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"4 out of 4 cigars. Do yourself a favor, either find a theatre where you can see this movie, or buy the DVD...unless you're a heartless bastard." "Separation Anxiety brings vividly to life a story that is simultaneously intimate yet larger than life. [A] great example of the quality indie cinema being created right here in the Midwest." |
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Screenplay by Jeremy Sony
Directed by Cole Simon Produced by Braeburn Entertainment and Glass City Films "An extremely accomplished |
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Behind the scenes with Glass city films
The Story Behind the Movie
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Separation Anxiety, the film, is based on a play I wrote around 2007. The play (of the same name) received a staged reading in January 2008 at Curtain Players Theater in central Ohio. It was there that I met Cole Simon (the film's director). He was one of the actors in the reading and would play a key role in getting the play from the stage to the screen with his film company, Glass City Films. He would also become a good friend and artistic wunderkind (he's kind of tearing up Chicago with his talent these days).
We shot the film when I was 30, and that seems a lifetime ago. Now, people can watch it on VOD. It's for sale on Amazon. And that spins me about just a bit. In the intervening years, I grew up a little. I went to grad school (for playwriting). I got married. We have kids. Life happened in so many amazing, wonderful, heart-wrenching, gut-punching, glorious ways. As life does. My writing style has evolved in the five years since we wrapped shooting the film, but many of my full-length dramas have clear DNA from the story woven through them. This was my first big dramatic play and my first produced screenplay. I'm immensely proud of the end result. This play and film were born out of my own need to grapple with loss. While the events in the story are fiction, the emotions and ways we all deal with sudden death are as real as a mid-twenty-something could articulate them. The play was dedicated to my uncle Dan, who died suddenly in 2002. In the days after the accident that claimed his life, I wrote a short story called "A Kick To The Stomach" --- it would become the loose basis for the play, with the story shifting to the loss of a friend, as I didn't need to relive real life. The film, as far as I'm concerned, is dedicated to my Grandma Sony. She died in 2008, just weeks before we shot the investment trailer for the film. Writing the screenplay was cathartic and I know she would have loved the finished film (though she'd probably have asked me to write a comedy next). While death is something we all will experience many times during our lives, this film is more about how we live than how we die. How we are remembered. What we leave behind. One day, this film will be one of things I leave behind (many many many years from now I hope), and that's a pretty cool thing to have. |
Amanda Cawthorne (Jess), Randy Benge (Mr. Palmer), and Cole Simon (Bailey) in Curtain Players 2008 staged reading of "Separation Anxiety"
Cole Simon (2nd from right) directs John Wesley Shipp (Mr. Palmer) and Kiana Harris (Jess) on the set of "Separation Anxiety" (2009). Courtesy, Glass City Films.
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NEWS & highlights about Separation Anxiety
AND THE BEST ACTRESS GOES TO...
Congratulations to Kiana Harris who took home the award for Best Actress at the annual Naperville Independent Film Festival for her starring turn as Jess in SEPARATION ANXIETY! Kiana was the first person I cast back when we were making the investment teaser and her work helped shape what Jess became during the film's development. I'm so proud of her and the entire cast & crew. We were also nominated for BEST FEATURE FILM, BEST DIRECTOR - Cole Simon, and BEST ACTOR - Tyler Sieple. You can visit http://www.naperfilmfest.org for full festival information.
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River Bend Film Festival Awards Best Drama Prize
Separation Anxiety took home the prize for Best Drama at the 2012 River Bend Film Festival in South Bend, Indiana, last week. Glass City Films screened it along with their short film Under the Table. Over 100 films were screened over four days. Director Cole Simon and Producer John Klein were in attendance with Glass City Films' Mike Molenda (the film's Post Production Supervisor). Kudos to the whole team on the award!
Park City Film Music Festival 2012
Separation Anxiety was an Official Selection of the 9th Annual Park City Film Music Festival, which is the first film festival in the United States singularly recognizing the contribution of composers and their music to film. Awards are given in the categories of Best Use of Music in Full-Length Narrative Feature Film, Best Use of Music in Documentary Film, and Best Use of Music in Short Film, Best Music Documentary, Best Performance / Experimental Music Film. Separation Anxiety will screen May 25, 28, and 31. Please visit the PCFMF website for tickets and information.
Going Back to its Roots
Recipient of an Honorable Mention for the 2011 Columbus International Film+Video Festival in Columbus, Ohio. Separation Anxiety was born from a stageplay that first appeared on central Ohio stages in 2008. The original investment trailer and portions of the feature film were shot on location in Columbus and surrounding communities in 2009.