Justin K. Arnold

​

Kino Lorber has announced five films arriving on disc Oct. 5, two on Blu-ray Disc and three on DVD. The order deadline for retailers is Sept. 7

​

Arriving on Blu-ray Disc are Songs My Brother Taught Me and, from the Cohen Media Group, The Awakening.

Songs My Brother Taught Me is the 2015 debut feature from Chloé Zhao, the Academy Award-winning director of Nomadland (2020). A portrait of modern day life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the film explores the bond between a brother (John Reddy) and his younger sister (Jashaun St. John), who find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home.

​

The Awakening is a British horror film centered on the death of a child at a boarding school. When the death is blamed on a ghost, hoax exposer Florence Cathcart is certain that science and reason can explain it. But the truth she discovers is more terrifying than she could ever imagine, and soon the ghost hunter becomes the hunted. The Awakening stars Rebecca Hall (The Town), Dominic West (“The Wire”) and Imelda Staunton (“Harry Potter” films).

​

DVD releases that become available Oct. 5 include Playing Frisbee in North Korea, Virgil Films’ Heaven and Greenwich Entertainment’s Not Going Quietly.

​

Playing Frisbee in North Korea is the first documentary produced and directed by an African-American female filmmaker from inside North Korea. The idea began at a conference on Korean re-unification organized by General Colin L. Powell and the Colin Powell Center, where director Savanna Washington was a graduate Fellow. Through verité footage from inside North Korea, interviews with North Korean refugees, long-time aid workers, scholars, and experts on the topic, this documentary provides an authentic, on the ground perspective of the lives, struggles, and humanity of the people of North Korea.

​

Heaven is a faith-based film inspired by the book Heaven: The Adventure Begins, by Alan Duprey. The film tells the story of Jonathan Stone (Angus Benfield), a middle-aged paramedic who struggles to find meaning in the midst of his everyday life, until he wakes up one day in heaven and discovers that his life had more meaning than he could ever have imagined.

​

Not Going Quietly is a documentary about a rising star in progressive politics and a new father, 32-year-old Ady Barkan, whose life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS. But after a confrontation with powerful Sen. Jeff Flake on an airplane goes viral, catapulting him to national fame, Barkan and a motley crew of activists ignite a political movement called “Be a Hero.” Together, they barnstorm across the country and empower people to confront their elected officials with emotional, personal stories to demand healthcare justice.

​