AVA DuVERNAY’S ARRAY TAKES #STAYATHOME VIEWERS ON A GLOBAL CINEMATIC JOURNEY WITH WEEKLY DIGITAL FILM SERIES

Keeping you inform about about ARRAY’s weekly digital film series #ARRAYMatinee. The films feature narratives with a global cinematic lens.

Independent Spirit Award nominated film OUT OF MY HAND is this week’s featured film for our weekly, “watch and tweet” digital film series – #ARRAYMatinee, where films from our ARRAY Releasing catalogue are showcased each week. 

OUT OF MY HAND is a soulful immigrant tale that features Liberia and New York as key destinations in the film.

While the world is practicing social distancing, staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis, Ava DuVernay’s multi-platform content and arts collective ARRAY is curating a slate of its previously released independent films featuring global settings by noted international filmmakers for its new, weekly digital film series #ARRAYMatinee.

Airing Wednesday, April 15 at 1pm PST and continuing on April 22, May 6 and May 13, viewers will take a cinematic journey to the international destinations and cultures featured in five films that were previously released via the ARRAY Releasing independent film distribution collective that amplifies that work of emerging filmmakers of color and women of all kinds. While watching the films, the at-home audience can join the Twitter conversation around each movie using ARRAY Matinee, connecting with the global, online ARRAY community of cinephiles. Viewers can access details for watching the films at arraynow.com/amanda-cinema.

This week’s featured ARRAY Matinee films is:

OUT OF MY HAND (Liberia) – Wednesday, April 15, 1PM PST (Vimeo)

https://youtu.be/nxvntNAupE0

Directed by Takeshi Fukunaga, OUT OF MY HAND takes viewers inside the humble life of Liberian rubber plantation worker Cisco. Severe working conditions, failed unionization and corporate corruption ultimately drive him away from his family and his country to the foreign streets of New York City where his past forces him to confront his sense of isolation and belonging. This film debuted in the Panorama Section of the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.

Upcoming ARRAY Matinee films:

THE HOUSE ON COCO ROAD (Grenada) – Wednesday, April 22, 1PM PST (Netflix)

THE HOUSE ON COCO ROAD is an intimate documentary exploration of heritage and history against the backdrop of a brewing Afro-centric revolution as the U.S. government prepares to invade the island nation of Grenada. First-hand accounts from activists Angela Davis, Fania Davis and Fannie Haughton weave together director Damani Baker’s family portrait of utopian dreams, resistance and civil unrest with a film score composed by music luminary Meshell Ndegeocello. The film held its world premiere at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival.

VAYA (South Africa) – Wednesday, May 6, 1PM PST (Netflix)

In filmmaker Akin Omotoso’s VAYA, the title is a phrase spoken in South African townships meaning “to go.” VAYA takes viewers along on a journey of three young South Africans who travel away from their rural homes on a train bound for Johannesburg. Stirring and suspenseful, the intertwining stories of these naive strangers as they struggle to survive culminates in an explosive moment not soon forgotten. Based on real accounts, VAYA made its World Premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and garnered Mr. Omotoso the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Director.

THE BURIAL OF KOJO (Ghana) – Wednesday, May 13, 1PM PST (Netflix)

Through a magical realist lens, THE BURIAL OF KOJO follows the story of Esi, as she recounts her childhood and the tumultuous relationship between her father, Kojo and her uncle, Kwabena. Directed by TED fellow, music composer and musician Samuel “Blitz” Bazawule, the film chronicles the tale of two brothers through the gifted eyes of a young girl who transports the audience to the beautiful lands of Ghana and other worlds that exist between life and death. 

Born from a newspaper article and a Kickstarter campaign, Bazawule skillfully captures the beauty of a family, even when the circumstances aren’t beautiful. THE BURIAL OF KOJO is an essential human story of courage and survival. THE BURIAL OF KOJO is a 2019 Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) Official Selection and 2018 Urbanworld Film Festival Best Narrative Feature Winner.