The Sundance Film Festival is where little known indie films can get big distribution deals and become Oscar contenders. Oscar nominated films like the documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010), Boyhood, and Whiplash were all Sundance films.
At the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, a new film is garnering huge amount of buzz and recently won a $7 million distribution deal with Open Road Films and Sony Pictures. Dope is the name of the film and also how some critics are describing this coming of age comedy.
Here is short synopsis of the film:
Malcolm (play by Shameik Moore) is a high school geek with a high-top fade, carefully navigating life in The Bottoms, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Inglewood, California. He and his fellow outcasts share a voracious appreciation for all things '90s hip-hop, opting to sport Cross-Colours and Z. Cavariccis at the risk of being clowned at school. He dreams of attending Harvard, but first he has to make it home every day. When a drug dealer (played byASAP Rocky) takes a shine to Malcolm and invites him to his birthday party, Malcolm’s crew is swirled into a hilarious blender of offbeat characters and bad choices where redemption can only be found in Bitcoin.
Writer/director Rick Famuyiwa delivers an energetic, super-fresh, modern-day coming-of-age story that is a delightful mash-up of DIY punk, Yo! MTV Raps,YouTube, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Intelligent and full of heart, Dope is an up-to-date inspirational tale of the journey to maintain a grasp on one’s own authentic self amidst surreal circumstances. —S.F
Directed by Rick Famuyiwa and produced by Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi, the film has been compared to films like Pulp Fiction and Ferris Bueller's Day Off but with a hip hop sensibility. The cast features Shameik Moore, rapper ASAP Rocky, Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny Kravitz & Lisa Bonet), Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Tyga, Forest Whitaker, Keith Stanfield, Casey Veggies, Vince Staples, Chanel Iman and Rick Fox.
After reading several reviews of Dope, I can say this is one film I'm definitely excited to see this year. There is no release date set, but you can check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments below. Could it be an Oscar contender in 2016?
