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Five Star

Keith Miller, USA 2014, 83’
POLISH PREMIERE

Taking his first steps in the New York underworld, John is taken in by Primo. The tattooed gangster who’s done plenty of time, warns John that a little mistake can mean a long sentence. John, whose father was murdered some years ago, knows what it means to be short on luck. In his second full-length feature, Keith Miller takes a documentary approach to peer into the seedy Brooklyn netherworld. He is more interested in the daily lives of his two lead characters than mafia score-settling. While John is only starting to learn the laws of the street, his mentor knows them too well to back out. The director successfully frees the classic motifs of gangster cinema from the convention’s constraints by using a para-documentary narrative: improvised dialogues, a story inspired by actual events from Brooklyn, and amateur actors tie Miller’s film to the early achievements of John Cassavetes or the renowned Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett.

awards

Tribeca FF 2014 – Best Editing, Narrative Feature

Keith Miller

Keith Miller is a director, screenwriter and editor, member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, an association of NY independent filmmakers, a lecturer and exhibition curator. His first feature-length film, Welcome to Pine Hill, is the story of a former drug dealer who learns of his terminal illness. The film garnered numerous prizes, including the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance. Keith Miller revisits issues involving the Afro-American community in his second full-length feature, Five Star.

Filmography

2005 Cookie (short)

2010 Prince/William (doc. short)

2012 Witajcie w Pine Hll / Welcome to Pine Hill

2014 Pięć gwiazd / Five Star

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Cast & Crew

director Keith Miller
screenplay Keith Miller
cinematography Ed David, Alex Mallis, Eric Phillips-Horst
editing Keith Miller
music Michael Rosen
cast James „Primo” Grant, John Diaz, Wanda Nobles Colon, Jasmine Burgos
producer Luisa Conlon, Keith Miller, Daryl Freimark
production An Up the Street Films, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective
sales Infinite Horizons
language English
coloration colour
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