Fear The Walking Dead comes to the IFC Center for the Split Screen Festival

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New York, May 22, 2019 – IFC Center, home to DOC NYC — the largest documentary festival in the US — unveiled its final lineup for the third annual Split Screens TV Festival taking place Wednesday, May 29 through Monday, June 3, 2019, at NYC’s IFC Center. The 2019 program, celebrating the art and craft of storytelling, puts a spotlight on wide-ranging themes including identity, the mystery of existence itself, dystopian realities and alternate timelines, and invites fans to enjoy screenings and events that transport us into any number of time periods and places, be it a late-1800s South Dakota town or the tensions of New York City at the end of the 1980s.

Tickets to the public are on sale (www.splitscreensfestival.com) for exclusive screenings and compelling panel conversations featuring the biggest and boldest names in scripted content, both in front of and behind the camera. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @SplitScreensTV.

For the third edition of the event, notable Salon TV critic Melanie McFarland was named Co-Creative Director, joining founding Co-Creative Director Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Magazine’s TV critic and best-selling author. The festival will once again be anchored by four signature pillars: PREMIERES, an opportunity for audiences to be among the first to screen anticipated season premieres and finales; CLOSE-UP, conversations with celebrated actors and creatives; TV TALK, an exploration of content’s cultural impact through the lens of superfans, pop culture writers and experts; and REWIND, a closer look at an iconic episode of TV; plus a number of SPECIAL EVENTS.

Festival highlights include: close-up conversations with Pamela Adlon, executive producer, writer, director and star of FX’s Better Things; William Jackson Harper, star of the philosophy-themed NBC comedy The Good Place; Christopher Abbott, star of Hulu’s critically acclaimed Catch-22; a deep dive into the art of the paranoid thriller with Sam Esmail, creator of USA’s Mr. Robot and director of Amazon’s Homecoming, with a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut; and Leslye Headland, co-creator and co-executive producer of Netflix’s hit series Russian Doll, who will anchor a panel of creative professionals  who helped bring the world of Russian Doll to life. 

Festival attendees will also enjoy Deadwood: The Movie, a chance to experience the epic conclusion of HBO’s legendary Western series on the big screen along with a half-hour Deadwood companion doc written by Matt Zoller Seitz, followed by a discussion with stars Robin Weigert (on stage) and Ian McShane (live via satellite); a closer look into a breakout episode from season one of The Twilight Zone, CBS All Access’ re-imagining of the classic anthology series (followed by a conversation with actress Sanaa Lathan and screenwriter Selwyn Seyfu Hinds); an advance screening of the season 3 premiere of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale; a sneak preview of When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s highly anticipated Central Park 5 Netflix miniseries;  the season 1 finale of Cinemax’s Warrior; a live-watch of the fifth season premiere of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead and panel featuring actors Jenna Elfman, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia and Austin Amelio, along with Exec Producer Scott M. Gimple, and Chief Content Officer of the Walking Dead Universe; an advance screening of the season 2 premiere of CBS’s Instinct with co-stars Alan Cumming & Bojana Novakovic; a conversation with key cast and creative talent of OWN’sQueen Sugar, following an advance screening of the season 4 premiere;  (S)heroes: Women of Action!, a fan appreciation panel of influential female characters; and a conversation with noted TV critics about how the age of streaming has transformed the craft of storytelling.

Split Screens Festival is produced and presented by IFC Center, one of New York’s leading independent cinemas, and is organized by the core team of its successful DOC NYC documentary film festival, including Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen, Director of Development Deborah Rudolph and Operations Director Dana Krieger. Collaborating with broadcasters, cable networks and streaming services, the festival will highlight great content from a range of platforms to bring together the creative talent behind TV’s most acclaimed shows and sophisticated New York audiences.

Split Screens Festival is made possible by Event Sponsors FX and National Geographic; Friends of the Festival include Essentia, PTEX and Wheelhouse Creative.

Venue and Ticket information:

·         All festival events take place at IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. (at West 3rd St), with the exception ofDeadwood: The Movie on May 31, which screens at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St.

·         Tickets for all events are available online at splitscreensfestival.com or at the IFC Center box office, open daily 10:30am-10:00pm. Same-day tickets for Deadwood: The Movie will also be available at the SVA Theatre box office starting at 6:30pm on May 31.

·         Tickets for the TV Talk events on June 1 are $12 general admission / $9 IFC Center members

·         Tickets for all other festival events are $17 general admission / $14 IFC Center members

·         A discounted 3-ticket pack is available for $40/$35 IFC Center members.

