NEWLYWEEDS 
HIGH MAINTENANCE 
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH 
Throughout the pandemic that has ravaged Central America, the region’s most prominent film event, the Panama International Film Festival (IFF Panama), has forged on virtually in its continued bid to bolster local projects and talent.To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.“We couldn’t pass up...
I'd Watch That
Shaka
King
King jumped to the front ranks of directors with “Judas and the Black Messiah,” a fact-based drama about a petty criminal who goes undercover for the FBI to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, which earned Oscars for best supporting actor (Daniel Kaluuya) and original song, along with a pair of nominations for King (best picture and original screenplay). It was a big leap from his debut feature, 2013’s “Newlyweeds,” a sometimes surreal look at a furniture repo man and a museum curator and their relationship with each other and marijuana that had critics comparing him to a young Spike Lee. He’s currently working on a feature about a fictitious political insurrection, with producers Ryan Coogler, Charles D. King and Lil Rel Howery on board.
