Check out the Fentress Winter Readings, a night of staged readings of new plays/films! We had over 100 live viewers for the premiere of our event, and we are so grateful to everyone who watched! If you didn't get a chance to see it live, it's okay because we have a permanent link where you can still check it out! The works performed include: Virtual Love in Lockdown: Episode 1 (written by: Samantha Bozin), I.F.S. (written by: Rosie Coursey), Three Strikes for Sadie (written by: Samantha Bozin), Book Club (written by: Matt Tierney), and Unlucky Lavender (written by: Samantha Bozin). Virtual Love in Lockdown (Episode 1): Written by: Samantha Bozin Directed by: Samantha Bozin Produced by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Anna Snapp & David Walton Rice I.F.S.: Written by: Rosie Coursey Directed by: Samantha Bozin Produced by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Thomas Shevela, Soda Persi, & Emma Foster Three Strikes for Sadie: Written by: Samantha Bozin Directed by: Samantha Bozin Produced by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Ali Moore, Rosie Coursey, Tiffany Sebastian, Annette Saunders, Blake Bozin, & Jackie Toop Book Club: Written by: Matt Tierney Directed by: Samantha Bozin Produced by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Margaret Camilletti, Daniela Herrera, & Brittany Herrera Unlucky Lavender: Written by: Samantha Bozin Directed by: Samantha Bozin Produced by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Saloni Nahar, Trey Plutnicki, Eduardo José Paco Mateo, & Jean Vavra Thanks again to everyone for the support! We are so grateful (and so are the actors).
If you are interested in writing a script for the Fentress Spring Readings OR if you are interested in acting in the Fentress Spring Readings, please reach out to us via email: fentressfilms@gmail.com! Cheers, Fentress Films Team
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Save the date! The Fentress Winter Readings is premiering on 02/20 at 7pmEST on YouTube and IGTV!
There will be 5 staged readings of new plays/films performed by 20 actors around the world! Check out I.F.S. (written by Rosie Coursey), Book Club (written by Matt Tierney), Virtual Love in Lockdown (written by Samantha Bozin), Three Strikes for Sadie (written by Samantha Bozin), and Unlucky Lavender (written by Samantha Bozin) featuring: Thomas Shevela, Soda Persi, Emma Foster, Margaret Camilletti, Daniela Herrera, Brittany Herrera, Anna Snapp, David Walton Rice, Ali Moore, Rosie Coursey, Tiffany Sebastian, Annette Saunders, Blake Bozin, Jackie Toop, Saloni Nahar, Trey Plutnicki, Eduardo José Paco Mateo, and Jean Vavra. Due to COVID-19, all performances will be virtual and we will be streaming on Youtube and Instagram at 7pm(ET). Please check back here, on our Instagram, or on our Facebook for the link to watch! We hope to see you there (virtually of course). Stay safe, Fentress Films Team We have exciting news!!! The Alpha Complex, a short screenplay written by Fentress Films Co-Founder, Samantha Bozin, has been selected for the Hollywood Art and Movie Awards in Los Angeles, CA! The Hollywood Art and Movie Awards organizers/panel includes: Billy Baldwin, Wendy Alane Wright, Jansen Panettiere, Molly Kasch, Richard Blake, Auregan, Charles Tentindo, Alyssa Morisson, and Matt Beurois. We are so honored and thrilled to have been selected to such a prestigious festival! It's finally time for the Fentress Film Fest 2021!
We are SO excited to get this festival started!! We are looking forward to recognizing hardworking filmmakers from all over the world who are creating art to change the world! The festival will be all this week, from January 4th-9th, 2021 and will be 100% virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the festival will be virtual, we will be hosting online events all week long so that the selected filmmakers can get to know each other, and so that the online community can engage with each filmmaker's work before the actual awards ceremony! If you want to watch the films or vote for the People's Choice Award, please go to: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fentressfilmfest Voting for the PCA will close on Friday (01/08) at 11:59pmEST, so make sure to cast your votes soon!! Our nomination ceremony will be on Friday (01/08) at 7:00pmEST, and then the awards ceremony will be on Saturday (01/09) at 5:00pmEST. If you're interest in finding out the winners of the festival, stay tuned for those videos, which will go live on our site at: https://www.fentressfilms.com/fentress-film-fest.html#/ Thanks so much for supporting the festival! Check out the Fentress Fanzine, our new magazine!
