Above star James Kelley, director Alicia Slimmer, stars Rachel de Benedet, Stef Dawson, and Giuliana Carullo of Creedmoria.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, get ready for the VOD release of Creedmoria on May 15th.
The 12-times winner festival film – Cinequest, Brooklyn Film Fest, Dances With Films, and more – Creedmoria stars Stef Dawson, ranked #1 by PEOPLE Magazine for Australia’s Best Up-and-Coming Actresses and one of the magazine’s “Ones to Watch.”
When we viewed the film at LA’s Dances with Films Festival, we were in love with this coming of age film with a stellar score, spot-on direction, and pitch perfect acting. Writer/director Alicia Slimmer has created something wonderful here, in the tale of growing up in a dysfunctional family – and coming not just of age, but into one’s own. Stef Dawson is about to be a breakout star, and her full-on inhabitation of lead Candy is absolutely riveting.
Rachel de Benedet plays the narcissistic and cruel mom, and her real life baby son is her grandson in the movie. While she jokes about how difficult it was not to cuddle her son on screen, her powerful portrayal of the mom is unforgettable. It’s a Mother’s Day cautionary tale.
Director Slimmer relates. “It took me awhile to make this film for a number of reasons. For one thing, I got pregnant, and had a baby. But really that got me thinking about how it was to be a mom, and the idea came to me of how to not be a mom, how do you survive a crazy family in a crazy time period.” Creating a period piece set in the early 80s wasn’t easy with a limited budget. “It was tricky. We couldn’t afford to have the street locked up. As to the period cars, I pimped up my best looking girl friend to go to car shows and ask people to show up on the set, and they did. And my wonderful costume designer, she just literally took people’s clothes, and shoes that she thought would fit. The house was my co-producer’s parents’ house. It was stuck in a time warp, we were just lucky.”
Slimmer has a fantastic score, “I used the score I wanted to use, and made the film I wanted to make,” she says.
She cast the production herself doing free online casting listings. “I knew Rachel already, and Stef sent out an amazing self-taped audition complete with 80s attire,” she relates.
Dawson, an Australian native, had never been to New York before. “I took my accent from watching a bit of The Nanny growing up, and that just stuck in my brain.”
Creedmoria is about growing up in Queens, the power of hope, and the craziness in one family set against the nearby state mental hospital, Creedmoor. Both funny and sad, don’t miss this one.
- Genie Davis; all photos: Jack Burke; poster courtesy of Creedmoria