Opening June 5 – 11, 2023 – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

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 5 – 11 that are of particular interest:  

Tuesday, June 6

• Origami in the Garden – Freestyle Digital Media (VOD) – USA – Documentary written and directed by Barbara Bentree. The origin story for Kevin Box and his wife Jennifer as they hone their craft of metal sculpture and develop powerful messages of peace…inspired from within their magical studio compound in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Friday, June 9

• Aloners – Film Movement (Cinemas, VOD) – South Korea – First feature by writer/director/editor Hong Seong-eun is a drama about a young women who works in a credit card call center and isolates herself from real life interactions.

 

• The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster – RLJE Films / Allblk / Shudder (Cinemas, VOD) – USA – Fantasy / horror film that tells the story of teenage anti-hero, Vicaria, who is on a desperate quest to cure death.

 

• Blue Jean – Magnolia Pictures (Cinemas) – UK – Drama written and directed by Georgia Oakley. In 1988, a closeted teacher is pushed to the brink when a new student threatens to expose her sexuality.

 

• Dalíland – Magnolia Pictures (Cinemas) – USA / France / UK – Biographical drama directed by Mary Harron. In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps the aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.

 

• Flamin’ Hot – Hulu / Disney+ – USA – Biographical drama directed by Eva Longoria. This is the inspiring true story of Richard Montañez who as a Frito Lay janitor disrupted the food industry by channeling his Mexican heritage to turn Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from a snack into an iconic global pop culture phenomenon.

 

• Scarlet – Kino Lorber (Cinemas) – France / Italy / Germany – Drama directed by Pietro Marcello. The emancipation of a woman over twenty years, between 1919 and 1939, a time of great inventions and great dreams.

 

• Users – Icarus Films (Cinemas-NY) – USA / Mexico – Documentary written and directed by Natalia Almada that explores how humanity expresses itself with technology and the intended and unintended consequences of our tech-dominated world.

 

• The Wonder Weeks – Netflix – Netherlands – Dramedy. Different young mothers help each other at a “Mama club” on how best to get through life as mothers and with their lives as a partner for their lovers.

Film descriptions are adapted from press releases. Stay tuned in for next week’s releases! Contact us if we’ve overlooked anything.