For several years now, Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program has supported a wide variety of projects: shorts, features, both narrative and nonfiction. Not to mention the occasional new media project, special event or advocacy initiative. Each month’s Fiscal Spotlight column announces three new projects taking part in the program.
But maybe you’re curious how some of those prior subjects have turned out. Well hey, you’re in luck! Once again it’s time for another FiSpo Update highlighting the recent achievements of previous Fiscal Spotlight subjects.
Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. The projects and makers participating in the program express a uniqueness of vision, celebrate diversity and advance the craft of filmmaking through the creation of these special works. To see the full range of projects that are part of our program, visit our Sponsored Projects page.
But maybe you’re curious how some of those prior subjects have turned out. Well hey, you’re in luck! Once again it’s time for another FiSpo Update highlighting the recent achievements of previous Fiscal Spotlight subjects.
Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. The projects and makers participating in the program express a uniqueness of vision, celebrate diversity and advance the craft of filmmaking through the creation of these special works. To see the full range of projects that are part of our program, visit our Sponsored Projects page.
- 5/31/2023
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Los Angeles-based Italian director Andrea Pallaoro’s delicate drama “Monica” is finally set to open in U.S. theaters via IFC following its world premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival.
The film starring transgender actor Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) as a woman who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, marked the first time an openly-transgender actress headlined a Venice competition title.
In “Monica” Lysette plays a woman who from Los Angeles goes back to her suburban midwest home for the first time since she was a teenager to care for her mom who had rejected her when she transitioned.
“For me, it was always crucial that Monica was an expression of a woman who returns home and really connects,” Pallaoro told Variety when the film launched from the Lido.
“Who forgives, and finds a connection with the world that she...
The film starring transgender actor Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) as a woman who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, marked the first time an openly-transgender actress headlined a Venice competition title.
In “Monica” Lysette plays a woman who from Los Angeles goes back to her suburban midwest home for the first time since she was a teenager to care for her mom who had rejected her when she transitioned.
“For me, it was always crucial that Monica was an expression of a woman who returns home and really connects,” Pallaoro told Variety when the film launched from the Lido.
“Who forgives, and finds a connection with the world that she...
- 3/23/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson star in the family drama.
IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Andrea Pallaoro’s family drama Monica, starring Trace Lysette and Patricia Clarkson.
The film will receive a theatrical and VOD release at a yet-to-be-determined date, with exclusive streaming on AMC+ to follow.
It is a portrait of a woman returning home for the first time since she was a teenager, where she attempts to reconnect with her mother and heal the wounds of the past.
Lysette became the first openly-transgender actress to headline a Venice Competition film when it debuted on the Lido in September.
IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Andrea Pallaoro’s family drama Monica, starring Trace Lysette and Patricia Clarkson.
The film will receive a theatrical and VOD release at a yet-to-be-determined date, with exclusive streaming on AMC+ to follow.
It is a portrait of a woman returning home for the first time since she was a teenager, where she attempts to reconnect with her mother and heal the wounds of the past.
Lysette became the first openly-transgender actress to headline a Venice Competition film when it debuted on the Lido in September.
- 12/6/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
‘Monica’ Premieres at the Venice Film Festival
‘Monica’ begins in extreme closeup of a beautiful but unhappy woman. We do not know what makes her so unhappy; she is quiet, uncommunicative and lives in a sort of darkness, using her cel phone to call and to talk to people who do not answer her calls.
Opening as she is in a sun-tanning machine, the cinematography promotes the physical aspects of her life as her reality. She goes to her red convertible in a palmy sun-soaked Los Angeles and drives into middle America, her dyed red hair blowing in the breeze.
The film’s stillness, its low tenor dialogue when there is any, and the near lack of action make us gather pieces of the story more by induction than by its narrative. The moodiness of the story sets us into a receptive state to understand Monica is returning home to a world she has long left behind. She has a brother with a young wife and three young children. She has a mother who is dying. She also has a numbness to her that makes us feel numb ourselves.
We see her world and learn that she left home when a teenager and her mother left her off at the bus station and told her she could no longer be her mother. She returns not knowing if her mother will acknowledge her or even recognize her. But in the course of returning and connecting to her brother’s family, she finds a healing and the family finds a reconciliation of the sort we would all wish to make before our parents or siblings die. Solace comes from the everyday moments, normalcy in a time of despondency for all as the mother is dying but still living.
Trace Lysette is Monica
Andrea Pallaoro, the film’s director has a quiet and very sophisticated subtle way of delivering what we see as normal details in a way that delves into Monica’s internal world and state of mind. His earlier two films Medeas and Hannah, also have a feeling of not going anywhere as stillness and quiet predominate; but in the end, we know we have arrived at a different place.
He delivers an Italian arthouse feel to stories of almost normal, prosaic people leading lives of quiet desperation. This tattooed woman in a sun machine with her dyed red hair and red convertible, calling an estranged lover perhaps, calling people who do not return her calls, speaking with strangers and asking how they got her number, her massaging a man in her apartment, Is she a prostitute? She is a masseause but what sort…that is when the call comes from a sister-in-law she didn’t know she had, asking her to please come as her mother is dying and they need help with her and their own children.
Andreas has this to say about this particular film: During the past few years my mother’s illness has compelled me to confront my past and the psychological effects of abandonment. Treading between the interior and exterior, the emotional and physical, Monica explores the complexities of self-worth, the deep-rooted consequences of rejection and the lengths we go to heal our wounds. Through a cinematic language that stems from the juxtaposition of the aesthetics of intimacy and alienation, my creative team and I delved into the emotional and psychological landscape of Monica to reflect the precarious nature of self-identity when challenged by the need to survive and ultimately transform.
Andrea Pallaoro is no stranger to Venice. His first feature film, Medeas, premiered at the 70th Venice Film Festival in Orozzonti, the section for first and second time directors. It has won several awards at prestigious international film festivals including Marrakech, Tbilisi, Palm Springs, and CamerImage. And it has received positive reviews by serious critics and opinion makers. The New York Times’ Jeannette Catsoulis: “Capturing the poetry of bodies at rest and a landscape frozen in time,” in many ways describes Monica as well.
Hannah, Pallaoro’s second feature film, starring Charlotte Rampling, also world premiered in the Official Competition of the 74th Venice Film Festival where Ms. Rampling won the Coppa Volpi for best actress. Hannah went on to receive many prestigious international awards and recognition including a César nomination for best foreign film.
Born in Trento, Italy in 1982, Andrea Pallaoro holds an Mfa in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA from Hampshire College. He splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City.
What is as interesting to me as the film itself, is how the producer, Eleonora Granata-Jenkinson come to make this film and how everyone worked together. It is even more interesting because I am a close friend of Eleonora. We met in a line to a movie at her first Sundance Film Festival and I later visited her in Italy when she was a buyer for Rai Cinema. She moved to LA and married one of the finest acquisitions persons in the business and had two sons. She works very closely with the producer Gina Resnick, another “long-timer”, one of the first women in the film business and like us, still at it. Eleonora and Gina produced Andrea’s first film as well.
That is what I wanted to talk to her about and what follows is here:
I know you produced Andrea’s first film Medeas. You told me to see it when we were at the Palm Springs Film Festival. How did you meet Andrea, and did you know immediately that he was so gifted?
Eleonora: Because I am one of the few Italian producers living in Los Angeles, I get to see a lot of amazing young people coming over with their dream and with a film, and friends of friends who say “You gotta watch this, you gotta watch that”. So a dear friend of mine, Laura Zumiani of Trentino Film Commission, though they didn’t have a Trentino Film Commission then, said to me, “There’s a guy that you need to to see, he’s living here in LA and he’s from Trento, and he’s a good friend of mine, and he’s really talented. And I said, “Oh my god, one more…ok…” So I watched his short, it was called Wunderkammer.
