EntertainmentPosted at: Jan 14 2026 5:26PM


Rhiannon Giddens and Ed Helms front Justin Liberman's debut feature 'An Ode to Mary Jo'

Los Angeles, Jan 14 (UNI) Rhiannon Giddens and Ed Helms are set to lead "An Ode to Mary Jo", an independently produced drama that marks the feature-length directorial debut of Justin Liberman.
The film has recently wrapped principal photography, reports DEADLINE.
At its centre is Mary Jo, a single mother pushed through a cascade of personal trials over the course of a single, defining day. As she juggles birthday plans for her nine-year-old daughter, mounting friction with an independence-seeking teenager and the unsettling mystery surrounding her missing ex-husband, Mary Jo is drawn into an increasingly fraught journey that threatens to alter the course of her family's future. The story unfolds as a grounded, contemporary odyssey shaped by endurance rather than heroics.
Penned by Liberman and Erik Christian Hanson, the film also stars Annarah Cymone (The Midnight Club), Oakley Skye Maloney (Suncoast), Grammy winner Jason Isbell (Killers of the Flower Moon), Oscar-nominated filmmaker John Sayles (Matewan), Golden Globe winner Regina Taylor (Clockers), and Grammy winner Steve Earle (The Wire).
Mike Callaghan and Reuben Liber produced for Ranger 7 Films, along with Matt Ratner for Tilted Windmill Productions, Brenton Earley for FilmPool Films, Aaron Rosenbloom, Chris Rouse, and Liberman. Giddens is also serving as music supervisor and wrote original songs for the film with Helms and Isbell, with Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Abels (Get Out) penning the score.
Giddens exec produced the indie alongside Helms and Mike Falbo for Pacific Electric Picture Company, Mitch Lerner for Electric Wolf Entertainment, and Eran Lobel and Kristen Kearns for Element Productions, with Brett Harris co-producing for Pacific Electric.
A singer and multi-instrumentalist, Giddens co-founded the Grammy-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops before going on to a celebrated solo career spanning traditional folk, classical composition and contemporary songwriting, earning multiple Grammys, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for the opera Omar, penned with Abels.
To date, she’s released five solo albums: Tomorrow Is My Turn (2015), Freedom Highway (2017), There Is No Other (2021), They’re Calling Me Home (2021), and You’re the One (2023).
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