1 Zola (Opens Wednesday, June 30) A viral Twitter skein gets the A24 spotlight, directed by Janicza Bravo (“Lemon”) and written by Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris (“Slave Play,” “Daddy”), based on tweets by A’Ziah-Monae “Zola” King and the article by David Kushner, “Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted.” With Taylour Paige and Riley Keough.
2 In The Heights (Opens Friday, June 11 in theaters and on HBO Max for thirty-one days) After years of failed efforts, the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical triumphantly makes it from stage to the big screen.
3 The Sparks Brothers (Opens June 18) Neophyte documentary director Edgar Wright’s Sundance success pokes into the career and lives of the Mael brothers to answer that elemental query, what is Sparks?
4 Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It (Opens Friday, June 18) The eighty-nine-year-old Puerto Rican supernova and co-star of “West Side Story” (1960) and “West Side Story” (2021) talks about her decades-long career.
5 F9 (Opens Friday, June 25) CAN THIS BE THE END SAY IT’S NOT SAY—Oh, hello Dom, hello Letty, hello…
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