Andrea was studying at Cal Arts; it was his last year, and this was his graduate film. I said, “Ok let’s watch this”. I was blown away. I had never seen such an incredible composition of photography; the camera moved in a swift and an incredibly crafted way. The story set was dark and I said ‘Omg, well maybe I’m overreacting’…I got so excited. You know when you find something, you say, ‘This is the thing!’…I call my friend Alessandra Venezia, the journalist, and I said, ‘Hey Alexandra’ (she’s my best friend) and I say, ‘am I crazy or is this guy got…’ I had a DVD because at that time it was what we had and I brought it to her. And she calls me back and says, ‘I watched it, oh my god, he’s incredible. Oh my god, Eleonora let’s go meet this guy’.
So I go, she couldn’t go, and I meet Andrea and Laura who’s Laura? Andrea is like one of the most sophisticated, amazing person you will meet. He’s kind, he’s funny, he’s gorgeous looking.
So I say Ok, so he has this idea and we develop a little bit of the idea on Medeashis first film and I became the producer. But I needed a hands on producer and I grab my other best friend…I have a few best friends, you are one too [thank you]. They are my support and my life and my joy, that’s why we are in this business…and I said, ‘Gina I have this project…she says, ‘oh no! not a first timer!,’ but then she saw his short and so we did Medeas. Then I developed with Andrea the second film, Hannah, starring Charlotte Rampling but I didn’t produce it for him. .. long sotry but it was better not to produce it and so we concentrated on this one and that’s how Monica came to be.
It sounds simple. Was it really so simple?
Eleonora: The journey for this film was a very long one because of the issue of the film and because of the nature of Andrea’s films which are absolutely accomplished but not for a wide audience. Monica is the biggest film that Andrea has done. It’s in English, it’s shot in the United States and we have a marvelous cast. The film turned out to be incredible.
What about Venice?…
Medeas showed at Venice Orizzonti, the festival’s section for first and second time directors. Then it went on to other festivals and received praise from very serious critics and opinion makers. New York Times called it a “ravishing first feature”.
His second film, Hannah, also premiered in Venice. Naturally we are in a good relationship with Venice and we would never consider anything else…though there is no guarantee that we would be chosen to go again. I think they will like the next one too however. So here we are in Competition, on the first weekend.
That is great placement — the first weekend.
Yes as the people start to migrate to Toronto after the first half…though any time, any day or night is a great achievement to be in Venice. There are other phenomenal films there that did not go to Cannes. I believe this is going to be one of the best Competitions of Venice. We’re so proud to be there…
Andrea is in great company: Gianni Amelio, Darren Aronofsky, Noah Baumbach, Alice Diop, Inarritu, Luca Guadigno, Jafar Panahi, Frederick Wiseman, Laura Poitras, Florian Zeller — just to name a few, fabulous experienced directors.
Let’s talk a bit about Monica. There’s so little dialogue and there’s so little visibly going on and yet that serves to puts you into this receptive state and you get it at the end…it is all so interior… Medeas was also quietly interior. And both are dealing with such American every day life and environment, the the protagonist is always quite special herself (and always a woman).
What is his connection to US?
Eleonora: He is an Italian-American director who, as every one of us who has come to Hollywood from outside of the USA, has an idea of America which is a very personal creative and cultural experience.
The story of Monica is based on a real friend of Andrea who was a neighbor when he first moved here. She was a beautiful transgender woman who was kicked out of her family when she was 16 and came to Los Angeles.
What’s trans about Monica?
She is a woman reconnecting with family that she was shut out from. She is going on an interior journey back to her roots from which she emerges from her loneliness and rejection and finds the value of loving each other for who we are.
What is edifying is the social commitment of the film. It is about injustice and understanding in portraying women in whatever shape they are as belonging to humankind…it’s a very human experience. We consider this a post-trangender film about a transgender person played by a transgender actor…
Is the actress trans?
Tracee Lysette worked in many non-transgender roles, but came out publicly as trans through her role as Shea on the Amazon series Transparent. On the show, she plays a transgender yoga teacher and friend of Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor). She also played in Hustlers alongside Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B and Constance Wu.
Tracee generated such an energy in a beautiful love story interrupted and disconnected that she is able to move forward. It is such a restrained, finely drawn role. I really believe the performance will go for a major award.
One wonders whether the mother will recognize her and accept her.
Director Andrea Pallaoro and Patricia Clarkson
What about the other actors?
It was an unbelievable performance by Patricia Clarkson as the mother. She carried the film and with her own sensibility and her own personal view which so beautifully coinceded with Andreas’ vision. She supported the film all the way from its first steps through completion. She was always there for us.
Joshua Close, who plays the brother of Monica is coming out in Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon playing opposite Leonardo di Caprio as his brother. He was great. Emily Browning is outstanding as the sister-in-law who calls Monica as she is giving the massage and tells her they need her to come back home where the mother is dying. And Adriana Barraza, one of the best actresses of Mexico, nominated for the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Babel was incredible on the set, she brought such harmony.
The film was made on a very small budget and everyone had to pitch in to help it get made. The actors were all so supportive and helpful and Andrea actually produced the film with us. You should note aside from him there are only three producers: myself, Gina Resnick and Christina Dow.
I am a woman producer strongly believing in women supporting one another. Gina Resnick is not only a great hands-on producer but she stays through thick and thin. We of course are the closest friends as well. We must speak 20 times a day.
Even though it was a small budget, it was shot in 35 by a brilliant beautiful amazing Dp, Katelin Arizmendi. Kate is just coming off of the 2nd unit forDune. She is a brilliant young woman — looks like a movie star and is working with a whole team of women, grip and everything . You will see them all when you come to Venice. They’re all coming, this crazy force of nature. Together they did a did a stunning film, stunning. You could take every frame of film and put it on the wall.
We’re very very excited about it.
What about distribution?
We have already been invited to a very significant film festival after this one. It will have a successful journey. Our sales agent is The Exchange. And UTA: I want to mention Rena Ronson — Rina, Gina and Eleonora…UTA did so much for us. We really joined forces. They set up all the screenings for finding a domestic US distributor who screened the film. After Venice and the reviews and others have weighed in, we will decide on our US plan.
I notice a huge number of coproducers and executive producers. There are 19. What is that about? It seems, actually to be a trend…Triangle of Sadnesshad 31 as do so many films these days…
The many executive and coproducers all believed in the script in spite of its difficult subject and they all significantly helped us put this film together. They were our best allies.
Our financial partner Felix and all the executive producers are worth mentioning. My own son, Matteo Jenkinson worked really closely with me to produce this film…
Andrea is a brilliant genius. Surrounded by such a cast and technical team, our Italian post-production help, the editor Paola Freddi; everyone went way above and beyond their designated roles with the film.
We even had help from the Italians with post-production by Propaganda Italia, Simone Gandolfo and a little financial support of the Ministero della Cultura (MiC) . And we have the best distributor in Italy today, I Wonder.
