Motion Picture: Shaquille O'Neal offers free screening of 'The Queen Of Basketball' in L.A., Actress Ivory Aquino cast in Batgirl movie
Cecilia Chung - Slaven Vlasic
Action/Fantasy/Sci-fi: Filipina American actress Ivory Aquino, who is best known for her portrayal of the transgender LGBTQ activist Cecilia Chung on Apple TV’s docudrama When We Rise, has been cast as one of the characters for the upcoming Batgirl movie. As previously announced, Leslie Grace will put on the Bat-suit as Barbara Gordon and J. K. Simmons will be interpreting her father Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Aquino will take on the role of Alysia Yeoh, Barbara's best friend. Even though the film is scheduled to release in 2022 very little is known about its story so far.
Actor turned filmmaker Manny Perez is the director and screenwriter of the upcoming action thriller movie La Soga Salvation. The film serves as a continuation of the 2009 movie La Soga which concerns government corruption in the Dominican Republic. Fully filmed in Spanish just like its prequel the movie follows retired hitman Luisito (Perez) who is enjoying life with his wife Lia (Sarah Jorge Leon) in a quiet seaside town until his violent past catches up with him.
Documentary: Shaquille O’Neal is offering free screenings in five different Los Angeles venues of the documentary The Queen Of Basketball. The biographic short documentary is on the life and professional career of Lusia Harris, who sadly passed away at the age of 66, only weeks away from the film’s premiere. “Lucy” Harris was the first woman to have been included in the basketball Hall of Fame, having won three championships in the 1970s, and is the only woman ever to have been drafted into a men’s NBA team.
The documentary Mija is director Isabel Castro’s first full-length feature film, and it is getting great reviews after its premiere last Friday at the 2022 Sundance Festival. The film focuses on Doris Muñoz, a talent manager in the music industry in L.A. who catapults singer Omar Banos’ career, a.k.a Cuco, and thus her own. The breakthrough in both of their careers provides her with the financial means to support her undocumented family and fund a green card application for her parents to visit their son who got deported to Mexico.
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Drama: Speaking of last week’s Sundance Festival, the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury price for 2022 goes to Nanny a thriller from director Nikyatu Jusu. The story centers on Aisha, a young immigrant woman interpreted by Anna Diop, who is trying to get her life together in New York City while taking care of a child of a well-off upper East Side family. Her frail American Dream is hanging from a thread when she is forced to keep a dark family secret from coming out.