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Kassandra Lee Diaz has nabbed the lead role in Byron Manuel’s thriller and feature directorial debut Swoon.

Diaz plays a woman tied to a bed while her captor manipulates her into believing they are engaged. The mysterious men in her life are played by Rich Morrow and DeRon Cash, while Efrangeliz Medina, Dean Wil, Herbert Morales and Del Harrison round out the ensemble.

Diaz also starred in Trifecta, which was co-created and directed by Manuel. Her other credits include playing Hope on the You Married Dat comedy, a three-episode arc on Cuddle Season and appearing in the Evette Vargas-directed short film Confessions.

“I was heavily inspired by the human desire of how we are obsessed with both love, and the feeling of being in suspense. Developing Swoon allowed me to explore both in their own warped way, as well as taking my love of Stephen King’s thrillers...

This story is presented by Netflix.

If you were looking for someone who relishes the notion of kicking ass, it’s hard to imagine anyone more willing to do so than Swedish model turned actress Frida Gustavsson, who plays Freydis Eriksdotter on Vikings: Valhalla. Freydis is a character from The Vínland Sagas, which were probably based on oral histories of earlier historical events. According to these poems, she and her brother Leif left Iceland for Greenland, and then sailed further west to “Vínland,” which we now know as North America. In The Saga of the Greenlanders, Freydís is something of a violent troublemaker, but in The Saga of Erik the Red, she is a badass defender of her colony who can fight off invaders while eight months pregnant.

As for Frida, she enjoyed an extensive career as a model for fashion magazines and brands and is generally credited as the...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Fever (Maya Da-Rin)

The Fever, director-cum-visual artist Da-Rin’s first full-length feature project, puts a human face to a statistic that hardly captures the genocide Brazil is suffering. This is not just a wonderfully crafted, superb exercise in filmmaking, a multilayered tale that seesaws between social realism and magic. It is a call to action, an unassuming manifesto hashed in the present tense but reverberating as a plea from a world already past us, a memoir of sorts. – Leonardo G. (full review)

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

French New Wave

Dive into one of the most fertile eras of moving pictures with a new massive 45-film series on The Criterion Channel dedicated to the French New Wave. Highlights include Le...

“I think all of this recognition and the response has just been amazing,” says “Bridgerton” creator, executive producer, and showrunner Chris Van Dusen about the show’s 12 Emmy nominations, including Best Drama Series. “I’m really humbled, but most of all proud of this cast and this crew and all of my fellow producers. I always hoped that people would find and fall in love with this show.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Van Dusen above.

The Netflix series is based on a series of romance novels by Julia Quinn about the romantic exploits of a family navigating the intrigues of high society in Regency-era London. It appealed to Van Dusen as a change of pace from his work on a previous Shonda Rhimes series, “Scandal.” “All I really wanted to do was something completely other than political intrigue on Capitol Hill. And that’s when I learned about...

Daryl Hall and John Oates, El-p and Soccer Mommy are among the artists set to reissue their albums on pink vinyl as part of the fifth annual charity initiative, Ten Bands One Cause, which benefits Gilda’s Club NYC.

The limited edition records will be released between September 25th and October 26th via the Orchard. They’ll be available at vinyl-selling retailers across the United States.

Hall and Oates will reissue their classic 1975 self-titled record, while rapper El-p will re-release his third studio album, Cancer 4 Cure (El-p’s duo with Killer Mike,...

What critic B. Ruby Rich dubbed the “New Queer Cinema” encountered little but praise (plus some attention-getting damnation from political conservatives) with such early ’90s titles as “Swoon,” “My Own Private Idaho,” “The Living End,” “Paris Is Burning,” and so forth. But by mid-decade the vogue had run long enough that even gay audiences felt less inclined to embrace every creative effort, giving a relatively cold shoulder to Steve McLean’s “Postcards From America” (1994) and Todd Verow’s “Frisk.” Both were adapted from edgy gay lit figures — the former from autobiographical writings by David Wojnarowicz (who’d died of AIDS), the latter from a typically violent, queasy novel by Dennis Cooper.

