Jamie and Jessie are Not Together is a locally shot lesbian movie that Wendy Jo Carlton (director of Hannah Free with Sharon Gless) wrote and directed. It stars Jacqui Jackson, Jessica London-Shields, Fawzia Mirza and asks "Have you ever fallen in love with your best friend?"
London-Shields recently won the Best Actress Jury Award from the Asheville QFest in North Carolina for her role in this film. "I was really excited and surprised. I wasn't really expecting to win anything myself ... and I think it's very cool," said London-Shields. London-Shields said that for her character, Jessie, "the story is really about her relationship with Jamie and trying to wean herself off of this dependent relationship that really isn't as equal as it should be. She is figuring out her own self-worth."
Jackson had a different take on the film. She said, "It's about two queer women who live together. One of them, Jessie, is in love with the other Jamie, which was my role. Jamie has no clue about this. ... It circulates around their relationship and how Jessie tries to move on and reconcile her feelings. ... It's a complicated not-really-love story."
"It's a feature length lesbian romantic comedy with musical numbers. It a really fun film that talks about what real lesbian relationships can be like," said Mirza.
As for shooting the film in Chicago, all three actresses said they really enjoyed it. They shot scenes in some very familiar places, including New Wave Coffee, where London-Shields also works, as well as the queer-owned establishments Parlour on Clark and Women and Children First Bookstore. The guerrilla style of shooting—using locations that they could get for free—lent the film a gritty and cool look, according to London-Shields. "It's such a beautiful city to capture on film ... and, for [the director], this film is an homage to the city she has fallen in love with," said Mirza.
This wasn't the first time that Jackson worked on a film that Carlton directed. She played Greta, the great-granddaughter of Sharon Gless' character, Hannah, in Hannah Free (shot in Chicago in 2008). Teaming again was a natural fit for the two. Last year Jackson and Carlton attended the DVD release party for Hannah Free; the event happened to be on the same day as the Dyke March. Jackson got a call from her friend, London-Shields, who was heading to the march so the three women decided to go together. "At the Dyke March, Carlton saw the two of us and decided that our relationship as friends looks from a distance as though we were together as a couple. This inspired Carlton to write Jamie and Jessie and cast us in it," said Jackson. Mirza got cast, she said, when someone recommended her for the part, adding that it was great to play a character that wasn't based on her ethnicity.
The response to the film has been very positive at all of the festival screenings the actors have attended. When London-Shields went to the Seattle screening, she ran into some familiar faces in the crowd. The online reviews have generated a lot of excitement surrounding the film, according to Jackson. At the Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival a couple of weeks ago, which Mirza attended, about 700 men and women came to the screening.
All three performers have done stage work here in Chicago at a variety of theaters. In one play London-Shields was required to cut her hair really short and in MilkMilkLemonade she played a boy named Elliot. As for Jackson, she also was featured in the movie Perhaps, Somewhere in the role of Maya. Mirza has been busy with many other films, including Promised Land and 9/12 as well as the theater production Scorched, with the Silk Road Theater Project.
What does the future hold for their careers? London-Shields sees herself doing a mixture of theater and film here in Chicago while Jackson, who has since moved to New York City, would love to continue working in queer cinema while also taking advantage of the theater opportunities in her new city. In Mirza's case she just sees her career heading wherever it's meant to go, however, she does see herself creating more of her own stories and being a part of other people's productions just as long as they are real, honest and grounded.
Parlour on Clark held a party Oct. 20 to celebrate the film, and London-Shields, Mirza and Carlton were in attendance. The film's premiere will take place at the Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., on Friday, Oct. 28, and will run through Nov. 3. On Oct. 28 the cast will be at the 8:15 p.m. showing; an after-party will take place at Downtown Bar, 440 N. State St. For more information and to buy tickets visit http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/content/weeklong-runs-special-events.
To find out more about the film visit www.jamieandjessie.com . To like the Facebook fan page, visit www.facebook.com/jamiejessiemovie.
