Bishop Blay (Cisco) in 'Out Of My Hand'
Check out Part 1 of Okayafrica's exclusive clips from Takeshi Fukunaga’s ‘Out Of My Hand’
Tomorrow, Ava DuVernay’s Array distribution company will release Takeshi Fukunaga’s Liberian migrant drama Out Of My Hand in U.S. theaters as part of the organization’s ongoing mission to propel independent films by women and filmmakers of color.
Fukunaga’s debut feature tells the story of Cisco, a struggling Liberian rubber plantation worker who, in the aftermath of a workers’ strike and a failed attempt at unionization, moves to Staten Island’s close-knit Liberian community and starts a new life as a New York City cab driver.
Fukunaga, a 33-year-old Japanese filmmaker based in New York, shot the first half of the project in Liberia with an all Liberian cast. For many of the actors, this was their first time being involved in film. The project also happens to be the second narrative feature film shot in Liberia by a foreign production.
In February, the film had its world premiere in the Panorama section at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, and in June it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Out Of My Hand will debut in New York and Los Angeles tomorrow as part of Array’s double theatrical release alongside Sara Blecher’s girl-power-themed South African coming-of-age drama Ayanda.
Says Array’s Executive Director Tilane Jones, “AYANDA and OUT OF MY HAND are films that represent the breadth and width of diverse filmmaking. A drama dissecting love in all forms directed by a South African woman and a story of migration and masculinity directed by a Harlem-based Japanese man, both starring all-black casts, prove to be a powerful duo.”
On Monday, we premiered the first of two exclusive clips from Out Of My Hand. In the second of the two clips, we see Cisco–now a cab driver living in New York City–as he's haunted by an encounter with someone from his past.
Watch below.
Opening week theatrical releases for Out of My Hand and Ayanda:
November 13 IFC Center in New York
November 13 AMC Loews 34th street in New York
November 13 at Downtown Independent in Los Angeles
November 13 at Imagenation RAW Space in New York
November 18 at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York
One-night tour engagements for Out Of My Hand:
November 14 at Georgia Pacific Auditorium presented by Bronzelens in Atlanta, GA
November 17 at the African American Museum presented by Reelblack in Philadelphia, PA
November 20 at Imagenation RAW Space in New York, NY
November 22 at Pure Art Literary Café in Montgomery, AL
November 24 at Ark Lodge Cinema in Seattle, WA
November 26 at Houston Museum of African American Culture in Houston, TX
December 1 at South Brunswick Islands Center in Calabash, NC
December 6 at Museum of Fine Art Boston in Boston, MA
December 8 at Anacostia Arts Center in Washington, DC
December 12 at The Artist Bloc in Greensboro, NC
One-night tour engagements for Ayanda:
November 13 at Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C.
November 14 at Georgia Pacific Auditorium presented by Bronzelens in Atlanta, GA
November 17 at the African American Museum presented by Reelblack in Philadelphia, PA
November 19 at the Houston Museum of African American Culture in Houston, TX
November 22 at Pure Artistry Literary Café in Montgomery, AL
November 24 at Ark Lodge Cinema in Seattle, WA
December 1 at South Brunswick Islands Center in Calabash, NC
December 5 at Arts Emerson presented by Reel Life Experience in Boston, MA
December 5 at The Artist Bloc in Greensboro, NC
