
International Premiere
Anthony Pedone’s film documents an extraordinary response to an appalling American injustice. In 2004, up-and-coming music entrepreneur Weldon Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. His crime? Three marijuana sales, totalling $350, to an informer. Angelos’s case became a cause célèbre, attracting rare cross-partisan support: not only did the judge and prosecutor call for his release, but so did powerful conservatives such as Charles Koch. With help from his music industry associates, including Snoop Dogg, Angelos fought long and hard for his freedom, which was only granted after more than a decade.
Taking us from Angelos’s hardscrabble youth in Utah to his music career in California, Pedone creates a touching personal portrait that complements the political message and infuses it with urgency. It’s not every day that hardcore American conservatives join forces with hip-hoppers, and part of the satisfaction of the film is in seeing people reach across a huge political divide. Passionate, uplifting, and incisive, Unlikely Allies is that rarest of things: a good-news story about contemporary America.
Media Partner
Community Partner
Weldon Angelos, Hollis, Nepolea, Lisa Angelos, Snoop Dogg, Charels Koch
USA
2023
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Bo Bennett, Marc Levin, Kevin Garnett, Michael Hollis Goldstein, Weldon Angelos
Producer
Mike Marangu, Hollis Goldstein, Anthony Pedone, Patrick McManamee
Screenwriter
Anthony Pedone, Max Blecker
Cinematography
Jake Bayless, Ellington Tynes
Editor
Hee-Jae Park, Anthony Pedone, Max Blecker
Original Music
Michael Hollis Goldstein

Anthony Pedone
Anthony Pedone is an independent filmmaker who dedicates his time to creating content that cultivates inclusion, community building, and collaboration. His work has premiered at Sundance, Tribeca, Slamdance, and Locarno, and can be streamed on Max, Amazon, Hulu, and Peacock.
Filmography: The Why (2009); Camp Casserole (2011); An American in Texas (2017)
Photo by Daniel B. Levin
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Love
This warm, thoughtful piece offers shrewd comic observations on modern dating as it trains a quizzical eye on the trysts of a female doctor, Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), and her colleague, a gay male nurse, Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen).
Sex
Two chimney sweeps living in heterosexual marriages find their views on sexuality and gender challenged by a series of unexpected events. In a set of sharply scripted conversations, both men confront heretofore unexplored aspects of their identity.
3 Faces
Iranian filmmaker Panahi and actress Behnaz Jafari, both playing themselves, receive a video in which a distraught teenaged girl, whose acting dreams have been quashed appears to kill herself. Panahi and Jafari decide to investigate...
Dreams
The third installment in the Sex/Dreams/Love trilogy is another rich, absorbing tale. 17-year-old Johanne writes a confessional about her flirtation with a (female) teacher. But the writing is too good to stay private...
Transit
Trust the director of Phoenix and Barbara to re-imagine a WWII romantic intrigue into something unsettlingly contemporary. With occupying forces closing in, a German refugee (Franz Rogowski) assumes a dead writer's identity and flees to Marseille.