Exclusive: Indican Pictures has acquired North American rights for Boaz Yakin’s dance, rap and slam poetry-led romance Once Again (For The Very First Time) and will start rolling it out theatrically across the U.S. in October.
Billed as a break-dance, hip-hop supernatural fantasy, the movie stars Jeroboam Bozeman as DeRay, a legendary rapper and convicted killer who falls through the sky to land outside the door of Naima (Mecca Verdell), a slam poetess who is the love of his life.
The lovers are both survivors of trauma and guilt, who channel their pain into their art against the backdrop of the war zone of the New York streets. They wrestle with their love in an emotional and psychological space that is out of place and out of time.
The dance sequences were choreographed by Rennie Harris and the score was written by Marcus Norris (Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.
Billed as a break-dance, hip-hop supernatural fantasy, the movie stars Jeroboam Bozeman as DeRay, a legendary rapper and convicted killer who falls through the sky to land outside the door of Naima (Mecca Verdell), a slam poetess who is the love of his life.
The lovers are both survivors of trauma and guilt, who channel their pain into their art against the backdrop of the war zone of the New York streets. They wrestle with their love in an emotional and psychological space that is out of place and out of time.
The dance sequences were choreographed by Rennie Harris and the score was written by Marcus Norris (Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.
- 9/16/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Israeli novelist and director Shemi Zarhin is set to screen his latest movie, Bliss (Hemda) at the Toronto Film Festival with virtually all the certainties in his life and work scrambled by the current war in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel.
“I can’t explain my people. I can explain nothing,” Zarhin told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday about the impossibility of unpacking the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in his own films and the wider Israeli cinema.
Hardly a critique of Israeli’s polarized society, Zarhin wrote and shot Bliss (Hemda) before the Israeli-Gaza war broke out late last year with devastating destruction in the region, and it’s not an overtly political film as it centers on an older couple, Sassi and Efi, played by Sasson Gabay and Assi Levy.
Burdened by part time jobs, they struggle with the everyday complications and cares of family,...
“I can’t explain my people. I can explain nothing,” Zarhin told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday about the impossibility of unpacking the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in his own films and the wider Israeli cinema.
Hardly a critique of Israeli’s polarized society, Zarhin wrote and shot Bliss (Hemda) before the Israeli-Gaza war broke out late last year with devastating destruction in the region, and it’s not an overtly political film as it centers on an older couple, Sassi and Efi, played by Sasson Gabay and Assi Levy.
Burdened by part time jobs, they struggle with the everyday complications and cares of family,...
- 9/10/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The hip-hop inspired surreal fantasy is directed by ‘Max’ filmmaker and ‘The Harder They Fall’ co-writer Boaz Yakin.
UK-France sales outfit alief has acquired Once Again (for the very first time) for world sales ahead of its world premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights (November 3-19).
US filmmaker Boaz Yakin directs, whose previous credits include Max and as a co-writer on Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall. This is alief’s sophomore feature with Yakin, following their partnership on 2020 title Aviva.
Jeroboam Bozeman and Mecca ‘Meccamorphosis’ Verdell star in this hip-hop infused surreal fantasy, about a legendary street...
UK-France sales outfit alief has acquired Once Again (for the very first time) for world sales ahead of its world premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights (November 3-19).
US filmmaker Boaz Yakin directs, whose previous credits include Max and as a co-writer on Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall. This is alief’s sophomore feature with Yakin, following their partnership on 2020 title Aviva.
Jeroboam Bozeman and Mecca ‘Meccamorphosis’ Verdell star in this hip-hop infused surreal fantasy, about a legendary street...
- 10/30/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Filmmaker Boaz Yakin discusses some of his favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Aviva (2020)
The Harder They Fall (2021)
The Harder They Come (1972)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Fresh (1994)
Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
Safe (2012)
Scream (2022)
The Punisher (1989)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Kagemusha (1980) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary
Mean Streets (1973)
Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The 400 Blows (1959) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary
Yojimbo (1961)
Dodes’ka-den (1970)
Short Cuts (1993) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray commentary
Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Coonskin (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Fritz The Cat (1972) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
Wizards (1977)
Heavy Traffic (1973) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Warriors (1979)
Quintet (1979)
Brewster McCloud (1970) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Mash (1970)
Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary,...
