LA FOCUS - Creedmoria
Logline: Sometimes breaking up means breaking out.
Length: 90 mins
Director: Alicia Slimmer
Producer: Alicia Slimmer
Writer: Alicia Slimmer
About the writer, director and producer: Alicia Slimmer’s debut feature film, CREEDMORIA, took home the top prize at the Cinequest Film Festival 2016 and is currently in competition at Dances with Films and Brooklyn Film Festival. CREEDMORIA is a film Slimmer produced and wrote, borrowing many elements from her own life growing up in Queens, NY, in the 1980s. Her previous short film, MY FIRST CAR, premiered at Dances with Films Festival in LA and won Best Comedy at the 24th Annual New School Invitational Film Show.
In 2015, Alicia joined two prestigious groups of women filmmakers: NYWIFT and Film Fatales. She has worked on many independent films as an actor, assistant director, set dresser, and producer. Entertainment Weekly posted an exclusive sneak peek of CREEDMORIA in March, 2016, and Slimmer was recently interviewed for the San Jose Mercury News exploring the hot topic: women filmmakers. Her indie approach has been highlighted in The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal online, Women and Hollywood and Indiewire.
Key cast: All the info is on IMDB Stef Dawson (Hunger Games), Ray Abruzzo (Transparent), Rachel de Benedet and Steve Cavanaugh.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Funders: Self financed
Where can I watch it? Tonight, Brooklyn Film Festival. East Coast Premiere. Encore screening on Sunday, June 12. Also at the ARt of Brooklyn FF, Saturday June 11
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
It was my dream to make a feature film. I made a short film as an exercise to see if I liked filmmaking and if I had what it takes to do something that demands so much body/soul/sanity. I freaking loved the experience so much that I moved forward to do a feature. I wrote Creedmoria while pregnant with my daughter and contemplating family life and what kind of mother I would be.
I was listening to StarshipTrooper by Yes and was obsessing the last leg of that song. I kept seeing a mother and daughter fighting with the daughter barricading herself against a bedroom door to keep her mother out, intercut with the mother slamming a door in her daughter's face. The guitar duet in that piece works well with door slams. Of course this song, nor those scenes, never made it into the final movie but it was definitely responsible for setting the script in motion.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I want you to come on the crazy adventure and enter the wacky world of Creedmoria. This was what circa 1983 looked like for me. The movie opens in 1979 and then within a half hour we find ourselves four years later. The Leatherheads are all nostalgic of the 1950s greasers, but with more edge.
The universe Candy Cahill finds herself in is completely dysfunctional but she's an optimist and sets forth to have the stinkin best day ever everyday...even when it sucks! As a movie lover, I want to see feel good movies that make me leave the theater humming a tune and feeling high. It was my intention to make a Hollywood ending with the proverbial hero riding off into the sunset and a big score that gives you goose bumps.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
So much is personal to me. My love of family. My belief in better days ahead. The eternal truth that being "trapped" is a state of mind...we can all be free, no matter our circumstances. (happy to expound at another time).
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
Script went through 52 drafts. I'm married to an editor which is a double-edged sword, haha. He always has me strip it down so there's barely any fat left. And kill my darlings. The beauty for me is I was able to shoot what was on the page and we got every shot. This was not the case when I made my short.
The film evolved a lot in post because I spent half a year retrofitting music of today to the sounds of the 80s. At the end of the day ti wasn't the film I wanted to make and so I went back to my original Creedmoria soundtrack and recut certain scenes to fit with the tempo of the songs. It's way better and my dream soundtrack (save for Aersosmith's, Back in the Saddle which I couldn't get clearance for because the band mates are fighting, yadda yadda).
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The reception has been amazing and the demographic is proving vast - young people, like some in LA who told me they want this to be their generation's Donnie Darko and others who love the music saying they grew up with it in their house. Then there's middle aged car enthusiasts who love the vintage wheels and soundtrack. Then there's the gay contingency that loves seeing their story told. It's been an interesting ride so far and I feel like we're just getting started.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Neither...it's pleased me and I'm over the mooooooon!
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I am hoping that the right person comes along to champion this movie and see its worth in bringing to a wide audience. The reception has been so incredible and we don't have any feel-good movies of hope like this out there at the moment. I will work hard in the next year to build our fan base and screen it as many times as I can at a festival near you.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How does one rise above their circusmstances to find their true potential? How do you keep yourself from being held back if you find yourself oppressed? How do you find the courage to fly your freak flag?
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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