GA film schools, unite!
Friday, Nov. 13 — Happy Friday, everyone! Let’s celebrate the film kids today. Morehouse College, the University of Georgia, and the Savannah College of Art and Design all made the list for TheWrap’s Top 50 Film Schools of 2026. Congratulations to all the professors and students who helped their schools make the list. I’ll be sitting here today, once again contemplating if I messed up by not going to film school.
Without further ado … Action!
🌸 I got to go to Olivia Rodrigo’s tour stop in Atlanta yesterday (dream come true) and wrote about it. Check it out here!
🕰️ The deadline to submit to the 2027 Atlanta Film Festival has been extended! Submit your films, pilots, and music videos by Nov. 14, and your scripts by Dec. 4.
🗑️ The environmental documentary “The Sludge War” is making a one-night only stop at the Tara Theatre on Nov. 18. Read more about the film’s grassroots national tour here.
🐅 Author Lucy Tan will discuss her new book “Tiger’s Mouth” at an event at Agnes Scott College on Saturday.
🏀 Executives for the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena were recently nationally recognized for leadership in venue operations and live entertainment.
🎭 Horizon Theatre’s Black Women Speak New Play Festival runs this weekend, Nov. 14-15.
💉 The Atlanta Film Society is hosting a free screening of the documentary “Shot in the Arm” on Dec. 1 at Emory University.
🎤 I interviewed singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt ahead of her Nov. 15 stop in Atlanta this weekend. Check out our conversation here.
🕺 Soul Cinema Sundays will screen Stan Lathan’s 1984 film “Beat Street” on Nov. 22 at the Plaza Theatre.
🦇 In some of the biggest Hollywood shakeup news this week, James Gunn and Peter Safran are out at DC after four years as co-CEOs. Marvel vet Jeremy Latcham will take over the superhero universe.
✍️ In a move that is *definitely* “human-centered and artist-led,” Disney just signed a deal with Adobe (TheWrap, subscription required) to build custom AI tools trained on Disney characters, worlds, and visual styles.
📺 Skydance plans to start selling HBO Max and Paramount+ together in a streaming bundle early next year.
This week’s newsletter includes an interview with the Alliance Theatre’s outgoing casting director/producer Jody Feldman, as well as a chat with composer Carter Burwell about his work on the new film “Wild Horse Nine.” I also caught up with Danny McBride at the Rome International Film Festival, and reviewed the documentary “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” and the new drama “Mouse.” Plus, what’s playing at movie theaters this week and some reading and listening recs for your lunch break.
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
Composer Carter Burwell finds the musical dissonance in ‘Wild Horse Nine’
🐎 When composer Carter Burwell starts to work on a score for a film, he tries to find the thing that isn’t there on screen – using music to create a dissonance with the visuals of the film.
In filmmaker Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine,” that meant writing something warm. The film stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents stationed in Santiago, Chile, in 1973 who go on a trip to Easter Island. If you know anything about Chile in 1973, you can guess their intentions for the South American country’s government are anything but pure.
Burwell has worked with McDonagh on multiple films, and also is a frequent collaborator with the Coen brothers – so he knows a little something about darkly comedic films. But, because of the darkness at the heart of this story, Burwell thought the music needed to communicate the deep love between the film’s two main characters – the love which the emotional arc of the film hinges on.
🗿 I spoke with Burwell recently about his work on the film. Check out our conversation here!
Invasion: Christmas Carol
SPONSORED BY DAD’S GARAGE
🎁 The award-winning Dad’s Garage takes Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale and gleefully stuffs it down the chimney in Invasion: Christmas Carol! Sure, you’ll get your Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come—but you’ll also get a surprise guest character each night that even our cast doesn’t see coming. No two shows are the same, and no holiday season in Atlanta is complete without seeing this gloriously unhinged take on a Christmas classic.
→ Reserve your tickets now and experience the holidays like never before with this incomparable comedy spectacle.
Danny McBride takes home Flannery O’Connor Award at RIFF
⛪ Following in the footsteps of the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Ethan Hawke, and Tim Blake Nelson, comedian, actor, and filmmaker Danny McBride took home this year’s Flannery O’Connor Award over the weekend at the Rome International Film Festival.
McBride is known for his roles in films such as “Hot Rod,” “Pineapple Express,” and “Tropic Thunder.” He also co-created and starred in the television shows “Eastbound & Down” and “Vice Principals,” and created and starred in the show “The Righteous Gemstones.” He frequently collaborates with filmmakers Jody Hill and David Gordon Green.
Last year’s winner, Jerusha Hess, helped select McBride for the award, which recognizes artists whose work “embodies the bold, distinctive and enduring spirit of Southern storytelling.” I spoke to McBride about his career and his relationship to O’Connor ahead of his acceptance.
✍️ Check out our conversation here.