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Aviva (2020)
The Harder They Fall (2021)
The Harder They Come (1972)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Fresh (1994)
Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
Safe (2012)
Scream (2022)
The Punisher (1989)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Kagemusha (1980) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary
Mean Streets (1973)
Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The 400 Blows (1959) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary
Yojimbo (1961)
Dodes’ka-den (1970)
Short Cuts (1993) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray commentary
Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Coonskin (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Fritz The Cat (1972) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
Wizards (1977)
Heavy Traffic (1973) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Warriors (1979)
Quintet (1979)
Brewster McCloud (1970) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Mash (1970)
Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary,...
- 2/22/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
New Indie
The critically-acclaimed “Aviva” (Outsider/Strand) casts both male and female dancers as both of the romantic leads, throwing out conventions of gender and sexuality in a love story that features some gorgeous choreography. Boaz Yakin’s film was programmed at the 2020 SXSW festival, and the Blu-ray features behind-the-scenes footage of dance rehearsals.
Also available: Stand-up Steve Byrne wrote and directed the comics-on-the-road saga “The Opening Act” (Rlje Films), featuring such industry vets as Jimmy O. Yang, Alex Moffat, Cedric the Entertainer, Bill Burr, and Whitney Cummings; “Buddy Games” (Saban/Paramount) stars Josh Duhamel and Dax Shepard in an ensemble comedy about estranged friends enduring a ridiculous competition for a $150,000 prize; a newly sober carpenter tries to build a home and establish a life in “Major Arcana” (Gde/Kino Lorber).
New Foreign
Melina León’s Cannes fave “Song Without a Name” (Film Movement), about an indigenous woman trying to...
The critically-acclaimed “Aviva” (Outsider/Strand) casts both male and female dancers as both of the romantic leads, throwing out conventions of gender and sexuality in a love story that features some gorgeous choreography. Boaz Yakin’s film was programmed at the 2020 SXSW festival, and the Blu-ray features behind-the-scenes footage of dance rehearsals.
Also available: Stand-up Steve Byrne wrote and directed the comics-on-the-road saga “The Opening Act” (Rlje Films), featuring such industry vets as Jimmy O. Yang, Alex Moffat, Cedric the Entertainer, Bill Burr, and Whitney Cummings; “Buddy Games” (Saban/Paramount) stars Josh Duhamel and Dax Shepard in an ensemble comedy about estranged friends enduring a ridiculous competition for a $150,000 prize; a newly sober carpenter tries to build a home and establish a life in “Major Arcana” (Gde/Kino Lorber).
New Foreign
Melina León’s Cannes fave “Song Without a Name” (Film Movement), about an indigenous woman trying to...
- 12/30/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
London-based Matchbox films has bagged the U.K., Ireland and Australasian rights to Boaz Yakin’s all-singing, all-dancing gender-fluid romance “Aviva,” from Tbilisi, Béziers and London-based producer/distributor Alief Film.
The film is scheduled for distribution in those territories from the first quarter 2021.
Closed on the eve of the AFM, the deal follows Alief’s earlier U.S. sale of the film to Outsider Pictures and Strand Releasing in April. Outsider released the dance drama virtually in the U.S. in June on fledgling Hollywood movie service Row8.
Strand has also announced a mid-December release date for the film’s distribution for electronic sell-through/transactional video on demand, DVD and BluRay.
Shot on location in Paris and New York, “Aviva” revolves around a pair of transatlantic lovers, Aviva and Eden, whose characters take on both male and female forms at different moments during the narrative.
Young Parisian Aviva is played...
The film is scheduled for distribution in those territories from the first quarter 2021.
Closed on the eve of the AFM, the deal follows Alief’s earlier U.S. sale of the film to Outsider Pictures and Strand Releasing in April. Outsider released the dance drama virtually in the U.S. in June on fledgling Hollywood movie service Row8.
Strand has also announced a mid-December release date for the film’s distribution for electronic sell-through/transactional video on demand, DVD and BluRay.