Credits
Directed by Andrea Pallaoro
Written by Andrea Pallaoro and Orlando Tirado
Cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi
Editor Paola Freddi
Production Designer Andrew Clark
Costume designer Patrik Milani
Sound supervisor Mirko Perri
Produced by Gina Resnick p.g.a., Christina Dow, Eleonora Granata Jenkinson,
Andrea Pallaoro
Co — produced by Marina Marzotto a.g.i.c.i., Mattia Oddone, Riccardo Di Pasquale, Gabriele Oricchio, Antonio Adinolfi, Giorgia Lo Savio
Executive Producer — Trace Lysette, Andrei Epifanov, David Schwarz, Steve Stanulis, Joana Henning, Stephanie Castagnier Dunn , Anthony Burns, Amy Gilliam, Eric Schnedecker, Christina Sibul , Karen Tenkhoff, Eric Cook , Matteo Jenkinson , Brian O’Shea, Nat McCormick, Dru Davis, Julien P Bourgon , Theo Vieljeux, Ali Jazayeri, Viviana Zarragoitia
Produced by Varient Entertainment, Solo Five Production, Melograno Films
Co-produced by Propaganda Italia, Fenix Entertainment with Rai Cinema and Alacran Pictures
In association with 039 Albedo, The Exchange, Cinetrain and Hudson Entertainment Group
Cast & Crew
Trace Lysette ⎜Monica
Patricia Clarkson ⎜Eugenia
Emily Browning ⎜ Laura
Joshua Close ⎜ Paul
Adriana Barraza ⎜ Leticia
Graham Caldwell ⎜Brody
Ruby Fraser ⎜Britney
Director Of Photography/ Camera Operator — Kate Arizmendi
1St Assistant Camera — Jasmine Chang
2nd Assistant Camera — Sam Storm
1St Assistant Director- Laura Klein
2Nd Assistant Director — Roger Mendoza
Line Producer — Chenney Chen
Upm — Eric Cook
Production Coordinator — Nick Avery, Cristina Arteaga
Production Secretary- Jessica Meek
Casting Director (NY/LA) — Emily Schweber
Local Casting Director — D. Lynn Meyers
Assistant Casting Director — Ali Raizin
Assistant Casting Director Cincinnati — Becca Schall
Costume Designer — Patrik Milani
Asst. Costume Designer/ Costume Supervisor — Margaux Solano
Chief Lighting Technician — Jake Lyon
Key Grip — Steve Forbes
Best Boy Grip — Christofer Moscoso
Grip — Rodney “Rock” Reed, Aria Brice, Thomas Vincent, Jake Storm, Paul Fierst, Nick Patten, Matthew Barnhart
Hair/Make-up Dept Head — Chelo Acosta-conley Location Manager — Alan Forbes
Music Consultant — Angela Asistio
Prop Master — Linnea Crabtree Production Designer — Andrew Clark Sound Mixer — Viktor Weiszhaupt, Johnathan Reece...
‘Monica’ begins in extreme closeup of a beautiful but unhappy woman. We do not know what makes her so unhappy; she is quiet, uncommunicative and lives in a sort of darkness, using her cel phone to call and to talk to people who do not answer her calls.
Opening as she is in a sun-tanning machine, the cinematography promotes the physical aspects of her life as her reality. She goes to her red convertible in a palmy sun-soaked Los Angeles and drives into middle America, her dyed red hair blowing in the breeze.
The film’s stillness, its low tenor dialogue when there is any, and the near lack of action make us gather pieces of the story more by induction than by its narrative. The moodiness of the story sets us into a receptive state to understand Monica is returning home to a world she has long left behind. She has a brother with a young wife and three young children. She has a mother who is dying. She also has a numbness to her that makes us feel numb ourselves.
We see her world and learn that she left home when a teenager and her mother left her off at the bus station and told her she could no longer be her mother. She returns not knowing if her mother will acknowledge her or even recognize her. But in the course of returning and connecting to her brother’s family, she finds a healing and the family finds a reconciliation of the sort we would all wish to make before our parents or siblings die. Solace comes from the everyday moments, normalcy in a time of despondency for all as the mother is dying but still living.
Trace Lysette is Monica
Andrea Pallaoro, the film’s director has a quiet and very sophisticated subtle way of delivering what we see as normal details in a way that delves into Monica’s internal world and state of mind. His earlier two films Medeas and Hannah, also have a feeling of not going anywhere as stillness and quiet predominate; but in the end, we know we have arrived at a different place.
He delivers an Italian arthouse feel to stories of almost normal, prosaic people leading lives of quiet desperation. This tattooed woman in a sun machine with her dyed red hair and red convertible, calling an estranged lover perhaps, calling people who do not return her calls, speaking with strangers and asking how they got her number, her massaging a man in her apartment, Is she a prostitute? She is a masseause but what sort…that is when the call comes from a sister-in-law she didn’t know she had, asking her to please come as her mother is dying and they need help with her and their own children.
Andreas has this to say about this particular film: During the past few years my mother’s illness has compelled me to confront my past and the psychological effects of abandonment. Treading between the interior and exterior, the emotional and physical, Monica explores the complexities of self-worth, the deep-rooted consequences of rejection and the lengths we go to heal our wounds. Through a cinematic language that stems from the juxtaposition of the aesthetics of intimacy and alienation, my creative team and I delved into the emotional and psychological landscape of Monica to reflect the precarious nature of self-identity when challenged by the need to survive and ultimately transform.
Andrea Pallaoro is no stranger to Venice. His first feature film, Medeas, premiered at the 70th Venice Film Festival in Orozzonti, the section for first and second time directors. It has won several awards at prestigious international film festivals including Marrakech, Tbilisi, Palm Springs, and CamerImage. And it has received positive reviews by serious critics and opinion makers. The New York Times’ Jeannette Catsoulis: “Capturing the poetry of bodies at rest and a landscape frozen in time,” in many ways describes Monica as well.
Hannah, Pallaoro’s second feature film, starring Charlotte Rampling, also world premiered in the Official Competition of the 74th Venice Film Festival where Ms. Rampling won the Coppa Volpi for best actress. Hannah went on to receive many prestigious international awards and recognition including a César nomination for best foreign film.
Born in Trento, Italy in 1982, Andrea Pallaoro holds an Mfa in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA from Hampshire College. He splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City.
What is as interesting to me as the film itself, is how the producer, Eleonora Granata-Jenkinson come to make this film and how everyone worked together. It is even more interesting because I am a close friend of Eleonora. We met in a line to a movie at her first Sundance Film Festival and I later visited her in Italy when she was a buyer for Rai Cinema. She moved to LA and married one of the finest acquisitions persons in the business and had two sons. She works very closely with the producer Gina Resnick, another “long-timer”, one of the first women in the film business and like us, still at it. Eleonora and Gina produced Andrea’s first film as well.
That is what I wanted to talk to her about and what follows is here:
I know you produced Andrea’s first film Medeas. You told me to see it when we were at the Palm Springs Film Festival. How did you meet Andrea, and did you know immediately that he was so gifted?
Eleonora: Because I am one of the few Italian producers living in Los Angeles, I get to see a lot of amazing young people coming over with their dream and with a film, and friends of friends who say “You gotta watch this, you gotta watch that”. So a dear friend of mine, Laura Zumiani of Trentino Film Commission, though they didn’t have a Trentino Film Commission then, said to me, “There’s a guy that you need to to see, he’s living here in LA and he’s from Trento, and he’s a good friend of mine, and he’s really talented. And I said, “Oh my god, one more…ok…” So I watched his short, it was called Wunderkammer.
Andrea was studying at Cal Arts; it was his last year, and this was his graduate film. I said, “Ok let’s watch this”. I was blown away. I had never seen such an incredible composition of photography; the camera moved in a swift and an incredibly crafted way. The story set was dark and I said ‘Omg, well maybe I’m overreacting’…I got so excited. You know when you find something, you say, ‘This is the thing!’…I call my friend Alessandra Venezia, the journalist, and I said, ‘Hey Alexandra’ (she’s my best friend) and I say, ‘am I crazy or is this guy got…’ I had a DVD because at that time it was what we had and I brought it to her. And she calls me back and says, ‘I watched it, oh my god, he’s incredible. Oh my god, Eleonora let’s go meet this guy’.
So I go, she couldn’t go, and I meet Andrea and Laura who’s Laura? Andrea is like one of the most sophisticated, amazing person you will meet. He’s kind, he’s funny, he’s gorgeous looking.
So I say Ok, so he has this idea and we develop a little bit of the idea on Medeashis first film and I became the producer. But I needed a hands on producer and I grab my other best friend…I have a few best friends, you are one too [thank you]. They are my support and my life and my joy, that’s why we are in this business…and I said, ‘Gina I have this project…she says, ‘oh no! not a first timer!,’ but then she saw his short and so we did Medeas. Then I developed with Andrea the second film, Hannah, starring Charlotte Rampling but I didn’t produce it for him. .. long sotry but it was better not to produce it and so we concentrated on this one and that’s how Monica came to be.
It sounds simple. Was it really so simple?
Eleonora: The journey for this film was a very long one because of the issue of the film and because of the nature of Andrea’s films which are absolutely accomplished but not for a wide audience. Monica is the biggest film that Andrea has done. It’s in English, it’s shot in the United States and we have a marvelous cast. The film turned out to be incredible.
What about Venice?…
Medeas showed at Venice Orizzonti, the festival’s section for first and second time directors. Then it went on to other festivals and received praise from very serious critics and opinion makers. New York Times called it a “ravishing first feature”.
