The new short film ALBUM, written and directed by David Rimmer, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist long-running play, has been accepted into the NYC Independent Film Festival. The short will screen on Sunday, October 21st at 1pm at the Producer's Club, 358 West 44th Street in Manhattan.
The film is about how the decisions you make at age 18 affect the rest of your life. In 1967, that meant a young runaway couple, in love for the first time, faced with a choice: Canada or Vietnam. And now, in the present day, their own daughter runs away, and they're faced with another decision that will either bring them closer together or tear them apart.
The casting mirrors the film's story of generations connecting and re-connecting over the years. Glynnis O'Connor, an acclaimed and popular actress best known for Jeremy, Ode to Billie Joe, Our Town and The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, plays Trish, an adult single mother of today. Hannah Dunne plays Trish as a teenager on the brink of the new and changing world of 1967. Hannah is the daughter of
Griffin Dunne, who acted in an early production of the play in the 1970's.
Also in the ensemble cast are
Jim Fyfe (Dark Shadows,
Peter Jackson's The Frighteners), and talented newcomers Darryl Sorrentino, Mackenzie Lesser-Roy and Charlie Baker. The score of the film is a recording from 1967, "Rockport Sunday," by legendary folk writer and performer Tom Rush.
The source for the film, the play Album, opened at the Cherry Lane Theater in New York in 1980.
Frank Rich of The New York Times called it "An intimate and hilarious slice of truth… a comedy about sexual awakening… adolescent coming of age and the joys and pitfalls of young love." The play had a year's run Off-Broadway and received productions in many other cities (to this day it's still being performed all over the world). Many well-known young actors have appeared in Album, including
Kevin Bacon, Megan Mullaly,
Jennifer Grey,
Tracy Pollan,
Keith Gordon,
Jenny Wright,
Ally Sheedy,
Eric Stoltz,
Alan Ruck,
Sam Robards,
Adam Baldwin and
Brad Hall.
The film expands on the story of the play, taking the characters from 1967 to now. A full-length script was written soon after
Justin Boccitto and Group Theater Too revived the play in 2009. Boccitto, who serves as producer of the film, and
David Rimmer were struck by how enthusiastically young audiences responded to a play set in the 1960's, which clearly contains universal themes of the struggles of adolescence. They joined forces on the short film with Taylor Gentry, Director of Photography/Cameraman with many film and television credits-- and Rimmer's cousin.
The NYC Independent Film Festival strives to promote an open and nurturing environment for artists, writers, actors, filmmakers and fans, and focuses on offering great networking opportunities for its participants. This third annual film festival contributes to its tradition of promoting new and emerging voices in film, spoken word, and music.
Album shows on Sunday, October 21st at 1pm at the Producer's Club, 358 West 44th Street, New York City. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by visiting
www.nycindiefilmfest.com. For more information please visit
www.albumthefilm.com.