Shot on location in Paris and New York, “Aviva” revolves around a pair of transatlantic lovers, Aviva and Eden, whose characters take on both male and female forms at different moments during the narrative.
Young Parisian Aviva is played...
- 11/6/2020
- by Ann-Marie Corvin
- Variety Film + TV
Boaz Yakin ‘s romantic dance drama “Aviva” has been sold by Alief Film Company to several big territories.
An exploration of gender identity and self-expression through body language, “Aviva,” shot on location in Paris and New York and revolves around a pair of transatlantic lovers, Aviva and Eden. After a long courtship they meet in person and fall in love, settling into an intimate relationship that leads to marriage, but one, as many are, laced with conflicts. The two protaganists are played by four different actors expressing both masculine and feminine sides.
Alief Film Company has closed deals with Synapse Distribution for Latin America and Yes Dbs for Israel, following the film’s premiere in competition at the Haifa Film Festival.
The film also played virtually at SXSW, Fantaspoa, Choreoscope Spain and Mexico editions, where it won the top prize.
“Aviva” was released virtually on in June 12 in North America by Outsider Pictures,...
An exploration of gender identity and self-expression through body language, “Aviva,” shot on location in Paris and New York and revolves around a pair of transatlantic lovers, Aviva and Eden. After a long courtship they meet in person and fall in love, settling into an intimate relationship that leads to marriage, but one, as many are, laced with conflicts. The two protaganists are played by four different actors expressing both masculine and feminine sides.
Alief Film Company has closed deals with Synapse Distribution for Latin America and Yes Dbs for Israel, following the film’s premiere in competition at the Haifa Film Festival.
The film also played virtually at SXSW, Fantaspoa, Choreoscope Spain and Mexico editions, where it won the top prize.
“Aviva” was released virtually on in June 12 in North America by Outsider Pictures,...
- 9/19/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
We're back with a new installment of Horror Highlights! In today's installment, we have details on the livestream of the official Fright Night stage play, the full Fantaspoa lineup, details on Alamo on Demand's Fulci collection and Ari Aster picks, and an exclusive Q&a with actor Eric Fellows:
The Rage of the Stage Players Present: A Dramatized Livestream Reading of the Official “Fright Night” Stage Play: "The Rage of the Stage Players, Pittsburgh's longest-running dark/fringe theatre company (now our 19th season), are thrilled to announce that, with the permission of horror icon Tom Holland, we will be presenting a visceral dramatized livestream performance, that will welcome audiences to Fright Night…For Real.
Come join us on Sunday, August 2, 2020, for a historic, not-to-be-missed, “Fan-niversary” event, to celebrate the original film’s release, 35 years to the day! It will include an introduction by the film’s creator, Tom Holland, and...
The Rage of the Stage Players Present: A Dramatized Livestream Reading of the Official “Fright Night” Stage Play: "The Rage of the Stage Players, Pittsburgh's longest-running dark/fringe theatre company (now our 19th season), are thrilled to announce that, with the permission of horror icon Tom Holland, we will be presenting a visceral dramatized livestream performance, that will welcome audiences to Fright Night…For Real.
Come join us on Sunday, August 2, 2020, for a historic, not-to-be-missed, “Fan-niversary” event, to celebrate the original film’s release, 35 years to the day! It will include an introduction by the film’s creator, Tom Holland, and...
- 7/17/2020
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Pegging the career of filmmaker Boaz Yakin is incredibly difficult and maybe that’s the point. “I have pretty eclectic taste so nothing comes as a surprise to anyone who knows me,” he says. And it’s true, Yakin’s career is incredibly diverse and disparate, often tackling high and low. Case in point, his first published screenplay credit is Dolph Lundgren’s pulpy “The Punisher” Marvel film in 1989, and that was followed up by buddy cop action film “The Rookie,” starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen.
Continue reading The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘Aviva’ Filmmaker Boaz Yakin at The Playlist.
Continue reading The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘Aviva’ Filmmaker Boaz Yakin at The Playlist.
