Top 50 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2019: #50. Martha Stephens’ To the Stars

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To the Stars

Moving from the lopapeysa fitted, John Cassavetes Award winning Land Ho! to an Oklahoma Land Rush, Martha Stephens (profiled in our Sundance Trading Card) confidently steps into her fourth feature film, To the Stars. In what could be black & white splendor, after Passenger Pigeons, Pilgrim Song and her bonafide hit (a tandem with Aaron Katz) from Sundance 2014, Stephens shot in Oklahoma last May on a coming-of-ager project. The first project that she has not penned (cred goes to Shannon Bradley-Colleary), this sees Moonrise Kingdom actress Kara Hayward in perhaps her loftiest role to date. On this project, Stephens reteams with Land Ho! cinematographer Andrew Reed and works with a strong supporting cast including actress/Night Comes On helmer Jordana Spiro.

Gist: A 1960s coming-of-age tale, this centers on the powerful friendship forged between a shy farmer’s daughter (Kara Hayward) and a reckless new girl in town (Liana Liberato).

Release Date/Prediction: Selected for the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Comp – January 25th world premiere date.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society), FIPRESCI and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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