Authentic Women and Their Friendships Celebrated in Indie Dramedy Feature Film THREE ROADS at 15th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival Awards Presented Sunday Evening in Downtown L.A.
Frustrated by the lack of films revolving around smart, complex, authentic female characters, Actress/Producer/Writers Sarah Goer and Amanda Ives founded AmandaSarahFilm and set out to create their first project. THREE ROADS tells the story of three women in their early 30’s who feel stuck in their lives for various reasons. They’ve been friends since childhood, and their lives have gone in different directions. They come back together to help one of them cope with the loss of her father. As their worlds re-collide, they learn and grow, ultimately choosing whether to stay stuck or move forward. To help bring the project to life, Goer and Ives brought in several key players, including Kip Calendine (Co-Writer/Director), Vanessa Donley (Co-writer/Star), Christiana Charlambous (Cinematographer), and Todd Lanker (Co-Star).
The crew of 7 all lived together in the house where they were shooting, nurturing an authentic and semi-improvisational approach to filmmaking. Gathering the ‘right’ team was an essential part of this film. Ives shares, “Trusting our choices, and being open to the right collaborators was a key component to our success with this film. We were exceptionally fortunate to find just the right people to work with for our first feature. Each team member showed incredible passion and dedication to making this feature the best it can be, and I believe that commitment led to an actualization of the film that exceeded our expectations and that we are extremely proud of.”
A native of Sunnyvale, California, Goer believed her friendly hometown would make the perfect backdrop for the intimate film. Goer adds, “We wanted the story and the central characters’ relationships to feel touching, real, and humorous, and for women to truly recognize and identify with our main characters. To support this naturalistic style, we married a carefully crafted script with the freedom to improvise on set, and a highly well thought-out shot list with the flexibility of our director’s in-the-moment intuition.”
Audience members have called the film a “great, intimate indie,” and “real, honest, and authentic,” noting the film’s “great interplay between characters” and commenting that it’s “funny and lighthearted, but has depth.” THREE ROADS (70 min) is currently beginning its journey on the festival circuit, having just premiered at the 2019 LA Femme International Film Festival, at which Ms. Donley, Ms. Goer, Ms. Ives, and Mr. Calendine were honored with the award for Best Feature Writers.
For more information about the film, please visit www.amandasarahfilm.com/three-roads.
Below is the full list of the 2019 LA Femme International Film Festival Winners:
Best Feature “More Beautiful…for Having Been Broken” Nicole Conn
Best Documentary “FEAR NO GUMBO (stop stealing our sh*t)” Kimberly Roberts
Best Screenplay “Thrift” Elise Jackson
Best Music Video “Lost” Madeline Kate Kann
Best Short “Ladies Most Deject” Martha Elcan
Best Feature Writer “Three Roads” Amanda Ives, Kip Calendine,
Sarah Beth Goer, Vanessa Donley
Best Feature Director “ALASKA IS A DRAG” Shaz Bennett
Best Foreign Film “Fated Hearts” Seda Peker Özkan
Best Animated Short “Passage” Asavari Kumar
Best Special Focus Documentary “This Little Land of Mines” Erin McGoff
Best Webisode “One True Loves” Olivia Accardo
Best TV Pilot Script “Four Gallows ‘Blood Becomes Her’” Kimberly Seilhamer
#LaFemmeFilmFestival
Our Feature Picture :
Three Roads Production Team (from right to left) Kip Calendine (Co-Writer & Director), Vanessa Donley (Co-writer & Star), Sarah Goer (Co-writer & Star)