- 6/18/2020
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
London and Tblisi-based Alief has picked up worldwide rights for Ángeles Hernández and David Matamorros’ Spanish relationship drama “Isaac.” Variety has obtained exclusive access to the trailer.
The film is based on the Spanish play “El día que nació Isaac” by Antonio Hernández Centeno, who is also known for his work on such Spanish series as Amazon’s “Caronte” and Netflix’s “Unauthorized Living.”
Described as “a quirky Dogma 95-style story of love and gender fluidity,” “Isaac” focuses on two old friends, Denis and Nacho, who meet again years after having had an intense relationship as teenagers. Now in relationships with their respective partners, the two couples grow close and end up fulfilling each other’s needs.
Hernández and Matamorros co-directed the pic and produced via their Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi Films.
Toplining the cast are Ivan Sanchez and Pepe Ocio, both of whom currently star in hit Netflix shows “You Cannot Hide” and “High Seas,...
The film is based on the Spanish play “El día que nació Isaac” by Antonio Hernández Centeno, who is also known for his work on such Spanish series as Amazon’s “Caronte” and Netflix’s “Unauthorized Living.”
Described as “a quirky Dogma 95-style story of love and gender fluidity,” “Isaac” focuses on two old friends, Denis and Nacho, who meet again years after having had an intense relationship as teenagers. Now in relationships with their respective partners, the two couples grow close and end up fulfilling each other’s needs.
Hernández and Matamorros co-directed the pic and produced via their Barcelona-based Mr. Miyagi Films.
Toplining the cast are Ivan Sanchez and Pepe Ocio, both of whom currently star in hit Netflix shows “You Cannot Hide” and “High Seas,...
- 6/17/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Around 57 minutes into Boaz Yakin’s dance-driven romantic drama “Aviva,” the film’s protagonist looks straight into the camera and says, “Fuck consistency and tone.” The reason for his outburst? He’s addressing the random dance number that occurred 20 minutes earlier, in which a mob of middle school boys interrupts the plot to perform a dance number out of nowhere. It does not serve the plot, it is never referenced again, and if “Aviva” needed a thesis statement, there it is practically spraypainted in bold red letters: Fuck consistency and tone.
Continue reading ‘Aviva’: An Entrancing, Dance-Driven Experiment That Struts Into Self-Indulgence [Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Aviva’: An Entrancing, Dance-Driven Experiment That Struts Into Self-Indulgence [Review] at The Playlist.
- 6/15/2020
- by Jonathan Christian
- The Playlist
Everyone has feminine and masculine dualities living inside them, but few embrace such qualities like an old friend — much less dance, argue, or make love to them in the moonlight. While the contemporary dance scenes are undoubtedly the highlight of Boaz Yakin’s provocative new romantic drama “Aviva,” the filmmaker externalizes the concept of one’s inner other by casting his main characters with both a male and female actor. The central couple therefore becomes four people, all of whom engage physically, verbally, and romantically in different combinations.
It’s a fascinating concept, and one offering plenty to grapple with on its own. Unfortunately, If “Aviva” didn’t already have such stimulating choreography and music going for it, maybe the high-concept schtick would feel revelatory instead of indulgent and distracting. As such, there is too much going on in the two-hour film. That’s unfortunate, because some simple streamlining to...
It’s a fascinating concept, and one offering plenty to grapple with on its own. Unfortunately, If “Aviva” didn’t already have such stimulating choreography and music going for it, maybe the high-concept schtick would feel revelatory instead of indulgent and distracting. As such, there is too much going on in the two-hour film. That’s unfortunate, because some simple streamlining to...
- 6/12/2020
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Meta on top of meta, the choreographic psychodrama Aviva is a romance in which the primary characters—star-crossed Israeli lovers-in-New-York Aviva and Eden—are each played by two performers, one of each gender, pairing and tripling and quadrupling off as the ecstasies and heartbreak of a relationship turn into a sometimes dizzying hall of mirrors. The film, which has its virtual world premiere today (June 12), is a collaboration between writer-director Boaz Yakin and dancer-choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith, formerly of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, and the irrepressible subject of the 2017 documentary Bobbi Jene. The masculine/feminine divide, embodied […]...
