LISTEN now! Janeane speaks with Margaret M. Spirito and Lisa Ann Walter from "Jersey" a short film. “Jersey” competes at 16th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival

  

Director/Lead Actress Lisa Ann Walter & Writer/Producer Margaret M. Spirito

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Jersey” Short Film to Compete at 16th Annual
LA Femme International Film Festival 

Short to serve as proof of concept for potential series 

LOS ANGELES – October 7h , 2020 -- The comedic short “Jersey”, written by Margaret M. Spirito and directed by and starring Lisa Ann Walter will screen at the 16th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival on Saturday, October 17th, 6PM on the CYA.Live platform. A Q&A with Spirito, Walter and co-star, Valerie Tosi, will follow.

The film centers around best friends Maria (Valerie Tosi) and Lorelei (Mayan Lopez) who escaped the drama of their New Jersey families by moving to sunny Los Angeles. The drama finds them, however, when Maria's crass mother, Tess (Walter), and spoiled older brother, Nick (Vinny Fasline), celebrate Easter with Maria and Lorelei on the west coast. Maria finds it hard to bite her tongue at Tess's ignorance, while Lorelei attempts to play buffer between mother and daughter. After a dinner full of baby boomer judgement and millennial clapbacks, things take an exciting turn when Tess accidentally mistakes the girls' chocolate edibles for Easter dessert, turning what Maria was hoping to be a chill California holiday into a Jersey shit storm. Once the storm settles, Maria and Tess find themselves able to confront the obvious tension that exists between them, proving the age old theory almost all women can relate to: there’s family you love, family you hate…..and then there’s your mother.

Writer/producer Spirito is a singer, actress, writer and producer originally from New Jersey. Her big, belty voice brought her all over the world, performing in shows such as the National Tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and international productions pf “Shout”, “And the World Goes Round” and “Smokey Joe’s Café”. In Los Angeles, she spent years performing with the critically acclaimed FOR THE RECORD series in several of their productions, in addition to producing/writing/performing her own shows, “The Sounds of Dirty Jersey” and “Amy Winehouse, One Year Later”. In addition to her work on stage, Margaret is an accomplished writer, her love being half-hour television comedy.

Actress/director Walter is an accomplished stand up comedian and actress, most recognized for her work in the “The Parent Trap”, “Bruce Almighty”, and “Shall We Dance.” She also created the network shows “Life’s Work and Dance Your Ass Off”. In addition to her work as an actress and Executive Producer, Walter is a successful author and a favorite among radio listeners for her hit radio show “The Fabulous Lisa Ann Walter Show” that was on air from 2011-2014.

The LA Femme International Film Festival is now in its 16th year as one of Los Angeles’ premiere film festivals dedicated to celebrating and promoting female artists both in front of and behind the camera. In addition to bestowing awards in multiple categories, from short subjects to documentaries to commercials, LA Femme is proud to present this year’s Lupe Ontiveros Image Award to a performer who embodies the spirit, audacity and dedication to art that its namesake represented. This year’s Ontiveros honoree will be actress/producer Shari Belafonte.

WATCH "Jersey" Saturday October 17, 2020! 

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MARGARET M. SPIRITO
singer.actor.writer.producer

website

Instagram: @margaretmspirito 
Twitter: @margaretspirito

@lisaannwalter
@jerseyshortfilm


Margaret M. Spirito
www.margaretmspirito.com

Indie Thriller NIGHT RAIN Premieres at 16th LA Femme International Film Festival - Janeane speaks with Jeanne Marie Spicuzza

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“Night Rain,” the indie thriller from Jeanne Marie Spicuzza, Seasons & a Muse and the award-winning producers of “The Scarapist,” will make its festival debut at the 16th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival on Thursday, October 15th.

WATCH the trailer

The story surrounds a group of independent filmmakers unwittingly hired by their stalker to make a low budget period movie about Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia, who begin to see their lives dangerously intertwine with the events leading up to Short’s tragic murder. Spicuzza, who penned the screenplay, co-directs with her editor, Synthian Sharp (“How I Became an Elephant”). “Night Rain” marks the second feature from Spicuzza.

“Following ‘The Scarapist,’” says Spicuzza, “I wanted to make a movie about indie filmmaking and the 1940s. I knew that there would be challenges on a low budget. I earned a certificate in film noir studies from TCM and Ball State University during the course of my research and writing for ‘Night Rain.’ I was helped by historians like… Harnisch… and Glen Creason [of the Los Angeles Central Library].”

