Concussion

Review by Pamela Zoslov

The most popular sport in the U.S is not football, basketball or baseball — it's denial. In a landscape dominated by big business, Americans have been told that cigarettes don't cause cancer, that meat is good for you, that guns don't kill people, and other lies that serve the interests of money. One such lie is that football does not cause severe brain injuries, the kind that have led to depression, rage, dementia and suicide among former players.

Beyond the Lights

Review by Pamela Zoslov

A preview screening of BEYOND THE LIGHTS opens with a brief, sincere speech by writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood welcoming audiences to her first film since 2008, and asking people to tell their friends about it. It's an unusual thing to do, but Prince-Blythewood is an atypical filmmaker. A former TV writer and director (A Different World, among others), she directed feature films including cult favorite LOVE & BASKETBALL (2000), about a romance between high-school basketball players, and THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (2008). Her narratives are psychologically complex, often involving parent-child struggles the filmmaker says emanate from her experience as a biracial adopted child. “I just think it makes for better writing when you're coming from a real place,” she told an interviewer. Her films are woman-centric, extending even to employing mostly female key crew members.