His second film, Hannah, also premiered in Venice. Naturally we are in a good relationship with Venice and we would never consider anything else…though there is no guarantee that we would be chosen to go again. I think they will like the next one too however. So here we are in Competition, on the first weekend.
That is great placement — the first weekend.
Yes as the people start to migrate to Toronto after the first half…though any time, any day or night is a great achievement to be in Venice. There are other phenomenal films there that did not go to Cannes. I believe this is going to be one of the best Competitions of Venice. We’re so proud to be there…
Andrea is in great company: Gianni Amelio, Darren Aronofsky, Noah Baumbach, Alice Diop, Inarritu, Luca Guadigno, Jafar Panahi, Frederick Wiseman, Laura Poitras, Florian Zeller — just to name a few, fabulous experienced directors.
Let’s talk a bit about Monica. There’s so little dialogue and there’s so little visibly going on and yet that serves to puts you into this receptive state and you get it at the end…it is all so interior… Medeas was also quietly interior. And both are dealing with such American every day life and environment, the the protagonist is always quite special herself (and always a woman).
What is his connection to US?
Eleonora: He is an Italian-American director who, as every one of us who has come to Hollywood from outside of the USA, has an idea of America which is a very personal creative and cultural experience.
The story of Monica is based on a real friend of Andrea who was a neighbor when he first moved here. She was a beautiful transgender woman who was kicked out of her family when she was 16 and came to Los Angeles.
What’s trans about Monica?
She is a woman reconnecting with family that she was shut out from. She is going on an interior journey back to her roots from which she emerges from her loneliness and rejection and finds the value of loving each other for who we are.
What is edifying is the social commitment of the film. It is about injustice and understanding in portraying women in whatever shape they are as belonging to humankind…it’s a very human experience. We consider this a post-trangender film about a transgender person played by a transgender actor…
Is the actress trans?
Tracee Lysette worked in many non-transgender roles, but came out publicly as trans through her role as Shea on the Amazon series Transparent. On the show, she plays a transgender yoga teacher and friend of Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor). She also played in Hustlers alongside Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B and Constance Wu.
Tracee generated such an energy in a beautiful love story interrupted and disconnected that she is able to move forward. It is such a restrained, finely drawn role. I really believe the performance will go for a major award.
One wonders whether the mother will recognize her and accept her.
Director Andrea Pallaoro and Patricia Clarkson
What about the other actors?
It was an unbelievable performance by Patricia Clarkson as the mother. She carried the film and with her own sensibility and her own personal view which so beautifully coinceded with Andreas’ vision. She supported the film all the way from its first steps through completion. She was always there for us.
Joshua Close, who plays the brother of Monica is coming out in Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon playing opposite Leonardo di Caprio as his brother. He was great. Emily Browning is outstanding as the sister-in-law who calls Monica as she is giving the massage and tells her they need her to come back home where the mother is dying. And Adriana Barraza, one of the best actresses of Mexico, nominated for the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Babel was incredible on the set, she brought such harmony.
The film was made on a very small budget and everyone had to pitch in to help it get made. The actors were all so supportive and helpful and Andrea actually produced the film with us. You should note aside from him there are only three producers: myself, Gina Resnick and Christina Dow.
I am a woman producer strongly believing in women supporting one another. Gina Resnick is not only a great hands-on producer but she stays through thick and thin. We of course are the closest friends as well. We must speak 20 times a day.
Even though it was a small budget, it was shot in 35 by a brilliant beautiful amazing Dp, Katelin Arizmendi. Kate is just coming off of the 2nd unit forDune. She is a brilliant young woman — looks like a movie star and is working with a whole team of women, grip and everything . You will see them all when you come to Venice. They’re all coming, this crazy force of nature. Together they did a did a stunning film, stunning. You could take every frame of film and put it on the wall.
We’re very very excited about it.
What about distribution?
We have already been invited to a very significant film festival after this one. It will have a successful journey. Our sales agent is The Exchange. And UTA: I want to mention Rena Ronson — Rina, Gina and Eleonora…UTA did so much for us. We really joined forces. They set up all the screenings for finding a domestic US distributor who screened the film. After Venice and the reviews and others have weighed in, we will decide on our US plan.
I notice a huge number of coproducers and executive producers. There are 19. What is that about? It seems, actually to be a trend…Triangle of Sadnesshad 31 as do so many films these days…
The many executive and coproducers all believed in the script in spite of its difficult subject and they all significantly helped us put this film together. They were our best allies.
Our financial partner Felix and all the executive producers are worth mentioning. My own son, Matteo Jenkinson worked really closely with me to produce this film…
Andrea is a brilliant genius. Surrounded by such a cast and technical team, our Italian post-production help, the editor Paola Freddi; everyone went way above and beyond their designated roles with the film.
We even had help from the Italians with post-production by Propaganda Italia, Simone Gandolfo and a little financial support of the Ministero della Cultura (MiC) . And we have the best distributor in Italy today, I Wonder.
Credits
Directed by Andrea Pallaoro
Written by Andrea Pallaoro and Orlando Tirado
Cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi
Editor Paola Freddi
Production Designer Andrew Clark
Costume designer Patrik Milani
Sound supervisor Mirko Perri
Produced by Gina Resnick p.g.a., Christina Dow, Eleonora Granata Jenkinson,
Andrea Pallaoro
Co — produced by Marina Marzotto a.g.i.c.i., Mattia Oddone, Riccardo Di Pasquale, Gabriele Oricchio, Antonio Adinolfi, Giorgia Lo Savio
Executive Producer — Trace Lysette, Andrei Epifanov, David Schwarz, Steve Stanulis, Joana Henning, Stephanie Castagnier Dunn , Anthony Burns, Amy Gilliam, Eric Schnedecker, Christina Sibul , Karen Tenkhoff, Eric Cook , Matteo Jenkinson , Brian O’Shea, Nat McCormick, Dru Davis, Julien P Bourgon , Theo Vieljeux, Ali Jazayeri, Viviana Zarragoitia
Produced by Varient Entertainment, Solo Five Production, Melograno Films
Co-produced by Propaganda Italia, Fenix Entertainment with Rai Cinema and Alacran Pictures
In association with 039 Albedo, The Exchange, Cinetrain and Hudson Entertainment Group
Cast & Crew
Trace Lysette ⎜Monica
Patricia Clarkson ⎜Eugenia
Emily Browning ⎜ Laura
Joshua Close ⎜ Paul
Adriana Barraza ⎜ Leticia
Graham Caldwell ⎜Brody
Ruby Fraser ⎜Britney
Director Of Photography/ Camera Operator — Kate Arizmendi
1St Assistant Camera — Jasmine Chang
2nd Assistant Camera — Sam Storm
1St Assistant Director- Laura Klein
2Nd Assistant Director — Roger Mendoza
Line Producer — Chenney Chen
Upm — Eric Cook
Production Coordinator — Nick Avery, Cristina Arteaga
Production Secretary- Jessica Meek
Casting Director (NY/LA) — Emily Schweber
Local Casting Director — D. Lynn Meyers
Assistant Casting Director — Ali Raizin
Assistant Casting Director Cincinnati — Becca Schall
Costume Designer — Patrik Milani
Asst. Costume Designer/ Costume Supervisor — Margaux Solano
Chief Lighting Technician — Jake Lyon
Key Grip — Steve Forbes
Best Boy Grip — Christofer Moscoso
Grip — Rodney “Rock” Reed, Aria Brice, Thomas Vincent, Jake Storm, Paul Fierst, Nick Patten, Matthew Barnhart
Hair/Make-up Dept Head — Chelo Acosta-conley Location Manager — Alan Forbes
Music Consultant — Angela Asistio
Prop Master — Linnea Crabtree Production Designer — Andrew Clark Sound Mixer — Viktor Weiszhaupt, Johnathan Reece...
- 9/10/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Josh Close has joined the cast of Andrea Pallaoro’s Monica.
He’ll appear in the dramatic feature alongside previously announced cast members Trace Lysette (Hustlers), Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects), Emily Browning (American Gods) and Adriana Barraza (Babel).
