A.V. Rockwell, director of A Thousand and One, was honored with the Breakthrough Director Award at the 33rd Annual Gotham Awards, live from Cipriani Wall Street on Monday night.
PhotoBy@deaniechen
Making history is nothing new for Thai rapper, MILLI. This young and vibrant, but seasoned performer has graced many stages from the Head In The Clouds Los Angeles Music Festival to the Coachella stage. Now, it might seem that she wouldn’t get “wowed” often given her extensive experience, but that was not the case recently in New York.
When she took to the stage she was certainly stun by the crowd’s energy. She recalls, “Wow, it’s amazing right now.” She adds, “It is my number one crowd, the best. Everybody just responding… this is like wild, crazy. I’m so happy to be here.” She explains, “everybody just screaming [or] singing.” Acknowledging that singing along to her music is not easy, she joked, “if they can sing! Because I rap in Thai a lot.” She also noticed a special group of fans in the crowd singing along that day saying, “for the Mirror Mirror [song]… there was one group of teenage boys.” She was so shocked by their enthusiasm and passion for her music, she remarked, “I have to run into them again. It’s like saying thank you so much because this means a lot to me.” For MILLI her fans mean everything. She explains, their love feeds her soul. “As an artist, I have energy when my crowd has energy…they send [it] to me [and I] give it back more [to them]” She says.
As for where her music comes from, MILLI gives credit to many things that inspire her to create melodies. She states, “Everything, you know. I love to watch memes… from my friends, people around…[and] when I have a good mental conflict with someone, even my mom.” Now, MILLI can speak many languages. She is known to rap in Thai, English, Japanese and trying for even more, but when it comes to writing her music she remarks that “I don’t hear languages,” but instead hears rhythms before rhymes. She explains, “For me, I feel like I’m a musician… I heard the melody and I can sing.” That being said she knows her biggest enemy in the studio is “pressure” and that is why she prefers to collaborate with others. “I don’t want to write things alone. I want to have my friends, my team, because… sometimes I just think thinking about things too much, you know, overthinking. And I just want someone who’s not a musician to stop me.” Collaboration is key for MILLI, she has so many artists she’d love to work with. She cites, “Tyler the Creator, Doja Cat [and ] if I can only make Rihanna come back… comeback to the music industry.”
As for new music, MILLI has big plans on the horizon. However, for 2023, she is thinking of a single and then an album next year saying “maybe just a single collaboration featuring with artists like Korean Japanese [artist]. Oh, I’m a spoiler now… with the album-maybe next year.” Noting that she still has one more year of university still so she is having to balance a lot.
Being so young and so talented means that MILLI will have many years to express herself as an artist and develop her craft. However, she remarks that self-discovery is a big interest for her no matter how daunting. She says, “I’m scared, sometimes, as scared [as] I’m [I am] going to figure[it] out, but I got my team. I got my family.” One thing that MILLI does know about herself is her taste palette, joking in true MILLI fashion she says, “I’m Thai. But I don’t eat spicy that much. But I love it sometimes. I don’t like it.”
It was just announced that MILLI will be returning to Head In The Clouds Los Angeles Music Festival in August 2023. The Head In The Clouds Los Angeles Music Festival runs from August 5th-6th 2023. This year will be the festival’s 5th anniversary.
2022 was a risky year for films
COVID made a lot of us feel alone.
A tender self-portrait, ‘Aftersun’ lets Charlotte Wells fictionalize her own life and her relationship with her complicated father
Noah Baumbach and company provide a wild re-imagining of Don DeLillo’s ‘White Noise’
@moorekismet
It was a returned to something wonderful for Moore Kismet. They returned to Randall’s Island for this year’s legendary and iconic Electronic Zoo Music Festival 3.0. After playing a dynamic set, we caught up with Moore Kismet to get the 411 on this year’s EZoo and what is next for the artist.
First off, we had to ask this young and talented artist, who has played Lollapalooza and Coachella, what was it like playing NYC’s Electronic Zoo Music Festival. They responded by saying, “New York is kind of a second home for me because I have family out in the surrounding areas and they make me and my mom feel so safe and happy.” They expressed that New York is a dream for them. “Getting to perform in NYC is something I really wanted to do more because they have so many iconic venues I haven’t even touched yet,” they said.