These films look better now than most critics or viewers allowed then. The revulsion “Frisk” was greeted with (at a time when gay films were expected to provide some measure of reassuring uplift) only emboldened Verow as a since-highly-prolific director of microbudget features,...

Here’s how studios say they see it: Sure, we really want to hire women directors. But there’s almost no studio movie that isn’t big budget, and we can’t find women who have the experience necessary to handle the really big movies. (Never mind Colin Trevorrow. Or Marc Webb. Or Gareth Edwards. Or Jon Watts.)

Of course, that logic is a vicious cycle at best, but here’s a chance to break it. Director Reed Morano’s dazzling execution of the first three episodes of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” suggests another excellent source for future women directors: top cinematographers.

Read More: 7 Female Genre Filmmakers You Should Get to Know Right Now

Women cinematographers work harder, longer, and have to be gifted and tough in order to keep landing jobs. As a cinematographer, make one mistake and you’re through. Any working cinematographer has more than...

Here’s how studios say they see it: Sure, we really want to hire women directors. But there’s almost no studio movie that isn’t big budget, and we can’t find women who have the experience necessary to handle the really big movies. (Never mind Colin Trevorrow. Or Marc Webb. Or Gareth Edwards. Or Jon Watts.)

Of course, that logic is a vicious cycle at best, but here’s a chance to break it. Director Reed Morano’s dazzling execution of the first three episodes of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” suggests another excellent source for future women directors: top cinematographers.

Read More: 7 Female Genre Filmmakers You Should Get to Know Right Now

Women cinematographers work harder, longer, and have to be gifted and tough in order to keep landing jobs. As a cinematographer, make one mistake and you’re through. Any working cinematographer has more than...

A lot of things were lost in the shuffle when those Trump tapes hit the internet on Friday afternoon, but one of them was a story that would undoubtedly have made bigger waves in the film community if not for the unfortunate timing of its announcement: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is being turned into a television show. That’s right, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s wickedly creative and widely beloved modern classic is being developed for the small screen, and — unsurprisingly — neither of them will be involved in this new take on their high-concept romantic drama. In fact, very little is known about the project, which will be produced by Anonymous Content and written by “Chuck” scribe Zev Borow.

Needless to say, we’re a bit trepidatious about the whole idea — it worked out well for “Fargo” (and potentially “Westworld”), but not every movie can be so easily distilled,...

Photo by Donnacha Kenny"Congratulations, Tom; you're one of the lucky eight per cent!" —Stir of Echoes (1999)Joliet, Illinois is probably the American city which more people have dreamed more fervently of escaping than any other. But after spending four hours in 'Prison Town'—long synonymous far and wide with incarceration—I was sad to leave; I'll be glad one day to return. Fortunately, such matters are questions of personal choice. Many of the area's residents, including those not serving custodial sentences, have little realistic option but to remain—trapped by personal, social and/or economic circumstances that can feel as confining as any 6-by-8 cell. "Joliet, or "J-Town", is racially diverse and is known as a crime-ridden city, although the area has shown much improvement since the 1990's... The east side is generally known as the ghetto side and the west side is known as middle class, even though...

No film buff wants to see a promising, or prominent filmmaker pull a disappearing act a la Terrence Malick, (though it seems he isn’t keen to repeat another lapse like the one between Days of Heaven to The Thin Red Line), but whether they’re dealing with unforeseeable professional (endless pre-production woes, writer’s block) or personal issues, sometimes there is a considerable time between projects.

With John Cameron Mitchell, Charlie Kaufman, Rebecca Miller, Patty Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and more recently, Barry Jenkins recently moving out of the so called “inactive” period, we decided to compile a list of the top ten American filmmakers who, for the most part, we’ve lost sight of and would like to see get back in the director’s chair again. Most of the filmmakers listed below have gone well over half a decade without a substantial movement in this category. Here is...

