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Exclusive: Outfest has selected ten queer and transgender writers from diverse backgrounds for its 2022 Screenwriting Lab.

The participants workshopping feature-length scripts during the week-long program, taking place virtually from today through Friday, December 9, include Bri J. Hernandez (Boys in Bands), Donovan Tolledo (Fat Lip), James Acker (Sadboi), Joseph Sackett (Cross Pollination), Katie Heaney (My Ex-Wife’s Wedding) and Vernon Jordan, III (Lavender Boy).

Those working on episodic projects are Estevan (Elote Preparado), Paloma Riojas (Shepherd), Riya Saxena (Matchmakers) and Rubén Mendive (Little Village).

Then, there are the thirteen additional Notable Writers selected to receive industry support from Outfest. Those scribes are Adelina Anthony, Adina Kruskal, Chasey Ridgley, Drew Burnett Gregory, Ernesto Martínez, Gerard Shaka, Joseph Pellegrino, Kate Imy, Nathan Pearson, Nick Janaye, Robert Cunningham, Sebastián Rea and Stevie Wain.

Created in 1997 as a screenwriting contest, the Outfest Screenwriting Lab has since become the cornerstone of Outfest’s artist development and education programs.

Stars: Marika Engelhardt, Tim Hopper, Kate Arrington, Audrey Francis, Tony Fitzpatrick, James Vincent Meredith, Ty Olwin, Robert T. Cunningham, Alex Moss, Raven Whitley, Genevieve Venjohnson | Written and Directed by Jennifer Reeder

The disappearance of a female teenager in a small rural town in America starts an almost domino effect of problems for the people that knew her… Knives and Skin is part coming of age drama part dark thriller and it manages to feel like nothing I have seen before.

Director Jennifer Reeder definitely has a certain vision and sees it out completely, even if, for me, it fails to work almost as much as it works. Although we assume it is set in present day, it almost feels like it is set in its own little universe with the fashion, dialogue and sets there own unique thing.

I did enjoy much of the set and costume design though. The...

After making a splash on the film festival circuit, Jennifer Reeder’s haunting, music-infused neo-noir Knives and Skin is featured in a new trailer and official poster ahead of its theatrical and VOD release on December 6th from IFC Midnight.

Written and directed by Jennifer Reeder, Knives and Skin stars Marika Engelhardt, Grace Smith, Ireon Roach, Kayla Carter, Tim Hopper, Kate Arrington, Audrey Francis, James Vincent Meredith, Ty Olwin, Raven Whitley, Jalen Gilbert, Emma Ladji, Robert T. Cunningham, Tony Fitzpatrick, and Marilyn Dodds Frank.

"What happened to Carolyn Harper? Part suburban nightmare, part neon-soaked teenage fever dream, this tantalizing mystery traces the wave of fear and distrust that spreads across a small Midwestern town in the wake of a high school girl’s mysterious disappearance. As the loneliness and darkness lurking beneath the veneer of everyday life gradually comes to light, a collective awakening seems to overcome the town’s...

"Can you feel that?" IFC has debuted an official trailer for an indie neo-noir titled Knives and Skin, the latest from artist / filmmaker Jennifer Reeder. This first premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and also stopped by the Tribeca, Fantasia, FrightFest, Helsinki, and Vienna Film Festivals. Knives and Skin is a mystical teen noir that follows a young girl's disappearance in the rural Midwest and its effect on teens and parents. Described as a surreal "teen fever dream", the massive ensemble indie cast in this includes Marika Engelhardt, Grace Smith, Ireon Roach, Kayla Carter, Tim Hopper, Kate Arrington, Audrey Francis, Ty Olwin, Jalen Gilbert, Raven Whitley, Emma Ladji, James Vincent Meredith, Robert T. Cunningham, Tony Fitzpatrick, and Marilyn Dodds Frank. This seems pretty cool, but not so sure it's as unique as it claims to be. Worth a look anyway. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Jennifer...

Stars: Marika Engelhardt, Tim Hopper, Kate Arrington, Audrey Francis, Tony Fitzpatrick, James Vincent Meredith, Ty Olwin, Robert T. Cunningham, Alex Moss, Raven Whitley, Genevieve Venjohnson | Written and Directed by Jennifer Reeder

The disappearance of a female teenager in a small rural town in America starts an almost domino effect of problems for the people that knew her… Knives and Skin is part coming of age drama part dark thriller and it manages to feel like nothing I have seen before.

Director Jennifer Reeder definitely has a certain vision and sees it out completely, even if, for me, it fails to work almost as much as it works. Although we assume it is set in present day, it almost feels like it is set in its own little universe with the fashion, dialogue and sets there own unique thing.

I did enjoy much of the set and costume design though. The...

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham, Lance Henriksen, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Samantha Lemole, Olivia Crocicchia, Adin Steckler, Rachel Melvin, Sharon Gee | Written and Directed by Brian Taylor

Note: With the film finally hitting DVD and Blu-ray, here’s a repost of our review of Mom and Dad from its cinema release back in March.

“My parents are going to kill me”. That’s a standard line from any number of teen movies, but it’s taken literally in this glorious comic horror from writer-director Brian Taylor (the Crank franchise), here reuniting with star Nic Cage after Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

True to Taylor’s frenetic style, Mom and Dad wastes no time in getting down to business. An unexplained epidemic has caused every parent to have violent, murderous impulses towards their own children, despite remaining seemingly normal in all other aspects. After a...

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham, Lance Henriksen, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Samantha Lemole, Olivia Crocicchia, Adin Steckler, Rachel Melvin, Sharon Gee | Written and Directed by Brian Taylor

“My parents are going to kill me”. That’s a standard line from any number of teen movies, but it’s taken literally in this glorious comic horror from writer-director Brian Taylor (the Crank franchise), here reuniting with star Nic Cage after Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

True to Taylor’s frenetic style, Mom and Dad wastes no time in getting down to business. An unexplained epidemic has caused every parent to have violent, murderous impulses towards their own children, despite remaining seemingly normal in all other aspects. After a superb early sequence in which dozens of parents gather ominously at a high school before attacking their offspring, the focus narrows to the Ryan family: Mom Kendall...

Mom & Dad Momentum Pictures Director: Brian Taylor Screenwriter: Brian Taylor Cast: Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, Opens: January 19, 2018 Home is not only where the heart is, but the refuge from the wilds and anonymity of the outside world, a place where […]

The post Mom & Dad Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Forty-five minutes into filmmaker Brian Taylor’s new film Mom and Dad, Nicolas Cage (playing rampaging dad Brent Ryan) picks up a sledgehammer and starts smashing a pool table while singing “The Hokey Pokey.” This was just minutes after we'd seen him knock out a teenage boy (Robert T. Cunningham) with his bare hands and chase his daughter Carly (Anne Winters) and son Josh (Zackary Arthur) around a cookie cutter suburban oasis in a murderous rage.

Not long after the pool table incident, he’s at it again, finagling ways of flushing his children out of the basement so he and his...

I have to imagine every parent at some point wonders where their life could have gone if they didn’t have children. This doesn’t make them bad people — only those who actually act on the urge by abandoning their families without so much as a goodbye fall under that label. It just proves they’re human. It’s merely a manifestation of fatigue and frustration as the late-night parties and carefree, irresponsible attitudes necessary to let loose disappear. Gone are the dreams you can try and fail at knowing you don’t have a spouse and two kids to help feed, cloth, and shelter. Maybe you remember the past and long for its excess or perhaps you look towards the future, confident you wouldn’t be going to bed at 9:00pm without them.

Well, Brian Taylor’s Mom and Dad (his first foray as director without Mark Neveldine...