Scranton Talks

Join Luz & Desiree on a special episode of Scranton Talks where we chat with multitalented Jolie Cook about her professional work in the film and theater industry!

Jolie is an actress, singer & dancer from Scranton, PA. She has done most of her acting & singing training at The Creative & Performing Arts Academy NEPA.

She’s performed in many stage productions regionally over the last 7 years and has played several iconic roles such as Matilda, Young Nala & Annie.

She is a competitive dancer with Prima Elite Academy of Dance in Scranton, winning both regional and national titles for tap dancing. She recently performed at the famed Apollo Theater in New York for Amateur Night for both singing & tapping and was a 1st place weekly winner for singing in 2022.

She has done independent film work such as PAlette: Exploring the Colors of Pennsylvania with Scranton Films, as well several student films with Parsons; The New School, NYU & Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.

She has several film projects in post-production such as Bluebird, a short film that deals with mortality & faith & Worthy Citizens, a short film that brings awareness to gender-based street harassment. She is so grateful for all of these opportunities and is looking forward to future projects!

Led by Writer/Director Rory Colarossi and Cinematographer Matthew Wise, Raven View Productions is an energetic team of inspired creatives who have created a safe, ego free environment dedicated to the love and crafting of cinema.

Raven View Productions has finished their first film “The Burden of Beauty” which is now an official selection of Kevin Smith’s SMODCastle film festival. The company’s second film “Love At First Site” is currently in production, with additional slated projects “A Cruel Thief”, and “The Great Decent” on deck for the near future.

While crafting genuine, evocative stories is always a priority, so too is their desire to welcome new creatives into their community as well as creating jobs and internships for anyone hungry enough to learn.

https://ravenviewproductions.com

Ian Lewis is currently a Junior Data Wrangler working in the Visual Effects department on set. Previously he worked as a Production Assistant in the AD department and made short films prior to entering the industry. He is an independent filmmaker originally from NEPA.

We had a chat with Dan Kimbrough Owner and Founder of Park Multimedia and the Artistic Director of Taking Up Space Film Festival.

Dan Kimbrough is a content creator who works with individuals and businesses to best tell their stories through media. Dan knows the power of content and storytelling in reaching an audience and branding a business. He has 20+ years of media experience and has worked with ESPN, as a documentary filmmaker, production manager, professor, podcast producer, photographer, editor, and more. In addition to the AD of Taking Up Space, Dan serves as the tech director of Scranton Fringe.

Taking Up Space is a film festival within the 2022 Scranton Fringe Festival seeking short film submissions of all types!

Taking Up Space Film Festival is seeking stories that are created and told by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color) filmmakers. The purpose of the film festival is to lift the voices of historically excluded racial and ethnic narratives.

https://filmfreeway.com/TakingUpSpaceFilmFestival

https://parkmultimedia.com

We chat with the Executive Producers of Strings Attached Andy Wolf, Lucinda Bruce, Jessica Hutchinson, and Marie Förster.

Strings Attached is an award winning international anthology series set within a fictional online dating site. The series tells the stories of people looking for love and trying to connect during these disconnected times.

The show endeavors to go against expectations, and challenges preconceptions of age, race, gender and culture. Each episode plays with different genres, new characters, and features an unexpected flip or revelation. Things are not always what they seem in the world of online dating.

Follow Strings Attached on Instagram: @stringsattachedshow

An outcast, teenage live streamer must enlist the help of four popular kids after he discovers that a werewolf is tracking one of them in their small rural town.

Produced by McKeever, Oifer, McCallum and Sarullo. A Showtown American Pictures Production. Directed by Christopher Jackson.

Starring Michael Pare, Michael McKeever, Madelyn Chimento, Kyle Oifer, Samantha O’Donnell, Dylan Intriago and Eric Roberts.

Showtown American Pictures and Cineview Studios present their 2022 Great American Werewolf Feature, The Beast comes at Midnight!

The film The Beast Comes at Midnight will be showing at the Circle Drive-In with The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday August 13th.

Appearing at the event on the 13th:

Executive Producer Bob Savakinus Executive Producer Ed McKeever Former WWE Superstar and Actor in the movie Gene Snitsky Actor Michael McKeever Associate Producer Ryan Loughney

View the trailer: https://youtu.be/haK9iZj1TsQ

https://thebeastcomesatmidnight.com

Patrice D. Bowman is a New York City-based award-winning filmmaker and colorist with over six years of experience. Her films focus on the nuanced spiritual lives of women of color, particularly those of African-American women. She is the owner of the film production and post-production company Bowman Pictures. She received a B.A. in Film and Media Studies from Yale University.