While some people's idea of the perfect New Year's Eve is to stay in and watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV with Ryan Seacrest (or Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin), all cuddled up with a loved one and a bottle of Cabernet, many others will dance 'till the sun comes up.

DJs are the new rock stars -- and they're the tastemakers of the year's biggest party night. So what constitutes the perfect New Year's Eve playlist? ETonline reached out to the world's biggest DJs -- many of whom regularly play to crowds of tens of thousands -- to get their go-to tracks and tips for curating the soundtrack for the perfect New Year's party.

Pics: Which Celebrities Can Drop a Beat? Check out 9 Star DJs!

1. The Chainsmokers: This DJ duo had a huge 2014 - cracking DJ Mag's prestigious Top 100 list for the first time at No. 97 riding support...

Birthday shoutouts go to Jason Biggs (above), who is 36, Emily VanCamp is 28, Catherine Tate is 46, Kim Fields is 45, and Billy Squire is 64. Here is his career-killing moment.

NBC has set The Music Man as the their next live production following Peter Pan.

‘The Real Hedwig’ Speaks: The Show’s Creators Respond!

Fox has released their primetime schedule for the fall, and Glee isn’t on it! The show won’t be back til midseason, which makes a lot of people wonder if it the final season will have a full 22-episode order, or be cut down to 13.

The Weather Channel picked the wrong Fort Worth council member to take a shot at on Twitter. I’m just glad to be reminded of Joel Burns again.

John Oliver on Eurovision. “Between Conchita and Michael Sam, did it feel like the world became a better place this weekend?”

And here is Conchita returning home.

At the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival there was a rescreening of the film And the Band Played On, a film based on a novel of the same name. The film (and book) goes into detail about the mysterious deaths of gay men during the time right before HIV and AIDS research had started. Starring Alan Alda and Mathew Modine as the film’s main characters, it was made during a time when the two viruses were still new to the public and difficult to understand.

In attendance at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month for the event were Tom Kalin, David France, and Doron Weber. The trio would join the film’s actor Mathew Modine as well as Ron Nyswaner (known for writing Philidelphia) after the film’s rescreening for a question and answer session discussing the role of science in discovering new cures for certain diseases, at most focus being HIV and AIDS.

“I’ve been around so long that I’ve seen the ‘death’ of independent film at least three times” – Christine Vachon, Producing Masterclass Widely regarded as one of the key figures in American independent cinema, Christine Vachon is now well into her fourth decade of film production. Her first feature film as a producer was Todd Haynes’ corrosive, Jean Genet-inspired Poison (1991), which set the tone for the host of fearlessly confrontational films that followed, including Tom Kalin’s Swoon (1992) and Larry Clark’s Kids (1995). In 1996, alongside Pamela Koffler, Vachon co-founded the NYC-based production company Killer Films, which has been […]...

“I’ve been around so long that I’ve seen the ‘death’ of independent film at least three times” – Christine Vachon, Producing Masterclass Widely regarded as one of the key figures in American independent cinema, Christine Vachon is now well into her fourth decade of film production. Her first feature film as a producer was Todd Haynes’ corrosive, Jean Genet-inspired Poison (1991), which set the tone for the host of fearlessly confrontational films that followed, including Tom Kalin’s Swoon (1992) and Larry Clark’s Kids (1995). In 1996, alongside Pamela Koffler, Vachon co-founded the NYC-based production company Killer Films, which has been […]...

The Ifp’s Independent Film Week’s Filmmaker Conference kicked off today, beginning with a case study of Beasts of the Southern Wild and ending with a conversation, moderated by Ifp Executive Director Joana Vicente, between producer and Killer Films head Christine Vachon and producer, screenwriter and Focus Features CEO James Schamus. Below are 12 tips from the latter event — advice aimed at producers and, in some cases, anybody else, from two veterans with deep, decades-long roots in the independent community.

