theater crowd on opening night.

Marryshow pointed out a need for middle ground in how African-American lives are represented in film.

His movie Bruce “is extremely diverse in its story. There’s laughing and a bunch of regular people. No one is incarcerated. He’s (Bruce) an asshole and just a regular guy, which we don’t [usually] see.”

Luckily for moviegoers, Urbanworld’s Short Film Program #3 – the only shorts program at the festival exclusively featuring films made in the United States -- and its slice-of-life stories may be the answer to that need for middle ground Marryshow speaks to, while balancing out such a grim domestic lineup. Caralene Robinson’s comedy short The Bill is about eleven women celebrating a birthday party that dissolves into drama when an unexpectedly huge bill arrives. Cierra Glaude’s short Last Looks tells the story of an aesthetician who does her brother's makeup for his final showcase.

The LGBT community gets some love with Rochee Jeffrey’s short Suitable about a tom boy who comes to terms with her sexuality when she decides what to wear for prom. Also in Robin Cloud’s comedy short Out Again, a lesbian visits her parents and is confronted with her mother’s inability to remember one key detail. Then Desha Dauchan’s dramatic short Covered, about a married muslim woman who is obsessed with finding out what might be buried in her backyard, highlights black love and family.

Actor Jermele Howard attends the 2017 Urbanworld Film Festival. Photo by Brown Eyes Photos.Actor Jermele Howard, who came to Urbanworld for the screening of music producer Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo’s Tales: Trap Queen, prefers diverse stories but also sees the importance of films that put issues that are going on front and center.

“I’m not a person who is big on slavery films, so I think everything should be diverse but if there’s an issue going on, by all means, us as black people should always use our platform to shed light on what’s happening. What’s more important is to move forward as a people. That trumps everything,” says Howard, who can be seen in the fourth installment of the horror film franchise The Purge.

For those of us who are looking for a diverse selection of stories in a well-balanced lineup, Urbanworld’s Short Film Program #3 is the program that more closely fits that bill.

Shorts Program 3 is showting 5:00pm Friday, September 22^nd at AMC Empire 25 in Times Square during the 2017 Urbanworld Film Festival.

In what ways would YOU like to see film festivals strike a good balance in the types of stories they showcase?