American Honey

[projekktor id=’25687′]

American Honey is a road drama written and directed by Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights). The film competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year where it ended up winning the Prix du Jury. The cast features an ensemble of young actors including Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough, Raymond Coalson, Chad McKenzie Cox, Verronikah Ezell, and Arielle Holmes.

Star (Sasha Lane) is a free-spirited teenager on the brink of adulthood who leaves her troubled home in the American Midwest and hits the road with a “mag crew,” itinerant laborers who peddle publications door-to-door for long hours during the day and party hard at night, never certain where the job will lead next. Led by hard-driving manager Krystal (Riley Keough) and her seductive enforcer Jake (Shia LaBeouf), the 15-strong 071 Crew becomes a surrogate family to Star, offering hope, possibility, love — and the freedom that comes from being on the road.

Of the 15 actors who were cast to make up the 071 crew, 11 were complete amateurs including leading lady Sasha Lane. “My audition process was basically getting to know Andrea and doing improv with some of the cast members,” she explains. “We had a lot of conversations about life in general, our mindsets, the different signs that led us to where we were in life. It felt like the universe brought us together for a specific reason — it just felt like the right thing at the right time.”

American Honey is rated 18A.