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Opening June 20 to 26, 2022 – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

Margaret Barton-Fumo , ,
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The Alliance of Women Film Journalists highlights movies made by and about women. With a vigilant eye toward current releases, we maintain an interactive record of films that are pertinent to our interests. Be they female-made or female-centric productions, they are films that represent a wide range of women’s stories and present complex female characters. As such, they are movies that will most likely be reviewed on AWFJ.org and will qualify for consideration for our annual EDA Awards, celebrating exceptional women working in film behind and in front of the camera. Our members are feature writers, columnists and regular contributors to a variety of media outlets and many of us publish regularly on the festival circuit. Our critical voices are widespread and diverse. We invite you to join us in tracking weekly releases of particular interest. And we welcome information about new films that will help us to keep our records updated and our critics alert. Below is a concise list of new releases set for the week of June 20 to 26 that are of particular interest. Film titles highlighted in red have links to full reviews.

Now Playing: 

  • Mid-Century – Lionsgate (Cinemas) – USA – Thriller directed by Sonja O’Hara. A husband and wife’s weekend in a mid-century modern vacation rental turns deadly when the husband discovers the owner is a psychopath with a backyard of buried secrets and designs on his wife.

  Tuesday, June 21

  • Triple Threat – Gravitas Ventures (VOD) – USA – Thriller starring Scout Taylor-Compton. Twins Reina and Alex find their lives upended by their mysterious triplet Trinity, who was separated from them at birth and who has devised a plan to frame one for murder and assume the identity of the other.

  Wednesday, June 22

  • Our Bodies Are Your Battlefields – Mubi – France – Documentary written, directed and filmed by Isabelle Solas. An intimate portrait of the lives of two trans women, Claudia and Violeta, as they and their comrades lead the fight against patriarchal violence in contemporary Argentina.

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  • We (Nous) – Mubi (MoMA in NYC; Streaming Premiere June 29) – France – Documentary written and directed by Alice Diop. Encounters on a rail line crossing north to south through Paris and its outskirts: A cleaning lady, a scrap merchant, a writer, a nurse, a follower of hunts and the filmmaker herself.

Friday, June 24 

  • Beba – Neon (Cinemas in NY & LA) – USA – Documentary written, directed by and starring Rebeca Huntt. BEBA is a poetic, raw and ruthless coming of age tale, in which a young NYC born and bred Afro-Latina stares down historical, societal, and generational trauma with unflinching courage.

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  • Bitterbrush – Magnolia Pictures (Limited Cinemas) – USA -a quiet, contemplative, intimate female-directed character-driven documentary that chronicles the daily lives of two young cowgirls as they work their ranch in Idaho, drive a small herd of cattle across the vast open range, train their horses, cuddle their dog and discuss all of their concerns and dreams.

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  • Harmony – Gravitas Ventures (Cinemas) – USA – Horror / Sci-Fi. In the very near future Sophia, a wounded soldier, discovers the medical facility she has been placed in is not for her and her fellow soldiers’ recovery, but something far more devious.

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  • The Human Trial – Espresso Media (Cinemas, Virtual Cinemas) – USA – Documentary written and directed by Lisa Hepner. Behind every breakthrough are the patients who risk everything for everyone else.

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  • Olga – Kino Lorber (NY Premiere; expands to LA on July 8) – France / Switzerland / Ukraine – Drama directed by Elie Grappe, co-written by Grappe with Raphaëlle Desplechin. A 15-year-old Ukrainian gymnast exiled in Switzerland, who is working to secure a place at the country’s National Sports Center. When the Euromaiden revolt breaks out in the country, anxieties rise as his family gets involved.

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  • Press Play – The Avenue Entertainment (Cinemas, VOD) – South Korea / USA – Drama / musical. A young woman has a chance to save the love of her life when she discovers that the mix-tape they made together can transport her back in time.

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  • Vedette – New Story (Cinemas) – France – Documentary written and directed by Claudine Bories and Patrice Chagnard. Vedette is a Swiss Hérens cow, an aggressive breed whose females compete by locking horns and who has been Queen of some spectacularly beautiful Alpine pastures her entire life. She grazes on the best grass and is hand-fed loaves of bread by Elise and Nicole, two women who have doted upon her for a lifetime.

Film descriptions are adapted from press releases. Titles highlighted in red have links to full reviews. Stay tuned in for next week’s releases! Contact us if we’ve overlooked anything.

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Margaret Barton-Fumo

Based in New York, Margaret Barton-Fumo has contributed to Film Comment since 2006. Her monthly online column, “Deep Cuts,” focused on the intersection of film and music. She has interviewed such directors, actors, and musicians as Brian De Palma, James Gray, Harry Dean Stanton, and Paul Williams, and has additionally contributed to Senses of Cinema and Stop Smiling. She is the editor of Paul Verhoeven: Interviews, published by the University Press of Mississippi.