By Melissa Houghton
Day Two
KEY PREMIERES: Honey Boy, Untouchable, Leaving Neverland, The Farewell, Ask Dr. Ruth, Late Night, Where’s My Roy Cohn?
WHAT’S THE BUZZ? Untouchable, Troop Zero, The Brink, The Farewell, Leaving Neverland, Native Son, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Late Night, After the Wedding, Velvet Buzzsaw (coming to Netflix on February 1).
PERSONAL NOTES: Day One Recap – I watched Native Son with Press and Industry. I was blown away by the contemporary narrative and riveting performances. Ashton Sanders delivers an incredibly complex, intense and jaw-dropping turn as Bigger Thomas. Native Son was acquired by HBO Films. Day Two – I caught the P&I morning screening of After the Wedding and evening premiere of The Infiltrators.
Until tomorrow, M.
Childhood memories of sitting with hushed audiences in dark theatres – before, during and sometimes after a shocking conclusion, shaped Melissa’s love of movies. Her passion for film spans many genres and go-to’s are Indies, Sci-fi and Costume dramas. An image of Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Ladyexplains her life-long love of hats. Melissa works in marketing by day. She feels the arts saved her life and is a devoted year-round and festival volunteer for several arts and cultural organizations. She’s been a Toronto International Film Festival volunteer since 2003. Melissa recently fulfilled a wish to join the Sundance Film Festival volunteer roster and has a desire to meet Robert Redford. Melissa will be returning to Sundance for her fifth straight year in 2019. During this Sundance working-vacation, Melissa volunteers on the Artist Relations Box Office team as Box Office Associate. Melissa’s desert island picks are Alien, The Godfather, The Witches of Eastwick, Little Miss Sunshine and My Fair Lady. Melissa’s focus will be independent films. By the way, she has not met Robert Redford, yet.
