GASBAG
Lynn Rosen‘s Season 2 pilot for her web series GASBAG features some of NYC’s best theatre performers. Rosen’s dialogue is hilarious. The cast is outstanding. Lead Chad Kessler is an undeniable star with the unrelenting energy of a catnip-high feline. This genuine ensemble overflows with talent, wit, and comic timing. GASBAG deserves a proper budget. While the show is quintessential New York, it reaches far beyond a niche audience. This Friday, you can catch the pilot at this year’s DWF: NY. More details on production and tickets are below!
Gasbag follows George Nordstrom (Chad Kessler), a lovable over-talker who is discovering what he really wants and who he really is…at age 42. His overbearing mother, meddling neighbor, and dysfunctional coworkers at The Marcia Powell Travel Agency sure don’t make it easy, but thanks to his can-do spirit, some loving shoves from his brash cousin Jean, and the liberating realization that he’s gay, George is learning to love silence. He may even learn to love himself.
WHO: Lynn Rosen is a playwright and screenwriter who is currently co-writing a musical about feminist Flo Kennedy with Pia Wilson, featuring music by Rona Siddiqui. The project is commissioned by Theatreworks Silicon Valley and received a grant from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre in 2023 and residencies from The Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals in 2023 and 2024. Rosen previously co-created the award-winning comedy web series Darwin, directed by Carrie Preston (Elsbeth) and featuring Michael Emerson (Lost), and has sold two television pilots to major networks. She is a New Dramatists alumna and co-founder of the pop-up theater production company The Pool. “I’m thrilled to premiere GASBAG, our offbeat “series that could”, at DANCES WITH FILMS: New York,” says Rosen. “DWF: NY is the perfect fit for GASBAG because it features a spunky NYC vibe and notable NYC talent, and because GASBAG is the epitome of the scrappy “can do” spirit that Dances With Films celebrates.Chad Kessler spent a decade creating a multitude of roles in the hit off-Broadway comedy “MyBig Gay Italian Wedding” franchise and its two sequels. On-screen, he can be seen on Amazon’s Emmy-nominated series Tainted Dreams, and is also a recurring voice on Pokemon! and Nickelodeon. He adds, “The story of a late-blooming gay fella trying to find his path in life while navigating a world he never felt he fit into resonated deeply with me. George is an endearing oddball whose hilarious-and often stymied-efforts to evolve is something everyone can relate to. Also, Lynn’s script and my co-stars are so beyond funny. We couldn’t stop laughing even after our director yelled ‘cut’.”Also featured in GASBAG’s principal cast are notable NYC theater performers such as DramaDesk winners Mia Katigbak and Mary Bacon, Lortel-nominated actress Danielle Skrasstad, and TV stars Deirdre Lovejoy (Rhonda Pearlman on THE WIRE, Cynthia Panabaker on THEBLACKLIST) and Jackie Tohn (Esther on NOBODY WANTS THIS, Melrose on GLOW).
WHEN: Friday, December 6 at 12:45 PM EST
WHERE: Regal Union Square,850 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
MORE: Gasbag started life as a pandemic-era web series, which inspired the creators to produce the TV pilot, which builds on the action and characters in the web series. They have also already started working on new episodes of Gasbag to distribute in the future. Tickets are available here.
Gasbag – Pilot
Running Time: 24 minutes
Directors: Christopher Gerson, Julie Kramer
Creator/Writer/Executive Producer: Lynn Rosen
Executive Producer: Chad Kessler
Producer/Director of Photography: Charles Grubbs
Producer/Music by: David James Boyd
Editor: Teresa Cicala
Cast: Chad Kessler, Danielle Straakstad, Tina Chilip, Trey Gerrald, Mia Katigbak, and Mary Bacon with Deirdre Lovejoy, and Jackie Tohn
Tribeca 2024 Shorts
Short | United States, France | 18 MINUTES | English, French | English subtitles
The reservation has its own justice system, under which not a single white man has been prosecuted in connection to a disappearance. Families must rely on the Feds to intervene. They never do. It is endless, lawless mayhem. 
A quote from a manual given to households when children the government was ripping from their homes reads, “The goal is not to make scientists, or doctors or lawyers out of these citizens. The goal is to make domestic housewives and farmers and laborers.” Keeping the population suppressed remains the goal. It’s cyclical genocide. It is the continuation of colonization, plain and simple. 
Goodnight Mommy filmmakers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz‘s latest film, The Devil’s Bath, opens with a 
SYNOPSIS – In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison. Giving a voice to the invisible and unheard women of the rural past; THE DEVIL’S BATH is based on historical court records about a shocking, hitherto unexplored chapter of European history.
VERONICA FRANZ (Writer & Director) studied German and philosophy and worked as a journalist. She has also worked as an artistic collab-orator with Ulrich Seidl since 1997 and co-wrote the screenplays for all of his films including DOG DAYS (2001), IMPORT EXPORT (2007), the PARADISE trilogy (2012/13) and WICKED GAMES – RIMINI SPARTA (2023). In 2003 she also founded the Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion GmbH with him.
Steve Buscemi is a legend. In pretending to be Keane and Suzie’s marriage counselor, he brings his murder advice into the sessions, equally confusing and intriguing his faux clients. Buscemi’s calm and confident nature is captivating. 
EXHUMA
An ancient evil affects the firstborn children of a wealthy family with uncontrollable wailing in their dreams. Eager to cash in, a team of macabre experts takes on this new client. As they dig deeper into this unique case, the usually confident group discovers they are in over their heads. In EXHUMA, that’s only the beginning of this horrifying tale.