Currently, her experimental short adaptation of the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes, Under the Sun After the Wind, is on the film festival circuit. Her previous short, Saturday Grace, was selected to screen at the Academy Award-qualifying Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series. Her first short film, Lean on Him, won the Howard R. Lamar Prize Film & Video at Yale University in 2015. Her color grading work can be seen in a variety of places, from PBS Reel South to Nike.

Business Website: https://www.bowmanpicturesllc.com/

Join Luz Cabrales and Desiree Zielinski as they chat with the producers and host of The Libby Show: Messalina Morley, Beth Brier, Iliana Guibert and Suzanne Curry.

Messalina “Messa” Morley is an actor and screenwriter. Most recently she played Revlon in the American Premiere of “The Revlon Girl” by Neil Anthony Docking. Previously she worked on TV shows such as “The Other F Word” and Amazon’s”Style Code Live”, as well as doing VO work for Google. Messalina is a fashion model with State Management and has worked with magazines and brands such as Allure, Stylecaster, Banana Republic, Target, and walked in NYFW for Skims and 11Honoré, among others. When Messalina is not working in the entertainment or fashion industries she is selling luxury real estate in North Jersey. She is a proud mother of one and is so grateful for her family’s support in all that she does.

Beth Abramson Brier is an actor and is the producer of The LIBBY Show: Lunch with the Ladies.

Iliana Guibert, a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute took a career detour spending her early years in the corporate sector gaining business skills she now applies to her work as an actress and expanding to writing, producing and directing.

Suzanne Ordas Curry has owned a PR firm since 1988. Ten years ago, through an entertainment client, she started her second career as an independent film, series and podcast producer specializing in marketing them. Her more than 20 projects have won awards at top film festivals and been nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards, Indie Series Awards and others. Other projects have included actors who have won Oscars® and Tony® awards. The projects have been seen on most streamers, HBO, Lifetime, Showtime, and in theaters.

Check out their show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgVU40peyhgLAYQ00x9UjMQ/featured

Calling all Jedi, Sith, Nerfherders and Womp Rats!

We did a special Scranton Talks for Star Wars Day! Join Luz, Desiree, and special guests including Daniel Roebuck to talk about all things Star Wars! From the original trilogy to the sequels and everything in-between.

Having made his feature film debut starring in the teen comedy Cavegirl Daniel Roebuck quickly realized that there was only one direction to travel in his career. Up!

Soon after Cavegirl, Roebuck established himself as one of the industry's youngest character actors with his haunting portrayal as the teenage killer, Samson in The River's Edge.

Daniel Roebuck was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, A fan of movies and television from a very early age he was immediately drawn to the actors and comedians.

As a television guest star, Daniel has played countless characters. Some of his most memorable are a cop who literally turns into a pig on Grimm, a Romulan on Star Trek, Next Generation, a gun toting hostage taker on NYPD Blue, a cranky studio owner on Sonny With A Chance and a grieving father on Glee. He played other memorable roles on New Adventures of Old Christine, NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, CSI, Boston Legal, CSI Miami, Law And Order, Desperate Housewives and Hot in Cleveland.

On the popular show, Lost, Roebuck portrayed the infamous Dr. Leslie Arzt, the aggravating science teacher whose explosive exit in the finale of the first season remains one of television's most surprising and talked about moments.

Learn more about Daniel Roebuck at http://www.danielroebuck.com.

His nonprofit A Channel of Peace: http://www.achannelofpeace.org/

If you would like to be on one of our future Scranton Talks episodes, you can email Desiree at [email protected].

Beautiful music credit: "Galactic" by Seb Jaeger from Filmstro

Filmmakers Nidheya Suresh, Ria Patel & Kankana Chakraborty joined forces to create The Rose Garden. Together, Nidheya, Kankana and Ria have won over 50 awards in national and international film festivals. Nidheya had collaborated with Kankana in her award-winning film MAA, and with Ria in her award-winning film BANDAID. ​ The Rose Garden is the story of two estranged Indian-American sisters who are forced to come together upon the sudden & tragic death of their parents. It's a story that deals with grief, mental health issues and above all, sisterhood. The Rose Garden was selected as a Finalist at the prestigious ScreenCraft FilmFund.

The Rose Garden aims to expand the way South Asians are depicted in media beyond the usual stereotypes. They also aim to bring conversations about mental health to the forefront, as this is often brushed under the table in our community. It is important to see its impact from multiple perspectives.

They launched a Crowdfunding Campaign on Seed&Spark in mid-April to raise funds for the production & post-production of this film which will be filming in summer of 2022.

Follow The Rose Garden on their social media pages: https://www.twitter.com/RoseGardenShort https://www.instagram.com/rosegardenshortfilm/

Donate to the film: https://seedandspark.com/fund/the-rose-garden#story