The Nakedjen Film Festival (#NJFF) started over 20 years ago as my way of avoiding the Feast of the Cash Register.
Christmas Day, as many of us know, can be fraught with family of origin drama or even with the horrors of non-family of origin drama and there was no better way in my own mind to avoid all of this than to go sit in the dark with a bunch of misfit toy friends and watch stories unfold on a big screen. The kindness of Hollywood meant that they understood this even better than I did and so they saved their best Oscar hopefuls for a Christmas day opening. I'd spend the week before pouring over the scheduled films, choosing which ones to see when, smuggling in yummy snacks to share and including a break in there somewhere for all of us to gather at a Chinese restaurant to nosh and laugh and, yes, talk about the films.
The Nakedjen Film Festival is a marathon from start to finish, but it is honestly, the best way to spend the holiday if you need to avoid the trappings of Christmas.
In the year of our Pandemic, 2020, Hollywood (who has never actually known they're participating in the Nakedjen Film Festival) is delivering the #NJFF directly to a couch near you and I could not be happier. It means that should you like to participate the films are as close as your remote control. I realize that not everyone has access to all of these streaming services and that makes me a tiny bit bonkers. In my perfect world, these services would give us a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE and allow you to stream these films FOR FREE at least for the holidays. Capitalism still rules the day, however. The studios have not been visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present or Future, I suppose and so, well, while I can share with you where you can see these films, I must admit that they're not free. Of course they would not be free if we were gathering together in a proper theatre, either. We need to remember that.
Please remember that these films are simply a suggestion, as always. Programming for the Nakedjen Film Festival is always done with a nod to both entertainment, but also to films that make you really think and perhaps even go huh?!? I like to sit and the dark and escape, to be taken on an adventure, to be told a story that I never would have been told otherwise. Films for me have always been my refuge, my safe space.
I hope you'll make yourself something truly delicious, share it with your #pandemic pod, plop yourselves on the couch in comfy clothes and let the magic unfold and carry you away.
Happy Festival. May the story that you find be the one that is written on your own heart. xo
Festival Schedule
Wonder Woman
Available on HBO MAX
I feel like we have all been waiting ten years for this film. We haven't, we may feel that way after watching it? Who knows? But it's coming to your couch, so you can watch and decide for yourself.
SOUL
Available on Disney +
PIXAR. Questlove and Daveed Diggs. I swear I'm getting a Disney + sub just for this! Souls in training...yes. xo
Available on HBO Max
I'm here for these kids and learning more about exactly what it means to just be human.
KAJILLIONAIRE
Available on Amazon Prime
It's Miranda July. Yes, it's been out a while. I missed it at Sundance, so I'm including it for my own Christmas present.
THE MIDNIGHT SKY
Available on Netflix
Would we be able to call it a festival if we did not have some sort of blockbuster that dealt with the apocalypse? No. So here we go. And we get George Clooney. The end.
MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM
Available on NETFLIX
Viola Davis. Chadwick Boseman. The esteemed August Wilson. Do I really need to say anything else? This film was made to drop on Christmas. This one is like going to Church.
LET THEM ALL TALK
Available on HBO MAX
An Amuse Bouche from our friend, Steven Soderbergh. Starring Meryl Streep. Alternatively, you can stream THE PROM with Meryl and her friends on NETFLIX. Or go all in and stream them both. It's like Meryl decided to show up for you both in your stocking and under the tree!!
WOLFWALKERS
Available on APPLE TV
Irish folklore, animation, it's actually fun for the whole family. Maybe a great bedtime story?
A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS
Available on NETFLIX
I'm not me if Mr. Murray if not making an appearance. Hot dogs are on him. May your holidays be merry and bright. xo
