From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie … · From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie...

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The CIFF DAY 6 / MONDAY / 3.24.2014 From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie about Death J oshua Shreve was shooting a horror movie when producer Molly Mayeux sent him a script to review. “When I read the script, I really liked the idea of doing something challenging and completely different,” he says. So he took on “Chasing Ghosts,” a family- friendly drama/comedy. Shreve, a filmmaker based in Nashville,Tennessee, via Sweden and Tulsa, Oklahoma, always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker since childhood. “I used to get my friends together and make little movies,” he says. Although Shreve is no longer a kid making movies, 11-year-old Lucas (Toby Nichols), the film’s main character, is. He’s a young filmmaker obsessed with death. “The character Lucas is starting to go down a dark path,” says Shreve. “He has lost his brother, and the family is broken.” A challenging role for a child actor, but Shreve said Nichols fit the bill perfectly. “I wanted someone who could portray this closed-off side, but also show a sense of vulnerability,” he says. “Toby was the right person for the job.” Producer Mayeux agrees: “We all knew this kid had something special and that he was Lucas.” Also cast in the film is Tim Meadows, who many may recognize from “Saturday Night Live.” Although Meadows is known for comedy, Shreve had a gut feeling that he would be perfect for the role of Chris Brighton, who befriends Lucas. “From the very first moment I read the script, I saw him [Meadows] playing the part in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Shreve says. Meadows was sent the script and accepted the part. He told the filmmakers “that he read it [the script] three times and cried every time.” If you think that “Chasing Ghosts,” which is premiering at the Cleveland International Film Festival, is just about death and dying, you’re dead wrong, say the filmmakers. “It’s funny, touching, a little bit mysterious and has a lot of heart,” says Shreve. If you’re like Lucas and recently lost a loved one, “this is a perfect film to watch,” says Mayeux. “I’d be really honored if a family coping with grief watches our movie and is uplifted in some way. After all, the film is about learning to live life again to its fullest.” —Anne M. DiTeodoro Josh Shreve (left), director, and Molly Mayeux, producer, have both been involved in movies for years. Both are looking forward to their film’s Cleveland screening. CHASING GHOSTS is playing today at 8:30 p.m. SHOWING TODAY DAY AT CIFF ALL FILMS FREE! “For the past 38 years, the Cleveland International Film Festival has had so much to celebrate, including our long-term support from the Cleveland Foundation. To now be celebrating the Foundation’s centennial, with its March gift of a free day at the Festival, is one of the greatest thrills in the history of our organization. This year our Festival is ‘the home for stories’ and we cannot wait to welcome everyone so they can experience and create their own stories.” —Marcie Goodman, CIFF Executive Director TOP: Becca Roth, director of “One: A Story of Love and Equality,” receives the Focus on Filmmakers Award from Mallory Martin and Bill Guentzler. BOTTOM: Nick Hudson came with his dad, Jamie, to see some short films. He first attended the festival last year when he saw the film “Magic Camp.” It will bring you right to Tower City on many of its bus lines and all of its Rapid Transit trains. Visit www.rideRTA.com or call the RTAnswerline at 216-621-9500 for more information. Ride the RTA! Photos: Laura Watilo Blake

Transcript of From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie … · From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie...

Page 1: From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie … · From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie about Death J ... A challenging role for a child actor, ... three times and cried every

The CIFF DAY 6 / MONDAY / 3.24.2014

From Tragedy Comes Hope: An Uplifting Movie about Death

Joshua Shreve was shooting a horror movie when producer Molly Mayeux sent him a script to review.

“When I read the script, I really liked the idea of doing something challenging and completely different,” he says.

So he took on “Chasing Ghosts,” a family-friendly drama/comedy. Shreve, a filmmaker based in Nashville, Tennessee, via Sweden and Tulsa, Oklahoma, always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker since childhood.

“I used to get my friends together and make little movies,” he says.

Although Shreve is no longer a kid making movies, 11-year-old Lucas (Toby Nichols), the film’s main character, is. He’s a young filmmaker obsessed with death.

“The character Lucas is starting to go down a dark path,” says Shreve. “He has lost his brother, and the family is broken.”

A challenging role for a child actor, but Shreve said Nichols fit the bill perfectly.

“I wanted someone who could portray this closed-off side, but also show a sense of vulnerability,” he says. “Toby was the right person for the job.”

Producer Mayeux agrees: “We all knew this kid had something special and that he was Lucas.”

Also cast in the film is Tim Meadows, who many may recognize from “Saturday Night Live.” Although Meadows is known for comedy, Shreve had a gut feeling that he would be perfect for the role of Chris Brighton, who befriends Lucas.

“From the very first moment I read the script, I saw him [Meadows] playing the part in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Shreve says.

Meadows was sent the script and accepted the part. He told the filmmakers “that he read it [the script] three times and cried every time.”

If you think that “Chasing Ghosts,” which is premiering at the Cleveland International Film Festival, is just about death and dying, you’re dead wrong, say the filmmakers.

“It’s funny, touching, a little bit mysterious and has a lot of heart,” says Shreve.

If you’re like Lucas and recently lost a loved one, “this is a perfect film to watch,” says Mayeux.

“I’d be really honored if a family coping with grief watches our movie and is uplifted in some way.

After all, the film is about learning to live life again to its fullest.”

—Anne M. DiTeodoro

Josh Shreve (left), director, and Molly Mayeux, producer, have both been involved in movies for years. Both are looking forward to their film’s Cleveland screening.

CHASING GHOSTS is playing today at 8:30 p.m.

