Downtown LA Film Festival - Somebody's Mother
Based on real events, two sisters struggle with what it means to be a mother - one after the sudden loss of her baby, the other with her own inability to care for her young child. Together, they learn to navigate the phases of grief in order to heal. Following the death of her baby, Clare turns to her sister Anna for support. However, Anna is also facing a personal and profound crisis.
Interview with Director / Writer / Actor / Producer Gabriela Tollman
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
SOMEBODY’S MOTHER was motivated by a real experience I had when due to complications I gave birth to my baby at 7 months. He struggled to survive, but didn't. It was a painful and difficult experience. I started to write the script with my sister Evelyne. I was compelled to explore the theme of survival after the loss of a loved one
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film is an exploration of grief. As an audience member SOMEBODY’S MOTHER will lead you through a catharsis and will give you space to process, understand, experience and heal from loss or any type of grief.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Personal themes of family, mortality, and spirituality are explored in SOMEBODY’S MOTHER. Both protagonists are faced with extreme sudden losses that they must come to terms with. The universal questions that people ask after a tragedy such as; why did this happen to me? What is the meaning or purpose of this tragedy? Is there life after death? Is there something more to life than this physical realm? These questions are all dominant themes in SOMEBODY’S MOTHER.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
I was writing a script with my sister Evelyne when I lost my baby Charlie while seven month pregnant. We decided to continue writing but add in the pain and grief I was experiencing after losing Charlie as a way to help process the loss. Focusing on the script helped me gain some perspective on the overwhelming grief. We continued to focus on the film and raise the funds through Kickstarter. Since I also co-edited the film it was a very organic process and I was able to alter aspects of the script in post-production.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The film is a strong, emotional experience for those who are willing to go on the journey. At our last festival screening we had many people come up to us afterwards and share their own personal losses. The audience feels safe to express and share their grief, their loss, their sadness with us. We have witnessed a great sense of relief from audience members and a renewed sense of hope. It helps them realize that they are not alone, and it is OK to share. SOMEBODY’S MOTHER allows people to talk about private experiences such as miscarriage, infant loss, and other tragedies.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We have been surprised by how common infant loss and miscarriage are. Also how common challenges within the role of being a mother and how afraid people are to discus these issues. Our film gives them a place, a platform that brings these issues to light and allow these silenced voices to be heard.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We would like to reach more people, and help get the word out; to ignite more conversation around issues of stillbirth, infant loss and miscarriage. We also want to offer a safe space for people to experience grief.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We need someone who connects with the material and subject matter to come on board and champion the film; to help get the word out on social media, other media sites and news organizations. To sell and distribute the film so it can reach its large but underrepresented audience.
There is an enormous audience for the film, people who have lost, experienced grief or struggled with the role of motherhood and parenthood.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We are excited about the festivals we have screened at and look forward to screening at more festivals. We would then like SOMEBODY’S MOTHER to have a small theatrical release and then make it available on VOD on Amazon, Netflix and Itunes. We want the film to be understood as a cathartic experience where people have a safe space to process the overwhelming feelings brought on by tragedy and grief.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do you find hope after loss? How do you find meaning and purpose in unspeakable tragedy? How do you go on, when you were supposed to have a baby but your baby died?
Would you like to add anything else?
During a scene in our film SOMEBODY’S MOTHER I sort through a purple box, which was actually my baby Charlie’s items. These items were given to us from the hospital NICU and consisted of Charlie’s little hat, a lock of his hair, and his footprints. I hadn’t been able to go through that purple box since returning from the hospital over a year prior. I decided to go through it for the first time while we were filming. During the scene, I wept profusely. Later I felt purified and cleansed. It was beyond healing, it felt shamanic. By fully embracing the pain, I somehow transcended it.
I wasn’t just doing it for me but as a way to understand others; who had or are going through this. I learnt that extreme pain forces us to leave our bodies and reconnect with something deeper than ourselves. In this process, we shatter into a million pieces destroying who we once were, our former selves; our ego identity. This allows us to rebirth into a new self with new knowledge and a reconnection to “source” energy. Charlie taught me this. Making the film allowed me to fully understand it, and not become lost in the grief or hardened by it. Instead it helped me open and soften. The experience deepened my understanding that this pain is a universal experience, which ultimately made me more of who I am.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Gabriela Tollman is producing and co-writing an indie feature and developing an episodic television show about the After Life and another about Women and Anger. She was also just hired to direct another feature and develop several other projects.
Evelyne Tollman is writing and developing several narrative feature films and a documentary about a Holocaust. She also just finished performing in a successful theater production in Los Angeles.
Interview: September 2016
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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
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SOMEBODY’S MOTHER
Based on real events, two sisters struggle with what it means to be a mother - one after the sudden loss of her baby, the other with her own inability to care for her young child. Together, they learn to navigate the phases of grief in order to heal. Following the death of her baby, Clare turns to her sister Anna for support. However, Anna is also facing a personal and profound crisis.