Our January 2021 edition (and the first edition EVER) came out today!! Woohoo! This edition of the magazine features 20 artists from all over the world: Alex Kesner, Iykechi McCoy, Matt Tierney, Stephanie Bolsher, Alfretz Costelo, Amber Janea, Jalen Martin, Anna Snapp, Aidan Martinez, Kunle Ulysses, Ali Moore, Katrina Montgomery, Maeve O'Haire, Roberto Herrera, Ellinor Olinder, Zoe Taylor, and Aubrey King. The magazine is available for purchase on our website as either a digital copy ($5) or a physical copy ($10). It is available to purchase worldwide. Thank you for supporting our small business! We hope you enjoy the magazine!
Calling all filmmakers!!
Today, 12/11/2020 is the final deadline to submit your films to the Fentress Film Fest! We only accept submissions via FilmFreeway (link to submit is below):
If you plan to submit or have already submitted to the fest, please stay tuned as our panel of judges score your film. We will be announcing our official selections on 12/21/2020.
We are looking forward to showcasing amazing films by artists all over the world! We hope you attend our virtual festival from 01/04/21-01/09/21! More info to come. Announcing the Fentress Fall Readings, a night of staged readings of new works written by women! Join us on Friday, November 20th at 7pm(ET) for this special one night event! The works to be performed include: Learning Unconditionality (written by: Heidi Eikenhorst & Samantha Bozin), Stuck in Nowheresville (written by: Heidi Eikenhorst & Samantha Bozin), The Alpha Complex (written by: Samantha Bozin), and Rufus Always Wins (written by: Samantha Bozin). Disclaimer: Only a selection of scenes from each play/film will be performed, but we hope to produce full-fledged productions of each piece of work in the future. Due to COVID-19, all performances will be virtual and we will be streaming on Youtube and Instagram at 7pm(ET). Please check back here, on our Instagram, or on our Facebook for the link to watch! We hope to see you there (virtually of course). Stay safe, Fentress Films Team Learning Unconditionality: Written by: Heidi Eikenhorst & Samantha Bozin Concept by: Heidi Eikenhorst Directed by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Iykechi McCoy & Fati Fernández M. Stuck in Nowheresville: Written by: Heidi Eikenhorst & Samantha Bozin Concept by: Heidi Eikenhorst Directed by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Sam Banigan, Astilia Chokanu-Wenholz, & Matt Tierney The Alpha Complex: Written by: Samantha Bozin Directed by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Aubrey King, Katherine Lieblang, and Osmar Martinez Rufus Always Wins: Written by: Samantha Bozin Directed by: Samantha Bozin & Miles Thompson Starring: Llogan Peters, Aidan Martinez, Kathryn Mayer, Kyra Chae, Tutu Moses, & Matt Tierney Check out the official poster to our new film, Dangerous Discourse!!!
The film was written by Miles Thompson and Samantha Bozin, directed by Samantha Bozin, and stars Aidan Martinez (known for Roadtrip-2020 and Silent Bark- preproduction), Candace Michelle (known for Bubblegum Girls-2017 and Gentrified-2019), and Matt Tierney (known for Hair- 2020 and Interabled-preproduction), with music by Brion Bowman. Since the US is at a crossroads with the upcoming election, we thought it would be the perfect time to create a film that talks about politics, and moreso, how young people in America deal with political discussions. Talking about politics is oftentimes very stressful and can cause rifts in relationships when people disagree. Learning how to have these intense political conversations is a right of passage in any young person's life. So... our film, Dangerous Discourse, explores exactly that! The film is about a group of friends in their 20's that are trying to navigate how to have political discussions without blowing up at the people they love when they disagree, as well as the value of learning to say "I was wrong". Not only is Dangerous Discourse incredibly relevant in regards to storyline, but it's also very unique because it was entirely rehearsed and filmed over Zoom!!! Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to create a film as safely as possible and we also wanted to give actors from all across the country the opportunity to create meaningful art during this uncertain and scary time. So, with over 900 submissions and 150 auditions for the film, we ended up hiring three actors and five crew members from all across the US! We are so incredibly excited to share our film with you, but for now, you can check out our official poster (above) and be on the lookout for the trailer, which will be dropping on Friday 09/25/20!!! Hey there!! Thanks for reading our newest blog post!!
