Strand Releasing has acquired North American rights to Christopher Makoto Yogi’s “I Was a Simple Man,” which stars Constance Wu and had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance film festival.
A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Wu) and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.
Spanning multiple generations, “I Was a Simple Man” features a rich ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou and Chanel Akiko Hirai. The film participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as well as Sundance Catalyst.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to Chris and this project at the Sundance Labs,...
A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Wu) and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.
Spanning multiple generations, “I Was a Simple Man” features a rich ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou and Chanel Akiko Hirai. The film participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as well as Sundance Catalyst.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to Chris and this project at the Sundance Labs,...
- 5/11/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Taking place January 28 through February 3 next year, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will look quite different than ever before. After unveiling their screening plans, featuring a new online platform, drive-ins, screenings at independent arthouses around the country, and more, the lineup has now arrived.
The full 2021 slate of works includes 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. These films were selected from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. Of the feature film submissions, 1,377 were from the U.S. and 2,132 were international.
Check out the lineup below.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The 10 films in this section are all world premieres.
Coda (Director and Screenwriter: Siân Heder, Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger) — As a Coda – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
The full 2021 slate of works includes 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. These films were selected from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. Of the feature film submissions, 1,377 were from the U.S. and 2,132 were international.
Check out the lineup below.
U.S. Dramatic Competition
The 10 films in this section are all world premieres.
Coda (Director and Screenwriter: Siân Heder, Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger) — As a Coda – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
- 12/15/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Sundance Film Festival has announced its full slate for the 2021 edition, which will take place primarily as a virtual event through an online platform in addition to physical screenings at satellite locations across the country. The program includes 72 feature-length films, representing 29 countries, and 38 first-time feature filmmakers. Fourteen films and projects announced today were supported by Sundance Institute in development, through direct granting or residency labs. The festival runs January 28 through February 3, 2021.
This robust lineup features plenty of familiar names and faces, including Edgar Wright, Lucy Walker, Robin Wright, Betsy West and Julie Cohen, Siân Heder, Sion Sono, Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, Ana Katz, Kevin Macdonald, and many more. More than half the lineup is first-time filmmakers, and they range from established actors like Rebecca Hall and Jerrod Carmichael to newcomers like Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. Sixty-six of the festival’s feature films, or 92 percent of the lineup announced today,...
This robust lineup features plenty of familiar names and faces, including Edgar Wright, Lucy Walker, Robin Wright, Betsy West and Julie Cohen, Siân Heder, Sion Sono, Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, Ana Katz, Kevin Macdonald, and many more. More than half the lineup is first-time filmmakers, and they range from established actors like Rebecca Hall and Jerrod Carmichael to newcomers like Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. Sixty-six of the festival’s feature films, or 92 percent of the lineup announced today,...
- 12/15/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Now that the busy winter fest schedule of Sundance, Rotterdam and the Berlinale has concluded, we’ve now got our eyes on the likes of True/False and SXSW. While, True/False does not specialize in attention grabbing world premieres, it does provide a late winter haven for cream of the crop non-fiction fare from all the previously mentioned fests and a selection of overlooked genre blending films presented in a down home setting. This year will mark my first trip to the Columbia, Missouri based fest, where I hope to catch a little of everything, from their hush-hush secret screenings, to selections from their Neither/Nor series, this year featuring chimeric Polish cinema of decades past, to a spotlight of Adam Curtis’s incisive oeuvre. But truth be told, it is SXSW, with its slew of high profile world premieres being announced, such as Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs...
- 2/27/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
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