The Garden State Film Festival returns for its 23rd year from March 27-30.
Among the many films that will screen includes Dedi Felman’s short film “Take Good Care,” which will be screening on Saturday, March 29 in the 3-5 p.m. block at Asbury Lanes.
Felman grew up in Montgomery Township and is a Montgomery High School graduate. Her mom was a teacher in the district until she retired.
“The film is in many ways a tribute to her … her boundless curiosity, her tireless energy, and her care of others, even when I didn’t totally appreciate it,” Felman shared.
“Take Good Care” is a grounded science fiction dramedy. In a world where older people are expected to quietly die at 65, a single-minded scientist (Sophie Rutherford) – desperate for more time to complete her research – needs her long-neglected artist daughter (Wren Rutherford) to take good care of her.
The film stars Molly Hagan as Sophie and Veronica Reyes-How as Wren. Hagan has been nominated for Best Actress in a Short, Web Series, or Pilot.
Felman was assisting a neuroscientist with a book on aging when he asked her to come up to NorCal (Northern California) to work in person.
“It was my first encounter with ‘Biotech Bay,’ a world of white-coated lab rats, their bicycling-buffed VCs (venture capital) backers, and the dreaming elixir peddlers selling ‘anti-aging’ clinics and potions,” she explained.
“I was already intrigued by the characters and their [Architect] I.M. Pei-designed locations, when I heard about a Cambridge-trained biologist who believes he can reverse aging.
“The idea’s not as wacky as it sounds,” Felman said. “We’re already living far longer. In the 1700s, life expectancy in the U.K. was in the mid-30s. Now it’s over 80. And average lifespans are predicted to keep inching up (100, 125, 150). Perhaps, the sky’s the limit.”
In Northern California there’s a lot of optimism, Felman said, “that immortality is in our near future and that we’ll all greatly benefit.”
“But life extension raises a lot of questions about the meaning of life and our legacies, but also pragmatically, how will it work?
“For example, if we really could live to 150 years old would it be bliss?” Felman wonders. “Who’s going to take care of all the incapacitated? What are you supposed to do if at 65 years old your boss expects you to retire, but you haven’t even reached mid-life? And how do you make relationships work for 130-plus years?”
Felman wrote the film story after her own personal experience with caretaking.
“My mother was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of my late-in-life [career] switch to filmmaking,” she said. “To be clear, everyone’s caretaking story is different and I got off remarkably easy. My mom, a former kindergarten teacher for Burnt Hill Road School, was vibrant and participated in her book club up until the very end of her life.
“Because of my own experience, I wanted to tell a very different story than the usual misery end-of-life narrative. I wanted it to reflect the emotional turmoil and physical stress of caretaking (my characters are literally tied to each other), but also to acknowledge a mother and daughter’s mutual caretaking and mutual humanity.
“After all, our relationships with each other continue to evolve through sickness and health. My relationship with my mom evolved right up to the end. My mom is, in part, the inspiration for my main character, Sophie, and I wanted to acknowledge her continuing capabilities. And, when it comes to family, there are often surprises and love and care in store.”
Felman said “Take Good Care” was “a long process” – two years – partly because she was working on other projects and partly because she ghostwrites books for her day job. She has spent a year showing the film at festivals.
“It was filmed on the westside of Los Angeles,” she said. “The lab scene was filmed at Palisades High, which was sadly damaged in the recent fires (though I’m not sure what the state of that specific classroom is). The commercial was filmed at a house that’s since been torn down.”
Felman hopes the personal experience she had taking care of her mom – embedded in Sophie and Wren’s story as they both struggle with their roles – makes it relatable for others. She hopes others “will forgive themselves for not always having their priorities straight and for their imperfect relationships.”
“And know that it’s never too late to communicate the true care we feel for one another,” she said.
Along with the film screening, Felman is currently seeking financing for a heist movie called “American Holler.”
“It’s about two siblings from a small town in Kentucky,” she explained. “As grownups, they’re divided by class, but united by a desire to get revenge on the ruthless owner of their hometown mine. It’s a lot of fun.”
The Garden State Film Festival was born in 2002 after a chance encounter in a Sea Girt grocery store by film industry veteran Diane Raver and the well-known Hollywood actor Robert Pastorelli. Through their deep ties to Hollywood, Pastorelli and Raver were able to bring an all-encompassing event to the state. It premiered in 2003 and was immediately deemed a huge success.
This exciting showcase of 200 films from 16 countries, 49 events showcased across nine venues and over 40 live podcasts streamed, the four-day festival brings together movie buffs, emerging talents and industry pros for a jam-packed lineup of screenings, panels and special events, according to press release through the Garden State Film Festival.
“New Jersey is brimming with hidden gems and creative energy and the Garden State Film Festival is proud to showcase them year-round,” said Lauren Concar Sheehy, executive director for the Garden State Film Festival.
For more information visit www.gsff.org.
