Out of My Hand - Japan Cuts 2015

Out of My Hand
FEATURE SLATE
EAST COAST PREMIERE
Introduction and Q&A with director Takeshi Fukunaga, writer/producer Donari Braxton, and star Bishop Blay
Hokkaido-born, Brooklyn-based filmmaker Takeshi Fukunaga takes his camera to Liberia, casting mostly non-professionals (all native to the country) in order to deliver an impressively assured first feature. After a labor strike loses steam and defeated rubber tree tappers go back to work to continue the cycle of poverty and frustration they initially protested, Cisco desperately seeks a way out as a cab driver in New York City. But he soon discovers there are some things he can’t escape, and before Cisco can build a new future for himself he must first confront the ghosts of his war-torn past. Out of My Hand is the second narrative feature film ever shot in Liberia by a foreign production.
USA/Liberia. 2015. 87 min. DCP, in Liberian English with English subtitles. Directed by Takeshi Fukunaga. With Bishop Blay, Zenobia Taylor, Duke Murphy Dennis, Rodney Rogers Beckley, David Roberts.
Panorama Section of 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, U.S. Fiction Competition at Los Angeles Film Festival
Part of JAPAN CUTS 2015.