One Last Festival & Awards Ahead of DVD Release

Carlo Fiorletta and Tara Westwood

Surviving Family had its (probably!) last festival screening at the Northeast Film Festival, where we were thrilled to pick up 6 awards.  Tara Westwood received the Breakout Performance award for her great work as Jean Malone Fulton; she's pictured at left with our Executive Producer Carlo Fiorletta.  The two will co-star in the upcoming feature About Us, shooting fall 2014, and are also on board as producers.

We were also delighted to receive awards for Best Feature, Best Director (Laura Thies), Best Screenplay (Mara Lesemann, who is also the screenwriter for About Us), Best Actress (Sarah Wilson), and Best Supporting Actor (Vincent Pastore).

We'll be out on DVD via Redbox (those red kiosks in your supermarket, bank branch, and pharmacy!) later this fall, and will announce the official release date as soon as it's available.

Wonderful NYC Premiere at the Manhattan Film Festival

Lots of the cast & crew were on hand for the event.

Our NYC premiere at the Manhattan Film Festival on Saturday night June 22 was tremendous: lots of cast and crew on the red carpet, a full house at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street, and an after-party at Le Midi.

Check out the photos for a peek at the evening.

Tara Westwood and Phyllis Somerville on the red carpet.

Director Laura Thies

If The Movie "Multiplicity" Were Reality....

"Multiplicity" starred Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell;
it was directed by Harold Ramis, better known for "Groundhog Day"
and "Ghostbusters"

There's still only one copy of me - and I'm sure plenty of people think that's more than enough!  But I've recently found myself thinking about the movie Multiplicity, in which Michael Keaton accepts an offer to make multiple copies of himself.  It was directed by Harold Ramis, who also teamed up with co-star Andie MacDowell in the far superior  Groundhog Day. In Multiplicity, Keaton's copies take over his life, and are also paler and paler versions of himself. 

This has started to seem like an attractive (if impossible) option with the festival schedule over the next few days.  The Columbia Gorge International Film Festival starts tomorrow, Aug 15 , in Vancouver, WA.  Surviving Family screens there on Saturday night Aug 18 at 7 PM - director Laura Thies and I arrive Friday night, and will be there until Sunday afternoon.  Then we fly to Action on Film (AOF) in Monrovia, CA, which starts Friday the 17th, and Surviving Family screens Tuesday evening Aug 21 at 6 PM.   Laura and I are (I think?  I hope?!) on the same flights from Newark to Portland OR (near Vancouver, WA), and on to LAX. 

That all sounds great, until you add in The Indie Gathering in Hudson, OH which also starts Friday Aug 17 and is also screening Surviving Family on Saturday night at 7:55 PM.  Fortunately, our executive producer Carlo Fiorletta is able to represent us there.

So - THAT's why Multiplicity starts to look like more than a silly little movie, and more like a fantasy. Oh well.  Maybe next time!

In the interim, I'm thrilled to be able to screen our movie for festival audiences in 3 such varied locations.  And hope to have this problem many more times in the future. 

A Great Premiere at a Great Fest: Woods Hole



Director Laura Thies (left) with Surviving Family's leading lady,
Sarah Wilson

We did it!  We put the people in the seats, had a terrific screening and q&a, and on top of that, Surviving Family was the runner up for the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Woods Hole Film Festival.  All in all, a terrific premiere.

It wasn't an easy start, though.  On the drive from Newark Airport (where director Laura Thies had arrived on a flight from her home in Germany), it rained.  And rained.  And then it came down in buckets.  A drive that should have taken 4 1/2 hours took 9 hours.  But it was worth it.

The town of Woods Hole, MA is home to both the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (which gives a college town look to many of the buildings) and a LOT of summer tourists who are there to enjoy the ocean and bay views, go boating, eat lobster (yeah!), and maybe take a side trip to Martha's Vinyard.  

Whether despite or because of the scientific tilt of the town, this is a place that loves and supports indie films.  We spent much of the week handing out postcards to tourists (aka potential movie goers) and leaving cards with local stores and restaurants, all of which were delighted to have them.  The festival has been running for 21 years, and seems to be supported by every local business.

So despite knowing no one in town, we nearly sold out the 220 seat Redfield Auditorium (a beautiful space!).  After the screening, almost half the crowd stayed for the q&a with star Sarah Wilson, director Laura Thies, and writer/producer Mara Lesemann. 

What's next?  We have 4 (count 'em!) festivals coming up between now and Labor Day.   Executive Producer Carlo Fiorletta will be hosting the screening at the Indie Gathering in Hudson, Ohio (near Cleveland) on August 18, while Laura Thies and Mara Lesemann host a screening the same night at the Columbia Gorge Film Festival in Vancouver, WA, followed the next week by Action on Film (AOF) in Monrovia, CA.  The current schedule wraps up with the Central Florida Film Festival over Labor Day weekend.