School is beginning again, and fall is just around the corner. With the new season comes a whole new selection of exciting independent films being released. As usual, there’s something for everyone, as long as you know where to look.
Opening August 25th at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, Quincea’ntilde;era is the story of fourteen-year-old Magdalena (Emily Rios), a Mexican-American high school girl planning for her fifteenth birthday. Just before the big celebration, she becomes pregnant; and when her highly religious parents find out, she is kicked out of her house and moves in with her benevolent great-uncle Tomas (Chalo Gonzalez), who is already housing Magdalena’s trouble-making cousin, Carlos (Jesse Garcia). The cousins get off to a rocky start, but find common ground when Tomas is at risk of losing his apartment to the increasing gentrification of Los Angeles neighborhoods. Written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, Quincea’ntilde;era is a poignant and moving coming of age story and was the winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.
If you are a fan of contemporary art, particularly Andy Warhol, then it might be worth your while to take a trip to the West Village where Film Forum will be playing Ric Burn’s epic documentary, Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film. The four-hour film (broken into two parts by a fifteen minute intermission) portrays the life and highly influential work of a great innovator in the Pop Art Movement. Narrated by Laurie Anderson, the film also includes interviews with Irving Blum, Stephen Koch, and Paul Morrissey amongst others. Andy Warhol will be playing from September 1st until September 14th.
The Science of Sleep, which will play in select theaters starting September 22, is romantic film of internal fantasy. St’eacute;phane, played by Gael Garc’iacute;a Bernal (The King), is an introverted young man who moves back to his hometown to pursue an exciting new job. Throughout his life, St’eacute;phane has experienced vivid dreams that are often more real to him than the real world. When St’eacute;phane meets his neighbor, Stephanie, the confidence that he feels in those wild dreams begins to come through. Ultimately, it is up to St’eacute;phane to take control of his own life before his dreams take control of him.
Running with Scissors is a dark comedy that proves that fact is stranger than fiction. Written and directed by the creator of Nip/Tuck, Ryan Murphy, and based on the memoir of Augusten Burroughs. Young Augusten (Joseph Cross) is forced to move in with his mother’s therapist when she feels she is no longer capable of taking care of him.’ As Augustin spends time living with Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) he learns that the families of therapists are no less strange or more functional than any other family he knows. The film also stars Annette Benning, Alec Baldwin, and Gwenyth Paltrow and opens on October 11th.
These are only a few of the great independent films that will be playing in the area this fall. So if you feel like venturing out and trying something new, these films are a wonderful way to start.