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Sun Valley Film Fest: ‘I Saw the Light’ shines a small but steady light

The fifth annual Sun Valley Film Festival runs March 2-March 6 in Ketchum, Idaho, featuring over 60 narrative films and documentaries, as well as special guests Oliver Stone, Mark Duplass, Bruce Dern and Amy Smart, and musical guests The Joy Formidable and Thunderpussy. Films are shown at local venues including the Sun Valley Opera House, …

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‘Transparent’ Season 1 is an audacious, fully-realized piece of television

I imagine my feelings after finishing Transparent’s incredible first season were much like many people’s feelings after Orange is the New Black premiered. It is wholly original and seems to exist as a result of the ways online streaming has opened up the medium of television to previously unrepresented characters. I was enamored both with the show’s characters and the way it approached issues of gender identity and sexuality. I needed to keep binge watching.

Transparent follows the Pfefferman clan, a tightly knit Jewish family living in Los Angeles, as their lives are changed by one member’s brave announcement. Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) comes out to her family as a woman, despite being their father and going by the name Mort for all of their lives. Pfefferman matriarch Shelly (Judith Light) confronts this new knowledge as well as her new husband’s mortality. Eldest daughter Sarah (Amy Landecker) reignites a flame with a college ex-girlfriend after realizing how unhappy she is with her husband. Middle child Josh (Jay Duplass) seems to be on the verge of a midlife crisis as more and more romances fail in spectacular fashions. Youngest daughter Ali (Gaby Hoffman) is adrift in both her professional and personal life.

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‘Decoding Annie Parker’ a well-intentioned but unfortunately flawed biopic

Decoding Annie Parker Written by Adam Bernstein, Steven Bernstein, and Michael Moss Directed by Steven Bernstein USA, 2013 The new film Decoding Annie Parker was made with the most honorable intentions, and unfortunately, very little else. In many respects, the story could just as well have been a movie-of-the-week from the early 1990s on either one …

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Thursday Comedies: Community 3.16 & Parks and Rec 4.19

Community, Season 3, Episode 16: “Virtual Systems Analysis” Written by Matt Murray Directed by Tristram Shapeero Airs Thursdays at 8pm ET on NBC Community seems to flourish when it brings Abed’s autistic tendencies to the forefront. They played a crucial factor in the recent “Pillows and Blankets” two-parter, but it’s episodes like “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” …

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