gws press packet

8/3/2019 GWS Press Packet

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Girls Who Smoke

WWW.GIRLSWHOSMOKEMOVIE.COM [email protected]

based on a story told at The Moth,later played on This American Life

now a short film

Tag Line:

Bad boyfriends. Bad habits.

One Sentence Synopsis:

GIRLS WHO SMOKE is adapted from a Moth story that played on public radio’s This American Life and is about two women, both with bad boyfriends and bad habits, who connect over a pack of cigarettes.



Girls Who Smoke


CAST

Kristin Taylor as Jenny/Narrator Kristin is a graduate of the Actors Studio Drama School at

the New School University. She is a lifetime member of The

Actors Studio where she's had the good fortune to performwith Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei in Salome, directed by

Estelle Parsons. Other memorable projects included

Camino Real directed by Stephen Lang with Eli Wallachand Three Sisters with Dianne Wiest, directed by OlegTabakov of the Moscow Art Theater. She has worked in film

in both Los Angeles and New York and met Tawny through

Adrienne Weiss’s Directing Actors workshop.

www.imdb.com/name/nm1177435/resume

Loren Lockwood as FriendLoren is a native New Yorker. She started studying acting a

a child at Herbert Bergoff Studios, and again as an adult withHerbert himself. She also studied for 8 years at theStrassberg Institute, and with various private coaches.

Throughout her twenties she worked in theater and film, and

also was a personal assistant to actor Harvey Keitel for 10years. Now Loren is mother to a 7 year old and has been

returning to the acting scene. Tawny met her in Adrienne

Weiss’s Directing Actors workshop. Recently Loren was in

(producer) Laurie Rud’s short film, Misguided.

Jose Restrepo as Jenny’s Boyfriend

Jose is a graduate and company member of the American

Academy of Dramatic Arts/West as well as an alumnus of thprofessional dance-training program at the EDGE performing Arts Center in Hollywood, CA. Jose has been making a livin

as a working actor for the last 20 years, primarily on the stagIn 2007 he was in the Broadway production of Grease. He is

very active as a teacher and activist. He has taught

Shakespeare at the Public Theater and is a member of R.Evolucion Latina and active supporter of BroadwayCares/Equity Fights Aids.

http://web.me.com/joserestrepo

Eric Gunther as Friend’s BoyfriendEric and (Director) Tawny have remained friends in the many

years since they both attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/West. Eric has worked in independent cinema

as an actor and is also a fine artist. He had roles in the featuLansdown, and in the short, Allure. He now wears many hat

amongst them is being father to a beautiful 11 year old girl.



Girls Who Smoke


Story by Jenifer Hixson

Jenifer Hixson is a senior producer at The Moth; a storytelling organization that began in New York in 1997.Hugely successful from the start, it now exists in 4 cities, has worldwide tours, and has expanded to public

radio where Jenifer can also be heard hosting The Moth Radio Hour on NPR. In 2003 she told her story titled“Where There’s Smoke” live at The Moth Main Stage. In 2009 it was re-played on This American Life. Itcurrently exists on “The Best of The Moth” CD and recently got added to The Moth’s You Tube channel.

www.themoth.org

Co-Screenwriter Gordon Farrell Gordon is a playwright, screenwriter, and video game designer. He has directed theatre in San Francisco andNew York, holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and has been on the faculty of NYU's Tisch Schoolof the Arts for almost 20 years. Plays he has written have been presented at Primary Stages and the 13th

Street Repertory Theater in New York, the Yale School of Drama, Tour de Force and William Shakespeare &

Friends in San Francisco, and The Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo. He was also on the team that created the

Empire Earth video game franchise. He has written and sold several feature screenplays.

