• By Mabel Pais

FEATURES

RRR

Dir/Writ: S.S. Rajamouli l 2022 l India l Telugu w/Eng subs l 3h 2m

‘RRR,’ from writer-director S. S. Rajamouli (Baahubali) is the international blockbuster that has enchanted movie audiences of all ages with its jaw-dropping action sequences, swooning romantic intrigue, infectious musical numbers— including the sensation “Naatu Naatu”—and rousing central friendship between two pre-Independence revolutionaries, played by Telugu-language megastars Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. (better known as Jr. NTR).

From an original story by V. Vijayendra Prasad, the historical action epic RRR (short for Rise, Roar, Revolt) follows the fictionalized paths of real-life freedom fighters Alluri Sitarama Raju (Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Rama Rao) as they come together in 1920s Delhi to battle the nefarious British Raj for the rescue of a kidnapped girl from Bheem’s tribe.

Watch the trailer –player.vimeo.com/video/709590385?autoplay=1&h=a79303822a

Opening: Check local listings for re-release dates.

HIDDEN LETTERS

Dirs: Violet Du Feng & Qing Zhao l 2022 l China/USA/Norway/Germany l

1h 26m

Women in China were historically forced into oppressive marriages and forbidden to read or write by their households for thousands of years. To cope, they developed and shared a secret language among themselves called Nushu. Written in poems or songs with bamboo pens on paper-folded fans and handkerchiefs, these hidden letters bonded generations of Chinese women in a clandestine support system of sisterhood, hope and survival. Spanning between past and present, from sunken rice fields and rural villages to bustling metropolitan cities, ‘Hidden Letters’ follows two millennial Chinese women who are connected by their fascination with Nushu and their desire to protect its legacy.

In Jiangyong, Hu Xin works as a Nushu museum guide and aspires to master the ancient script following the breakup of her marriage. In Shanghai, Simu is passionate about music and Nushu, but marital expectations threaten to end her pursuit of both. Influenced by Nushu’s legacy of female solidarity, the two women struggle to find balance as they forge their own paths in a patriarchal culture steeped in female subservience to men. Learn more at hiddenlettersfilm.com

Opening: Watch on major streaming platforms.

ALL IN: MIRACLE AT ST. BERNARD’S

Dirs: Gregg Backer & Evan Kanew l 2022 l USA l 1h 35m

‘All In: Miracle at St. Bernard’s’ is about faith, family and football. This documentary chronicles a tiny, 100-year-old Catholic school in Fitchburg, Massachusetts struggling with insolvency yet defying the odds at a time when the Church was shuttering similar institutions nationwide.

It’s the underdog story of a working-class community and the state’s smallest football program rallying in pursuit of an impossible goal: to save their school from closure by the Church.

The Bernardians faithful needed a miracle. So they set about creating one. All In follows the dramatic campaigns to raise money and enrollment as well as a magical football season that together saved a beloved institution.

Opening: Watch on Prime Video

DOC SHORTS

BAREFOOT EMPRESS

Dir: Vikas Khanna l 2022 l USA l 15m

‘Barefoot Empress’ follows the remarkable journey of 96-year-old Karthyayani Amma as she joins a first grade class, realizing her lifelong dream of receiving an education.  Amma went to school for the first time at 96 and became the top of her class. In the trailer she can be seen soaking up a lesson amidst a classroom of girls a tenth of her age. “I’m not ashamed to be sitting in a classroom with students of my great-grandchildren’s age,” she says.

Watch the trailer: youtu.be/7LZ1w8KvD_U

The film is Executive Produced by world-renowned speaker and author, Dr. Deepak Chopra, directed by Michelin Star Chef and social impact filmmaker Vikas Khanna, and produced by Academy Award nominated Doug Roland.

Inspired by Vikas Khanna’s own grandmother who was not given an opportunity at an education, Khanna has partnered with non-profit Leap to Shine to use the film to raise funds in service of providing high quality education for girls in underserved communities in India. To date, ‘Barefoot Empress’ has helped rehabilitate eleven classrooms in India, with many more on the way. Speaking about the film, Dr. Chopra said, “‘Barefoot Empress’ carries a universal message of hope and perseverance that has the power to move viewers, and the momentum to impact the lives of thousands of girls in India.” Learn more at barefootempress.com

FAVORITE DAUGHTER

Dir: Dana Reilly l 2022 l USA l 19m

 Winner – Audience Award for Best Docu Short – Sidewalk Film Festival

“‘Favorite Daughter,’ is an endearing, funny, and poignant look at aging, sex, cooking, finding love, and of course the mother-daughter bond.” – Tribeca Citizen

‘Favorite Daughter’ is an intimate portrait of the director’s grandmother Sylvia Weinstock and mother Janet Isa, sheltering in place together in a lower Manhattan apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sylvia was living alone for the first time in her life when after her partner of 69 years, (the director’s  grandpa), Ben, passed away. Then her youngest daughter, Janet, moved in.

This short documentary is both raw and charming, melancholy and funny — a portrait of two women with vastly different experiences coming together and supporting one another through the uncertainty of spending the next chapters of their lives “alone,” without a partner.

View the trailer: player.vimeo.com/video/711406850

Opening: Running on Paramount+.

HOLDING MOSES

Dirs: Rivkah Beth Medow & Jen Rainin l 2022 l USA l English l 17m

WORLD PREMIERE – 2022 San Francisco International Film Festival

SFFILM Festival 2022 – Winner – Golden Gate Award

SF Jewish Film Festival 2022 – Winner – Best Short Documentary

‘Holding Moses’ focuses on Randi, who studied Butoh dance in Japan before performing in the show ‘Stomp,’ forging a deep connection with movement and her body. Randi is visually striking, with close-cropped salt and pepper hair, and presents as very masculine of center, defying most people’s image of a mother. Birthing her son felt triumphant, then confusing as he was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) . When doctors shared that Moses was profoundly disabled and faced a tenuous future, Randi fell into a well of grief before unearthing a new language by which to learn and love her son – one born and honed in the body. Learn more at franklyspeakingfilms.com/projects/holding-moses

Opening: Streaming on the New Yorker Documentary

(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality)