A New York City Story, Shot on 16Mm Film, About Love, Memory, and What It Means to Move Forward
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A film by Clayton Dean Smith | [email protected] | 917-304-1254 A New York City story, shot on 16mm film, about love, memory, and what it means to move forward. “A short… about a neighborhood that is disappearing, the Lower East Side. …Already some of the backdrops in the film have disappeared. …One of the last films processed at New York’s last film-processing laboratory.” “Capturing a Neighborhood’s Essence on Film, Before They Both Vanish,” The New York Times, July 19, 2015. offtrackbettythemovie.com Awards and Screenings Best Short: 2016 Brooklyn Film Festival Audience Award Official Selection: Brooklyn Film Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, Atlantic Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, Bend Film Festival, LA Indie Film Festival, Austin Film Festival Short Synopsis In an ever-changing corner of New York City, a longtime resident realizes she no longer recognizes the neighborhood she calls home. Facing an uncertain future, she is confronted by a young man with a direct link to her past. She is forced to ask: when is it right to hold on to what’s past, and when is it time to let go? Plot Synopsis Betty Kaminski has lived on New York City’s Lower East Side for forty years. Her days are solitary, spent between her walk-up apartment on Delancey Street and the nearby fabric store she inherited from her immigrant parents. Smoking at her apartment window, looking at the expanse of sky above the Williamsburg Bridge that will soon be filled with high-rise construction, Betty questions if she even recognizes the neighborhood she calls home. When she notices a young, curious man outside her building, she wonders why he is taking pictures of the shuttered storefront on the ground floor—once an Off Track Betting salon that she knew well. But Jason is there for his own reasons, and Betty will soon learn that he has a direct connection to her past. Jason breaks through Betty’s solitude just enough to remind her of a love she had long since put away, that ties her to the place she lives. As he pushes her to face her circumstances head on, she finds herself on the precipice of a decision that will determine the course of her life. offtrackbettythemovie.com Director’s Statement The Lower East Side has been my home for over fifteen years. It is an incredibly dynamic place, with people of many backgrounds living side-by- side, and where some of the oldest buildings in New York abut some of the newest. On my daily trek to the subway at Delancey and Essex Streets, I became fascinated with one, in particular: a humble, six-story apartment building with a faded and chipped 1970s Off Track Betting ad painted on its side. I began to wonder who lives there now, sitting at the window within that painted sign, watching over the transformation of the main intersection of the Lower East Side. Off Track Betty is that person’s story: a woman at a crossroads in the moment before everything changes around her. Betty’s quandary is one everyone can appreciate: how we best make decisions about our future when we are still holding on to what’s past. The film is my way of grappling with what it’s like to live in a place that never stops changing, and finding hope in the process. Director Clayton D. Smith, Actor Corwin Tuggles, and Cinematographer Giacomo Belletti offtrackbettythemovie.com The Demolition of our Locations Our locations on the Lower East Side began to be demolished and evicted of occupants within 48 hours of wrapping production, to accommodate new high-rise construction. As of now, nearly all of the film’s exterior and interior locations are now vacant, altered beyond recognition, or gone altogether. We are grateful to have captured these places on film. Their impermanence only highlights how important it is to acknowledge what we love while we have it— a central theme of our story. One of the Last Films Processed in NYC Off Track Betty was one of the last film projects ever to be processed in New York City, as Film Lab NY / Deluxe, the last remaining lab in New York, closed for business right after they developed our 16mm reels. We are proud of this distinction, as it dovetails perfectly with our story: celebrating what we have, even as we rapidly move forward. offtrackbettythemovie.com Key Crew Bios: CLAYTON DEAN SMITH (Writer/Director/Producer) Clayton Dean Smith is a New York-based writer-director and an actor in theater, film and television whose performances garner critical acclaim (The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Out NY). He has worked with directors including Neil Jordan, Louis C.K., Steve Buscemi, Griffin Dunne, Michael Showalter, Anne Bogart, Tim van Patten, Don Scardino, Jim McKay, Nicholas Martin, and Bob Krakower. In addition to his professional career, Clayton serves as a Vice Chair of Manhattan’s Community Board Five, and Chair of its Parks and Public Spaces Committee. Before moving to New York, Clayton worked in public health outreach in San Francisco. He hails from Kansas City, and now lives in East Harlem after 17 years on the Lower East Side. Off Track Betty is his directorial debut. GIACOMO BELLETTI (Cinematographer) Giacomo Belletti is a New York-based cinematographer with extensive experience in feature films, short films, documentaries, and more. In his home country of Italy, he studied Painting and Cinematic Lighting in Milan and shot his own fiction films while working as an ENG cameraman and editor for an Italian television network. He came to New York in 2004 and assisted on the Academy Award-nominated film The Savages (shot by Mott Hupfel). Belletti has since served as DP on more than twenty-five independent features, shorts and documentaries, including Kent Moran’s The Challenger (Best Feature Film, Palm Beach Intl Film Festival 2015; Grand Prize, Rhode Island Intl Film Festival 2015); My First Kiss and the People Involved (L.A. Film Festival, Official Selection 2016); and Contest, with Katherine McNamara. He dedicates himself to shooting projects that tell a good story. BROOKS LARSEN (Editor) Brooks Larsen entered the film industry working in post-production on a major studio movie with award-winning director Wayne Wang. He has since worked with exceptional talents on television movies, series, feature films, commercials, and more, with over a decade of filmmaking experience with more than 25 credits in editing and assistant editing to his name, including Factory Girl, Foxcatcher, The Mississippi Grind, and The Adderall Diaries. ANDREW FRANCIS (Film Colorist) Andrew Francis is a highly acclaimed digital and film colorist with Sixteen19 whose credits include Becoming Mike Nichols, Looper, A Walk in the Woods, The Help, Carrie, Expecting, The Avengers, Men in Black 3, and Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life, among many others. offtrackbettythemovie.com HUMBERTO CORTE (Sound Designer) Humberto Corte is an award-winning sound designer based in Vancouver, Canada, who started his career in post-production working in commercials and television in Mexico City. He is the founder of Parlante Sound, a full-service sound post-production studio for film and television. He is a 2015 Leo Award Winner for Sound Design for Grace: The Possession. MICHAEL HARREN (Composer) Brooklyn-based composer and performer Michael Harren combines elements of classical composition with experimental electronics and storytelling to create hypnotic and boldly intimate work. He has toured as pianist with Sandra Bernhard, is the musical director for Cabaret for a Cause, and has performed at Dixon Place, (le) poisson rouge, Joe’s Pub, Judson Memorial Church, Manhattan Theater Source, The Duplex, Don’t Tell Mama, The Laurie Beechman Theater and numerous venues around the country. LIZ ORTIZ-MACKES (Producer and Casting Director) Liz Ortiz-Mackes is an Independent Film Producer, the owner of I Ain’t Playin’ Films, and a native New Yorker and first generation daughter of Colombian and Panamanian parents. She is also an acclaimed Casting Director for projects which have screened at film festivals including Sundance, Toronto, Palm Springs, HBO Latino, Urban World, Slam Dance, Berlin, Hamptons, South Africa, Costa Rica, and Martha’s Vineyard, among others; and have aired on HBO, Showtime and Cinemax. Her current projects include the feature- length documentary Re-Walk-Me, A Woman’s Journey to Walk Again (Executive Producer), and Advantageous (Co-Producer and Casting Director), starring Ken Jeong and BAFTA-winner Jennifer Ehle. Recent projects include Lost Revolution, with Oscar-winner Melissa Leo and Aaron Stanton; and official Sundance selections The Bravest, The Boldest; Crazy Beats Strong Every Time and Pop Foul, all by acclaimed director Moon Molson. Liz is the author of the highly acclaimed book “Ace Your Acting Audition” and is currently on the faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York Film Academy, and conducts monthly workshops for the SAG/AFTRA Foundation. offtrackbettythemovie.com Key Cast Bios: DIANE CIESLA (Betty Kaminski) Diane Ciesla, a native of Chicago, began her career in productions at the Goodman Theater, Illinois Theater Center, Chicago Shakespeare in the Park, Marriott Theatre and Pheasant Run. She recently appeared in the films 5 Flights Up (with Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton) and Fits And Starts (with Wyatt Cenac and Greta Lee, directed by Laura Terruso), as well as the new TBS series “Search Party” (with Alia Shawkat). Film/TV: Another Earth (Special Jury Prize: Sundance Film Festival 2011), Inside You, The Foxy Merkins (2014 Sundance Finalist), Under New Management, Autumn Whispers, People We Meet, “Difficult People,” “Royal Pains,” “Lipstick Jungle”, “Law & Order,” “Lipstick Jungle.” Selected Theater: Jon Fosse’s deathvariations (59E59), No Time For Comedy (Mint Theatre), Great Expectations (Lucille Nortel), The Bird Sanctuary (Pittsburgh Public & Alabama Shakespeare with Elizabeth Franz and Hayley Mills), String of Pearls (PlayMakers), Mount Allegro (GeVa Theatre), Splitting Infinity (Hartford Stage), Lost in Yonkers (Tour/Emanuel Azenberg, Producer).