Female Eye Film Festival 2018 - Lady Hunters
“Once upon a time three mothers killed a wolf.” Three best friends on a moms’ weekend retreat learn a heinous gang rapist has been released from prison nearby. Incensed by the atrocious nature of the crime against a teenaged girl, and incarceration of only one of the perpetrators, the women find themselves novice killers and arbiters of justice.
Interview with writer, director, producer, co-star Angela Atwood
Watch Lady Hunters here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
My great friend, Lara Buck Antolik (co-star, co-creator & co-executive producer), and I were on a mom’s weekend away in upstate NY, three days after the allegations about Bill Cosby being a serial rapist hit the news, in November 2014. That whole weekend, everywhere we went, no matter what we were doing, we couldn’t get away from the conversation. Lara and I are both actors, I’d just completed writing and directing my first short film, and I found myself saying, “We need to make a movie about this. Let’s make a movie about what we’re feeling right now.”
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film is a black comedy thriller. That game-changing weekend, we found ourselves fantasizing, entertaining ourselves improvising ways we’d punish rapists if we had the opportunity, usually with rather violent results that had us rolling with laughter at the same time. It was extremely therapeutic! Audience reactions, and their faces and enthusiasm after screenings tell me the film has that effect on them as well
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
A few universal themes are at work: Good vs. Evil, Individual vs. Society, Crime Doesn’t Pay … and my personal favorite, Over-coming the Odds. The mom-friends overcome apathy and their own aversion to violence in order to avenge an unpunished rape in their community.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
When the script was in development, a couple of well-meaning friends in the industry warned that a three-female-protagonist short film couldn’t work, and that a comedy about rape couldn’t work. But this story begged to be told, and I wanted people to be entertained and engaged while watching it. To make a true triumvirate work and enhance the mom-friends’ relationships, my wonderful DP, Lauretta Prevost and I set up wide-shot long-takes that included all three main characters.
For the humor in a rape story, well, we had extremely talented actors on board from the start, which allowed me the greatest luxury of all as a writer – if I just wrote the predicaments, I could trust how these characters would behave in the given circumstances, that their performances would reveal the humorous release of the story. Their Truthful Behavior in Imaginary Circumstances – three suburban moms becoming unintended murderers – handled the humor … how endemic rape culture is in our society is the rest.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Thankfully, very satisfyingly, enthusiastic. At the world premiere in Kansas City, there were a couple of mature women waiting to speak with us afterwards - they’d bought passes to enjoy a weekend of films. They told me how when they were in college, young women were gang raped at fraternity parties – I believe they called it a “train party,” where the guys congratulated themselves for taking turns on an inebriated girl, then, ruined, she’d have to leave school. "There's something extremely viscerally exhilarating about it! Watching the three moms when they killed that gang rapist!"
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
My greatest fear has been that some people might respond, “Oh, so you’re saying we should just kill all the rapists?” but our reception after a few screenings so far, even during the screenings – feeling the audience’s tension, ahhhs, laughter, and sometimes even clapping during scenes, and people coming up to me to tell me how much they loved the movie, has been beyond, beyond gratifying. I’m often asked how it manages to be funny, given the painfully fraught subject matter … again, I have to thank my outstanding actors for their acutely sensitive, truthful performances. Without the connection between the three co-stars as best friends handling a ridiculous and terrible situation, it wouldn’t have worked.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on WeAreMovingStories?
My short term goal is for Lady Hunters to be seen by at least 12,000 people. The feature version of this story is in development, and I seek the support of your community, with the hope that scores more thousands of audiences can experience an emotional healing that leads to social change.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Any and all, most gratefully! Making the feature is number one - all who help to make that happen are most appreciated! I have an excellent creative team, we’ve made multiple projects together, and we love working together to make challenging, entertaining, meaningful films.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want women around the world to see it, any and all people who are victims of rape and sexual power dominance, to enjoy the pleasure of holding criminals accountable for their detestable actions. I want people to walk away examining how our structure of patriarchal capitalism makes a story about moms becoming murderers make sense.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Does this film purport a solution to the deeply rooted problem of rape culture in our society?
To which, I’d have to say, “No. I’m not telling anyone to go out and kill the rapists. It’s a film. A fantasy. A whimsical therapeutic story that examines three moms, in our situation, at this time, on this planet, in extraordinary circumstances. Haven’t we been pushed this far?”
Would you like to add anything else?
In the feature, there’s a prominent female figure, mother to one of the rapists, who’s built a life profiting on the horrendous status quo.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Angela Atwood Writer: Lady Hunters feature screenplay, her other feature screenplay, Wendy, is a Top Ten Drama Finalist in the New York Screenplay Contest 2016; Actor: co-star in two 22-min episodes as Jan in 5A5B, and Delia in Lanford Wilson’s The Mound Builders; Director: Chronicles of a Bleep Year Old Woman (currently in festivals).
Lauretta Prevost (Cinematographer) is spear-heading an ongoing mini-docs project, celebrating offbeat characters, focused on amplifying voices of causes and organizations that shift the needle.
Austin Bening (Editor) of Galaxy Productions is currently working on a documentary following schools, teachers, students and one particularly driven educator looking to reinvent the way we do school, and producing 5A5B.
Marianne Hardart (Maya) is writing a feature script Carrying Helen, about a hospital administrator who becomes an evacuation hero during an apocalyptic hurricane event in NYC.
Interview: September 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
Lady Hunters
“Once upon a time three mothers killed a wolf.” Three best friends on a moms’ weekend retreat learn a heinous gang rapist has been released from prison nearby. Incensed by the atrocious nature of the crime against a teenaged girl, and incarceration of only one of the perpetrators, the women find themselves novice killers and arbiters of justice.
Length: 15min 33 sec
About the writer, director, producer, actor:
ANGELA ATWOOD is an actor, writer, director, and producer in NYC, all of which were implemented in the making of this film.
Key cast: Lara Buck Antolik, Marianne Hardart, Angela Atwood:
Facebook: @LadyHuntersMovie
Twitter: @Lady_Hunters
Instagram: @ladyhuntersthemovie
Funders: IndieGoGo and self
Made in association with: Fifth Column Features, Rethink Films
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Detroit Shetown Film Festival, Buffalo International Film Festival, Women in Horror Film Festival (Atlanta), Orlando Film Festival.
Winner: Best Adventure Short (Manhattan Film Fest)
Nominated: Best Short Film (Female Eye Film Fest, Toronto)
Nominee: Best Thriller (Detroit Shetown Film Fest)
Nominee: Best Thriller Short, Best Writing, Best Performance, Best Socially Conscious Narrative, Indie Spirit (Women in Horror Film Fest)
Winner: Best Short Film, Detroit Shetown Film Festival