Shot on location at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Pacific Dining Car, Crystal Pier and other historic sites in and around Los Angeles and San Diego by director of photography Jay Lopez, with additional photography by Henry Power, “Night Rain,” stars Spicuzza, Adam Lesar, Clarissa Thibeaux, Thessa M’loe and Mattia Chicco. Other cast and crew include legendary drummer Guy Hoffman, of BoDeans and Violent Femmes fame, John Neff, celebrated sound editor for David Lynch, actors Scott Javore and J.L. Forbis, industry maven Heidi Honeycutt, Cinefemme founder Michelle Kantor, LA Femme Film Festival’s Leslie LaPage, designer Michael A. Barnum and creator Jessamyn Prince.

“The title comes from my granddaughter, Amaya, whose name in Japanese means ‘Night Rain,’” says Spicuzza. “I was inspired by the words of Muriel Short, Elizabeth’s sister, who said that their mother ‘does believe that someday the truth will come out and [Elizabeth] will be exonerated.’

“Since we may never know… the identity of the killer,” says Spicuzza, “my goal was to offer a very authentic, dignified treatment… a bond of mothers and daughters. It’s a dark redemption.”

Amaya Spicuzza makes her acting debut in “Night Rain.” Executive producers include David and Stephanie Spicuzza.

Night Rain make its festival debut at the 16th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival on Thursday, October 15th at 6 PM PDT on the CYA platform. Following the film, there will be a virtual Q&A with special guest Larry Harnisch, L.A. Times writer-editor, author and expert on the Black Dahlia murder case.

Coming up August 31, 2020 at 9:30am pst on KUCI 88.9fm - Janeane chats with Leslie La Page of the LA FEMME International Film Festival

  LISTEN or  WATCH the conversation

Meet Leslie La Page 

For over a decade Leslie La Page has Produced, Directed and Line Produced/UPM for Film, TV, Music Videos, Commercials and Theatrical productions nationally and internationally in both the independent and commercial markets. She has worked for such companies as Black Entertainment Television Action Pay Per View (BET) HBO, Lifetime TV, MTV, Paramount and Nickelodeon just to name a few.

While at BET she line produced their entire slate of original programming which aired on their network and additional achieved international and domestic video releases. Her production experience also involves her in the areas of marketing, developing scripts, creating promotional copy as well as promotional feature spots and trailers.

In 1997 Ms. La Page ran and operated TIGER’S EYE SOUND, a dialogue editorial company, with her partner Bruce Murphy. There she worked with numerous awarding winning dialogue editors and edited over 20 independent feature films in the company’s first year. Ms. La Page and TIGER’S EYE SOUND dialogue-edited such critically acclaimed films as: 1998 Academy Awards Nominee, Best Foreign Film – “Four Days in September”; 1998 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for “Smoke Signals”; and the film “Dead Man’s Curve,” which was a Sundance Film Festival Invitee.

In 2003, Leslie and her Partner Saul Stein, Co-Executive Producer of “The Holy Land”, formed BooYah! Films and have released through Cavu Pictures the critically acclaimed film “The Holy Land”, which opened domestically at the Angelica Theatre in New York City before rolling out to 45 cities across the nation. She still has her production company Infinity Films which is involved in feature film, music video, and commercial productions.

Ms. La Page also consults independent filmmakers for feature films, script analysis, budgets, independent marketing, and film festivals and taught at the New York Film Academy and has taught as an adjunct professor nationally at universities. She was a Slamdance Film Festival Programmer for over five years and was the creator and Executive Producer for the Slamdance Filmmaker’s Bootcamp.

Ms. LaPage was the Director of Programming for the New Orleans Media Experience Film Festival (NOME 2003) occurring in Louisiana which platformed over 100 films. 50% of the films platformed at NOME went on to have theatrical distribution: Show Boy, Nursie, Hungry Hearts, Dog Walker and Flavors just to name a few.

Ms. LaPage launched in 2005 the LA FEMME International Film Festival which still operated today as one of the most prestigious women’s film festivals in Los Angeles. The focus of the film festival is to empower women in entertainment and to platform women artists with commercially viable productions. Ms. LaPage has been a forerunner in the empowerment of independent artists. Ms LaPage explored new technologies as the V.P. of Production for Fun Little Movies channel on the Sprint mobile network. She directed and produced the channel’s first animated series, “Spacey Movie, The Series”.

Ms. LaPage launched a “Christian Faith Based Network” for a philanthropic Christian organization. She held the title of Supervising Producer for all Original Programming in Production and Post Production for their scripted and non-scripted content.

Ms. La Page holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a Master of Fine Arts in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts. She currently teaches as an Adjunct teacher at Columbia College Hollywood. Ms. LaPage is currently in development with Television shows for the major networks and writing a novel series.