As you may (or may not) know, our first film, Life in a Vial, was a huge success and a wonderful learning process for us. The film has been selected for SIX film festivals and has been a finalist in two film festivals!! And, we have raised over $300 in proceeds from the film to be donated to advocate for affordable insulin (SO SO awesome!!!) We also learned so much about what works and what doesn't work when it comes to filming/producing a film. And with that new knowledge... We have started filming our next film, titled: Putting Club. This film is part of our Fentress Fun Flicks series. It will be 30 minutes in length and in the style of Wes Anderson. We are so excited about this project and we can't wait to release the trailer soon!! Stay tuned and enjoy these BTS shots from the set of Putting Club. Hey there! Thanks for reading our 2nd blog post EVER!
Today, we will be discussing our new film, Life in a Vial, which is about type one diabetes and insulin affordability. First of all, thank you SO much to those of you who have already watched the film! And for those of you who don't know, the film debuted on 05/14/2020, and is available to rent or purchase WORLDWIDE on Vimeo! Woot woot! There is a small fee for watching the film; however, 90% of the proceeds from the film will be donated to insulin affordability advocacy! Now, back to the concept of the film! Life in a Vial was written and directed by Samantha Bozin, and is a very personal subject for her, since she has lived with type one diabetes for nearly 20 years!! While in college, studying to become a professional actor, Samantha had a t1d friend confide in her that she was rationing her insulin because it was too expensive. Samantha knew she had to help her friend, but she also knew she had to help with this issue on a larger level. So when she graduated from college, Samantha decided to bring her passion for theatre and her passion for diabetes advocacy together! So... Samantha wrote the script one night, called her mom, and started figuring out how to make her idea come to life! Then, she asked some of her friends and industry colleagues to help her out. She first reached out to Samantha Yestrebsky (NYC based actor, known for Mosaic). Both Sams went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where they became good friends. So, Samantha B. reached out to Samantha Y. to be part of the cast (because Sam Y. is an amazing actor and has a really strong craft!!!) Then, Samantha reached out to Leah Abigail Shifrel, whom she met on Instagram through Samantha's fashion blog (@samanthakstyles if you wanna check it out). Leah is also a type one diabetic, and has a diabetes blog (@theblondetype1). She is also going to school to become a professional actor. Samantha felt like even though she and Leah had never met in person, she needed Leah to part of the Life in a Vial cast. I mean, it was perfect... Leah was an actor AND a type one diabetic! Who better to represent this story authentically?! The only character left to cast was "Marcus", and Samantha decided to cast Miles Thompson (not only because he is her boyfriend, but because he has really shown an appreciation and interest in filmmaking). So, once the roles were cast, Samantha reached out to her friends, Kate Raridon and Sedariest Hammond, to help out with the crew, and they were so generous and supportive in agreeing to help! Once Samantha had the Life in a Vial team, she set up the shoot date and prepared for filming! And that's basically how Life in a Vial was born! And although the first part of the film is the dramatized tale of what happens when college student (Abigail) rations her insulin and winds up in the hospital, it is based off of true events and stories Samantha has heard on the news and from t1d friends who have shared their experiences with high insulin costs. The second part of the film is a documentary-style talk back, where the audience watches a montage of interviews Samantha conducted with people in the diabetes community. Each person shown in this part of the film has a very unique perspective and connection to the subject matter of the film, and if you are interested, you can watch each person's individual interview on Fentress Film's instagram (@fentressfilms). Then, in the last part of the film, writer and director, Samantha Bozin, speaks directly to the audience and addresses the need for affordable insulin. Now that you've heard all the nitty gritty details of the film, we hope you are intrigued enough to watch it! |
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