Producer and casting director Jody Feldman retires after 35 years with Alliance Theatre
👋 Jody Feldman, producer and casting director for the Alliance Theatre, is saying goodbye after 35 years.
Feldman, who started with the Alliance back in 1991, will retire this December. According to a press release, Feldman cast more than 375 productions for both adults and children at the theater during her tenure, including “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” “Aida,” “The Color Purple,” and “Maybe Happy Ending.”
When Feldman first started her career, she thought she wanted to be an actor. But something about that profession left her feeling a little bit unfulfilled. She didn’t always love going to the movies – she found it difficult to watch other actors doing what she thought she wanted to do – but liked the actress Holly Hunter. So, one day she decided to go see 1987’s “Broadcast News,” and everything changed.
🎭 Learn more about Feldman’s career here.
‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’ and the passing of a torch
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🍸 Filmmaker William Greaves shot the footage that you see in “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” over the course of several hours in 1972 at a cocktail party at Duke Ellington’s house in New York City. That party was attended by the last living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance – people like Aaron Douglas, Richard Bruce Nugent, Arna Bontemps, and Gerri Major.
This party was the first time that many of these artists had seen each other in 50 or so years. They spend the party breaking off into small groups or coming all together, reminiscing and fighting about the past in equal measure, and considering the future.
Greaves worked on the film on and off for years, but died in 2014 before he could finish it. His son, David Greaves, and granddaughter, Liani Greaves, stepped in to finish the project, which opens in Atlanta this weekend.
🎞️ Read my full review of the film here.
‘Mouse’: a coming-of-age story about finding yourself amid grief
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🎤 In an early scene in “Mouse,” directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson with a script from O’Sullivan, a group of teen girls at a sleepover are playing a game they call “personal feedback” – AKA, time to pick each other apart. It’s Callie’s (Chloe Coleman) turn, but everyone is having a hard time with her. The best they can come up with is, “You’re not as perfect as you think you are.” That should tell you something about Callie – talented, pretty, sweet, really difficult to insult.
Her best friend Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) is a different story. Minnie is also pretty and sweet, but she’s content to be a bit of a wallflower while Callie takes the spotlight. So, when the girls forget whether they’ve already given feedback to Minnie or not, Cara (Audrey Grace Marshall) slides in with a rather cutting remark: “I always kind of forget you exist.”
But, when tragedy takes Callie from Minnie’s life, she’s forced to figure out who she is outside of her best friend – a new challenge she finds herself ill-prepared for. At its heart, “Mouse” is a coming of age story – both for Minnie, who doesn’t know how to both miss Callie and grow without her, and for Callie’s mom, Helen (Sophie Okonedo), who is dealing with an identity shift of her own. “Mouse” tackles that grief, in all its messy iterations, with a deft hand.
🎹 Read my full review here.
Welcome to Scene Trivia
🍿 We’re back with our second edition of Scene Trivia! If you’re new here, each week, I’ll be coming to your inbox with a different cinema trivia question related to something in that week’s newsletter. You’ll make your guess, and I’ll reveal the answer in next week’s edition of Scene. Think you’ve got what it takes? Go ahead and click through to the survey below.
🏆 Thanks to everyone who participated last week! And here’s our answer: Jimmy Stewart won his one competitive acting Oscar for his role in 1940’s “The Philadelphia Story.” Thirty-seven percent of you got that right – congrats!
At the Movies!
If you’re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to!
Movies releasing this weekend:
🎥 “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
🐭 “Mouse”
🔪 “Victorian Psycho” (pictured)
🚨 “Closure”
🪖 “Soul Patrol”
✉️ “Dear Black Writers”
Special Events:
📺 “Network” in 4K @ The Plaza (Friday-Thursday)
👻 “Pulse” in 4K @ The Plaza (Friday-Tuesday)
🐸 “The Muppet Movie” in 4K @ The Plaza (Saturday-Wednesday)
🎞️ AVC: “Enongo” @ The Plaza (Saturday)
💵 “A Fistful of Dollars” in 4K @ The Tara (Saturday-Tuesday)
🎸 Cineprov Riffs ‘Labyrinth’ @ The Tara (Saturday)
🎨 “Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light” @ The Tara (Sunday)
Lights, Camera, Action!
👀 The cat is out of the bag! That very famous, highly secretive co-star from “You Can See Everything” has joined directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim for an interview with Rolling Stone. Check it out here.
☕ I recently saw both “The Debut” and “Club Kid,” so I am now becoming intimately acquainted with the talents of one Eldar Isgandarov. These films make up Isgandarov’s (who attended SCAD) first two professional acting roles ever, and his comic chops are a standout in both of them. Check out Jackson McHenry’s profile of the actor in Vulture here.
🪩 Speaking of “Club Kid,” on this week’s episode of “The Big Picture,” host Sean Fennessey talks with filmmaker and star Jordan Firstman about shooting on film, telling queer stories, and more. You can listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
🖋️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
