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roguecinema.com :: View topic - Eve of Understanding DVD Release March 25th!
DEBUT AWARD-WINNING INDIE FEATURE RELEASED ON DVD BY VANGUARD CINEMA
Written and directed by Alyson Shelton and Produced by Jen Prince, Debut Feature
Captures One Woman’s Tragically Humorous Journey into Her Family’s Past
LOS ANGELES, CA – Vanguard Cinema releases Eve of Understanding on DVD
Tuesday, March 25, 2008. The film will be available for rental on Netflix, Hollywood
Video, Movie Gallery, and other independent video stores across the country.
Additionally, it is available for purchase on Amazon.com, Barnes N Noble, direct from
the filmmakers on their official site, and additional online outlets.
Jen Prince (producer) hails from San Antonio, a UT Austin alum whose Texas roots show
in the material she selects to produce. With an emphasis on regional filmmaking and
celebrating the creative talent and resources of Houston, Austin and Dallas, Jen returned
to Texas to shoot her debut feature Eve of Understanding. The film had it’s Texas
premiere at the inaugural AFI Dallas International Film Festival and was one of three
narrative films to receive recognition from the festival, bringing home a Special Jury
Prize in the Texas competition. Eve of Understanding recently garnered Best Feature
Film Awards at the Beverly Hills Hi-Def Film Festival and the Female Eye Festival in
Toronto, and lead actress Rebecca Lowman has been awarded Best Actress awards for
her breakthrough performance at three festivals. Writer/Director Alyson Shelton is an
alum of the Northwestern University programs in Theatre and Creative Writing for the
Media and Jen Prince and Alyson Shelton are graduates of the USC graduate film
program.
Written and Directed by Alyson Shelton and Produced by Jen Prince, Eve of
Understanding follows Donna, a woman trying her best to cope with her mother's recent
passing, which is made all the more complicated by the bad decisions Donna has made
in her own life. As she delivers the last notes and tokens there were left behind, Donna
finds she can no longer hide from herself. Rebecca Lowman's strong, finely textured
portrayal of a survivor anchors a film that is both hilarious and heartbreaking.
Eve of Understanding addresses the lies people tell themselves to survive and
how those lies imprint themselves on their loved ones - indelibly.
“I love the main character Donna,” expresses Shelton, “because she rushes
headlong through life unsure of her purpose, but with passion, and at the end it becomes
clear what her purpose was all along - to find herself. I think it's something we can all
identify with, but it's more than that. Donna's sent, by her deceased mother, to drop off
tokens to Eve's loved ones. A reverse scavenger hunt of sorts. We're captivated by the
twists and turns Eve creates from the grave. Eve couldn't truly love Donna in life, but in
death she gives Donna the gift of honesty and full disclosure.”
After their Midwest Premiere at the Waterfront Film Festival, the filmmakers received
letters from survivors expressing their gratitude for the film's honest treatment of the
aftermath of abuse. The haunting original score is by Peter Senchuk, a graduate of the
film scoring program at USC. Peter was named a Silver Medalist for
“Best Use of Music in a Feature Film” for the Eve of Understanding score at the Park
City Film Music Festival, Park City, Utah. It features vocals by Rebecca Lowman (DONNA).
Shelton wanted the score to have a confessional, intimate feel and chose to have the
actress actually sing on the score.
Eve of Understanding is a low-budget film following a unique process. In May
2005, Jen Prince, Alyson Shelton, Cody Shelton, Elizabeth Santoro, and Rebecca
Lowman set off from Los Angeles, CA in a cargo van and Alyson’s Honda Accord on a
3700 mile journey that would take them to Katy and Austin, Texas and Sedona, Arizona.
With an emphasis on encouraging regional filmmaking, additional cast and crew were
hired locally. “ Making Eve of Understanding independently with a core group of
collaborative filmmakers allowed us the freedom to follow Alyson Shelton's unique
structural vision and tackle some alternative content, “states producer Jen Prince.
“Alyson looks deeply into characters and trusts them, there is a raw and unflinching
quality to her voice that impresses audiences and draws them in. She is a writer/director
to watch.” Prince and Shelton are continuing their partnership beyond Eve of
Understanding and are in post production on an epidosic internet series they’ve created,
“Slug” and in development on their next feature and a documentary television pilot.
Mastered to HD with a 5.1 soundtrack, Eve of Understanding was awarded Best
Feature Film at the Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto, where it was the opening night
film. Eve of Understanding is also the winner, Best Feature Film at the Beverly Hills Hi-
Def Film Festival and was named one of the top ten finalists at the Fylmz competition in
Nashville. Rebecca Lowman was honored with Best Actress awards at the Boston Film
Festival, the Fylmz Film Festival Nashville, and the Breckenridge Film Festival in
Breckenridge, Colorado. The score was awarded a Silver Medal for Best Use of Music
in a Feature Film at the Park City Film Music Festival. The film has also previously
been exhibited at the Sedona International Film Festival, the MethodFest in Calabasas,
CA (where Rebecca Lowman was nominated for Best Actress), the Waterfront Film
Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan, Dances with Films in Los Angeles, the Rhode Island
International Film Festival, FAIF in Los Angeles, 28th Annual Festival of Women and
Cinema in Florence, Italy, the Southern Fried Flicks Film Festival in Georgia and has
upcoming screenings in Chicago, Florida, Wales and Spain.
Women filled many of the key crew positions: Producer, Director, Writer,
Cinematographer, 1st AD, Costume Designer, Sound Editors.
Alyson Shelton (writer/director/producer) earned a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois as well as Certificate in Creative Writing
for the Media. She earned her MFA in film production at the USC School of Cinematic
Arts. While there, Shelton worked on a number of short films, including In Search Of…
which she wrote and directed. Since film school Shelton served as an assistant to the
President of Gracie films, before moving on to produce shows for Fine Living Network
and Food Television.
Alyson and Jen have been writing online essays about independent feature filmmaking
based on their experiences with this film since 2004. They follow the entire process,
good and bad. They started the blog as a way to keep family and friends informed of
what they were doing and it became a resource and forum for other independent
filmmakers around the world doing the same thing, an exciting transformation.
http://www.openplanproductions.blogspot.com
In addition to the attached materials, the official website is a great online source for
information about the filmmakers and cast, the story, and previous press.
Http://www.EveOfUnderstanding.com
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