Monica follows a woman of the same name (Lysette) who returns home to the Midwest for the first time in 20 years to take care of her dying mother (Clarkson). The film will lead the viewer into Monica’s world and state of mind—the pain and fear, needs and desires of a woman, whose journey ultimately illuminates the human condition.
The feature exploring universal themes of abandonment, aging, rejection, acceptance and forgiveness is the second in a women’s trilogy helmed by Pallaoro. It comes on the heels of the director’s 2017 drama, Hannah, which starred Charlotte Rampling.
Pallaoro penned the script for Monica with his longtime writing partner Orlando Tirado.
He’ll appear in the dramatic feature alongside previously announced cast members Trace Lysette (Hustlers), Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects), Emily Browning (American Gods) and Adriana Barraza (Babel).
Monica follows a woman of the same name (Lysette) who returns home to the Midwest for the first time in 20 years to take care of her dying mother (Clarkson). The film will lead the viewer into Monica’s world and state of mind—the pain and fear, needs and desires of a woman, whose journey ultimately illuminates the human condition.
The feature exploring universal themes of abandonment, aging, rejection, acceptance and forgiveness is the second in a women’s trilogy helmed by Pallaoro. It comes on the heels of the director’s 2017 drama, Hannah, which starred Charlotte Rampling.
Pallaoro penned the script for Monica with his longtime writing partner Orlando Tirado.
- 7/26/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: American Gods star Emily Browning has replaced Anna Paquin on feature drama Monica, which got underway this week in Ohio.
As we revealed previously, also starring in the movie from Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro are Trace Lysette (Hustlers), Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects), and Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel). Paquin was no longer available due to scheduling conflicts.
The Exchange is handling world sales on the drama, which will chart the story of a transgender woman (Lysette) who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother (Clarkson).
From an original screenplay by the director and Orlando Tirado (Hannah), the film is being produced by Christina Dow (Hannah), Eleonora Granata (Medeas), Marina Marzotto (5 Is The Perfect Number), Gina Resnick (Medeas), Christina Sibul (Thirteen) and BAFTA-winning producer Karen Tenkhoff (The Motorcycle Diaries). Executive producer is Steve Stanulis.
Stanulis told us: “We are very excited to be...
As we revealed previously, also starring in the movie from Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro are Trace Lysette (Hustlers), Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects), and Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel). Paquin was no longer available due to scheduling conflicts.
The Exchange is handling world sales on the drama, which will chart the story of a transgender woman (Lysette) who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother (Clarkson).
From an original screenplay by the director and Orlando Tirado (Hannah), the film is being produced by Christina Dow (Hannah), Eleonora Granata (Medeas), Marina Marzotto (5 Is The Perfect Number), Gina Resnick (Medeas), Christina Sibul (Thirteen) and BAFTA-winning producer Karen Tenkhoff (The Motorcycle Diaries). Executive producer is Steve Stanulis.
Stanulis told us: “We are very excited to be...
- 6/29/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Monica
Produced by Christina Dow, Eleonora Granata, Marina Marzotto, Gina Resnick, Christina Sibul, Karen Tenkhoff
Directed by Andrea Pallaoro
Written by Andrea Pallaoro, Orlando Tirado
Starring: Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Anna Paquin, Adriana Barraza
Release Date/Prediction: For a 2021 playdate to occur, Monica would have to go into production in the first three months of the year.
…...
Produced by Christina Dow, Eleonora Granata, Marina Marzotto, Gina Resnick, Christina Sibul, Karen Tenkhoff
Directed by Andrea Pallaoro
Written by Andrea Pallaoro, Orlando Tirado
Starring: Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Anna Paquin, Adriana Barraza
Release Date/Prediction: For a 2021 playdate to occur, Monica would have to go into production in the first three months of the year.
…...
- 1/12/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Trace Lysette (Hustlers), Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects), Oscar winner Anna Paquin (The Piano) and Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel) are attached to star in the feature film Monica, from Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro.
The Exchange is launching world sales during the Toronto Film Festival on the drama, which will chart the story of a transgender woman (Lysette) who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother (Clarkson). The tale of a fractured family is said to explore themes of abandonment, ageing, acceptance and redemption.
Pallaoro’s 2017 sophomore feature Hannah played at Toronto and Venice, where it won Charlotte Rampling the festival’s best actress prize. His first film, Medeas, also premiered in competition on the Lido.
From an original screenplay by the director and Orlando Tirado (Hannah), the film will be produced by Christina Dow (Hannah), Eleonora Granata (Medeas), Marina Marzotto (5 Is The Perfect Number...
The Exchange is launching world sales during the Toronto Film Festival on the drama, which will chart the story of a transgender woman (Lysette) who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother (Clarkson). The tale of a fractured family is said to explore themes of abandonment, ageing, acceptance and redemption.
Pallaoro’s 2017 sophomore feature Hannah played at Toronto and Venice, where it won Charlotte Rampling the festival’s best actress prize. His first film, Medeas, also premiered in competition on the Lido.
From an original screenplay by the director and Orlando Tirado (Hannah), the film will be produced by Christina Dow (Hannah), Eleonora Granata (Medeas), Marina Marzotto (5 Is The Perfect Number...
- 9/11/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has obtained North American rights to Bad Therapy (fka Judy Small), a marriage counselor comedy starring Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry, and Michaela Watkins. The film, which was directed by Bill Teitler, will get a day-and-date release on April 17.
Rounding out the cast are Haley Joel Osment, Aisha Tyler, Sarah Shahi, and David Paymer.
Written by Nancy Doyne, the plot follows Susan Howard who, in a quest for self-fulfillment, convinces her husband, Bob (Corddry), to see a marriage counselor. The therapist, Judy Small (Watkins), appears at first to be competent, intelligent and trustworthy. But in the course of the therapy, Bob and Susan’s emotional dynamic triggers Judy Small’s own dark, buried impulses and in a comically escalating series of manipulations,...
Rounding out the cast are Haley Joel Osment, Aisha Tyler, Sarah Shahi, and David Paymer.
Written by Nancy Doyne, the plot follows Susan Howard who, in a quest for self-fulfillment, convinces her husband, Bob (Corddry), to see a marriage counselor. The therapist, Judy Small (Watkins), appears at first to be competent, intelligent and trustworthy. But in the course of the therapy, Bob and Susan’s emotional dynamic triggers Judy Small’s own dark, buried impulses and in a comically escalating series of manipulations,...
- 3/5/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle producer William Teitler directs.
Roman Kopelevich’s Red Sea Media has picked up international sales rights to Judy Small starring Michaela Watkins, Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone and launches sales at the Afm on the completed comic thriller.
Michaela Watkins, Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone star in the story of a couple who seek the help of a marriage counsellor who is more than she seems.
The key cast includes Aisha Tyler, Sarah Shahi, Haley Joel Osment, Dichen Lachman and Anna Pniowsky.
William Teitler, producer on Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, directed Judy Small from a screenplay by Nancy Doyne.
Roman Kopelevich’s Red Sea Media has picked up international sales rights to Judy Small starring Michaela Watkins, Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone and launches sales at the Afm on the completed comic thriller.
Michaela Watkins, Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone star in the story of a couple who seek the help of a marriage counsellor who is more than she seems.
The key cast includes Aisha Tyler, Sarah Shahi, Haley Joel Osment, Dichen Lachman and Anna Pniowsky.
William Teitler, producer on Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, directed Judy Small from a screenplay by Nancy Doyne.
- 11/6/2019
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
The Berlinale hommage to the always outstanding Charlotte Rampling who also received an Honorary Golden Bear, was concluded with a long and lugrubious movie, ‘Hannah’ (2017).‘Hannah’, photo Courtesty of Parade Deck Flms
In its pacing and depiction of a solitary woman, it recalls Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, but the crime in this story is of her husband and she is left to deal with her life as the movie goes through her mundane existence, step by painful step.
Hannah drops her husband off at prison, where he is to begin serving a sentence. She then stoically goes about her life, household chores, working as a cleaning lady for a rich family, and taking part in an amateur theater group in the evenings. But signs pointing to an abominable crime by her husband accumulate, and Hannah begins to feel the pressure — people turn away from her...
