Part of SFFILM Festival
Selah and the Spades
Description
Catty, territorial high school cliques are at the center of this fresh film by Tayarisha Poe. Selah Summers (standout newcomer Lovie Simone) is a senior at her private school and the head of one of five school-run factions, The Spades. Her reign is coming to an end as graduation approaches and as her group starts to fray she finds herself willing to defend her legacy at any cost. Sassy and smart, with style to burn, Poe’s debut feature is an exhilarating addition to the canon of high-school dramas. Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us) co-stars.
“Like Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom or even Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, it’s a film that takes the world of its teenage characters seriously, but doesn’t feel like a YA drama. Quietly confident in its unconventional yet clear point of view, Selah and the Spades signals a bright future for a promising young filmmaker.” –Beandrea July, The Hollywood Reporter
Prior to making her debut feature Selah and the Spades, Tayarisha Poe directed a short, Honey and Trombones (2012) and created heroine Selah Summers in a multimedia collection of short films, short stories, and photos entitled Selah and the Spades: an overture. In 2015, she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine‘s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” and she was one of Variety‘s 2019 “10 Directors to Watch.” She has taken part in the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriter and Directors Labs.
“I am always eager to see stories about the marginalia of black girl life, about the mumblecore minutiae of being a human being. In film — and in all Western storytelling — there is this awful assumption that only the relatable, ‘every man’ story can be successful, and therefore must only be the only story told, with white characters at the center of it, and that’s just not my jam.” –Tayarisha Poe, Women and Hollywood
Film Details
Language English
Year 2019
Runtime 97
Country USA
Director Tayarisha Poe
Producer Lauren McBride, Drew P. Houpt, Lucas Joaquin, Tayarisha Poe, Jill Ahrens
Writer Tayarisha Poe
Editor Kate Abernathy
Cinematographer Jomo Fray
Music Aska Matsumiya
Cast Lovie Simone, Celeste O'Connor, Jharrel Jerome
Print Source Amazon Studioshttp://studios.amazon.com/