At the cusp of her Quinceañera, Pacurí must decide where her loyalties lie: with her devoted family or her wealthy friends. “Pacurí,” directed by Gustavo René, is a coming-of-age drama about a Paraguayan-American teenager expressing independence while her family fixates on a culturally important ceremony. Pacurí’s family doesn’t have much money but they’ve been able to put aside a chunk of savings for her upcoming Quinceañera (her mother plans the party, to Pacurí’s disapproval: the flowers are too pink, the dress is too fluffy). Pacurí resists the ceremony (“I’m already 15”), perhaps out of a desire to fit in with her friends at school, mostly white and wealthy. One day, she’s tasked by a friend to buy weed for the friend group chilling at the beach that night, and she must find a way to come up with $60, though her family can’t afford to give her an allowance. It’s a film about cultural identity, class, assimilation, and rebellion, all portrayed with a light touch. René has a firm grasp on the material — this is loosely based on his family’s experience — and gets a wonderfully expressive performance from Gaby Medina.
When Nina fails to meet her goal in the final week of weight loss camp, she considers drastic alternatives. “Bye Bye Body,” directed by Charlotte Benbeniste, is a tender snapshot about body image and self-esteem delivered with wonderfully natural performances and lovely 35mm images. At a weigh-in...
Instructional videos on how to survive an active shooter attack send a paranoid man into a self-fulfilling spiral. Dylan Redford directs “Emergency Action Plan,” a layered satire and personal essay film which explores emergency readiness drills ranging from Redford’s childhood to the present day....
wormgirl dances.
wormgirl was inspired by the time-bending isolation that came out of lockdown. with nothing to do and no one to see, the scope of the day shrank from a full life of work commitments and relationships to a lonely, worm-like crawl. wormgirl shows the highs and lows of worming: th...
