This Week at the Silver Screeners' Drive in - April 14

🎥 Camera rolling! 🎤 Sound speeding! 🎬 Take one! 💥 ACTION!

Welcome to Silver Screeners, a free virtual, inclusive community for seasoned cinephiles, baby-cinephiles, and those wanting more film friends ran by buds, Julia & Olivia who dig into the world of tv and film every week!

📅 What Silver Screeners Are Talking About…

📽️ Film

The Oscars Add Best Stunt Design Award - FINALLY!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on April 10 that an Oscar for Best Stunt Design at the 100th Academy Awards ceremony in 2028.

Cannes Film Festival Selection 2025 List Release - Films from Ari Aster, Wes Andersen and Richard Linklater

The Cannes Film Festival released their official selection list for the 2025 festival. The various categories include Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Midnight Screenings, Cannes Premiere and Special Screenings.

📺 TV

Yellowjackets Season 3 Finale “Full Circle” - Pit Girl’s Identity Revealed!

The season three finale of Yellowjackets premiered on Friday, April 11th. However, the team aren’t out of the woods yet since the show still hasn’t been renewed for a season 4 even though season 3 premiere’s streaming audience grew by 58 percent compared to season 2 premiere.

Hacks Season 4 Premiere “Big, Brave Girl” and “Cover Girls” - The Girls are Fighting (AGAIN)!

Emmy-Winning Comedy Hacks returned for a two episode Season 4 premiere on Thursday, April 10. Season 4 has ten episodes, premiering on HboMax every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.

The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere “Future Days” - Get Ready to Golf!

The popular video game adaptation the Last of Us returned for Season 2 premiere on Sunday, April 12. Season 4 has seven episodes, premiering on HboMax every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.

🍿 Pop Culture

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival April 11-13 & 18-20 - Lady Gaga Headlines the First Night  

Coachella 2025 is already off to a start with Lady Gaga performing her new album to classic hits like “Bad Romance”. Other performances include Billie Joe Armstrong, Blackpink’s Lisa and Missy Elliott. The Coachella Youtube channel has a livestream of the festival.

A Minecraft Movie Theater-Goers Trash Theaters - “Seriously, What the Hell is the Chicken?”

A scene containing a popular internet joke, with a zombie child appears on top of chicken, from the recent a Minecraft Movie has caused a frenzy. Movie theaters mandates across the United States have released rules regarding these outrageous reactions and trashings, including someone sneaking in a real chicken into a screening.

A note from Julia (who is a retired movie theater employee): If you’re apart of this, I hope you get blown up by a creeper.

📹 New Videos Just Dropped!

🏹 SHAYNE TOPP AS PEETA? | Recounting Hunger Games Fancasts

Julia and Olivia reminisce about Hunger Games Fancasts they remember and forgot about (maybe for the best) while throwing their thoughts into the ring on who should play who in the Sunrise on the Reaping film next year.

🤖 The Real Star of GONE GIRL (2014) is the Robot Dog - Reaction/Commentary

Julia reacts while Olivia rewatches Gone Girl (2014). Gone Girl stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, and Carrie Coon.

📋 Julia and Olivia’s Recs: Directorial Debuts

In theme with April’25 Movie Club’s theme, Directorial Debuts, Olivia and Julia decide to list their own favorite directorial debuts.

Olivia

The reason I picked these films is because they made an impact on my soul. I think about them constantly, and I think they’ve always allowed me to arrive at interesting and sometimes emotional conversations with people who may not even be into film. It’s always an accomplishment if you can make that big of an impact on someone- especially someone who is a cinephile, from just your directorial debut.

1. Perfect Blue (1997) - dir. Satoshi Kon

Any chance I get to recommend Perfect Blue (1997) I will take it. It is one of the most beautiful and horrifying stories of self discovery and identity crisis I’ve ever experienced. Director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist, Satoshi Kon was offered the opportunity to direct this film after a producer was impressed with his work on the OVA Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure. The film follows Mima, a J-Pop idol who is leaving her group to reinvent herself as an actress. She begins to go lose her mind as not only a stalker but also the ghost of her past invades her life.

 The film premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival on August 5, 1997 and for Japan release on February 28, 1998. Satoshi Kon’s other works include, Millennium Actress (2001) and Paprika (2006).

2. Aftersun (2022) - dir. Charlotte Wells

A movie about a father, daughter summer holiday that ends with the audience sobbing… what a masterpiece. Aftersun (2022) is “emotionally autobiographical” for director Charlotte Wells as the film loosely recounts memories from her own childhood. The film follows, father and daughter, Calum and Sophie as they go on their last holiday together to a Turkish resort. 