In its pacing and depiction of a solitary woman, it recalls Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, but the crime in this story is of her husband and she is left to deal with her life as the movie goes through her mundane existence, step by painful step.
Hannah drops her husband off at prison, where he is to begin serving a sentence. She then stoically goes about her life, household chores, working as a cleaning lady for a rich family, and taking part in an amateur theater group in the evenings. But signs pointing to an abominable crime by her husband accumulate, and Hannah begins to feel the pressure — people turn away from her...
- 2/18/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
In today’s film news roundup, up-and-comer Anna Pniowsky books another role, Jonathan Demme’s archive is donated and “Rachel Hollis Presents: Made For More” generates strong grosses.
Casting
Anna Pniowsky has been cast in a lead role in the independent comedy “Judy Small” opposite Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone, Haley Joel Osment, and Michaela Watkins.
She will play the daughter of Silverstone’s character, who persuades her husband to see a marriage counselor, the titular Judy Small, played by Watkins. The daughter is the first to distrust the manipulative Small.
William Teitler is producing and directing from a script based on the novel by Nancy Doyle. Gina Resnick is also producing.
Pniowsky will be seen next as the lead opposite Casey Affleck in “Light of My Life,” in which their characters are trapped in the woods after a deadly pandemic. Teddy Schwarzman is producing and financing through his Black Bear Pictures banner.
Casting
Anna Pniowsky has been cast in a lead role in the independent comedy “Judy Small” opposite Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone, Haley Joel Osment, and Michaela Watkins.
She will play the daughter of Silverstone’s character, who persuades her husband to see a marriage counselor, the titular Judy Small, played by Watkins. The daughter is the first to distrust the manipulative Small.
William Teitler is producing and directing from a script based on the novel by Nancy Doyle. Gina Resnick is also producing.
Pniowsky will be seen next as the lead opposite Casey Affleck in “Light of My Life,” in which their characters are trapped in the woods after a deadly pandemic. Teddy Schwarzman is producing and financing through his Black Bear Pictures banner.
- 8/4/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Alicia Silverstone has been cast in a lead role in Bill Teitler’s deadpan comedy Judy Small which is currently in production.
Nancy Doyne adapted the screenplay from her novel which follows Susan Howard (Silverstone) and her husband Bob (Rob Corddry), who decide, at Susan’s instigation, to see a marriage counselor, Judy Small (Michaela Watkins), who appears trustworthy at first, but ultimately manipulates the couple, putting the two at odds, and bringing their marriage almost to the breaking point.
Gina Resnick produces the independent film with Teitler.
Currently, Silverstone can be seen in Paramount Network’s series American Woman playing the lead role of Bonnie Nolan and most recently starred in Paramount’s summer sleeper Book Club and last year’s Cannes Film Festival premiere The Killing of a Sacred Deer from Yorgos Lanthimos.
Silverstone is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.
Nancy Doyne adapted the screenplay from her novel which follows Susan Howard (Silverstone) and her husband Bob (Rob Corddry), who decide, at Susan’s instigation, to see a marriage counselor, Judy Small (Michaela Watkins), who appears trustworthy at first, but ultimately manipulates the couple, putting the two at odds, and bringing their marriage almost to the breaking point.
Gina Resnick produces the independent film with Teitler.
Currently, Silverstone can be seen in Paramount Network’s series American Woman playing the lead role of Bonnie Nolan and most recently starred in Paramount’s summer sleeper Book Club and last year’s Cannes Film Festival premiere The Killing of a Sacred Deer from Yorgos Lanthimos.
Silverstone is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.
- 7/26/2018
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to the Ptsd thriller which will open theatrically in Los Angeles and New York and other select markets in September. That will be followed by a DVD/VOD release in the third quarter.
Tatterdemalion, written/directed by Ramaa Mosely (The Brass Teapot), stars Hunger Games and True Detective alum Leven Rambin and follows an army veteran, Fern, who returns home in order to look for her brother, only to discover an abandoned boy lurking in the woods behind her childhood home. After taking in the boy, she searches for clues to his identity, and discovers the local folklore about a malevolent, life-draining spirit that comes in the form of a child; the Tatterdemalion.
Co-starring in the film is Jim Parrack (True Blood), Taylor John Smith (American Crime), and newcomer Landon Edwards.
Mosely told Deadline: “I am passionate about sci fi, supernatural and...
Tatterdemalion, written/directed by Ramaa Mosely (The Brass Teapot), stars Hunger Games and True Detective alum Leven Rambin and follows an army veteran, Fern, who returns home in order to look for her brother, only to discover an abandoned boy lurking in the woods behind her childhood home. After taking in the boy, she searches for clues to his identity, and discovers the local folklore about a malevolent, life-draining spirit that comes in the form of a child; the Tatterdemalion.
Co-starring in the film is Jim Parrack (True Blood), Taylor John Smith (American Crime), and newcomer Landon Edwards.
Mosely told Deadline: “I am passionate about sci fi, supernatural and...
- 4/26/2018
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline Film + TV
Santa Monica-based company will release Marya Cohn’s drama with Freestyle Releasing and Freestyle Digital Media in December.
The partners plan a 10-city Us theatrical and ultra VOD release for The Girl In The Book, about the daughter of a New York book agent with writer’s block who meets an author who reawakens painful memories.
Emily VanCamp and Michael Nyqvist star in the film, which premiered at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Varient Pictures produced in association with Busted Buggy Entertainment and Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller served as producers with Daniel Cunningham and Courtney Daniels on board as executive producers.
Myriad Pictures also handles international sales on the film. This mars the third film Myriad and Freestyle will jointly release in the Us following Three Night Stand and After The Ball earlier this year.
The partners plan a 10-city Us theatrical and ultra VOD release for The Girl In The Book, about the daughter of a New York book agent with writer’s block who meets an author who reawakens painful memories.
Emily VanCamp and Michael Nyqvist star in the film, which premiered at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Varient Pictures produced in association with Busted Buggy Entertainment and Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller served as producers with Daniel Cunningham and Courtney Daniels on board as executive producers.
Myriad Pictures also handles international sales on the film. This mars the third film Myriad and Freestyle will jointly release in the Us following Three Night Stand and After The Ball earlier this year.
- 10/15/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Santa Monica-based Myriad will release Marya Cohn’s drama with Freestyle Releasing and Freestyle Digital Media in December.
The partners plan a 10-city Us theatrical and ultra VOD release for The Girl In The Book, about the daughter of a New York book agent with writer’s block who meets an author who reawakens painful memories.
Emily VanCamp and Michael Nyqvist star in the film, which premiered at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Varient Pictures produced in association with Busted Buggy Entertainment and Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller served as producers with Daniel Cunningham and Courtney Daniels on board as executive producers.
Myriad also handles international sales on the film. This mars the third film Myriad and Freestyle will jointly release in the Us following Three Night Stand and After The Ball earlier this year.
The partners plan a 10-city Us theatrical and ultra VOD release for The Girl In The Book, about the daughter of a New York book agent with writer’s block who meets an author who reawakens painful memories.
Emily VanCamp and Michael Nyqvist star in the film, which premiered at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Varient Pictures produced in association with Busted Buggy Entertainment and Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller served as producers with Daniel Cunningham and Courtney Daniels on board as executive producers.
Myriad also handles international sales on the film. This mars the third film Myriad and Freestyle will jointly release in the Us following Three Night Stand and After The Ball earlier this year.
- 10/15/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Kirk D’Amico and his team will introduce international buyers in Toronto to the thriller starring Emily VanCamp and Michael Nyqvist.
The Girl In The Book premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the summer and takes place in the cutthroat publishing world where a junior book editor must face personal demons and find the courage to write her own novel.
ICM Partners represents Us rights.
Marya Cohn wrote and directed the drama. Varient Pictures produced in association with Busted Buggy Entertainment, with Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller serving as producers. Daniel Cunningham serves as executive producer.
