young Israeli man is about to meet his long-distance lover for the first time-- while pursuing his dreams in NYC playing the trumpet by day and working as a Professional Cuddler by night.

Interview with Writer/Director: Mika Orr

Congratulations! Why are you making your film?

Professional Cuddler is my thesis project at MPS Directing at the School of Visual Arts.

It is an American - Israeli Co-production that tells the story of a young Israeli man who is about to meet his long-distance lover for the first time --while pursuing his dreams in NYC playing the trumpet by day and working as a Professional Cuddler by night.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

You should watch this film if you like to laugh. Or if you like to cuddle, or if you fond of strange relationships, or if you just want to improve your modern Hebrew...

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

I think this film deals with loneliness in the big city, the ability to be deeply and easily connected to strangers as opposed to the ones you love, and with the effort of finding love in the modern, screen-based reality. Those issues are very personal too me, and I guess it's relevant to many people all around the globe. Sometimes it seems like we "talk" with emojis more then we communicate with words. I still CALL my friends (and they hate me for it).

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

In the beginning I wanted make a film about the idealizing of something far and out of reach, like overseas love. Then, when I started writing and ideas were changing rapidly, I thought I was making a film about loneliness in the big city. Only when I was really deep into writing and pre-production it actually became clear to me that the heart of this project is the subject of "lack of communication". Eventually I created two different realities. One is the physical world (in B&W) and one is the digital world - screens, digital chats, emojis - in color.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

We started our festival submissions lately and so far we had 8 official selections and 2 wins! The best feedback for me was the fact the people were laughing during the screening.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Some producers that saw the film told me I should try and make it as a feature film. That was the most inspiring feedback I got so far.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I am not showing my film yet so I guess this question doesn't apply to me...

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I would like people to smile, and laugh, and cuddle each other (and their pet too).

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Can we be cuddled through a screen?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

On my table right now I have three short films in various stages: Professional Cuddler is in distribution, Knockout—an indie film that I shot last summer—is now in post-production and Two is currently in development. Other than fiction films, the documentary project I have been working on for a while, AMiNORMAL, has recently received a considerable development grant from a prestigious fund in France, and we are aiming at an Israeli/French/German co-production.

Interview: November 2017

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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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Professional Cuddler

young Israeli man is about to meet his long-distance lover for the first time-- while pursuing his dreams in NYC playing the trumpet by day and working as a Professional Cuddler by night.

Length: 15.5 minutes.

Director: Mika Orr

Producer: Danae Grandison

Writer: Mika Orr & Miki Bencnaan

About the writer, director and producer:

Mika Orr, writer/director: An Israeli filmmaker, served as the lead cinematographer in the Air Force Film Unit, owns a production company in Tel Aviv - Mikooka Productions - now living in Brooklyn, working on 2 projects which received grants from governmental film funds in Israel and France. Www.MikaOrr.com

Miki Bencnaan, Co-writer

Miki Ben-Canaan is a writer, visual artist and Stage and costume designer. She is the author of two best selling books: "Grand Circus of Ideas" and "Mother of Wheat" .

Danae Grandison, producer: Jamaican born Danae Grandison is an award winning filmmaker. Her first directorial debut won the SVA 16 MM Sum’ ‘11 Audience award “Unconditional Love”.

Key cast: Itamar Borochov, Gloria Bess and Dana Ivey (The Addams Family, Home Alone 2)

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Producers, Film festival directors

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProfessionalCuddlerMovie/

Instagram: mikaorr1985

Where will the film screen in the next month?

We just wrapped up great few screenings in NYC. This month will screen in Gdansk, Warsaw, Katowice, Zielona Gora & other cities in POLAND, as part of the 26th Euroshorts Young Filmmakers Festival, from November 27 - December 3, 2017.

We will also have screenings in New Hampshire, Armenia and Romania.