On Story Episode 1704: Awards Season

With Awards season in full swing, this week’s On Story takes a look at some of the most memorable films of 2016 including Loving, The Edge of Seventeen, The Jungle Book and more!

Loving, depicts the real-life story of interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving who married in 1958 and were then sentenced to one year in prison for violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Their civil rights case, Loving vs Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 determined that all race-based restrictions on marriage were unconstitutional. Loving is written and directed by Jeff Nichols, and stars Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga and Michael Shannon. Loving has already received numerous nominations including Best Original Screenplay and Best Director from the Writers Guild of America.

The Edge of Seventeen is written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig and produced by veteran TV and film icon James L. Brooks. This coming of age comedy drama stars Hailee Steinfeld as the film’s acerbic yet endearing protagonist and co-stars Haley Lu Richardson, Woody Harrelson and Kyra Sedgwick.

Writer-director Whit Stillman’s latest movie Love and Friendship is an adaptation of the Jane Austen novella Lady Susan and stars Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. The film, set in the 1790s, marks Whit Stillman’s first departure from original material.

Bleed for this is the new biopic from writer-director Ben Younger. The film tells the real-life story of professional boxer Vinny Paz and his comeback to boxing after a severe spinal injury sustained in an automobile accident. The film is also a sort of parallel to Ben Younger’s career. Younger made his first film, Boiler Room in 2000 and his last film, Prime, in 2005. Bleed for this, produced by Martin Scorsese, and written and directed by Younger, represents his comeback to filmmaking.

The 2016 Disney film The Jungle Book is based on the Rudyard Kipling classic, and inspired by the 1967 animated film of the same name. The Jungle Book features an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley and Idris Elba as well as newcomer Neel Sethi and was written by Justin Marks, directed by Jon Favreu. Since its release in April 2016, The Jungle Book has raked in nearly a billion dollars worldwide.