Story
Rosewood Ledge captures the intersection between a woman whose life is shattering around her and a young couple in a destructive relationship.
The couple, a model and her photographer boyfriend, are shooting on a lake upstate when the property owner exhibits unusual behavior.
Although their meeting is serendipitous, the choices they make while together force them to confront who they really are.
Director's Statement
Rosewood Ledge centers around three unlikely but intertwined themes: image obsession, burnt-out romance, and alcoholism. As the characters developed, I focused on understanding what motivated their troubled behaviors, and discovered a strangely beautiful irony. For all of the pain in the character’s narratives, there is equally as much humor and lightness in them.
Whether this story is a comedy or tragedy depends on how it’s told, and my goal is to tell it as both. I believe that real life is full of this duality and reflecting that is the most honest form of storytelling I can do. I hope that viewers will watch Rosewood Ledge and see the beauty in narratives with this dark and light irony, and perhaps see their own experiences reflected in the characters' struggles and triumphs.
Creatives
TREY CHAPMAN (Director, Writer, Co-Producer)
Trey is a New York-based filmmaker. He made his first movie at age 10 that critics say was overly (or not enough?) inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean. He acknowledges that he might have peaked with that one, but continues shooting films nonetheless. He holds a BA with Honors from Connecticut College and also studied filmmaking at the Film and TV Academy in Prague. His films are typically classic character dramas with a modern edge, and have screened at festivals across the United States. Other experience includes crewing on Going Places (dir. John Turturro) and a position in rentals at AbelCine.
MICHAEL BONINI (Actor, Co-Producer)
Michael Bonini is a New York City based actor and ensemble member of the Michael Howard Studios Professional Acting Company. In addition to his theatrical credits, Michael has appeared in films including The Divergent Series and Yes, God, Yes featuring Stranger Things star Natalie Dyer. His credits also include commercials and multiple television shows including History Channel’s Hamilton: Building America and NBC’s Pilot: Pope. Michael recently completed filming a feature called Hurricane Aaron, a psychological thriller, produced by Country Road Films.
KRISTIN RUDRÜD (Actress)
Kristin Rudrüd played William H Macy's wife, Jean Lundegaard, in the Academy award winning film, Fargo. Other favorite film and television roles include: Pleasantville (Mary) and Drop Dead Gorgeous (Connie Rudrud) and Chicago Hope (Amelia Robling). She has also performed with Ian McKellen on Broadway in "Amadeus," with Al Pacino in a Public Theatre reading of "Othello" and with David Hyde Pierce and Tony Goldwyn at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She is a member of Shakespeare And Company and a founding member of the Fargo Film Festival.
DANIEL CONTALDO (Cinematographer)
Daniel Contaldo is a cinematographer/interactive filmmaker from Florence, Italy, currently based in Brooklyn. He shoots narrative and documentary work, and is currently in post with his first virtual reality film. He studied at FAMU (Czech Film Academy) in Prague, where he shot the 35mm short 10:10, which was screened at the Toronto LGBT Film Festival and British Film Institute: London LGBT Film Festival ’16. www.danielcontaldo.com
Where the Money Goes
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For us to tell this story right, we’re going to need a gorgeous lake house, top-of-the-line camera gear, and the most talented cast and crew we know. Filmmaking adds up fast, and even if we reach our our goal of $15k we'll have to be very careful with distributing funds so each department gets what it needs.
The biggest allocations go towards locations, equipment, and post production, since we can't cut any corners with these departments if we want the film to look incredible. We have an exceptionally talented cast and crew who have agreed to work on the project for very generous "friend-discounted" rates, but even so these fees accumulate, and we feel it's important that we compensate our team to the best of our ability. The other stuff (food, travel, and IndieGoGo Fees) are necessary costs that we'll have to be as frugal as possible with so we can spend more in the creative departments.
Other Ways You Can Help
Every contribution helps us get one step closer to reaching our goal, no matter how much it is. You can also help us out by spreading the word, since we never know who might be interested!
Thanks for reading.
