HATBOXES, a short film from Fernwork Productions, is launching an Indiegogo campaign to complete funding needs for the production of this 15-minute short narrative film.
HATBOXES is about two women from very different backgrounds who meet by chance, and it follows the chemistry that develops between them. Susana Darwin, writer and director, explained, "It's a lesbian love story, but the sense of struggle and longing will feel familiar to a lot of people."
The film will be shot in Andersonville late in June.
"Andersonville may seem like an obvious place to shoot a lesbian film, but we're planning to shoot in Andersonville because it's compact and features such a variety of looks, most of them beautiful, or at least arresting," Darwin said.
The film is being produced by Etta Worthington, who was one of the producers of Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together, and who produces and directs the web cooking show FOODGASM.
"What I like about this story is that it looks at a woman from a repressed community who has an encounter that really changes her life," Worthington said.
Starring in the film are two actresses who are veterans of the local theatre and independent film worlds. Robyn Okrant will play Miriam, an orthodox Jewish woman and mother. Playing Nadine, a Jewish lesbian lawyer quite disconnected from her heritage, is Kat O'Connor.
"We're delighted to have Robyn and Kat as our leads," Darwin said.
Darwin's career has taken her into book publishing, politics, and the law, but whose early passion for film has never left her. She has spent years working on the idea and the script.
"It's great to reconnect and partner with someone from my early days in publishing who is now a successful filmmaker," she said. "We look forward to releasing the film into the festival circuit later this year."
For more information about this film, visit www.hatboxesthemovie.com or email hatboxesthemovie@gmail.com . Information about the Indiegogo campaign can be found at www.indiegogo.com/hatboxes.
SYNOPSIS:
Nadine, a secular Jewish lesbian, meets Orthodox Miriam through Miriam's children. Nadine wants to cultivate her Jewish identity where Miriam is dealing with doubts about her place in the world in the wake of her husband's departure from both their household and Orthodoxy. The women's friendship grows as they spend time together, and chemistry between them takes weight. Miriam's estranged husband knows Nadine as a fellow lawyer and tries to steer Miriam, whom he perceives as unworldly, clear of Nadine. Miriam surprises him and Nadine both by filing for civil divorce. In the course of an evening observing the ritual at Sabbath's end, Nadine and Miriam confront the desire between them. Miriam is finally unwilling to depart so radically from her faith, community, family, and vision of her life, even though she remains aware of her feelings for Nadine.
Contact Etta Worthington 773-742-6914