Audrey Delaney, svp of marketing and acquisitions at Santa Monica-based Myriad Pictures, negotiated international sales rights with ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers.
The Girl In The Book premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the summer and takes place in the cutthroat publishing world where a junior book editor must face personal demons and find the courage to write her own novel.
ICM Partners represents Us rights.
Marya Cohn wrote and directed the drama. Varient Pictures produced in association with Busted Buggy Entertainment, with Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller serving as producers. Daniel Cunningham serves as executive producer.
Audrey Delaney, svp of marketing and acquisitions at Santa Monica-based Myriad Pictures, negotiated international sales rights with ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers.
- 9/3/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to Maggie Kiley’s Brightest Star, previously known as Light Years.
Chris Lowell, Rose McIver and Jessica Szohr star in the story of a young college graduate who sets out to win back the girl of his dreams. The cast includes Clark Gregg and Allison Janney.
The film will open in theatres and on VOD nationwide in late January 2014 following the recent world premiere at the 2013 Austin Film Festival.
Paul Finkel and Jason Potash financed and produced Brightest Star through Storyboard Entertainment alongside Kyle Heller and Gina Resnick, edited by Franklin Peterson and Cindy Thoennessen,
Gravitas Ventures negotiated the deal with Miller and Noor Ahmed of Reder & Feig on behalf of the filmmakers.
Chris Lowell, Rose McIver and Jessica Szohr star in the story of a young college graduate who sets out to win back the girl of his dreams. The cast includes Clark Gregg and Allison Janney.
The film will open in theatres and on VOD nationwide in late January 2014 following the recent world premiere at the 2013 Austin Film Festival.
Paul Finkel and Jason Potash financed and produced Brightest Star through Storyboard Entertainment alongside Kyle Heller and Gina Resnick, edited by Franklin Peterson and Cindy Thoennessen,
Gravitas Ventures negotiated the deal with Miller and Noor Ahmed of Reder & Feig on behalf of the filmmakers.
- 10/28/2013
- ScreenDaily
Emily VanCamp ("Revenge") and Michael Nyqvist ("Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol") are set to star in Marya Cohn's indie directorial debut "The Girl in the Book" at Varient Pictures and Busted Buggy Entertainment.
The story centers on the daughter of a powerful New York City literary agent (VanCamp) who is forced to confront painful events in her past when asked to work on the re-release of the best-selling novel of her father's star client (Nyqvist).
Forced to face difficult memories, she ultimately overcomes her demons and rediscovers her creative voice.
Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller will produce. Shooting begins mid-June in New York City.
Source: THR...
The story centers on the daughter of a powerful New York City literary agent (VanCamp) who is forced to confront painful events in her past when asked to work on the re-release of the best-selling novel of her father's star client (Nyqvist).
Forced to face difficult memories, she ultimately overcomes her demons and rediscovers her creative voice.
Gina Resnick and Kyle Heller will produce. Shooting begins mid-June in New York City.
Source: THR...
- 6/13/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
I once planned to write a book entitled Ronna, Rena, Gina and Me. It would have been about the first women in the business of film (vs. the creative side of filmmaking). Ronna Wallace began as the first in acquisitions and opened up her jobs to me as she left them, most notably leaving Arthur Morowitz to head up MGM Home Video. Rena, met first behind the desk at Fox Lorber (with David Linde!) and then entering international sales -- and not just buying and selling features but companies themselves -- while not the first women in independent international sales, she was the first to be so versatile crossing into the agency world, producer repping and financing as well. Gina Resnick, an attorney moving up the corporate ladder to head acquisitions at RCA Columbia Home Video, and me, quiet but the first woman in corporate international distribution (20th Century Fox International,...
- 10/13/2009
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
NEW YORK -- Warner Independent Pictures is closing a five-year deal to co-finance and co-produce up to 30 films with new production outfit Volume One.
The move comes as WIP, the specialty film division of Warner Bros. Pictures, looks to add films to its pipeline under new president Polly Cohen. Under terms of the arrangement -- which will cover as many as 30 films over a five-year period, whichever comes first -- the companies will co-finance and share ownership on the titles.
The companies are looking to jointly produce films in the $5 million-$40 million range. Financing on the projects is likely to be split evenly. Both companies will develop projects to bring to the venture.
New York- and Los Angeles-based Volume One, run by financier Dean Leavitt and producer Gina Resnick, is in the process of raising funds for its share of the alliance. The company is expected to have a strong presence at May's Festival de Cannes as it ramps up the venture.
The move comes as WIP, the specialty film division of Warner Bros. Pictures, looks to add films to its pipeline under new president Polly Cohen. Under terms of the arrangement -- which will cover as many as 30 films over a five-year period, whichever comes first -- the companies will co-finance and share ownership on the titles.
The companies are looking to jointly produce films in the $5 million-$40 million range. Financing on the projects is likely to be split evenly. Both companies will develop projects to bring to the venture.
New York- and Los Angeles-based Volume One, run by financier Dean Leavitt and producer Gina Resnick, is in the process of raising funds for its share of the alliance. The company is expected to have a strong presence at May's Festival de Cannes as it ramps up the venture.
Opens
Friday, Sept. 26
NEW YORK -- An undeniable air of authenticity permeates this indie effort about an all-girl punk rock band, co-written by Cheri Lovedog based on her own experiences and directed by veteran music supervisor Alex Steyermark. While the story line often comes uncomfortably close to melodrama, "Prey for Rock and Roll", opening Sept. 26 in Los Angeles, is an entertaining and sometimes even moving portrait of a veteran band that never quite hits the big time. Although the film will have to face the commercial hurdle faced by most rock-themed efforts, the sexy and charismatic star presence of Gina Gershon in yet another lesbian role shouldn't hurt at all.
Gershon plays Jacki, the 40-year-old lead guitarist and singer of a female punk rock band, which despite many years of effort, is still playing L.A. clubs and dives in search of that ever-elusive record contract. The band's other members are bassist Tracy (Drea De Matteo), who has problems with both drugs and men
lead guitarist Faith (Lori Petty), who augments her income by teaching guitar to highly untalented if enthusiastic teens
and drummer Sally (Shelly Cole), Faith's sweet younger lover.
Among the various plot elements in Lovedog and Robin Whitehouse's meandering screenplay, based on a stage play by the former, is the arrival of "Animal" (Marc Blucas), Sally's older brother, who has just been released from prison after serving a murder sentence. The heavily tattooed and muscular Animal initially seems a threatening figure, but he turns out to be a virginal nice guy who quickly develops the hots for the older Jacki. Uninterested at first, Jacki, who happens to run her own tattoo parlor, soon finds herself drawn to the gentle ex-con, whose crime turns out to have been highly personal in nature.
PREY FOR ROCK AND ROLL
MAC Releasing
Credits:
Director: Alex Steyermark
Screenwriters: Cheri Lovedog, Robin Whitehouse
Producers: Donovan Mannato, Gina Resnick, Gina Gershon
Executive producer: Robin Whitehouse
Co-producer: Alexis Magagni-Seely
Director of photography: Antonio Calvache
Production designer: John Chichester
Editor: Allyson C. Johnson
Costume designer: Vanessa Vogel
Original music: Cheri Lovedog
Cast:
Jacki: Gina Gershon
Tracy: Drea De Matteo
Faith: Lori Petty
Sally: Shelly Cole: Animal: Marc Blucas
Nick: Ivan Martin
Chuck: Eddie Driscoll
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Friday, Sept. 26
NEW YORK -- An undeniable air of authenticity permeates this indie effort about an all-girl punk rock band, co-written by Cheri Lovedog based on her own experiences and directed by veteran music supervisor Alex Steyermark. While the story line often comes uncomfortably close to melodrama, "Prey for Rock and Roll", opening Sept. 26 in Los Angeles, is an entertaining and sometimes even moving portrait of a veteran band that never quite hits the big time. Although the film will have to face the commercial hurdle faced by most rock-themed efforts, the sexy and charismatic star presence of Gina Gershon in yet another lesbian role shouldn't hurt at all.