The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2022. Its theatrical release was October 21, 2022. Charlotte Wells other works include the short films, Tuesday (2015) and Blue Christmas (2017).

3. Past Lives (2023) - dir. Celine Song

Are they friends to lovers? Worse. I’m not usually a romance film person but this one hits me so deeply. Past Lives (2023) is inspired by a dinner that Celine had with her English speaking husband and her Korean speaking friend who was visiting. The film centers around childhood friends, Nora and Hae Sung and their 24 years of knowing each other. They discover how their relationship morphs and splits apart as their distance and life changes impact them. 

The film premiered at Sundance Film festival on January 21, 2023 and then by A24 for theatrical release on June 2, 2023. Celine Song has a new film, Materialists releasing on June 13 of this year!

For more of Olivia’s picks for directorial debut, click here.

Julia

For my choices, I decided to choose a variety of debuts that don’t get the recognition. Specifically for this email, I wanted to highlight ones that I don’t think get enough recognition or where it highlights the directors’ ongoing journey.

1. Big Eden (2000) - dir. Thomas Bezucha

Big Eden (2000) feels like a warm blanket. The film follows a gay artist, Henry, who returns to his hometown to care for his dying grandfather. While he deals with his hidden feelings for his high school friend, a shy owner of the town's general store, Pike, develops feelings for Henry. What makes this film stand out is its focus on characters’ lives and does it with positivity that some films that have queer characters lack. The small town has no homophobia and if anything, the older townsfolk spend most of the film helping Pike build up confidence to confess his feelings to Henry. Similarly, even though Pike is Indigenous, that’s not all he is. Big Eden is a film that is hopeful and heartfelt that I wish more people see.

Thomas Bezucha went on to write and direct The Family Stone (2005), Monte Carlo (2011), which was a childhood favorite of mine, and two episodes of Fargo Season 5.

2. Talk to Me (2022) - dir. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou

Talk to Me (2022) is not only one of the best films of 2020’s but is also one of the best debut films of all time. Created by Australian filmmakers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou who make up the Youtube horror channel, RackaRacka, the film follows a group of teenage who instead of party and do drugs, they party and contact spirits using a mysterious severed hand. The theme of grief and metaphor for drug use is perfectly used and threaded through with great acting and great visuals.

The film, made for 4.5 million dollars, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where A24 acquired the rights for United States. It grossed over $91.9 million worldwide, becoming A24's highest-grossing horror film.

The Philippou Brothers’ new film, Bring Her Back releases May 29, 2025 and the sequel to Talk to Me, Talk 2 Me, is in development.

3. The Watermelon Woman (1996) - dir. Cheryl Dunye

The Watermelon Woman (1996) is a staple in New Queer Cinema, a movement in the 1980s-1990s of queer themed independent filmmaking. Directed, written, edited and starring Cheryl Dunye, it follows Cheryl, a young Black lesbian video store worker, trying to make a film about a Black actress who only played the stereotypical "mammy" roles during the 1930s period. Not only does depict intersectionality in a honest and authentic way, but it is still a positive and hopeful film. The focus on the representation of Black women, especially queer Black women, on and off screen from the past and reflecting on that to move forward is really powerful.

It was the first feature film directed by a Black Lesbian. In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Dunye’s work is in television now, directing episodes of various popular television shows like Queen Sugar, Bridgerton Season 2 and Umbrella Academy Season 3.

For more of Julia’s picks for directorial debut, click here.

🌦️ April Movie Club: Directorial Debuts

It’s hard to direct a film but directing your first is a world wind! But these films put their directors on the map!

(💰 → buy/rent)

Week of 04/06

Blood Simple (1984) - Dir. by Joel & Ethan Coen

Rated R | Streaming on Max and (💰) Amazon

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

Letterboxd Review

Week of 04/13

The Virgin Suicides (1999) - Dir. Sofia Coppola

Rated R | Streaming on Paramount+ and (💰) Amazon

A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.

Week of 04/20

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) - Dir. Bong Joon Ho

Rated R | Streaming on Tubi and Amazon Prime

An idle part-time college lecturer is annoyed by the yapping sound of a nearby dog. He decides to take drastic action.

Week of 04/27

Aftersun (2022) - Dir. Charlotte Wells

Rated R | Streaming on Max and (💰) Amazon

Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.

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Take care of yourselves, Silver Screeners 💓🌈