- 6/12/2020
- by Steve Dollar
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Meta on top of meta, the choreographic psychodrama Aviva is a romance in which the primary characters—star-crossed Israeli lovers-in-New-York Aviva and Eden—are each played by two performers, one of each gender, pairing and tripling and quadrupling off as the ecstasies and heartbreak of a relationship turn into a sometimes dizzying hall of mirrors. The film, which has its virtual world premiere today (June 12), is a collaboration between writer-director Boaz Yakin and dancer-choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith, formerly of Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, and the irrepressible subject of the 2017 documentary Bobbi Jene. The masculine/feminine divide, embodied […]...
- 6/12/2020
- by Steve Dollar
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The characters in Aviva, writer-director Boaz Yakin’s experimental self-chronicle-meets-Carnal Knowledge update, have a lot of sex. They copulate passionately in suburban teenage bedrooms and expensive downtown lofts, furtively in the backrooms of bars and against nightclub walls, in versions both vanilla and 50-gray-shaded, positions both missionary and magnificently gymnastic, in twos and, occasionally, threes. They are comfortable enough with their bodies to frequently lounge around in the altogether; in fact, most of the people who show up are casually, inexplicably nude at one point or another. They are in...
- 6/12/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
A dazzling and frank dance musical, Boaz Yakin’s Aviva is an ambitious picture free from the restraints of traditional narrative–an ode to young urban living as young lovers Eden and Aviva settle down and settle into familiar gender roles. The question of gender roles is a loaded one, in fact. We’re told that Eden (played by Tyler Phillips as a man and Bobbi Jene Smith as a female) was intended to be a woman, played by a man, in a role written by a man. Eden’s lover, the luminous Aviva, is portrayed in female form by Zina Zinchenko and sometimes in the male form by Or Schraiber. The rules of the game–the movie within the movie–are explained as each character is introduced to us posing nude, in either a domestic or professional space, by the film’s female narrator. Confused yet? Aviva is as confounding as it is explicit,...
- 6/12/2020
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
There’s a lot going on in Aviva, an experimental new film that often defies easy description. At its core, this is a romantic drama about two lovers, but that’s very much just what’s on the surface. Through a very bold approach, both in terms of a structural decision, as well as a fearless display of nudity and sexuality, Aviva is a movie that some will find enthralling, while others will find pretentious. I’ll admit to occasionally being befuddled by the flick, but there’s an hypnotic quality to it all that quickly wins you over. Hitting this weekend, it’s being described as a mash up of Climax and Marriage Story, and while that’s not quite accurate, it’s a solid starting point. Mostly, it’s something wholly unique. The movie is hard to explain, so forgive me if I use some of the official synopsis to begin.
- 6/9/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Director Boaz Yakin has carved out a diverse and unpredictable career where complancy has not taken root. With the critical acclaim of Fresh and the box office success of Remember the Titans, Yakin could have written his own ticket into directing studio driven projects. Along with directing stories with a broader appeal (he helmed the [...]
The post Boaz Yakin’s Cinematic Dance Leads To Breathtaking Experience With ‘Aviva’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.
The post Boaz Yakin’s Cinematic Dance Leads To Breathtaking Experience With ‘Aviva’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.
- 6/9/2020
- by Hollywood Outbreak
- HollywoodOutbreak.com
"Everything is always changing." Outsider Pics has unveiled a new trailer for the film Aviva, an intriguing romantic drama that was set to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival this year. The film will now get a limited virtual release in June, before expanding further throughout the summer. From SXSW: Aviva portrays the relationship between Eden and Aviva, and how the conflicts and difficulties in balancing the masculine / feminine balance within themselves extends outward and challenges their connection. Both characters are played by both a man and a woman each, and the film is narrated for the most part by Eden's female side. Starring (in the two lead roles) Bobbi Jene Smith, Zina Zinchenko, Tyler Phillips, & Or Schraiber. The film has "exultant" dance sequences choreographed by co-star Bobbi Jene Smith, capturing "a restless, frenzied and very fluid moment in time - right now - where the male-female dynamic is demystified...
- 5/12/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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