"Wildlike" Review (***)

Ella Purnell and Bruce Greenwood star in "Wildlike."

Frank Hall Green’s quiet, low-budget drama, "Wildlike," is a modest story of an unlikely kinship between a young and volatile Mackenzie (Ella Purnell) and an experienced and haggard Rene (Bruce Greenwood). Mackenzie, still reeling from the loss of her father, is forced to stay with her uncle, played by the doe-eyed Brian Geraghty, at his home in Alaska. We quickly learn he’s a creep and he’s abusive, and that’s all we know and really all we need to know. She leaves, and rightfully so, and that propels the rest of the film into action.

2015 Macon Film Festival Complete Lineup Revealed

This year's Macon Film Festival is bound to be the biggest event yet. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Macon announced last year that it would move the four-day event from February to July, coinciding with the city's annual Bragg-Jam Music Festival—creating a ten-day mega event in downtown Macon.

Kicking off our annual coverage of middle Georgia's premiere film event, we are pleased to showcase the entire lineup! Several great films are to be showcased this year, including many Georgia features and shorts, several films that also played the 2015 Atlanta Film Festival ("Divided Time," "Frame by Frame," "Old South," "Wildlike") and some very special presentations to be attended by #GAfilm icon Burt Reynolds.

OPENING NIGHT:

MAVIS!

USA (Director: Jessica Edwards) – Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers inspired millions and helped propel the civil rights movement with their music. After 60 years of performing, legendary singer Mavis Staples' message of love and equality is needed now more than ever.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS:

Special Screening of DELIVERANCE (1972) 

USA (Director: John Boorman) – Burt Reynolds scheduled to attend a Q&A following the screening of this iconic Georgia film. 

HOW SWEET THE SOUND: BLIND BOYS FROM ALABAMA
USA (Director: Leslie McCleave) – Directed and Produced by Leslie McCleave Filmed over the course of ten years, How Sweet the Sound tells the story of The Blind Boys of Alabama. They met as children in the 1930’s at a state-run segregated vocational school and would become one of the last great gospel quartets, traversing the famed “gospel highway” and beyond. As the surviving band members recount their unlikely success story, we see a rare, frank view of life on and off the road with these renowned performers, now in their 70’s and 80’s.

LIVE FROM NEW YORK!
USA (Director: Bao Nguyen) – "Saturday Night Live" has been reflecting and influencing life in the United States for 40 years. Live From New York! goes deep inside this cultural phenomenon exploring the laughter that pulses through American politics, tragedy and popular culture.

Special Screening of SHARKY’S MACHINE (1981) 

USA (Director: Burt Reynolds) – Reynolds scheduled to attend a Q&A following this Closing Night screening. 

SLOW WEST

United Kingdom/New Zealand (Director: John Maclean) – "Slow West" follows a 16-year-old boy on a journey across 19th Century frontier America in search of the woman he loves, while accompanied by mysterious traveler Silas. The film stars Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

WESTERN
USA (Director: Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross) – For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, TX, from Piedras Negras, MX, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.

2014 Savannah Film Festival competition films

The lineup for this year's 17th annual Savannah Film Festival was released earlier this month. While plenty of big Hollywood and international films are featured that will go on to garner awards attention in the coming months, SAVFF also sheds a light on independent film. Below, we've gathered all of the features and short films in competition this year.

Look for more information on the special guests and gala presentations later this week, but in the meantime, check out www.savannahfilmfestival.com for the complete schedule and more information. The festival takes place from October 25th through November 1st.

Narrative Features

Amira and Sam
An army veteran struggles to assimilate back into a country he barely recognizes while trying to win the heart of an Iraqi immigrant who is teetering on the brink of deportation.

Parisian
When published Japanese author Kyoko Murakai travels to Paris, France, in search of the perfect character to inspire her next novel, she encounters carefree Parisian women and an enigmatic Spaniard across the hall who force her to rethink her own life and marriage.

The Sound and the Shadow
When the 6-year-old girl next door goes missing, Harold realizes that his secret audio recordings of the neighborhood may provide clues to the case. But when his overzealous new roommate Ally pushes him into a dangerous investigation, Harold’s world is turned upside down. “The Sound and the Shadow” examines the perceptions and stories we create from the sounds of our neighbors — and the secrets we hide behind our own walls.

Warren
After giving up on his dream of making it in the Chicago improv scene, a young comedian reconnects with the former love of his life while working at a coffee shop in his hometown. Afraid of growing old alone like his recently divorced father, Warren must choose between winning Emma back or finding the courage to go after his dreams a second time.

Wild-like
An unlikely friendship forms in the spectacular Alaskan wilderness, giving a runaway girl hope and sanctuary in America's last frontier.