Five Movies to Watch for at the 52nd Annual Nashville Film Festival

The 52nd Annual Nashville Film Festival began on September 30th and runs through October 6th, 2021. Several feature films will be part of the presentation at the Nashville Film Festival and below are 5 of the movies to keep an eye at the festival and to look forward to after the festival as they move out toward wider audiences. I have the distinct privilege of being able to virtually attend the Festival and here’s what I am looking forward to…

5. 7 Days - Director Roshan Sethi, a television writer by trade, with credits that include The Resident and Code Black, steps behind the camera for his first feature film directing credit. 7 Days tells the story of Ravi and Rita, Indian-Americans living in Los Angeles and arranged to go on a date by their traditional Indian parents. Somehow, a circumstance arises that causes Ravi and Rita to have to quarantine together for 7 Days and over the course of that week, they will bicker and talk and bicker and laugh, and eventually reveal to each other secrets and intimacy. The film stars Karan Soni, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and Geraldine Viswanathan.

4. Charm Circle - Directed by Nira Burstein, Charm Circle is a documentary in first person. Nira Burstein aims to tell the story of her own childhood with her two sisters and the deep divide they felt between themselves and their parents. Burstein returned to her childhood home and uncovers lost memories and old videos of her family before the family fractured. Charm Circle examines why the family fell out and whether or not the fractures can be repaired. The film was executive produced by Fred Armisen.

3. See You Then - Director Mari Walker’s debut feature film follows Naomi and Kris, played by Lynn Chen and Pooya Mohseni, a pair who were lovers in college but had an abrupt falling out. More than a decade later they agree to meet for dinner where secrets are revealed, truths are brought to light and a slight mystery begins to unfold. Kris has spent the previous year before this encounter transitioning to becoming a woman and this along with other changes in both women’s lives drive the narrative of See You Then which received raves when it debuted at South by Southwest earlier this year.

2. Queen of Glory - Nana Mensah is known for her role on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why but she would like to be known as a dynamic filmmaker and actor. She gets the chance to show why she’s a multi-hyphenate Hollywood performer with her feature directing debut, Queen of Glory in which she also stars as the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants who quits her attempt at a PHD to follow the man she loves. Her life is even further upended when her mother dies and leaves her a bookstore that she owned in Brooklyn, forcing her to move back home.

1 Luzzu - Writer-Director Alex Camillieri is earning huge buzz for his new movie Luzzu. Produced by filmmaker Ramin Bahrani, who struck gold with his late 2020 feature film, The White Tiger, Luzzu is a story set in Malta and stars a real life fisherman in a story about how government bureaucracy and infighting has impacted fishermen in Malta, once a thriving fishing capital. As noted in an article about Luzzu in the Hollywood Reporter, Luzzu is a rare film about a character from Malta. The tiny country has long been a favorite of big Hollywood productions such as Robert Altman’s Popeye and more recently, Malta was the backdrop for Game of Thrones. Luzzu stars real life professional fisherman, Jesmark Scicluna, as a fisherman struggling to uphold the tradition begun by his father of making a living off the coastal fishing waters of Malta.