Ethan Palmer

Kelly strips — her best friend Jordan captures the event on her mobile phone. Kelly’s name is well known among the visitors of (in)appropriate online portals. The two teenagers digitally record anything and everything that crosses their paths and upload the results to the internet. But today is not their day: Kelly’s ex has taken her car containing a package she was not to lose under any circumstances. While searching for it, the two set off on a peculiar journey through a night peppered with drugs, sex, corrupt police officers and other catastrophes – and always with their trusty mobiles in hand.

The Feature does not reconcile fact and fiction; instead, it blurs the definitions seemingly represented by the film’s two clearly demarcated registers: that of the archival footage and that of the new, theatrical material. In his guise as “Michel Auder,” living a fulsome and extravagant life, replete with beautiful women and a rock-cut pool overlooking Los Angeles, the art world is revealed as a sham, and his character exhibits a repulsive narcissism. And yet, when caught in quiet moments, something poignant emerges—a glimmer of truth that rebels against the entire endeavour. Or maybe, that’s what makes The Feature.

The life and work of Alice Neel (1900-1984), American portrait painter. Part of the narration is chronological, part consists of interviews with friends, other artists, scholars, and family members, particularly two sons, Richard and Hartley, who are none too sanguine about their childhood and their mother's Bohemian life, and the filmmaker himself, a grandson whose querulous voice is heard from time to time. The film also includes footage of Neel, later in life, painting, talking, appearing on television, and giving lectures. Throughout, we see her paintings, bold, frank, and direct. After years of poverty and obscurity, fame comes as she nears 70.

Darkon is an award-winning feature-length documentary film that follows the real-life adventures of the Darkon Wargaming Club in Baltimore, Maryland, a group of fantasy live-action role-playing (LARP) gamers.