FALLING SOUTH Makes TN Premiere In The Nashville Film Festival
By: Julie Musbach May. 10, 2018
Lorraine Portman, winner of The Paul Schrader Best Screenplay Award and Lois Weber Legacy Award honoree, will bring her award winning film FALLING SOUTH to The NASHVILLE Film Festival for a Tennessee premiere.
Lorraine was recognized with The Paul Schrader Best Screenplay Award during this year's Cayman International Film Festival for her screenplay THE KING'S INN. The award was presented by James V. Hart, who was presented with a lifetime achievement award the same evening for his work on HOOK, CONTACT, Bram Stoker'S DRACULA,
FALLING SOUTH premiered in the Cayman International Film Festival in July and has been playing festivals and winning awards nation wide. The filmmaker is bringing the film to The NASHVILLE Film Festival for a Tennessee premiere. The NASHVILLE Film Festival runs from May 10 to May 19.
NashFilm amplifies our collective and individual awareness by bringing the world to NASHVILLE to celebrate innovation, music and the many voices of the human spirit through the art of film. Founded in 1969 by Mary Jane Coleman, NashFilm was originally known as the Sinking Creek Film Celebration. Nearly 20 years later it was renamed the NASHVILLE Independent Film Festival and, later, the NASHVILLE Film Festival in 2003. It was voted one of "25 film festivals worth the entry fee" by MovieMaker Magazine and highlighted as One of the Best Film Festival Prizes by Film Festival Today. Brooks Institute named it one of the top 5 film festivals in the U.S.
Writer/Director/Producer Lorraine Portman will be in attendance during the festival. Lorraine Portman is an award winning Playwright, Screenwriter, and Filmmaker. She taught Playwriting and Screenwriting at Flagler College in Saint Augustine, Florida for ten years. She holds a B.A. in Theater from Smith College and M.F.A. in Film from Florida State University. Lorraine also attended the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. She has written and directed seven short films and a feature. Her screenplays have been placing in national and international competitions. She won BlueCat's Screenplay Live! Award in 2010.
Tennessee based cast member Ashley Larsen will also be in attendance. Ashley Larsen earned an MFA in acting and resides in Tennessee. On screen, she has acted in many independent movies from shorts to features, including FALLING SOUTH, She walks, ENTRANT, and ORDER. She also is a stage actress known for lead roles in Titanic: The Musical, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Rivals, and Singin' in The Rain. In addition to acting, Ashley co-wrote and produced indie feature She walks.
The cast of FALLING SOUTH is talent rich. Many of the actors have appeared in familiar television shows and movies. The film is the first starring role for lead actor Madeline Barr. She is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Experimental Theatre Wing. Madeline is the niece of Philip Seymour Hoffman. She followed in his footsteps, attending Tisch. He was a mentor and supportive of her training.
Other "Falling South" cast members include John Byner, Eric T. Miller, and Marlyn Mason. Marlyn is loved the world over by Elvis fans. She was Elvis' leading lady in "The Trouble with Girls." Marlyn has also appeared in most of our classic television shows: The Odd Couple, Marcus Welby, M.D., Barnaby Jones, Bonanza, and many more.
Comedy legend John Byner is a gifted comic impressionist. At his heyday in the late 60s and early 70s, John and Rich Little were the cream of the mimicking crop -- deservedly recognized as the "Men of 1,000 Impressions". John's TV career break happened in New York City on Merv Griffin's "Talent Scouts Show" in 1964. After great exposure on both Garry Moore and Steve Allen's variety shows in 1966 and 1967, he clowned around on Ed Sullivan's showcase program over two dozen times and Johnny Carson late-night haunt over three dozen times. He added to the laughs on Carol Burnett, Mike Douglas and Dean Martin's self-titled shows and became a veritable favorite with David Letterman and Jay Leno at night. He hosted and starred in his own summer variety series with The John Byner Comedy Hour (1972) which focused on sketch comedy and sitcom spoofs. John's series "Comedy on the Road," which aired for four seasons on A&E earned him his second Ace Award. The first came for his uproarious series Bizarre (1980), a half-hour sketch-styled program which aired for six seasons. As an actor John contributed side-splitting moments on such established 60s and 70s shows as "Get Smart", "Soap," "Maude" and "The Odd Couple" and made his film debut in the Barbra Streisand/'Ryan O'Neal' gagfest What's Up, Doc? (1972).
Eric T. Miller is a New York City based actor who often brings new plays to life and has appeared on a number of television shows: Person of Interest, The Black List, The Unusuals, Elementary, and Chicago P.D.
FALLING SOUTH is about a woman who puts Rochester in the rear view as she runs away from the life she has known. She has never been on her own and doesn't know if she'll make it as her resources are STRIPPED away. She meets diverse women who offer connection, insight, and laughter on the road to Florida and a possible new life.
The cast and crew represent a very diverse group of people, with women in many key positions. Director of Photography Diana Matos has solid credentials as a camera assistant on TV Shows, Younger, House of Cards, and Project Runway, major motion pictures, Ricki and the Flash, Ghostbusters, and more, and has been shooting indie movies as the head of the camera department. Diana has been based in New York City but recently moved back to her home town, Miami.
The cast and crew went on a two thousand mile road trip in October 2016 to make the film. They shot on location in Niagara Falls, Ontario; Rochester, New York; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Tennga, Georgia; Crescent City, Pomona Park, and Pierson, Florida. There are worlds in this film that have never been explored on screen before. Tennessee is vividly and beautifully portrayed in the film.
During the shoot, Hurricane Matthew hit Florida and the filmmakers returned to find locations with downed trees and homes without air conditioning and water.
FALLING SOUTH has been recognized with a number of awards including Best Overall Foreign Short, the Audience Choice Award for Short Film, Best Produced Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Short Film, Best Director, and the "Every Woman" Award for best film, short or feature, about women's experience.
Several of the actors have been recognized for their performances in the film. Marlyn Mason has been awarded Best Supporting Actor. Madeline Barr has twice been runner up for Best Actress and won Best Lead Actor in a Mini Feature at The Bare Bones Independent Film Festival.
Diana Matos' work as cinematographer has been recognized with a Best Cinematography award.
FALLING SOUTH will play in a program of Screenplay Cometition Winners on Thursday, May 17th at 5:45 pm. Regal Hollywood 27. 719 Thompson Lane. Theater 9.
Festival website:
https://nashvillefilmfestival.org
FALLING SOUTH tickets:
Falling South on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/fallingsouth/
FALLING SOUTH Trailer:
Falling South trailer from Lorraine Portman on Vimeo.
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