Gershon plays Jacki, the 40-year-old lead guitarist and singer of a female punk rock band, which despite many years of effort, is still playing L.A. clubs and dives in search of that ever-elusive record contract. The band's other members are bassist Tracy (Drea De Matteo), who has problems with both drugs and men
lead guitarist Faith (Lori Petty), who augments her income by teaching guitar to highly untalented if enthusiastic teens
and drummer Sally (Shelly Cole), Faith's sweet younger lover.
Among the various plot elements in Lovedog and Robin Whitehouse's meandering screenplay, based on a stage play by the former, is the arrival of "Animal" (Marc Blucas), Sally's older brother, who has just been released from prison after serving a murder sentence. The heavily tattooed and muscular Animal initially seems a threatening figure, but he turns out to be a virginal nice guy who quickly develops the hots for the older Jacki. Uninterested at first, Jacki, who happens to run her own tattoo parlor, soon finds herself drawn to the gentle ex-con, whose crime turns out to have been highly personal in nature.
PREY FOR ROCK AND ROLL
MAC Releasing
Credits:
Director: Alex Steyermark
Screenwriters: Cheri Lovedog, Robin Whitehouse
Producers: Donovan Mannato, Gina Resnick, Gina Gershon
Executive producer: Robin Whitehouse
Co-producer: Alexis Magagni-Seely
Director of photography: Antonio Calvache
Production designer: John Chichester
Editor: Allyson C. Johnson
Costume designer: Vanessa Vogel
Original music: Cheri Lovedog
Cast:
Jacki: Gina Gershon
Tracy: Drea De Matteo
Faith: Lori Petty
Sally: Shelly Cole: Animal: Marc Blucas
Nick: Ivan Martin
Chuck: Eddie Driscoll
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/13/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jeff Daniels and Kip Pardue have joined Sigourney Weaver and Emile Hirsch in the indie Imaginary Heroes for writer-turned-director Dan Harris. Production is scheduled to start Aug. 14 in New Jersey. The darkly comic drama revolves around the secrets and lies of American families. It tells the story of a four-member family and how they deal with the suicide of the eldest son, an accomplished swimmer idolized by the community and his parents as being the "perfect boy" (Pardue). Daniels will star as the father, with Weaver playing the mother and Hirsch the youngest son. Harris is directing from his own original screenplay. Producers on the project include Signature's Moshe and Illana Diamant (Tristan & Isolde), Art Linson (Spartan), Gina Resnick (Prey for Rock and Roll) and Denise Shaw (Bed of Roses). William Morris Independent packaged the indie project and is repping the distribution rights for the film. Daniels is repped by ICM. Pardue, who is in Ireland filming Whiter Shade of Pale opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt, is repped by CAA and the Untitled Entertainment/Parseghian/Planco management outfit.
PARK CITY, Utah -- A dramatic competition entrant here at the Sundance Film Festival, "Clockwatchers" is a sprightly glimpse into the pink-collar world of temporary office workers. Cheeky and puckishly anti-establishment, the film is a spry delight that, unfortunately, veers into a one-note down spiral into the plight of corporate office workers who are at the beck and call of cost-conscious, downsizing and, uncaring management. In essence, the film seems to have a split personality.
Focusing on four temps at the multinational Global Credit Assn., screenwriters Jill and Karen Sprecher team up to hurl some lethal anti-corporate salvos at big-business America. In their often satirical send-up, we see the giant corporation is more concerned with form than content as management seems obsessed with such things as how many pencils the temp workers have checked out.
The thrust of this viewpoint is told through the saucy temperament of Margaret Parker Posey), who takes keen delight in tweaking the officious noses of her petty bosses. Other than Margaret, however, the other girls are pretty much like those subservient girls in elementary school who kept their heads down and their pencils sharpened, including Iris (Toni Collette), Paula (Lisa Kudrow) and Jane (Alanna Ubach). They all desperately need their jobs and sometime aspire to be a "permanent" employee with the company or a similar entity.
While the first half of the film crackles with some sassy, headstrong fun as the girls conspire to go out on strike, it soon shifts into a somewhat shriller side as the story harps on the plight of such anonymous workers. Scenes are sometimes repetitive in visualizing the plight of the workers and, most unfortunately, the film loses its kicky spirit. For the most part, however, director Jill Sprecher keeps things moving along at a chipper pace, infusing the film with plenty of offbeat personality.
The players are consistently strong, with Posey being the most entertaining as the "bad girl" of the group. Posey's class-clown putdowns and naughty ruses are hilarious. As Iris, the young woman who is shackled by self-doubt, Collette is both touching and convincing. Similarly, Kudrow shows the vulnerable side of her aspiring actress character, while Ubach shows the torment of a young woman who lives vicariously through her boyfriend, counting on marriage as her ticket out of her monotonous life.
Technical contributions are intelligent and generally well-executed, particularly Pamela Marcotte's hilarious production design that totally trashes the corporate world.
CLOCKWATCHERS
Goldcrest Films International presents
A Gina Resnick production
Producer:Gina Resnick
Director:Jill Sprecher
Screenwriters:Jill Sprecher, Karen Sprecher
Co-executive producers:John Quested, Guy Collins
Director of photography:Jim Denault
Editor:Stephen Mirrione
Production designer:Pamela Marcotte
Costume designer:Edi Giguere
Co-producer:Karen Sprecher
Line producer:W. Mark McNair
Casting:Jeanne McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Iris:Toni Collette
Margaret:Parker Posey
Paula:Lisa Kudrow
Jane:Alanna Ubach
Cleo:Helen Fitzgerald
Eddie:Jamie Kennedy
MacNamee:David James Elliott
Running time -- 105 minutes...
Focusing on four temps at the multinational Global Credit Assn., screenwriters Jill and Karen Sprecher team up to hurl some lethal anti-corporate salvos at big-business America. In their often satirical send-up, we see the giant corporation is more concerned with form than content as management seems obsessed with such things as how many pencils the temp workers have checked out.
The thrust of this viewpoint is told through the saucy temperament of Margaret Parker Posey), who takes keen delight in tweaking the officious noses of her petty bosses. Other than Margaret, however, the other girls are pretty much like those subservient girls in elementary school who kept their heads down and their pencils sharpened, including Iris (Toni Collette), Paula (Lisa Kudrow) and Jane (Alanna Ubach). They all desperately need their jobs and sometime aspire to be a "permanent" employee with the company or a similar entity.
While the first half of the film crackles with some sassy, headstrong fun as the girls conspire to go out on strike, it soon shifts into a somewhat shriller side as the story harps on the plight of such anonymous workers. Scenes are sometimes repetitive in visualizing the plight of the workers and, most unfortunately, the film loses its kicky spirit. For the most part, however, director Jill Sprecher keeps things moving along at a chipper pace, infusing the film with plenty of offbeat personality.
The players are consistently strong, with Posey being the most entertaining as the "bad girl" of the group. Posey's class-clown putdowns and naughty ruses are hilarious. As Iris, the young woman who is shackled by self-doubt, Collette is both touching and convincing. Similarly, Kudrow shows the vulnerable side of her aspiring actress character, while Ubach shows the torment of a young woman who lives vicariously through her boyfriend, counting on marriage as her ticket out of her monotonous life.
Technical contributions are intelligent and generally well-executed, particularly Pamela Marcotte's hilarious production design that totally trashes the corporate world.
CLOCKWATCHERS
Goldcrest Films International presents
A Gina Resnick production
Producer:Gina Resnick
Director:Jill Sprecher
Screenwriters:Jill Sprecher, Karen Sprecher
Co-executive producers:John Quested, Guy Collins
Director of photography:Jim Denault
Editor:Stephen Mirrione
Production designer:Pamela Marcotte
Costume designer:Edi Giguere
Co-producer:Karen Sprecher
Line producer:W. Mark McNair
Casting:Jeanne McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Iris:Toni Collette
Margaret:Parker Posey
Paula:Lisa Kudrow
Jane:Alanna Ubach
Cleo:Helen Fitzgerald
Eddie:Jamie Kennedy
MacNamee:David James Elliott
Running time -- 105 minutes...
- 1/22/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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