NYFF: The Florida Project

by Jason Adams

When I was eight years old my mother and I finally moved out of the room we had been renting since my parents had divorced into our own house. The house was so small the movers had to break our bed-frame in half to get it up the staircase, but it was ours. A house! A home. The day after we moved in the police showed up at our door and took my mother away - in order for us to get our own place she had stolen money from the laundromat she worked at. I went and lived with my grandmother for awhile after that.

I take films about poverty as a deeply serious business...

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TIFF: Sean Baker's Wondrous "The Florida Project"

by Chris Feil

With Sean Baker’s compassionate ingenuity, The Florida Project is a heartbreaking (and heart-renewing) fable of American poverty seen through the resilient eyes of children. Set in a slum motel just a stone’s through away from Disney World, the film follows a boisterous toddler names Moonee and her mother Halley as they struggle to get by. But like Baker’s other tales of people on the fringes, Project lives more in their joy than their pain.

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"The Florida Project" Drops a Gorgeous Trailer

Chris here. We were already on board for whatever director Sean Baker would be giving us post-Tangerine, but after his follow-up The Florida Project received some of the best reviews out of this year's Cannes Film Festival, it quickly became one of our most anticipated of the fall season. The first reactions primed us for something equally heartwarming and breaking, with some stunning 35MM lensing that is just as inventive as Baker's iPhone innovation on Tangerine - and the new first trailer promises just that.

What I already sense from this candy-coated jungle that we weren't expecting is that it might be just as instantly quotable as anything we got from Sin-Dee and Alexandra ("YOU'RE NOT WELCOME!" - I mean, come on, little Brooklynn Prince is already giving such gold here). The trailer certainly sells the lighter side of this look at poverty just outside of the excess of Disney World, so we'll see just how optimistic the film turns out to be. A24 is planning a big Oscar push for the film and if the film remains a tiny tough sell for that crowd, this trailer does lay a lot of ground work for a major play for Willem Dafoe. Could he be this year's "career recognition in a sentimental role" supporting nominee? Or if it is a major player, will they pass out soft serve ice cream for some cute bit during the ceremony?

We're keeping our fingers crossed that The Florida Project is added to the TIFF lineup, but the film will play NYFF before opening on October 6.

Sean Baker's "The Florida Project" Rocks Cannes

Chris here. For films outside of the main competition, this year has been an unusually quiet Cannes. One film that has stuck out and stirred our immediate anticipation is Sean Baker's The Florida Project in the Director's Fortnight sidebar, as unanimously praised as anything on the Croisette thus far. Baker returns to 35MM after his iPhone experiment for a hopeful portrayal of a youth and poverty with Disney World in the background. Word is he has delivered something gorgeous and heartbreaking, with major breakthrough performances from Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite. Whether or not Florida takes Baker to the next level stateside, I'd bank on his chances to enter the main competition should he return to Cannes for his next feature.

As if anything from Baker post-Tangerine wouldn't already have us foaming at the mouth, the high praise and comparisons to the likes of Beasts of the Southern Wild are making this one we'll be really dying to see once it comes stateside.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT is an absolute barn burner. Brimming with life & noise & neglect & humanity & an all-time Willem Dafoe. #cannes2017 🔥🔥🔥

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 22, 2017

So why has it not attracted a distributor since debuting a few days ago? With all of the rave reviews, you would think a indie outfit would want to snatch this one up while Baker's star is on the rise. Some are whispering at Oscar potential because of its emotional impact and strong vision, but the film needs a buyer to really support it first. Even though critics are calling it as joyful as it is tragic, are buyers just scared off by an apparently unflinching look at poverty? Do we have to send Sin-Dee out to drag their asses to the buyer's table?

UPDATE - A24 has picked up the film for US distribution.

An Evening With The Duplass Brothers

Kieran, here. When I saw Sean Baker’s Tangerine (discussed here), I was taken aback to see Mark and Jay Duplass (pictured left, in that order) listed as executive producers. While they’re certainly known for micro-budget features (their first film, The Puffy Chair was made for only $15,000), an indie dramedy about transwomen of color in East Hollywood seemed a far cry from their typical oeuvre.  Listening to them talk last night at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, I quickly realized my perception of them was misguided. They themselves seem aware of how they are perceived. Mark joked at one point: 

I think people think we sleep in bunk beds together. We're actually married and we have children--with other people"

Once the conversation turned to Tangerine and why they signed on as executive producers, they were eager to discuss the Sundance breakout hit. [More...]

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