Editor Jef Taylor Jef Taylor is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker whose work has screened at festivals worldwide; including

Sundance, Nashville, and Sao Paulo. He received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Directing atVisionFest NY for his short film, Coverage, and was named Best Editor as a graduate student at the Savannah

College of Art and Design. Most recently, his short film After You Left screened as an Official Selection at the2011 Sundance Film Festival and was named Best Dramatic Short at the Detroit Windsor International FilmFestival. Jef works as a freelance editor, and is a co-founder of Leaky Tent Collective: www.leakytent.com

Director & (co) writer/editor/producer

Tawny Foskett

Tawny began in the arts as an actress and dancer. In 1999 she

began her “behind the scenes studies” by co-producing a one-woman show by Kara Sachs in New York City. She has alsoworked in theater as a director, director’s assistant, and as a

stage manager. She graduated with a BA in theatre arts and film

in 2005 from Humboldt State University. In 2006 she earned apostgraduate diploma from Victorian College of the Arts, School

of Film and Television, University of Melbourne. She relocated tNew York City in 2007 where she’s since worked freelance in

many production and post-production capacities, including for Jasmine Dellal’s documentary “Gypsy Cavaran” and teaching

media to high school students through Wingspan Arts and

Educational Video Center. Since 2012 she has been a theater manager of cinemas: first at The Picture House in Pelham, NY

and currently at The Beekman Theatre on Manhattan’s upper

east side. She assistant organizes and co-produces the podcasThe Script, for the NYC Screenwriter’s Collective. She has

directed 6 short films to date.



Girls Who Smoke


Blue Turn Productions / The Auteur Tribe / Kipany PicturesBlue Turn Productions is the collaboration of producers Laurie Rud & Quan Robinson.

The Auteur Tribe was founded by Tawny Foskett in 2010 and produces and collaborates in the making of

media and art that is off the beaten path. We are filmmakers, playwrights, actors, dancers, sculptors, paintersand more. We are a community of artists who collaborate on projects we’re inspired by and we have a strong,

visionary authorship of the projects we initiate. www.TheAuteurTribe.com/about

In 2009, Kipany Productions launched Kipany Pictures, a commercial and film specific division, as a natura

compliment to their already existing production enterprise. Kipany Pictures boasts an international roster of to

creative talent along with a roster of cutting edge emerging talent. www.kipanypictures.com

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT Girls Who Smoke is a fifteen-minute short film adapted from a true story told live at The Moth, and later heardon This American Life. Shot over three days at the current beach home of Jenifer Hixson (Story) in AsburyPark, NJ, it has a slice-of-life, realistic feel. With two female leads, it is a simple story, essentially a long walk

home by our main character, Jenny, and set against the background of domestic abuse, the working class andsmall town America. Girls Who Smoke is also about how a stranger can bring about a sudden sense of self-

discovery and inspire a life change.

Producer Laurie Rud (Blue Turn Productions) Laurie is a New York based producer and filmmaker. She

studied theatre at the University of Minnesota and acting at

the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood and

has always been active in the arts. While living in London,Laurie received a Producer’s Diploma from Raindance UK in2008. Since then, she has been producing her own short

films and working with various filmmakers. In addition toproducing and directing for the 48 Hour Film Project, Laurie

produced an NYU short film “200 Years of Stink-Eye,” andhas been a UPM for a London Film School thesis film called

“Eat Meat” and the feature “Pacing the Cage.” Laurie ispassionate about helping artists see their vision come to life

and her managerial background makes her an effective and

motivational creative producer. She is currently developing afeature about breaking down marriage bars for women durin

World War II England. Producer Quan Robinson (Blue Turn Prod.)Quan is a filmmaker who received his BFA in Professional Acting at East Carolina University where he also studied

Production and was a Production Stage Manager for East

Carolina Loessin Playhouse. Since living in New York hehas been producing, directing, writing, and collaborating

with other filmmakers. He was the Executive Producer for the short film, Deloraine Dinner Date. He was also theProducer on two 48 Hour Film Projects, and has directed

for the short new-media series, Wacky Willy . He is currently

working on a new draft of his feature script, This Life I Lead .



