Connect with us

Acquisitions – Indie Films

Gang Bangin’: XLrator Media Give “Five Star” Salute to Keith Miller’s Sophomore Pic

Lightning has struck twice for helmer Keith Miller. After seeing his debut film Welcome to Pine Hill find theatrical release partners in the Oscilloscope folks, Deadline reports that XLrator Media’s Barry Gordon has taken Five Star off the streets and is setting it up with a logical, yet-to-be-determined summer release via their PACE label.

Gist: After John’s absent father is struck by a stray bullet, Primo takes it upon himself to verse the young boy in the code of the streets—one founded on respect and upheld by fear. A member of the Bloods since the age of twelve—both in the film and in reality—the streets of Brooklyn are all Primo has ever known. While John questions whether or not to enter into this life, Primo must decide whether to leave it all behind as he vows to become a better husband and father.

Worth Noting: Five Star had its world premiere at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and had its international premiere at Venice Film Festival’s Venice Days sidebar section.

Do We Care?: As noted with his debut film, “Miller manages to also have created a film and a character that’s memorable, meditative, and moving.” Belonging to the sort of intimate, realist portraiture that soothingly presents the vastness of Americana, this will likely not fall far from the tree.

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).

Click to comment

More in Acquisitions – Indie Films

To Top