1. Consider producing. Christine Vachon and James Schamus are producers, but they both remembered a time when they were not. Christine talked about working various crew positions in the ’80s New York indie scene, and James recalled starting out and realizing that people needed “someone to go out and ask for money.” Schamus remembered that time as a period when everyone wanted to be “artistic.” “Christine and I just decided we wanted to make stuff,...

Composer James Bennett, who brought musical wit and a lyrical touch to his work in film and theater, died in New York this week of a heart attack.

He was classically trained on piano and later was a member of the Bmi Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, an innovative New York City program known for training composers, lyricists and librettists. His work in theater includes collaborations with Charles Horne on the scores for the Off-Broadway shows Eva Braun and Dogs.

Though Jim composed music for only two feature films — Todd Haynes’ Poison and my film Swoon — he brought a remarkable musical sophistication and depth of emotion to his work. He worked as both composer and conductor and somehow managed to record lush, heartbreaking scores with a handful of musicians and the very few dollars we gave him. His music for my short Geoffrey Beene 30 and for Haynes’ Dottie Gets Spanked...

New York. The Last Modernist: The Complete Works of Béla Tarr opens today at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and runs through Wednesday, and R Emmet Sweeney has a wide-ranging talk with the retired filmmaker. "Whether or not The Turin Horse turns out to be Béla Tarr's last film, as the gnostic, gnomic Hungarian master has claimed it will be, the sense of finality is absolute," writes the L's Mark Asch. Aaron Cutler for Moving Image Source: "Primo Levi writes in Survival in Auschwitz that the lowest point a human can reach is when he or she is forced to act without choice, performing tasks purely for his or her own survival. Freedom of choice is what separates humans from other animals. The Tarr crew (which, beginning with him and partner, Ágnes Hranitzky, has gone on to include a regular screenwriter [László Krasznahorkai], composer [Mihály Vig], and cinematographer [Fred Kelemen]) began by comparing humans to each other,...

Between Yesterday and Tomorrow

The Berlinale rounds out its Forum program today with the announcement of a series of Special Screenings, a couple of world premieres and a batch of revivals. Combine this list with the titles announced last week and those in Forum Expanded and you're looking at the complete program.

World Premieres:

in arbeit / en construction / w toku / lavori in corso (in the works) by Minze Tummescheit/Arne Hector, Germany. The festival notes that this documentary project is "structured according to the principle of the chain interview, with the first interview partner leading the film team on to the second and so on. What all of their number have in common are the cooperative structures in which they work. Yet the most important question they debate is that of their own legitimacy: does it make sense or is it even possible to position oneself outside of industrial progress,...

Los Angeles, CA (November 2, 2011) – Killer Films and Before The Door Pictures are teaming up to produce Imperial Palace, a love-story written and to be directed by Victor Quinaz, as his sophomore effort. Killer Films. Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler are producing with Before The Door.s Zachary Quinto, Neal Dodson, and Corey Moosa. The project is currently out to talent and is scheduled to start shooting in spring 2012.

Imperial Palace takes place six hours after Hurricane Katrina hits the gulf, and centers on the jaded manager of a Biloxi casino who must juggle the chaos that arises when Fema sets up headquarters at his establishment bringing with it an old flame and an ensuing love triangle.

Quinto commented, “Christine Vachon is a mentor to us, and we feel very lucky to work with her and Killer on this project. We’re thrilled to take the momentum of Margin Call and...

This is not your father's Western. One of the things I like about the poster for Kelly Reichardt’s new film, Meek’s Cutoff, is that it isn't quite what you'd expect and it lets you know that the film is going to be similarly unique. It took me a while to come around to it. Though I liked the illustration—and I always feel that there isn't enough illustration in contemporary movie posters—I wasn't immediately sold on the typography: I think I wanted something more traditionally Western perhaps, something with a weathered woodcut feel, something more obvious. The "Cutoff" and much of the other type looked right, but that sans serif "Meek's" bothered me. The UK version of the poster is nicely done (weathered woodcut type and all), and might sell more tickets, but it is also much more conventional. It doesn't tell you that Meek's Cutoff is...