Girls Who Smoke


Composer Lucas Van LentenLucas Van Lenten has been scoring music for Film and TV for over 10 years. He currently owns and operatesSound Collective, a music production company specializing in original, compelling music for Commercials,

Broadcast, Film, Interactive and Gaming. His work has been heard on commercials for BMW, Staples, LG,Nextel, Cartoon Network and countless others. He recently composed music for the Matthew Modine film

Jesus was A Commie, which won the Founder's Prize for Best Short Film at the Traverse City Film Festival. Hlives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and 2 kids and is finishing work on his second solo album. Music by Lila NelsonLila is a Northern California based musician that Tawny has been collaborating with since 2002. She regularlytours the US and has a new album coming out. Check her out at http://www.lilanelson.org

Director of Photography Sanne KurzWith 15 years of experience as a cinematographer, Sanne

has shot in Africa, Israel, the US, Europe and Australia.

Sanne's experience ranges from feature films todocumentary, award-winning commercials, clips andexperimental projects. With a professional command of

numerous shooting formats she has shot S35/35, S16/16,various HD formats, as well as using S8, wind-up and hand-

crank cameras. She has a solid background shooting on theRED as well as on DSLR cameras, like her own Canon 5D.

She has been fortunate enough to work alongside manyinternational DP's - including Vilmosz Zsigmond and Laszlo

Kovacs. She has won several awards including the 2009

National Competition for (Female) Directors of Photography Narrative Film category (Germany) for her work on “1,2,3”. I2005 she won a Spotlight award for her Bayer: “Lefax ”

commercial. The short documentary, “Himmelfilm”, (S35mm

which she shot and co-directed, played at Cannes in 2004and had a theatrical release in The Netherlands, Belgium an

Germany. She worked on Cheryl Dunye’s upcoming:“Mommy is Coming ”. This is her 2nd collaboration with TawnFoskett, having shot her graduate narrative film, “Whole

Pieces”, (S16mm) in 2006 in Australia. www.sannekurz.com

Art Director Irina ArnautIrina is a professional fine artist who received her

undergraduate degree in Studio Art from NYU and currentl

is getting her MFA in Film/Video from Bard. Irina helps torun a gallery and also works as an artist-assistant for a Ne

York City based painter. While in school she often added

short films to her repertoire and in 2010 her experimentalshort, Three More Weekends played at Anthology Film

Archives. She has recently completed a feature scripttitled, A Moment Ago.



Girls Who Smoke


FILM FESTIVALS/SCREENINGS:

2012:

Big Apple Film FestivalSandpoint Short Film Festival

Bluestockings Film SeriesGoldstockings (best of Bluestockings)

The Picture House20 Min Max

Ohio Independent Film FestivalSarasota Film Festival

Through Women’s EyesGarden State Film Festival

2013:

International Festival of Cinema and WomenRomania International Film Festival

Coney Island Film FestivalPittsburgh Independent Film Festival

Victoria Film FestivalLove, Actually

The Hopeful Story Film Festival

2014:

Post Alley Film Festival

PRESS: http://gswpress.blogspot.com/

INFO

TRT 14:55 ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

Original Aspect Ratio: 1:1,77 - Screening copy also available in 1:1,85ORIGINAL MEDIUM: Canon 5D

SCREENING FORMATS: HD CAM, Digi Beta, Uncompressed QuickTime, DVD

FILMING LOCATION: Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA

COMPLETED: January 2012DISTRIBUTOR: Drama Club Films (www.dramaclubfilms.com)

CAST & CREWBLUE TURN PRODUCTIONS, KIPANY PICTURES, and THE AUTEUR TRIBE

Present

KRISTIN TAYLOR, LOREN LOCKWOOD

JOSE RESTREPO and ERIC GUNTHER in“GIRLS WHO SMOKE”

director of photography SANNE KURZ, art director IRINA ARNAUT,editor JEF TAYLOR, sound design, edit & mix MATT BROADFOOT

composer LUCAS VAN LENTEN, additional music LILA NELSONtrailer music: SAM PACETTI, BRIAN DAVID BAND

produced by LAURIE RUD and QUAN ROBINSON

screenplay by GORDON FARRELL and TAWNY FOSKETTbased on a story by JENIFER HIXSON

directed by TAWNY FOSKETT

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