Prisoners

What would you do if your child went missing? That is the question facing Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) in Prisoners after his six-year old daughter Anna and her friend Joy disappear. As the hours drag on, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhall) is brought in to solve the case. Tension erupts between the two immediately. Dover, a deer-hunting survivalist, suspects that the brash young detective isn’t giving the case his full attention. When Loki releases their only suspect due to lack of evidence, Dover decides that he will have to take matters into his own hands.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. With his child’s life at stake, Dover kidnaps their only suspect and begins to torture him for information. The frantic Dover is willing to do whatever it takes to bring back his daughter, but as the captivity continues, Dover begins to wonder if he has the right man. In his race for answers, has he turned himself into the very monster he wants to destroy? What cost must he pay to ensure his daughter’s safety?

Written by Aaron Guzikowski and directed by Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners will open in theaters on September 20, 2013. This Warner Bros. Pictures thriller also stars Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano.

The Company You Keep

In The Company You Keep, Vietnam-era ideologies come crashing into modern sensibilities as one man fights to clear his name. Jim Grant (Robert Redford), an old member of the radical anti-war group the Weather Underground, has been hiding from the law for 30 years after participating in an aborted robbery-turned-murder. But when reporter Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) discovers evidence tying Jim to the crime, Jim gives up the safe life he has created for a risky life on the run. As the chase turns into a national manhunt, Jim must reconcile with his past if he hopes to save his future.

Based upon Neil Gordon’s 2003 novel of the same name, The Company You Keep highlights the differences between past and present ideologies and examines the way a single action has the power to shape our lives. A single robbery, a single investigation—how differently would things have turned out without them? While Ben struggles with ethical issues as a journalist, Jim and his old friends from the Weather Underground must come to terms with the consequences of their radical past.

Written for the screen by Lem Dobbs and directed by Robert Redford, The Company You Keep will see a limited LA/NY release on April 5, 2013. This Sony Pictures Classics drama/thriller also stars Julie Christie, Richard Jenkins, Susan Sarandon, Stephen Root, Sam Elliott, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick and Jackie Evancho.

Winnie

As co-crusaders in the struggle against apartheid, Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie changed the course of history in South Africa. Winnie, the film adaptation of Anne Marie Du Preez Bezrob’s biography, “Winnie Mandela: A Life,” is a drama that follows the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (Jennifer Hudson) from her childhood to her adulthood.

A complicated figure in South African history, Winnie’s life began with a strict rural upbringing by a father who was disappointed that she was a daughter instead of a son. Although she had the opportunity to go to Boston to study, Winnie chose to decline the scholarship and remain at home to become her country’s first black social worker. After meeting and marrying Nelson Mandela (Terrence Howard), Winnie faced a slew of hardships. Her husband was jailed, eventually spending 27 years in prison. Her decision to carry on her imprisoned husband’s activist campaign resulted in her being harassed by the security police almost continuously and banished to a small Free State town. Then, betrayed by friends and allies, Winnie was arrested and spent more than a year in solitary confinement.

After being released from prison Winnie’s difficulties continued. She faced accusations of violence and murder, was convicted of fraud, and saw her marriage to Mandela end in divorce. Winnie tells the story of this strong, very independent woman in broad, black-and-white terms – including the good and the bad.

Directed by Darrell J. Roodt from a screenplay by Roodt, Andre Pieterse and Paul L. Johnson, Winnie also stars Wendy Crewson as Mary Botha and Elias Koteas as Colonel DeVries. Winnie is set for a Canadian release on October 5, 2012 by D Films.