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curmudgeonly 70-year-old Israeli ballet master, a hunger develops within him. Ambitious and passionate, Manish is now determined to make it as a professional dancer, but the odds are stacked against him. A magical journey from the streets of Mumbai to the stages of New York.
A story of perseverance, rebellion, passion, family, culture, and an unlikely friendship – filmed in India, Israel, the U.K., and the U.S. and featuring music from legendary artist Jay Sean (@jaysean) and Anik Khan (@anikkhan_), and a score by Nainita Desai (@nainita_desai).
Call Me Dancer will make you want to jump up from your seat and, Yes, dance!
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A casting director gets hit with some bad news while helping her eccentric neighbor tape a Wheel of Fortune audition. Tensions are high, nerves are shot, and it’s awkward as hell.
Interview with Writer/Producer/Actor Thea Lux
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
With the pandemic affecting every aspect of film production, it became clear that self-producing was the most direct way to perform the roles we wanted to play. Making this film was a chance for us to bring back some of the creative momentum that the pandemic took from us.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because you're a comedy lover who relishes in uncomfortable situations, you seek out stories with flawed characters, and you are a champion of female-driven productions.
Wheel
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
We've got themes of betrayal, abandonment, distrust, anxiety, and how people handle stress under pressure. I swear it's a comedy.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Meeting regularly for writing sessions during the pandemic produced a 26-page script which… was financially daunting to shoot. Thankfully, within those 26 pages, we were able to hone in on what mattered most to us: the relationship between the two characters. We lifted a scene from our longer script and Wheel came into focus.
The character of Soph was originally supposed to receive career-shattering news about losing a directing job. After getting a few scripts notes about it being a little "inside baseball," a week before shooting we decided to make Soph's issue a little more universal and switched it to a family disagreement. Thankfully it's easier to memorize the dialogue you've written, because we were cutting it close!
Wheel
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The best kind of feedback for a comedy: laughter at all the right times. People have said they love the performances and enjoy how a scene that takes place in one room still feels cinematic.
Premiering at Dances with Films in NYC gave us an opportunity to hear an enthusiastic audience laugh out loud at what we'd written for the first time, which was so satisfying. Can't wait to see it on the big screen in front of more audiences.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We hoped that Wheel could serve as a cleansing breath, a distraction, or provide some respite from doom-scrolling. It's nice to hear from friends, programmers, and audiences that the film made them literally laugh out loud.
Wheel
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Work begets work. If the goal is to thrive (or merely survive) in this creative field it never hurts to get more eyes on our accomplishments.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At this stage, journalists and film festival directors.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We understand that a short comedy might not change the world per se, but we do feel that moments of levity are what help us survive, especially recently.
Also, you don't always see two women on screen being funny together. We were inspired by the recent influx of female-driven storylines and comedic writing partnerships like in PEN15 or Broad City. Funny people—who just happen to be women—are such a normal thing in my life, it shocks (and bores) me that society still needs to be convinced that women are funny.
Wheel
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Why aren't there more women comedy duos?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Our director just wrapped post-production on her latest short film and is submitting it to festivals, Nancy will appear in the upcoming Peacock series, Mrs. Davis, and Thea is writing her next short film (or two) to star in while taking Wheel to festivals.
Interview: February 2023
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
Wheel
A casting director gets hit with some bad news while helping her eccentric neighbor tape a Wheel of Fortune audition. Tensions are high, nerves are shot, and it’s awkward as hell.
Length: 9:14
Director: Honora Talbott
Producer: Thea Lux
Writer: Nancy Friedrich and Thea Lux
About the writer, director and producer:
HONORA TALBOTT is an award-winning writer and director who loves writing comedy about complicated female relationships and women who break out from social norms and create their own rules. Her films have streamed on Hulu and played at Oscar Qualifying festivals such as Tribeca, AFI Fest, Austin Film Festival, as well as and Dances with Films, and have been licensed by NBC News, Revry, and Gunpowder's sci-fi label, Dust.
NANCY FRIEDRICH is an LA-based actress. Some of her credits include Homecoming, PEN15, Another Period, Dr. Ken, The Connors, and Unplugging. In Chicago, she won a Jeff Award for supporting actress playing Mary Warren in the Crucible (2010) with Infamous Commonwealth Theatre and was nominated for Lead Actress in a play for Playing Jennifer in The Dastardly Ficus with Strange Tree Group. In the short film world, she co-starred and co-directed the short Nadine.
THEA LUX is a film grad of Columbia College Chicago, with a concentration in documentary. She's a founding member of the collaborative New Coordinates theater company in Chicago and co-created the cult hit, 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. She's written and/or directed branded videos for Groupon and SHE Media, and was also fortunate to work with her film idols by landing a role in the Coen Brothers' film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Key cast: Nancy Friedrich (Luise), Thea Lux (Soph)
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors and distributors
Instagram: @wheelthefilm
Funders: Seed&Spark
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Beaufort International Film Festival/Beaufort - February 23rd, 4PM
Mammoth Film Festival/Mammoth, CA - March 6, 11AM
Cinequest/San Jose, CA - Virtual/In-Person TBD
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Rom-com obsessed teen Christine has always longed for the picture-perfect romance... but she’s soon confronted with the fact that her ideal prince charming might actually be a princess charming instead.
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