This week's edition of UPFRONT Inside the Entertainment Industry features my conversations with rising filmmaker A.R. Hilton, Sarah Kennel Head Curator of Photography for Atlanta's High Museum of Art and actors Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha.
Director and writer A.R. Hilton is here to chat about his indie film, Anonymous Killers. Four seasoned killers and one hapless professor are rounded up in one violent swoop and awake in chains to discover they are part of a demented experiment orchestrated by maniacal, mysterious captor. To decide their fate, they must share the motives behind their crimes as they face the judgement of their peers. The rules are non-negotiable and the outcome is clear: live or die. The moral compass spins frantically as all fight to justify their lives before the final vote is cast. Hilton reveals the inspiration behind the project and how his time in prison prepared him for a career in Hollywood.
Sarah Kennel, Head Curator of Photography for Atlanta's High Museum of Art is here to chat about their newest exhibition DaWoud Bey: An American Project. The collection of black and white images chronicles Bey’s 45-year-career and his profound engagement with young Black subjects and African American History. It is currently on display through March 2021.
Actors Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha are here to chat about their new movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbjakuJZgww">Sylvie's Love. The film takes place in New York City during the sultry hot summer of 1957. Robert is a struggling saxophonist playing behind a less talented bandleader and Sylvie works in her father’s record shop with dreams of a career in television. Robert takes a part-time job in the record shop and he and Sylvie develop a bond despite her engagement to another man. However, their lives take a different turn when Robert’s band goes on a European Tour. When he returns years later, Robert is reunited with Sylvie, a married successful producer TV who is torn between her marriage and her career. The duo open up about producing the film, their love for jazz music, their tributes to Diahann Carroll, Doris Day and Nancy Wilson and much more. Sylvie's Love debuts on December 23 on Amazon Prime.