The Story
‘Tangles and Knots’ is a short Columbia MFA thesis film that follows an intimate, sticky bond between a mother and daughter who act more like sisters or girlfriends together. This relationship becomes threatened when the teenage daughter seeks to find new, popular friends her age and her mother goes a little too far to feel included with the group.
The story explores themes of female sexuality, aging and the fluidity of family roles but it is also inspired by my own relationship with my Mum. This relationship is very unique, complex and one that the 'Tangles and Knots' team and I are very excited to depict on screen. After nearly a year of development at Columbia University and with JARS Productions, we are thrilled to bring this story to life!
The Filmmakers
Renée Petropoulos - Writer/Director
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Renée Marie Petropoulos is an award winning filmmaker, receiving her BA degree in Media Arts & Communications from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), she is currently completing an M.F.A in Film Directing at Columbia University. Her films have received acclaim both locally and internationally, with nominations and screenings at the Gotham Film Festival, The Los Angeles New Wave Film Festival, Big Apple Film festival and recently as finalist For the Breaking Barriers Female Filmmaking Grant (2015). Since graduating from UTS Renee has continued to push her cinematic practices into provocative and challenging new areas with a particular focus on female driven stories.
Zoë White - Cinematographer
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Zoë completed a BFA in Cinematography at North Carolina School of the Arts and an MA in Cinematography at the Australian Film Television & Radio School, and trained alongside mentors including Vilmos Zsigmond ASC, Newton Thomas Sigel ASC, Laszlo Kovacs ASC and James Chressanthis ASC. She received the Golden Tripod from the Australian Cinematography Society for her work on Exit Music’s 'The Night’, represented the United States at the Budapest Cinematography Masterclass and won the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Cinematography Internship. She just completed her second feature, ‘In The Radiant City’ on location in Louisville, Kentucky. She has shot music videos for Sigur Ros, Phantogram, The National and Jessica Mauboy, and worked with clients including Google, Sony, McDonald’s and the Barack Obama Foundation.
Dividing her time between New York and Sydney, Zoë strives for innovative and effective storytelling and is excited for what’s to come.
Janet Brown - Producer
Janet is a seasoned, Sydney-based Producer who has worked on a diverse range of both live action and animated short films along with commercial projects. After receiving her Diploma of Business Accounting, Janet decided to pursue her artistic passions, completing a Diploma of Communications in Media in 2010 at Hunter Street TAFE, a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) along with courses at AFTRS (the Australian Film Television and Radio School) and Metro Screen. Janet has produced several short film projects and has been heavily involved in the World of Women Film Festival alongside head committee roles for WIFT NSW. Recently opening the doors to her Production house JARS Productions Pty Ltd, Janet is eager to push the boundaries of the cinematic medium.
Yingna Lu - Co-Producer
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In 2014, Yingna Lu's comedy series ‘Lessons From The Grave’, was commissioned and broadcast on ABC1. The same team followed up in 2015 to produce, 'Let's Talk About' which will be one of the first shows to be commissioned by Presto TV (with Foxtel & Channel 7). In 2015, her comedy web series was named Outstanding Comedy at the LA Webfest, Huffington Post called it a 'brilliant comedy web series', and SBS Comedy announced it ‘one of the best web series to come out of Australia this year’. The series has reached over 300k views. Her comedy short ‘Farid in the West’ screened at the 2013 Palm Springs Festival, 2014 Flickerfest, and was awarded runner up Best Women’s Short at the 2013 Cleveland Film Festival. She has Vimeo Staff picked music video clips for RUFUS (‘Tonight’), and SBCR (‘The Grid’). She line produced Bollywood inspired short, ‘Departure Lounge’, which was voted ‘Best Comedy’ in the 2015 AACTAs Social Shorts. She has produced several experiential projects with Paper Moose including a 3 metre ten cent coin for the City of Sydney which was nominated for the B&T '30 under 30' awards in 2015.
Kristin Frost - Co-Producer
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Kristin Frost is a New York City-based producer and writer, originally from Virginia. She has a producer’s mind, but a director’s vision and loves cultivating potential; in great stories and great talent. Frost graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English and Creative Writing and went on to moonlight in the filmmaking world while working in development and event production at UVa’s Darden School of Business and later, in New York City at the International Rescue Committee. Just prior to beginning graduate school, Frost was the Director of an NYC-based coworking startup called REV, an experience not unlike producing scrappy, independent films. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Creative Film Producing at Columbia University, where she has produced several, award-winning short films. The 2012 short Stay Awake (co-producer), won the 2015 Slamdance Jury Prize and had its world premiere at the 2015 Berlinale.Kristin recently produced the punchy, seven-minute short film Sundae, which just had its world premiere at the 53rd New York Film Festival and was hailed as a 'critic's pick' of the Shorts Program. Frost is the recent recipient of the 2015 HBO Young Producers Award for the MFA thesis film, Search Party. She is currently in pre-production on her thesis film, which was awarded the 2014 Katharina Otto-Bernstein Production Grant, as well as her first independent feature film to be shot in NYC in Spring 2016.
Melina Maraki - Associate Producer & Post-Production Supervisor
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Melina Maraki started out in post production, earning credits as a post production coordinator on various feature films and television projects, including Simon Stone’s “The Daughter”, which screened at Sydney Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival this year, as well as ABCs television series “Blue Zoo”. She was further the post production producer on Anthony Lawrence’s short film “Grace Under Water” which won the 2015 AACTA award for Best Short Animation. She is currently in post production on her first short film as a producer, directed by herself and starring Sophie Lowe (The Slap, Adore).
Why We Need Your Support
Right now we are assembling a dream team of Australian and International cast and crew for the film. We are shooting on location in Sydney, Australia and even though this is a short film, expenses can really add up!
Every dollar is crucial and your donations would go towards the many components of production including:
- Locations
- Production Design
- Camera, Lenses & Equipment
- Casting
- Talent & Crew Accommodation/Meals
- Transportation
- Post-Production Expenses
- Music Licensing Fees
- And so much more!
Location
One of our biggest production expenses will be securing the perfect location, to truly bring this film to life. The 'world' of this mother and daughter is a very real character within the film and must reflect a very specific lifestyle, embodied in this story. We have several incredible location leads we are currently scouting in Sydney, Australia, but even in the Land Down Under, there aren't any free lunches!
To show our incredible gratitude, we have a bunch of really fun incentives for everyone including storyboards, hand illustrated party food recipes and my favourite; a bound glossary of Australian Slang, compiled by a team of legendary Aussies mates. You can learn a whole new colourful vocabulary to impress your friends!
Other Ways You Can Help
We realise not everyone may be able to support our film financially. There are many other ways you can get involved with Tangles & Knots!
- Spread the word by sharing our IndieGoGo campaign with friends and family.
- Like and Share our Facebook page.
- Live in or around Sydney, Australia? Contact us! We're looking for help in many areas, and would love to have you as part of the team!
- The value of word of mouth is just as important as a donation! We appreciate you telling others and directing people to this project!
Any support please help us in anyway you can. Every bit counts - thanks so much!
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