(1959, 12, Second Sight)

As a student in the 1930s, Richard Fleischer switched from medicine to drama and later, between skilful genre movies and historical blockbusters, he directed four remarkable studies of famous, real-life murderers, all male, all insane : The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), Compulsion, The Boston Strangler (1968) and 10 Rillington Place (1971). Unlike the others, Compulsion is in black and white and adapted from a novel by Meyer Levin, but despite changing the characters' names and inventing some subsidiary figures, it sticks closely to the notorious 1924 case of Nathan Leopold (Dean Stockwell) and Richard Loeb (Bradford Dillman). Brilliant University of Chicago graduate students from wealthy Jewish families, they murdered a 14-year-old schoolboy as a way of establishing their indifference as Nietzschean supermen to conventional morality. Orson Welles dominates the film as Clarence Darrow, the great liberal attorney who defended them, his flowery 12-hour speech reduced to 10 minutes. The same case...

This week is the final airing of the syndicated movie review program At The Movies, marking a true end-of-an-era for those of us who grew up eagerly anticipating the weekly thumb wrestling of critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

In September of 1975 Chicago Tribune writer Gene and Chicago Sun-Times writer Roger were reluctantly paired for the monthly PBS show Opening Soon at A Theater Near You, which ran for two seasons before being renamed Sneak Previews.

The show became a huge hit for PBS, which decided to syndicate it with Gene and Roger remaining as hosts until 1982, when contract negotiations fell through. They were replaced by liberal commentator Neal Gabler and human block of wood Jeffrey Lyons, who would become best known for siring a quote whore (more on that later.)

Gabler left after three years, unhappy with the direction of the show, and was replaced by Michael Medved, who...

Cinematic birthdays for Nov. 19th, this time with lighter loafers.

1889 Clifton Webb, reportedly as out as an actor could be back in the day but Oscar never gave him their top prize. They never give out actors the statue. Sad, but true. Classic films include Oscar favorites like Laura and Three Coins in the Fountain (review) but he's most famous for playing Mr. Belvedere, the uptight gentlemen bachelor of a certain obvious if unspoken persuasion. I saw the first of the three Belvedere films Sitting Pretty (1948) a few years ago and it was quite an... unh... time capsule.

1933 Larry King, asker of inane questions

1942 Calvin Klein makes pretty things

1938 Ted Turner took Jane Fonda away from me (the movies... same thing) ages ago and I've never forgiven him.

1954 Kathleen Quinlan an actress I don't really get

1958 Charlie Kaufman mindbender

1961 Meg Ryan have you ever noticed how people turn on actresses...

Who needs holidays? Make your own with the birthdays of movie people.

Parker, Oleg and Vlad the Impaler (as interpreted by Gary Oldman)

Today's Birthdays 11/08

1431 Vlad the Impaler would have turned 578 years old today if not for that stake through the heart. To be accurate, his exact birthday is unknown but sometimes he's listed on this date which probably has something to do with...

1847 Bram Stoker who wrote the original Dracula, which gave Vlad the immortality that he had mythically already won as the original nosferatu... vampyr. The cinema loves him harder and deeper than Lucy Harker ever could.

1900 Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind. She didn't have to impale anyone or renounce heaven to achieve immortality. She just had to write one mammoth book. The movie based on her novel is still the highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. One of only four films...

Lisa Kudrow, whom I’ve crushed on since she kissed Rachel and said, “I’ve had better,” has always been a friend to the Lgbt community. And her latest project is no exception.

Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky, who worked with her on The Comeback, are developing a comedy for Showtime based on the book Why the Long Face? by Craig Chester. The TV series, Rapture, is the story of Chester growing up as the gay son of born-again Christian parents.