SHOWINGTODAY

DAYAT CIFFALL FILMS FREE!“ For the past 38 years, the Cleveland International Film Festival has had so much to celebrate, including our long-term support from the Cleveland Foundation. To now be celebrating the Foundation’s centennial, with its March gift of a free day at the Festival, is one of the greatest thrills in the history of our organization. This year our Festival is ‘the home for stories’ and we cannot wait to welcome everyone so they can experience and create their own stories.”

—Marcie Goodman, CIFF Executive Director

TOP: Becca Roth, director of “One: A Story of Love and Equality,” receives the Focus on Filmmakers Award from Mallory Martin and Bill Guentzler. BOTTOM: Nick Hudson came with his dad, Jamie, to see some short films. He first attended the festival last year when he saw the film “Magic Camp.”

It will bring you right to Tower City on many of its bus lines and all of its Rapid Transit trains. Visit www.rideRTA.com or call the RTAnswerline at 216-621-9500 for more information.

Ride the RTA!

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Challenge MatchThe Challenge Match is the CIFF’s annual fundraising campaign, and the only time of the year that we ask for your support (we do not send out solicitation letters at any time). The challenge to you – our audience – is to raise $100,000, which will be matched by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

We are $42,811 closer to reaching our goal of $100,000

A $10 DONATION QUALIFIES YOU FOR ONE OF THESE FABULOUS PRIZES!!

A SHOW FOR ALL SEASONS: Experience an unforgettable night downtown for four with dinner at Flannery’s Pub, and VIP seating and Club access to a concert at Jacobs Pavilion.

SIDEWAYS, LOT 1: You’ll be the envy of your friends with an instantaneous wine collection featuring 12 bottles of wine from the new Ohio-based vineyard, Highway 101.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC:Treat yourself to the best show in town with dinner at Maxi’s Bistro and two tickets to The Cleveland Orchestra.

Stop by the Challenge Match table in the Tower City Cinemas lobby to donate.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Official Airline of the 38th CIFFThe Cleveland International Film Festival receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Two women filming in freezing tempera-tures, tight quarters, and feces-filled mud for five weeks in Bulgaria might not be

ideal conditions for storytelling, but Kate Ryan was determined to reveal some devastating truths.

Since age 9, Kate Ryan knew she wanted to work in the film industry. In film school, Ryan worked as a videographer with various non-profit organizations.

“These experiences helped me realize that my strength was in documentaries and non-fiction,” Ryan recalls, “and that instead of being a famous actress or director, I wanted to give a voice to the voiceless.”

One of these groups for which she provided her video services worked with the Roma people in Eastern Europe, a path that would inspire her first feature film, “Welcome Nowhere.”

“I traveled for three summers to Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, where we visited Roma camps,” Ryan says. “It was here that I was first exposed to the racism and marginalization that this group faces, and was shocked to discover that such outward discrimination still existed in the 21st century.”

Seeing these issues firsthand raised a number of questions, and what initially began as curiosity turned into an intense research project that took over five years to complete.

The Roma people live in squalor. Years of prejudice isolate them from the rest of society. Their homes are dilapidated boxcars where disease runs rampant. Children often do not have access to medical care and are sent to segregated schools. Locals discouraged Ryan from even associating with the Roma community. Above these difficult circumstances was still a greater one.

“The toughest challenge I faced personally was convincing this community that I would fairly tell their side of the story,” Ryan says. “They had been so misrepresented by the media that they distrusted anyone who came in, no matter what they claimed. Thankfully, a couple who work with them served as my ambassadors to let them know my intentions to tell their story were sincere. This allowed them to trust me to do justice to their story, which in turn was a whole new challenge and level of responsibility.”

Ethan Hawke narrates the film, and his connection to the story is a personal one. “Ethan’s mom, Leslie, runs an incredible organization in Romania called OvidiuRo that works to provide early education to impoverished children in Romania, many who are Roma,” Ryan comments. “Ethan is acutely aware of the issue and therefore was willing to lend his voice to the film.”

Ryan wants “Welcome Nowhere” to expose audiences to an issue they knew nothing about. “I hope that they can see themselves in the characters, and can see the universality of what this story represents —poverty, human rights, and tolerance.” —Amy Kersey

The Roma Community: Europe’s Forgotten People

Director Kate Ryan

Visit The Daily online edition at www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/the-daily.

TODAY’S ONLINE VERSION INCLUDES:• Yemeniettes (Playing today at 3:15 p.m.)

An interview with producer and screenwriter Leon Shahabian and production assistant Merym Almoshaikah.

• Ride With Larry (Playing today at 7:20 p.m.) Director Ricardo Villarreal discusses the making of his film about one man’s struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.

• CIFF at the Beachland Ballroom An insider’s view of CIFF’s first night at the Beachland Ballroom in Collinwood.

• Film Forum--Transfusión Highlights from the panel discussion following the screening of this film about America’s taco trucks.

THEONLINE

WELCOME NOWHERE is playing today at 9:30 p.m.

SHOWINGTODAY

Dallas resident Ahmad Shah is in Cleveland on business. While reading the Plain Dealer this morning, he saw that a childhood friend had directed a film at the CIFF. Shah canceled his dinner plans and came to the CIFF in hopes of reconnecting with Babar Ahmed, director of “Amka and the Three Golden Rules.”

THE HOME FOR STORIES

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Festival UpdatesAdded Screenings:Monday March 24thOhio Shorts Program 1 9:10 amComedy Shorts Program 9:35 amOhio Shorts Program 2 11:00 am

Saturday March 29thWaltz for Monica 9:10 am

Sunday March 30thAntarctica: A Year on Ice 11:45 amThe Sax Man 4:45 pm

Late Additions:Saturday March 29thLast Days in Vietnam 12:45 pmTo Be Takei 3:00 pm

Sunday March 30thLast Days in Vietnam 3:45 pmTo Be Takei 5:00 pm