Saturday, October 20, 2018

HollyShorts: Pie - Adria Tennor & Cindi Knapton Interview



Photo Credit: JBN Media
Adria Tennor and Cindi Knapton with JBN Journalist, Americo Galli.

Adria Tennor's grandfather, Sam Tannenbaum, was a song-plugger for Irving Berlin who changed his German surname to Tennor to sound more American. Her grandmother taught her all these songs as she grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. She studied acting and directing at New York University's Tisch School for the Arts. Her first role was as a 12-year-old boy talking about porn in Tompkins Square Park with an amnesiac in Hal Hartley's movie, Amateur (1994). With a few more film roles under her belt, Tennor moved to Los Angeles to work in television. There, she also performs her one-woman shows regularly around town, There's Not a Lot of Coat Check Work in LA, Electro Magnetic Stripper, and most recently Strip Search, inspired by her studies in pole dancing with Sheila Kelley at The S Factor Studio. She lives with her restaurateur husband, Claudio Blotta.

Known for female-driven alternative-reality screenplays focusing on humanism, warmth and humor, Cindi Knapton cut her high school films with a razor blade and rubber cement but in that moment, could not fathom how to parlay that into a career as an artist in film.

She instead took her pre-visualizing skills to the University of California at Berkeley, earned an architecture degree and then worked around the world designing city planning, architectural and interiors projects. Throughout her travels, she absorbed comparative religions and cultures, eventually becoming the Chancellor of the Women's Healing Program at the Berkeley Psychic Institute.

In 2000, she returned to the world of film via the Sydney, Australia Art Departments of Star Wars Episode II & III, Matrix Revolution & Reloaded, Son of the Mask and Superman Returns.

Her passion for female driven storylines particularly within the transcendent vehicles of comedy and science fiction fueled writing features has created: Cape Tribulation, a thriller based on her experience in the rainforests of Queensland; Sandra's Grace, a dark family dramedy that helped to resolve grief over the death of her father; Change-Able a Young Adult Sci-Fi series set at a school for psychic teenagers at the Moons of Jupiter; and Experio, where five women decide to change the fate of human history by creating a Utopia to teach mankind empathy.

Cindi emphasizes the perspective of "the outsider" in any storyline and balances her love of technology with traditional indigenous wisdom.

In addition to mega-budget tent-poles, she has worked on a variety of web-series, shorts, and feature films as a producer, actor, audition taper, writer, 1st AD, UPM, SFX and VFX artist, sound recordist, camera operator, and most successfully Production Designing and Co-Producing the award-winning dramatic feature Hate Crime. As an all-rounder, she appreciates every department on a film team.

Her current Sci-Fi pilot, Experio combines her experience as a clairvoyant teacher, an architect for twisted clients, her travels studying comparative religions and languages and her love of humanist science fiction-particularly The Leftovers, Star Trek, and The Prisoner.

She is a dual US/Australian citizen and looks forward to bringing her projects to Oz to work in the beautiful locations, fabulous studios and with the world-class crews!



ABOUT THE CAST
Jessica Paré - Annette
Jessica Paré first turned heads in Stardom (2000), broke our hearts in Lost and Delirious(2001), played the catalyst for karmic intervention in Bollywood/Hollywood (2002) and, somehow, pulled off being a secret villain in Posers (2002). She then went onto made-for-TV movies, starting with a small role in Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999). She eventually was part of the twice Gemini-nominated mini-series, Random Passage (2002). Now, she can be seen on CTV, most recently as "Nancy Eaton" in The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton (2003), and Lives of the Saints (2004). She made her Hollywood debut as Josh Hartnett's fiancée in Wicker Park (2004), which premiered in 2004. She has since gone on to perform in other American productions, both on television and the big screen.

Adria Tennor - Carol
Adria Tennor's grandfather, Sam Tannenbaum, was a song-plugger for Irving Berlin who changed his German surname to Tennor to sound more American. Her grandmother taught her all these songs as she grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. She studied acting and directing at New York University's Tisch School for the Arts. Her first role was as a 12-year-old boy talking about porn in Tompkins Square Park with an amnesiac in Hal Hartley's movie, Amateur (1994). With a few more film roles under her belt, Tennor moved to Los Angeles to work in television. There, she also performs her one-woman shows regularly around town, There's Not a Lot of Coat Check Work in LA, Electro Magnetic Stripper, and most recently Strip Search, inspired by her studies in pole dancing with Sheila Kelley at The S Factor Studio. She lives with her restaurateur husband, Claudio Blotta.

Chloe Lanier - Debby
Chloe Lanier was raised just outside of Dallas, Texas. Since moving to Los Angeles, Lanier has racked up a number of appearances in critically acclaimed television shows and independent films. Most recently, she won her first Emmy for "Outstanding Younger Actress" for her notable work as "Nelle Benson" on General Hospital.

John Nielsen - John
John was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York into a cop and fireman family. He began college studying aeronautical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. After working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a shipfitter off and on over many years, he returned to school attending Herbert H. Lehman College (CUNY) in the Bronx where he discovered acting. He then spent a few years doing regional theater in Seattle before moving to Los Angeles in 1989. He did several commercials, TV guest spots, and small movie parts before being cast as a series regular on Nickelodeon's "The Secret World Of Alex Mack."


Carol invites Annette over for homemade pie and after much prodding divulges her special secret and scandalous ingredient. It’s Thelma & Louise meets Sweeney Todd via Stepford, Connecticut.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Written & Directed by Adria Tennor. Produced by Cindi Knapton & Adria Tennor. Edited & Co-Produced by Mindy Elliott
Cinematography by Jon Philion and Finnian Riley



Music by J. Peter Robinson
J. Peter Robinson was born on September 16, 1945 in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England. He is known for his work on Cocktail (1988), Wayne's World (1992) and The World's Fastest Indian (2005). He has been married to Denise Hudson since 2000.


Adria Tennor and Cindi Knapton  on the Red Carpet at HollyShorts.

THE JBN TEAM INTERVIEW WITH ADRIA TENNOR AND CINDI KNAPTON
JOURNALIST: AMERICO GALLI
LOCATION: HOLLYSHORTS, THE CHINESE THEATER, HOLLYWOOD, CA ― AUGUST 9TH - 18TH
INTERVIEW: AUGUST 17, 2018


HollyShorts takes place August 9-18, 2018 at the TCL Chinese Theater, Harmony Gold Theater and other locations in Hollywood. Nearly 400 short films will compete for the festival’s top prizes. Last year HollyShorts finalists included 3 out of the 5 Live Action Oscar nominees and the winning short Silent Child from Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton. This year, HollyShorts received an all-time record 5,000 submissions from over 80 countries. The competition will feature Live Action, Animation and Documentary Shorts as well as web series, student shorts, music videos, TV pilots, and VR. The festival also features a screenplay competition where the winning short gets greenlit, shot and shown at next year’s festival courtesy of Seattle Film Summit.

Video: Erik Werlin. Audio/Edit: James Vallesteros (@jamesvallesteros). Sound: Edward Chung

ABOUT HOLLYSHORTS
HollyShorts Film Festival is an organization devoted to showcasing the best and brightest short films from around the globe, advancing the careers of filmmakers through screenings, networking events, and various panel and forums. The Oscar Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival showcases the top short films produced 40- minutes or less. Categories include Short Animation, Short Live Action, Short Documentary, Music Video, Webisode, Commercials, TV, and Digital Microbudget.
jbnfilms, jbnmediainterviews, jbnfilmfestivals, jbnpastinterviews

0 comments:

Post a Comment