Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire was the big hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, scooping up critical acclaim and awards love.
Going into the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, who would have thought that movie starring Mo’Nique, Sherri Shepherd and Mariah Carey and directed by the guy who previously helmed the awful incest-tinged thriller Shadowboxer would emerge as the movie to beat? But that’s just what happened when the festival’s awards were handed out this weekend and Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire won the Audience Award for a Dramatic Feature, a Special Jury Prize for acting and the Grand Jury Prize for a Dramatic Film (essentially the Sudance equivalent of a Best Picture Oscar). Directed by Lee Daniels, Push is an adaptation of the acclaimed book by the black poet-turned-novelist Sapphire and centers around a pregnant teenager (Gabourey Sidibe) who still lives at home with her emotionally abusive mother (Mo’Nique, in a career-reinventing performance that was the talk of Park City). Although the film went into the festival without distribution, its strong awards showing and generally positive critical buzz hopefully means it will arrive in theaters before the year is out.
Push wasn’t the only film that made a splash at Sundance. Here are a few other indie titles to keep your eyes on in 2009.
Black Dynamite
Directed by Scott Sanders
Starring Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson and Arsenio Hall
A blaxploitation spoof in the vein of Undercover Brother and I”m Gonna Git You Sucka about a kung-fu fighting Soul Brother who fights the powers that be in order to get a secret weapon off the streets that has been disguised as cans of Anaconda Malt Liquor.
Purchased by Sony Pictures; no release date announced.
The Carter
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough
A documentary about platinum-selling rapper Lil Wayne that profiles him behind the mic and in his everyday life.
Currently without distribution
Brookyn’s Finest
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes
A murderer’s row of great actors star in this Brooklyn-set cop thriller written by a hometown local (first time screenwriter Michael C. Martin) and filmed extensively on location.
Purchased by Senator Distribution; no release date announced
Passing Strange
Directed by Spike Lee
Starring Stew, Daniel Breaker, Chad Goodridge
A filmed version of the acclaimed Broadway musical, written by and starring Stew, based on his own life story.
Currently without distribution
Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy
Directed by Robert Townsend
Two decades after helming the landmark comedy Hollywood Shuffle, Robert Townsend explores the history and current state of black comedy from Redd Foxx to Richard Pryor to Dave Chappelle.
Currently without distribution
Good Hair
Directed by Jeff Stilson
Speaking of Chris Rock, the comic produced, wrote and appears in this comedy-laced documentary about African American hair culture.
Currently without distribution
