Female Eye Film Festival - The Tribe
Logline: Nothing was the same, and every choice could be your last.
Length: 103 min.
Director: Roxy Shih
Producer: Dena Hysell, Brandon Tansley
Writer: Ian Paxton & Chris Manask
Ian Paxton: Ian Paxton is a passionate screenwriter who moonlights as an editor at a lead advertising agency in Los Angeles.
Roxy Shih: Roxy Shih is an award-winning Taiwanese-American Producer and Director based out of Los Angeles.
Dena Hysell: Dena Hysell is an in demand producer and director who has won top honors at major festivals.
Brandon Tansley: Brandon is an Emmy award-winning producer based out of Los Angeles.
Key cast: Jessica Rothe (La La Land, Parallels, Lily and Kat) as Jenny
Anne Winters (Tyrant, Wicked City) as Sarah
Michael Nardelli (The Collection, Circle, Revenge) as Ryan
Cokey Falkow (Penny Dreadful, Hawaii 5-0) as Charlie
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Made in association with: Tomato Sunrise Films, Rumpus Room Pictures, released through Empress Road Pictures
Release date: TBA
Where can I watch it? It has played at Nice International Film Festival where it won Best Narrative Feature, playing currently at the Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto on 6/18/16 at 8pm at the Theatre Center, TBA on future festival screenings.
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I made this film with the encouragement of many of my friends, who have known that I’ve always wanted to venture into feature directing. I’ve been producing for so many wonderful people that I forgot to put aside time to go after what I really want to pursue.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This film explores many themes that I am curious about; it’s a film that challenges theology, the human ego, and Darwinism packaged into a slow burn thriller with a western setting. If you like female driven films and you’re interested in a post-apocalyptic story, I hope that you check it out!
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
As devastating and powerful Mother Nature can be, humans are ultimately the most destructive force. In this story we explore a small group of survivors as they cope with their condition, as some bonds form, it leads to others breaking, and we see what humans ultimately do to each other when their values are challenged.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
I’m very happy to have my writer Ian Paxton so closely involved with pre-production. Since we were working on minimal budget, a lot of things in the script had to be adapted to make things work with our resources. My actors have also helped me a lot in fleshing out the characters more when we did the film, I was very lucky to have the time with them to do script study and build their characters intimately.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
So far the responses have been very positive! I’m so thankful for the support of the film community and the press.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The responses have definitely showed me the different ways a film can affect individuals, especially whether or not they were able to grasp the themes of the film or purely experience it as a genre film. I’ve learned so much as a filmmaker from making this film and the responses, negative and positive, have deeply humbled me.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope to give “The Tribe” more exposure – most importantly so people can experience the wonderful work of my cast and crew! My actors went above and beyond, and my crew comprised of my friends who really threw me a bone by helping me out. All of their creative talents in storytelling are second to none. I feel so honored to be supported by such talent, both in front and behind the camera.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I hope that this film gets more festival exposure, and that hopefully you can watch it soon either on your TV sets, or local theatre soon!
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want people to be conscious of their actions, to think of the bigger picture. To learn that sometimes as human beings, we do not have the answers to everything.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Will humans perish or persevere in the aftermath of devastation?
Would you like to add anything else?
Thank you so much to “We Are Moving Stories” for having me! Stay humble, stay hungry! J
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Ian has currently a couple of feature films that he has written that is getting shopped around (while still being a badass working at Deutsch as an editor), Dena is currently working on a feature she’s directing and producing, Brandon is producing for a sports-based TV show, and Roxy is going to be directing a sci-fi/horror web-series “Dark Web” this summer that Michael Nardelli (who played Ryan in the film) is writing/producing.
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela