A Thousand and One
Fiction, 2023, 117′
05/05 Sun | 7:00pm | Sala Manoel de Oliveira
Directed and Written by A.V. Rockwell
Cinematography Eric Yue
Cast Teyana Taylor, Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Josiah Cross, William Catlett
Sundance (Grand Jury Prize) (2023); best first feature (Independent Spirit Awards) (2024)
Inez, a wrestler who prefers to define her own terms on which she lives, has just served an 18-month sentence on Rikers Island, New York. Unable to bear the separation from Terry, the 6-year-old son whom she had lost custody of, Inez kidnaps him so they can build a life together. As the years go by, the family grows and Terry becomes an intelligent and introverted teenager, but the secret that has defined their lives threatens to destroy the shelter they have so improbably built. Writer-director A.V. Rockwell’s stunning debut film, “A Thousand and One” is an elegant ode to the strength of family, in particular the mother-child bond, as an anchor in an ever-changing world.