SHOWING NIGHT 1 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 7:30PM TOWERS CINEMA IT HAPPENED IN HAVANA: A YIDDISH LOVE STORY He didn’t speak Spanish. She didn’t speak English. After 61 years of marriage he was still on his honeymoon. In Forest Hills, Queens, a couple sits on their living room couch as the husband and wife each recount how they met in Cuba during the start of WWII. In her cinematic debut, filmmaker Judy Schiller takes the viewer on two journeys: her mother’s, from Poland to Cuba, where she and her family were the only Jews in their town; and her father’s beginning on New York’s Lower East Side, where the street was the playground. PRODUCED AND DIRECTED by Judy Schiller WRITTEN by Judy Schiller INTERVIEW WITH JUDY SCHILLER What was the hardest part about making this film? The hardest part of making this film was coming up with a title. There were many and it kept changing. I had no idea it would be so hard. Finally, I asked all my friends to suggest a title and I took 2 suggestions and merged them into one. What inspired you to tackle this subject? I made this film after seeing Martin Scorsese’s documentary “Italian American” at the Film Forum in 2005. We are both from the Lower East Side and after reading what he wrote about the process and how it helped his creativity, I decided to make a film about my parents as well. I have invited him to every screening but he hasn’t shown yet. Maybe he will come. What did you find most rewarding about the experience? I love it when people laugh during the film. Being able to make people laugh is the best gift ever. What do you hope to achieve with this film? We go to the movies to laugh, to cry and to learn more. This is my first film. Hopefully, I have achieved my goal that when you see it, you will do at least one of those 3 things. What’s next for you? I am writing a script for my first feature film. There also may be another documentary in the works involving a famous photographer. MY NAME IS OSCAR On the Friday before Academy Awards Sunday, in his bathroom in Los Angeles, a disgruntled actor rehearses the Oscar acceptance speech he will never get to give. WRITTEN by and STARRING David Little DIRECTED by Susan Einhorn and Robert Clem PRODUCED by One State Films and Berme Road Productions INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LITTLE What was the hardest part about making this film? The initial challenge was that I wrote and performed this piece first as a play commissioned for a short play festival several years ago and at that time had not thought of turning it into a film. Thus, once the idea came to me, there were certain technical issues that had to be solved. Onstage, I was facing an invisible audience as if they were the mirror I was looking at and speaking to. The sink was a stage prop with no running water, no actual mirror, and was not in a representation of a real bathroom. For the film shoot, we were in a real bathroom in upstate New York, though the film is set in Los Angeles. There was also a concern about not seeing the camera in the mirror, but the cinematographer made it work. What inspired you to tackle this subject? The short play festival was entitled “The Movie Plays” and the content had to be about watching, talking about, or being in a movie. I am married to the director Susan Einhorn (co-director and co-producer of the film) and we have collaborated on many projects in our careers. She was the Artistic Director of “The Movie Plays” festival and gave me the idea about a disgruntled and cynical actor rehearsing an Oscar acceptance speech into his toothbrush MY NAME IS OSCAR and bathroom mirror the weekend of the Academy Awards. Since Susan knows my work as both an actor (she has directed me in several major roles Off-Broadway) and a writer, she often inspires me with ideas and suggestions and “My Name is Oscar” turned out to be one of our most rewarding joint efforts. What did you find most rewarding about the experience? The audience reaction to the piece. Watching the play and the film, audiences laugh and then are very moved. The film has been accepted into several festivals in the US and internationally, most notably in the New York Independent Film Festival in Manhattan. We are delighted to be sharing it with audiences in the upcoming Short Film Festival at North Shore Towers. Additionally, “My Name is Oscar” is a story about an actor. I have never played an actor in my lengthy career onstage, in film or television. It was a unique and fascinating experience. What do you hope to achieve with this film? The impetus to continue writing more screenplays and to try my hand at writing a play, with challenging roles for myself and for Susan to direct. What’s next for you? I write every day. Each day is a “next step.” My next professional job will be an HBO movie “Wizard of Lies” with Robert deNiro as Bernie Madoff and Barry Levinson directing. I will be playing the attorney Irving Picard. OMG After a monster fight with her parents over her texting habit, 14 year old Kaylee runs away to her understanding grandma’s house. All is going well until Kaylee’s cell phone battery runs out. DIRECTED by Siobhan Devine WRITTEN by Roslyn Muir PRODUCED by Lucy MacLeod, Woojo Jeon, Siobhan Devine, Roslyn Muir STARRING Gabrielle Rose (G’ma); Matreya Fedor (Kaylee) and Loretta Walsh (Mom) INTERVIEW WITH SIOBHAN DEVINE What was the hardest part about making this film? Making any film is hard! It’s a miracle any get made at all. We didn’t have any huge stumbling blocks, other than financing it. It’s really a moment where the stars align and everyone is on board and enthusiastic about the project. Knowing you have the best cast possible and a great crew overshadows the problems that arise in production. What inspired you to tackle this subject? I was inspired by the writer, Roslyn Muir, and her funny take on a true story of her conflict with her daughter over her cell phone use. Having (younger) daughters myself I could see the future for me and the cell phone wars other parents go through. As a former North Shore Towers Courier n September 2015 13 OMG IT HAPPENED IN HAVANA
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