Lovie Simone appears in Selah and the Spades by Tayaresha Poe, an official selection of the NEXT program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jomo FrayAll photos are copyrighted
The new film Selah and the Spades, written by Tayarisha Poe, is coming to Amazon Prime Video on April 17, 2020. The film starts Lovie Simone, Celeste O’Connor, Jharrel Jerome, Jesse Williams and Gina Torres. The movie looks at the politics and dangerous ways teens navigate their lives.
Here’s the official synopsis:
In the closed world of an elite Pennsylvania boarding school, Haldwell, the student body is run by five factions. Seventeen-year-old Selah Summers (Lovie Simone) runs the most dom-inant group, the Spades, with unshakable poise, as they cater to the most classic of vices and supply students with coveted, illegal alcohol and pills. Tensions between the factions escalate, and when Selah’s best friend/right hand Maxxie (MOONLIGHT’s Jharrel Jerome) becomes distracted by a new love, Selah takes on a protégée, enamored sophomore Palo-ma (Celeste O’Connor), to whom she imparts her wisdom on ruling the school. But with graduation looming and Paloma proving an impressively quick study, Selah’s fears turn sin-ister as she grapples with losing the control by which she defines herself.
In her feature debut, writer/director Tayarisha Poe immerses us in a heightened depiction of teenage politics. This searing character study encapsulates just how intoxicating power can be for a teenage girl who acutely feels the threat of being denied it. Exciting newcomer Lovie Simone’s performance beautifully embodies both Selah’s publicly impeccable com-mand and the internal fears and uncertainty that drive it.
