Aviva is a uniquely sexy, dancing-in-the-streets-and-sheets take on romance, set in a world of gender-fluid, frequently unclothed bodies. Director Boaz Yakin‘s impressionistic film takes a timeless, universal love story and makes it an up-to-the-moment physical exploration of gender dynamics by incorporating exuberant dance sequences choreographed by former Batsheva Dance Company dancer Bobbi Jene Smith (star Mari, and Bobbi Jene – winner Best Doc Feature, 2017 Tribeca Film Festival) and brilliantly danced by Smith, along with former Batsheva dancers Zina Zinchenko, Or Schraiber, and actor Tyler Phillips.

The character Aviva is a young Parisian who develops an online romance with a New Yorker named Eden. After a long-distance courtship they meet in person, fall in love, and eventually marry. The two lovers are played by four different dancer/actors simultaneously. As the young relationship grows, the lovers struggle as their shifting masculine and feminine sides battle for primacy—both inside and outside their bodies, as expressed through movement and dialogue.Aviva captures our restless, frenzied and fluid time, demystifying the male-female dynamic and laying it bare like never before. Writer-director Boaz Yakin (Fresh, A Price Above Rubies, Remember the Titans) has crafted a relationship movie that exists in its own category, exploring the gender dynamics within two unforgettable characters who refuse to be contained by standard definitions, putting their relationship to the ultimate test.

Aviva is available through Strand Releasing.

The latest film from this esteemed director Chad Hartigan, LITTLE FISH chronicles the all too familiar phenomena of a global pandemic, sweeping the world without control. Pointedly, the film asks “When your disaster is everyone’s disaster, how do you grieve?” As the sickness, which causes you to slowly lose all your memories, runs rampant, the viewer follows an incredibly charming young married couple, played masterfully by Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell. They fight to hold their relationship together before the disease can erase all memory of their love. IFC will release the film in theaters and on demand on February 5, 2021. 

Writer/director Chad Hartigan is best known for his award-winning feature films THIS IS MARTIN BONNER and MORRIS FROM AMERICA. Hartigan won the John Cassavetes Award at the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards, as well as the “Best of NEXT” Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, for THIS IS MARTIN BONNER. Hartigan won the Waldo Scott Screenwriter Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival for his film MORRIS FROM AMERICA. LITTLE FISH marks the third collaboration between childhood friends Hartigan, composer Keegan Dewitt (HEARTS BEAT LOUD) and cinematographer Sean McElwee (THE INCREDIBLE JESSICA JAMES). Based on Aja Gabel’s short story, the film is written by up and coming screenwriter Mattson Tomlin who co-wrote the latest Batman film, THE BATMAN, and wrote the Netflix hit PROJECT POWER.

Little Fish is available from IFC Films.

 

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.