8:15 PM – Fear the Walking Dead Season 5 Premiere (AMC) – SPECIAL EVENT

In attendance: Actors Jenna Elfman, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia and Austin Amelio, and Scott M. Gimple, Executive Producer of Fear the Walking Dead and Chief Content Officer of the Walking Dead Universe

Join us for a live screening of the season 5 premiere, followed by a conversation with the cast and executive producer.

As AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead enters Season 5, with a powerful ensemble including Lennie James, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia, Garret Dillahunt, Maggie Grace, Jenna Elfman, Alexa Nisenson, Austin Amelio, Ruben Blades and Karen David, its core characters’ mission is clear: locate survivors and help make what’s left of the world a slightly better place. With dogged determination, Morgan Jones (James) leads the group with a philosophy rooted in benevolence, community and hope. Each character believes that helping others will allow them to make up for the wrongs of their pasts. But their mission of helping others will be put to the ultimate test when the group finds themselves in uncharted territory, one which will force them to face their fears and perhaps discover an entirely new way to live.

Fear the Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios.

Fear The Walking Dead Season 5 Preview (Non Spoiler)

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark, Lennie James as Morgan Jones – Fear the Walking Dead _ Season 5, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Ryan Green/AMC

Fear The Walking Dead will return in the next few weeks for their fifth season and with the mixed reception of the fourth season, You will be glad to know that this season is a fresh breath of air over the previous season. I seen the first four episodes of the fifth season thanks to AMC Network and I must say, I am gladly impressed. You will think that the producers did not learn from their mistakes from the last season if you were going into this season with that thought, but your mind will change after the first episode. Without me going along any further, here is my non spoiler impressions of the first four episodes of the fifth season of Fear The Walking Dead.

The first episode of the season starts with the action right away after the first few minutes and there were moments where a few of the characters were in life or death situations especially when I thought that one particular character was going to die after seeing what happened to that character. There are new characters that are introduced as well, but their motivations are not quite clear yet. Morgan and Alicia are my favorite two of this episode as Morgan is the person of reason more than ever on this show. I also love that Alicia is still grieving from Madison and Nick’s death in the previous season. They are also in constant contact with the other characters during the episode such as Strand and Charlie but I will leave it there for now until my review. John and June is also quickly becoming my favorite couple on the show as their chemistry levels Glenn and Maggie’s relationship on the main show The Walking Dead. Althea is on her investigative mode during the episode, and there are also cool easter eggs and callbacks to the main show that I noticed as well. The ending of the first episode will have everyone talking as I was stunned to see it when I first seen it and I mean this in a good way.

I will not get too much into the second episode’s main plot since it would be in huge spoiler territory, but the reunion of two characters will not be a loving, sweet reunion at all as things from the past will be bought up. Another thing I will note is that another new character is introduced, but it also revolves around the central plot of the episode. But this new character also has a head scratching moment involving walkers and Alicia that might make you scream at the television for a few seconds.

The third episode is so far my favorite episode of the season so far and it is because of the setting and we have a lot of John and June and another character. John really showed off his badass revolver shooting skills during the epiosde and it was satisfying to see that he has been given more development so far this season. There is also a very cool and smart walker kill scene involving John and another character and that will go down as one of the best scenes of the entire season. I also believe that the setting this scene and most of the episode takes place was fitted for John and June. By the end of the episode, you will realize that nobody is trusted.

And finally, the fourth episode directly connects with the second episode along with the plot of the end of the third episode moving forward. Remember Goose from Captain Marvel? that cat is lovable and the cat on this show will be as loveable as Goose. Although I am puzzled to why Charlie is still alive since she killed Nick, she is quite resourceful during this episode in a few ways. Charlie is also the voice of reason in one particular scene later during the episode. The group also learns more of Morgan in this episode and a few names are mentioned when he was describing his past. The only other thing I will say is that the ending of this episode is almost similar to the first episode and the new characters are aware of a particular group.

My thoughts of the season so far, a massive improvement over the previous season and I can tell that the writers and producers realized the split feedback from the previous season and wanted to fix it for this season. This season so far connects to the main show greater than ever. However, I can also see it being called out on in the vocal minority due to those decisions. But I think that the payoff will be worth it down the line. There are a few scenes that slows down the episodes, but it does not feel like it is dragging at all since I am invested in the characters. Austin Amelio who plays as Dwight will be in this season, but you will have to guess which episode of the four he will make his debut as I cannot spoil it at all and I want everyone to be as surprised as I was when I seen his debut along with a few more moments I wish I can describe. If you have tuned out during season four, this season will tune you right back in.

Fear The Walking Dead returns on June 2nd on AMC Network and my review of the first episode will be up on that day as well!

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