List
Notable Firsts and Promising Introductions
Enjoy this list of artistically significant movie debuts, starts, and firsts.
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Caramel
2008Get this itemThis is the feature debut from Lebanese actress/director Nadine Labaki. The story centers on five women, all good friends at different stages in their lives. They help one another through obstacles of change and share in each other’s experiences of love, loss, and aging. The connecting point is a beauty salon in Beirut, where they work or meet. Receiving wide critical acclaim, it remains an audience favorite. Labaki's 2018 film Capernaum got a standing ovation at Cannes and won the Jury Prize.
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Chan Is Missing
2006Get this itemMade in 1982, believed to be the first Asian-American indie drama, this achieved critical acclaim and inclusion in the National Film Registry for its cultural, aesthetic, and historical importance. The plot follows two San Francisco cabbies searching for their friend Chan Hung, who seems to have disappeared with their money to purchase an independent taxi license. As they question folks in the neighborhood, each relates a different impression of Chan. This is Wayne Wang's first feature movie; he went on to direct the breakout mainstream release, The Joy Luck Club in 1993, which featured a majority Asian cast.
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I Will Follow
2011Get this itemMaking her narrative film debut, Ava DuVernay constructed a sensitive portrait of a woman who is adjusting to the loss of a close relative and then moving her own life back on track, after temporarily putting her career on hold. DuVernary's film work since includes the critically acclaimed movie Selma, the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, and a groundbreaking adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time.
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Keep the Change
2018Get this itemWriter/director Rachel Israel, while developing this feature debut, took inspiration from her longtime friend, Brandon Polansky. She used non-professional actors, including Polansky cast as the lead character David, to play versions of themselves. In the story, David, ordered by the court to attend a support group for adults with autism, believes that he does not belong there. When he gets a homework assignment to visit the Brooklyn Bridge with the effervescent Sarah, he begins to realize other possibilities and to see Sarah in a new light. This premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won three awards.
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Mary and the Witch's Flower
2018Get this itemAn exciting new edition to the world of anime, this is the first feature release from Studio Ponoc, founded by a former lead producer from Studio Ghibli (Hayao Miyazaki's studio before he retired). In this charming family-friendly anime, Mary finds a rare flower that gives her magical powers to become a witch for one night. Via an enchanted broomstick, she goes to a college for witches, where she may or may not be truly welcome. One can definitely see Miyazaki's influence on style and storytelling.
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Presenting Princess Shaw
2016Get this itemA fairy tale comes true in this heartwarming documentary about a new musical talent. Samantha “Princess Shaw” Montgomery, a nurse’s assistant living in New Orleans, regularly posted songs she wrote, singing a cappella, to her YouTube channel. In Tel Aviv, Kutiman, a famous musician, known for creating music compilations by sampling and remixing pieces from YouTube, finds her songs and decides to incorporate her singing in his next video project.
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Songs My Brothers Taught Me
2016Get this itemFilmed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and nearby areas in Badlands, South Dakota, this is Chloe Zhao’s debut feature movie. The story involves a teenager, planning to follow his girlfriend to Los Angeles after their high school graduation. Yet, when his often-absent father perishes in a house fire, he starts to consider more deeply his conflicting feelings about leaving behind his beloved younger sister, struggling single mother, and older brother, who is in jail. Zhao's second feature movie, The Rider, is one of the best of 2018, which brings a new audience to this under-the-radar gem.
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Southside With You
2016Get this itemFor his feature film directorial debut, Richard Tanne made a movie showing the first date between Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson in 1989. Shot on location in Chicago, this is a sweet beginning indeed.
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The Story of the Weeping Camel
2005Get this itemThis debut feature from Mongolian filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, and it introduced moviegoers to an adorable rare white baby camel. When its mother rejects a newborn calf, a nomadic shepherd family decides to send their two boys into town to bring back a musician who can perform a ritual to unite mother and calf.
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Under the Same Moon
2008Get this itemFrom Mexican filmmaker Patricia Riggen, this is her first feature length movie, an independent drama that became a box office hit in the U.S. The story follows 9-year-old Carlitos, as he journeys from Mexico to America in order to find his mother, who illegally immigrated four years prior. Riggen cast the famous actor/comedian Eugenio Derbez, in his first dramatic role, as Carlitos' traveling companion.
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