Writer/Director Morrissey Maltz may be famous now thanks to her breakout feature “The Unknown Land” but the acclaimed filmmaker is clearly just getting started.
“Unknown Land” Quasi-Sequel”Jazzy,” Maltz’s follow-up to her award-winning filmnow puts Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreux’s titular character in the lead. Jazzy and her real-life best friend Syriah Foolhead Means both play fictionalized versions of themselves as they experience the joys and heartbreaks of childhood friendship as two native girls growing up in South Dakota.
“The Unknown Country” stars Lily Gladstone and Raymond Lee both reprise their respective roles in supporting roles. The film was acquired by Vertical for the North American and UK/IRE distribution rights.
“Jazzy” premiered at Tribeca, where IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote in her review that Maltz has created an “intoxicating” coming of age story.
“Maltz lets us into Jazzy and Syria’s world immediately, transporting us to the playgrounds and school buses where so many of the small dramas—which the filmmaker treats with care and respect—that frame their childhood experiences will unfold,” review reading. “And while the energy of this world is intoxicating, much of it enhanced by a lightning-fast soundtrack that runs the gamut, we see small pains taking shape as well. (…) While some in Hollywood may turn to stories like those think it is in some way for personal (looking at you, Pixar), this incredibly specific moment in Jazzy and Syriah’s friendship is more relatable and more affecting than scores of depersonalized studio stories. We don’t have to have lived it to feel it. That’s the magic Maltz tries to conjure up in his film, and the emotional experience of it turns out to be rich indeed.”
Shangreux, who is Maltz’s goddaughter, won the award for Best Performance in an American Narrative Film at Tribeca. The film is nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, one for editing and the other, the coveted Cassavettes Award. This will be Maltz’s second consecutive nomination for the Cassavettes Award. “Jazzy” was one of them first films to qualify for an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA.
Mark and Jay Duplass are also producing “Jazzy.” Gladstone is also an executive producer, tells IndieWire that with that credit, she knew she “would be involved in some way to just help nurture and promote and support the story of Jazzy, kind of like the relationship that Tana and Jazzy have. It’s an extension of that into reality.”
Maltz added about Gladstone’s impact on Shangreux specifically, “Jazzy looks up to Lily so much, it’s been really wild to see her realize who Lily is and how she can look up to her. To understand who Lily is and now that she has been in two movies with Lily and has had this relationship with her that’s very close, it’s really inspired Jazzy deeply, not only when she started drama lessons, but also in the way she talks and talks about the projects she has. works on now.”
“Jazzy” premieres on February 7 at select Vertical theaters. Check out the trailer below.