As for the set, Moore Kismet admitted, “I normally just put together a collection of some of my favorite songs of myself, my favorite artists, and my friends. From there, I play a completely improvised set where I try my hardest to play a set that the crowd can get into because we do this for them.” Getting that right vibe is not easy. They acknowledge, “I’ve been trying to do more recently is figure out how to cultivate good sonic energy around my music, not just finding open places to stick my unreleased songs in a set.” One of the highlights of their show for Moore Kismet “was this edit I made of “Outside” by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding and “earthsea.” by kosu that went the entire fuck off so that was fun.”
But for Moore Kismet, which means “more than fate,” music is just one part of the puzzle. Standing out, pushing boundaries and being a voice for the LGBTQ+ community is another important part of their identity. “For as long as I resonate with my identity, I will continue to do my best to be a voice for our community,” Moore Kismet admitted. They explained, “there are so many going on right now in this world that we need to focus on giving a platform to. One of those most pressing things is the continued threats of the full removal and outlawing of LGBTQ+ rights. It affects me, it affects a good chunk of my fans, and it will affect millions of people in the country who share this community with us.”
As for the music, Moore Kismet has unique production style and stage presence, which they explain as a “wild animal on stage. “They acknowledge it’s “because it gives me this unwavering sense of joy and energy that feels very emotionally freeing.” Furthermore, Moore Kismet adds “Over the years, I’ve drawn inspiration from so many different artists in so many different genres that it’s almost impossible to pinpoint a genre in or concoct some other form of label for my music.” Moore Kismet states, “I create music based on what I feel and what I’m inspired by in the moment. This correlates to how I choose sounds to work with, how I write melodies, how I mix songs, everything. Everything is influenced by inspiration. And I think I’ve gotten to a point in my career recently where I’m finding so many sources of hope for innovation and feeling in music that it just encourages me to keep pushing forward with my creations and to keep sharing my stories in the way I feel comfortable doing so.”
As for what is next, Moore Kismet notes, “I’m currently working on a fairly decent sized EP full of songs that lean predominantly on a reimagined concept of my heavy electronic sound that people originally discovered me from. It will more than likely drop early next year and serve as a buffer between UNIVERSE and my next album, which is also in the beginning stages of writing at the moment. This EP will have some songs that sound nothing like that heavier style people liked, but a lot of them were very nostalgic and freeing to write because I got to challenge myself to write something like what I’d used to when I was a little kid barely making it by in the industry, but now with more style and identity behind it.” Moore Kismet adds, “I can’t wait to share more details about it soon!!”
Moore Kismet new EP should be out soon, but for more information on them check out their website: www.moorekismet.com
On Sunday, March 6th the 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards took place near the windy but sunny Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. Celebrating indie filmmaking along with a few select television shows, the awards seeks to recognize the creative storytelling done throughout this past year on screen. All attendees were required to provide a negative COVID test as well as a proof of vaccination. This year guests ate boxed lunches to reduce the risk of exposure. The awards, which typically are held the Saturday before the Oscars, were pushed up three weeks this year in hopes of having more of an impact on the Oscars outcome. Hosts Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman kept the audience laughing as Hollywood’s independent directors, writers, producers and actors enjoyed the ceremony with fingers crossed their projects would be announced.
“If you don’t win, you can walk straight into the ocean, right there,” Offerman told the audience at the beginning of the show.
Netflix seemed to reign as it took home most of the awards. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s film ‘The Lost Daughter’ (Netflix) featuring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson and Jesse Buckley made headlines as it took home the award for ‘best feature.’ Netflix also was praised for the black and white movie ‘Passing’ which Eduard Grau won for best cinematography. The Knockturnal talked to Grau about the honor and his use of shadows and light within the film. (See video)
Honorary chair and Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart were among the presenters along with Dianna Agron, Javier Bardem, Murray Bartlett, Jennifer Beals, Rosario Dawson, Daveed Diggs, Zola’s Colman Domingo, Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Hannah Einbinder, Bridget Everett, and Andrew Garfield. In addition, upcoming Oscar co-host Regina Hall, Lily James, Marlee Matlin, Bob Odenkirk, Sam Richardson, Rhea Seehorn, Sebastian Stan, Sydney Sweeney, Taika Waititi, Michelle Yeoh and Nomandland and Eternals herlmer Chloé Zhao were among those taking the stage.
One of the most special awards of the night is called the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. This award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after actor, screenwriter and director John Cassavetes, a pioneer of American independent film. This year, ‘Shiva Baby,’ written and directed by Emma Seligman won the award.