If you don’t recognize Chester’s name, you may remember him from playing Nathan Leopold in Swoon or Adam in Adam & Steve, which he also directed.

Ok, I didn’t like Adam & Steve, but that’s beside the point.

Chester’s book is full of both humor and sadness, in much the same way Augusten Burroughs’ books are. Chester isn’t nearly as funny as Burroughs, but the story...

When writer-director Tom Kalin brought his first feature, "Swoon," to the Independent Feature Project's 1991 Independent Feature Film Market, he recalls attending "a charming, homespun affair" with his fellow producers, Christine Vachon and James Schamus. While there, a three-minute reel of "Swoon's" best images and moments at the market captured the attention of acquisitions execs from Fine Line and PBS' "American Playhouse." As a result, Kalin headed off to Sundance the following January with the film presold and on its way to being viewed as a milestone of "new queer cinema."That was then. Today, the Big Apple's Ifp market celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new name -- Independent Film Week, running Sept. 14-19 -- and is a mix of old visions and new strategies. Through the years, however, Ifp's goal has remained consistent: to open doors and create possibilities for aspiring filmmakers with plenty of talent but little money and few connections.

• Opening today at the IFC Center is Tom Kalin's long awaited second feature film after Swoon. Savage Grace tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class into the Brooks Baekeland clan. Spanning from the late 40's to the early 70's, the film describes a mother and son's heady rise and tragic fall against the backdrop of world locations including New York, Paris, Cadaques, Mallorca and London. While a period tragedy, the story is embued with contemporary significance, as well as humor, light and life. Below you'll find some shaky and choppy video I captured during the Director's Fortnight press conference at the Cannes Film Festival back in 2007. Clip 1: Here Tom Kalin discusses the on screen treatment and representation of mental illness and how, here viewers will discover the gravity of it once the story unfolds and places the characters well beyond normality.

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By Neil Pedley

There's something for everyone this week at the multiplex, what with Carrie and company offering something for the ladies with "Sex and the City," the Tae Kwon Do comedy "The Foot Fist Way" being an alternative for the guys, and "Savage Grace"... well, again, let's just say there's something for everyone.

"Bigger, Stronger, Faster*"

With everyone from Little League coaches to members of the U.S. Congress weighing in on the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports, body builder (and former user) Christopher Bell injects his own story into this documentary that explores America's obsession with excellence and what it realistically takes to achieve it. Bell chronicles his own family's history of steroid use as a jumping off point to explore the wider love/hate relationship between professional athletes and performance enhancing drugs in a culture where winning is everything and there are no points for second place.

• #54. Savage Grace Director: Tom KalinWriters: Howard A. Rodman (Joe Gould's Secret) Producers: Pamela Koffler, Iker Monfort, Katie Roumel, Christine Vachon Distributor: IFC First Take The Gist: Based on the winning Mystery Writers of America in award for Best Fact Crimebook written by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson, this tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland (Moore), the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed, charismatic, Barbara is still not a match for her well-born husband. The birth of the couple’s only child, Tony, rocks the uneasy balance in this marriage of extremes... Fact: Kalin had not directed a feature length film since 1992's Swoon. See It: Delicious euro-flavored drama will get under the skin of many thanks to disturbing themes and chilling acting performances. Read my review here. Release Date/Status?: After preeming at

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• I’m not sure if he is trying to replicate the Malick-way to go about a career, but his last (and only) feature was Swoon back in 91’. I wouldn’t be surprised if Christine Vachon’s Killer Films packs enough space for extra luggage. They’ll be bringing I’m not There, and perhaps Tom Kalin’s long-awaited sophomore film Savage Grace. If I were a programmer I’d be including it somewhere in the festival – especially in some of those sidebar menus. Plus it is always a plus to feature titles among your festival to create a market buzz: A-list actor + book adaptation = sought after title.Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning book, this tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland (Julianne Moore), the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed, charismatic, Barbara is still not a match for her well-born husband.

...