Length: 90 MINUTES
Director: Gabriela Tollman
Producers: Evelyne Tollman, Gabriela Tollman, James Tumminia, Karen Lavendar
Writer: Evelyne Tollman, Gabriela Tollman
About the writer, director and producer:
Gabriela Tollman – Director / Writer / Actor / Producer
Gabriela is a native of Johannesburg, South Africa and a graduate of UCLA’s theater and film department. She has directed over ten short films which have played in festivals worldwide, won numerous awards and screened on HBO. Tollman wrote, directed co-produced and acted in THE LAST GUNSHOT, that played in over 25 festivals and won The International Cinematographer’s Guild Award, which screened the film at Cannes. Tollman wrote and directed BIRTH OF INDUSTRY, for which she was awarded the Los Angeles Short Film Grant from Kodak, Panavision, and Filmmakers Alliance. BIRTH OF INDUSTRY played in over 20 festivals and was awarded the John Williams award for Visual Excellence at the Cleveland Film Festival. Her film YOU TURNED BACK AND HELD MY HAND screened at numerous festivals including the Sundance Film Festival to much acclaim.
Gabriela is developing the feature film HER REVOLUTION based on the life of revolutionary Tina Modotti, and a television series about the AFTER LIFE. She is currently doing the festival rounds with her first feature film titled SOMEBODY'S MOTHER. The film recently screened at the Cinequest Film Festival to rave reviews: "Somebody's Mother gives us texture, grain, grit…The film's toughness is supported by a haunting beauty, and strong performances of material that seems both utterly real and fantastical at the same time…A wonderful, and difficult film.”
Evelyne Tollman – Writer / Actor / Producer
Evelyne hails from South Africa where she began acting and writing plays since she was five. Evelyne attended LACC theatre academy and went on to study screenwriting completing the Writers Boot-camp 2 year program. Evelyne has produced and performed in some of her own plays, LA, LA, No! No! Directed by Maggie Soboil, Into The Still Point and The Pig And I, which were highly recommended by the LA weekly, who called Tollman’s work outstanding comparing her unique humor to Monty Python.
At Writer's Boot Camp she completed three feature scripts. Evelyne produced and acted in Poor Peter her first short film that is currently touring the festival scene and can be seen on funny or die. Her script My Wedding At Auschwitz and Old Time Girl have both placed in the semi finalist in ScreenCraft, Table Read My Screenplay (Sundance), Fresh Voices. Evelyne has been acting in theatre and independent film for the last twenty years. Some of her favorites are My Children, My Africa! (Fugard), Aunt Dan and Lemon (Wallace Shawn) and Mishima plays both at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
James Tumminia - Actor / Producer
A New York City native, James has worked as a multi-hyphenate in the entertainment industry as an actor, producer, writer and director. In addition to “Somebody’s Mother,” his producing film credits include: “3 Days in August” directed by Johnathan Brownlee, and starring Barry Bostwick and Mariette Hartley, the award-winning US/Spain co-production of “Violet,” directed and written by Luiso Berdejo, and “Strike One,” the festival award-winning Latino drama starring Danny Trejo (Machete) and directed by Puerto-Rican David Llauger Meiselman. He is now in pre- production on “All She Wrote,” a US/Bulgaria co-production directed by Niki Iliev.
For TV, James has produced for many US broadcast and cable networks, including TV specials, award shows and series: the Emmy nominated "Betty White's 90th Birthday Special," "Movieline's Young Hollywood Awards," Bob Hope's last special for NBC, the five-part series "Martin & Lewis: Their Golden Age of Comedy" and "Jerry Seinfeld Meets Abbott & Costello."
In digital media, James produced the pilot and web series, “Vendetta,” featuring an international cast. He has also written and produced a series of short films, and recently made his directorial debut directing and co- writing “My Christmas Wish” which has been on the festival circuit since 2014, world-premiered at the Monaco International Film Festival in December 2014, nabbing 5 Angel awards, and won Best Director at the 2015 Sydney Indie Film Festival.
His acting credits include: “Resident Evil: Extinction,” “Strike One” and “Somebody’s Mother”; TV - “Melissa & Joey,” “Las Vegas,” “The Young and the Restless” and “The Shield”; and theatre and commercials.
A Georgetown University graduate, James is also a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy.
Key cast:
Gabriela Tollman, Evelyne Tollman, James Tumminia, Brian Donovan
Looking for sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists.
Made in association with: Tollman Sisters Films
Release date: Fall 2016
Where can I watch it in the next month? Downtown LA Film Festival, Regal Cinemas, LA Live, September 22, 7:15 dtlaff.com and we will list other screenings on our website www.somebodysmotherfilm.com