As the night winded down, Offerman beamed, “Movies are back!” Mullally joked the crowd didn’t need to clap for Offerman saying “They’re not going to see your movies.”
“They’re going to see the eighth Spider-Man for the sixth time,” Offerman joked.
See all of the winners here:
Best Feature
“The Lost Daughter”
“A Chiara”
“C’mon C’mon”
“The Novice”
“Zola”
Best Male Lead
Simon Rex, “Red Rocket”
Clifton Collins Jr., “Jockey”
Frankie Faison, “Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Michael Greyeyes, “Wild Indian”
Udo Kier, “Swan Song”
Best International Film
“Drive My Car”
“Compartment No. 6”
“Parallel Mothers”
“Pebbles”
“Petite Maman”
“Prayers for the Stolen”
Best Female Lead
Taylour Paige, “Zola”
Isabelle Fuhrman, “The Novice”
Brittany S. Hall, “Test Pattern”
Patti Harrison, “Together Together”
Kali Reis, “Catch the Fair One”
Best Director
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter”
Janicza Bravo, “Zola”
Lauren Hadaway, “The Novice”
Mike Mills, “C’mon C’mon”
Ninja Thyberg, “Pleasure”
Best Cinematography
Passing (Eduard Grau)
“A Chiara” (Tim Curtin)
“Blue Bayou” (Matthew Chuang and Ante Cheng)
“The Humans” (Lol Crawley)
“Zola” (Ari Wegner)
Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
Reservation Dogs — Paulina Alexis, Funny Bone, Lane Factor, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Lil Mike, Sarah Podemski and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai
Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series
Thuso Mbedu, “The Underground Railroad”
Anjana Vasan, “We Are Lady Parts”
Jana Schmieding, “Rutherford Falls”
Jasmine Cephas Jones, “Blindspotting”
Deborah Ayorinde, “THEM: Covenant”
Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series
Lee Jung-jae, “Squid Game”
Olly Alexander, “It’s a Sin”
Michael Greyeyes, “Rutherford Falls”
Murray Bartlett, “The White Lotus”
Ashley Thomas, “THEM: Covenant”
Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Black and Missing”
“The Choe Show”
“The Lady and The Dale”
“Nuclear Family”
“Philly D.A.”
Best New Scripted Series
“Reservation Dogs”
“Blindspotting”
“It’s a Sin”
“The Underground Railroad”
“We Are Lady Parts”
Best Supporting Female
Ruth Negga, “Passing”
Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”
Amy Forsyth, “The Novice”
Revika Reustle, “Pleasure”
Suzanna Son, “Red Rocket”
Best Screenplay
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter”
Nikole Beckwith, “Together Together”
Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris, “Zola”
Mike Mills, “C’mon C’mon”
Todd Stephens, “Swan Song”
Best Editing
“Zola” (Joi McMillon)
“A Chiara” (Affonso Gonçalves)
“The Nowhere Inn” (Ali Greer)
“The Novice” (Nathan Nugent and Lauren Hadaway)
“The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain” (Enrico Natale)
Best First Feature
“7 Days”
“Holler”
“Queen of Glory”
“Test Pattern”
“Wild Indian”
Best First Screenplay
Michael Sarnoski; Story by Vanessa Block, Michael Sarnoski, “Pig”
Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr., “Wild Indian ”
Matt Fifer; Story by Sheldon D. Brown, “Cicada”
Shatara Michelle Ford, “Test Pattern ”
Fran Kranz, “Mass”
Best Documentary
“Summer of Soul”
“Ascension”
“Flee”
“In The Same Breath”
“Procession”
John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
“Shiva Baby”
“Cryptozoo”
“Jockey”
“Sweet Thing”
“This is Not a War Story”
Best Supporting Male
Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
Colman Domingo, “Zola”
Meeko Gattuso, “Queen of Glory”
Will Patton, “Sweet Thing”
Chaske Spencer, “Wild Indian”
Producers Award
Lizzie Shapiro
Brad Becker-Parton
Pin-Chun Liu
Someone to Watch Award
Alex Camilleri, “Luzzu”
Michael Sarnoski, “Pig”
Gillian Wallace Horvat, “I Blame Society”
“The Truer Than Fiction Award”
Jessica Beshir, “Faya Dayi”
Angelo Madsen Minax, “North By Current”
Jessica Beshir, “Faya Dayi”
Debbie Lum, “Try Harder!”
2021 has been an interesting year for film
Step right up. Step right up, see sights the likes of which you’ve never seen before.
Newer Posts