I Think it's Raining (Joshua Moore | USA | 92 min.)
Renata is an idealistic and free-spirited young woman, full of eccentricities and contradictions. She is an extroverted singer and an insecure neurotic, a hopeless romantic and a pathological liar. She returns home after a year of traveling and gradually begins to reintegrate into her old life in San Francisco. After a chance encounter with a stranger beneath a shared umbrella, she finds herself thrust into the uncharted territory of newfound intimacy. Yet for all her song and dance, it turns out that she is not as confident as the persona that she projects. The more that she reconnects with the familiar, the less familiar it becomes.

I Think It’s Raining is a beautifully shot, artfully-crafted, and emotionally raw film. First-time director Joshua Moore brings a casual naturalism to the story that seeps out of every frame. The tone vacillates between a self-conscious quirkiness and an understated sincerity to reflect the nuances of life in an intimate and honest way. A year of intense workshop-like collaborations with lead actress Alexandra Clayton has led to the creation of a compellingly unique character who is simultaneously distant and relatable, aloof and sincere. Cinematographer Sinsia Kukic’s subjective camera work, reminiscent of other neo-neo-realist films like Putty Hill and Old Joy, blends nicely with the mixed film and video formats into an experimental visual collage. This combines with editor Staci DeGange’s use of stylized montages and musical sequences to create a new filmic language.

Close on the heels of a world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and several regional screenings across the country, I Think It’s Raining has finally made its way to New York City. Let’s just hope the title doesn’t influence the weather since this is a directorial debut not to be missed.

- Leah Meyerhoff

Burt Talks to the Bees (Isabella Rossellini | USA | 2 min.)
Meet the bees—the queen, the workers and the drones—in this wonderfully fantastic and wildly educational series of short films created by Isabella Rossellini, actress, director and uncanny Burt impersonator. Once you meet them, you’ll want to save them too. Visit www.wildforbees.com to see how.

Alexandra Clayton
Alexandra Clayton is an actor and musician originally from Oakland, CA, who currently lives in New York City. After building a foundation studying at The Berkeley Repertory Theater and San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, Alexandra has taken important roles in creating both short and feature length independent films in San Francisco and New York. Primarily an actor, she also participates in creative work behind the scenes, continuing to expand her expertise in a variety of projects that excite and enrich her acting sensibilities and, more broadly, her life. She is currently studying theater directing at Columbia University.