Performances are magnificent across the board. This spectacular multi-generational ensemble cast delivers engrossing mystery and terror. The script unfolds in chapters, like a how-to guide dealing with the underworld. Descriptions of rituals and occupational titles come in narration from the team. This creative storytelling immerses the audience in what feels like an inevitable tragedy. Complicating things further are the secrets our wealthy family hides. Genre fans will have a field day with horror canon balanced with the slightest touch of humor and serious gore. It is beyond compelling.
Mixing tradition and superstition combined with an ominous score makes the hairs on your arms stick straight up. It’s a multi-sensory watch. EXHUMA deserves your full attention from the very first frame. There is so much meat on the bone. Expanding this world almost certainly feels possible and welcome. At its current runtime of two-plus hours, viewers would eat up more stories from this team. Their chemistry is magic, and a franchise would delight fans. The twists and turns keep coming. EXHUMA is undeniably one of the most intriguing cinematic experiences of the year.
Visit the official film page: 
Filmmaker Henya Brodbeker turns the camera on her, her husband, and their young autistic son, Ari. Through years of filming, we witness the evolution of relationships in her Orthodox community, her marriage, and with herself. This is one family’s story about belonging. 
Anyone who follows my career as a film journalist knows I’m a Mom of a young autistic son. I talk about his diagnosis and navigating the complexities of existing in a primarily neurotypical environment. We are lucky in the grand scheme of ASD possibilities. Our son’s cognitive abilities are off the charts. He is loving, funny, friendly, and would not hurt a fly. Dealing with public meltdowns, particularly if those around you do not know or understand, can be a crushing, demoralizing, tear-filled experience. Nothing is easy. It’s undeniably isolating. It’s the outside world we fear most. THE THREE OF US is irrefutable proof of how equal opportunity changes the lives of families. 
2nd Annual Dances With Films – NYC 
The score possesses a moving, almost visceral effect on the viewer. The information Rolnick discovers through her years of research will shock you. Their stories remain ever-evolving living entities. The film reinforces the tried and true Churchill adage, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” 
Eva takes over as a Foley artist for her hospitalized sibling Zara. With no knowledge or self-esteem for the task, Eva endures shockingly abusive behavior from every angle; Zara, her boss, and the hospital nurse. When threatened with dismissal from Zara’s position, she becomes obsessed with the assigned commercial clip.
PIAFFE gives audiences a fever dream of imagery and sound. Music is an eclectic Giallo-inspired mix of ominous cello and techno. The color Red features symbolically in lipstick, a telephone, tinsel, roses, and lighting. Simone Bucio is fearless as Eva. Her palpable anxiety and social awkwardness pour off the screen, making her relatable in the most unexpected ways.
Sunset in the desert. A modern mobile home splashed with paint, the bold hues almost glowing in the half-light. A man with a rifle. A shrill scream. Stuart Gatt’s Catching Dust announces itself by beginning with these enthralling moments. A film centering on a painter, it is interested in the motivations of its character, but also in placing them as figures within beautiful tableaus. The cinematography is gorgeous – there are shots in this film that could be framed and hung on your living room wall. 
Luke Evans plays Nicky with a workhorse attitude that comes off as dismissive and arrogant against Billy Porter’s caregiver grace. This dynamic rings authentic for me as the default parent in my marriage. Porter nails every aspect, from his sing-songy tone of voice with Owen to the hesitancy to speak up for his emotional needs. Seeing myself on screen hit hard. While I’ve not had to go through divorce and custody dynamics, I have had these “come to Jesus” moments with my husband. I’ve been lucky.
In the fall of 2021, filmmaker James Gallagher rode across the country with Marc Rebillet on his sold-out Third Dose Tour to capture what it was about the artist, showman, and robe-clad musical alchemist that brought thousands of people out of their homes for the first time.
The moment Sav Rodgers meets Kevin, it’s fireworks. Kevin gives Sav access to everything the rest of us have always wanted to know. Smith confesses that Holden is him. The film plays through his lens, and much of the story comes from real people in his life. Some conversations are word for word. Just ask a close friend of Kevin and GO FISH screenwriter Guinevere Turner, who put much of herself into Amy when collaborating on the script. 
Joey Lauren Adams, who gives us the iconic performance as Alyssa, explains her power in the role through archival interviews and a sense from the film. Kevin was, perhaps, ahead of their time in featuring a strong bisexual woman. But, the biggest irony may be Joey’s truth about CHASING AMY. This pivotal interview changes everything for everyone. Both Kevin and Joey get into their complicated past with Harvey Weinstein. Their experiences are vastly different. I am so grateful for their honesty. It means so much to so many survivors. *Waves hands in the air* 
Intertwined with everything else in this glorious doc, Sav lets us into their relationship with his girlfriend, Riley. Delving into deeply personal issues, he may or may not realize how universal they are until now. One part fanboy film, another part film history, all self-discovery story, and a love letter to Riley, CHASING CHASING AMY is tailor-made for Smith fans and indie fans, the queer community, and allies.
Giedrius Kiela and Gabija Bargailaite play Paulius and Indre, respectively. Each brings qualities of pain. Kiela’s aggression has the audience in a death grip. His volatility is frightening. Bargailaite is more subtle. Her unraveling happens in a finale that breaks you. They are hypnotizing. 
Slick editing and long takes on a stationary camera make the audience an unwilling witness to Paulius and Indre’s plans. The script’s structure leaves much to the imagination as clues come slowly. My mind swirled as I watched Paulius walk Indre through the crime’s timeline. You feel compelled to keep watching. As someone whose close friend died under mysterious circumstances years ago, the unresolved pain and trauma are palpable. The need to understand and reason with the devil never fades, no matter how many years go by. PILGRIMS captures the very messy essence of grief.
THE WORST ONES is a meta-narrative that succeeds in conveying hope through hardship. Not only does the film shine in its storytelling, embracing heartbreak and socioeconomic trauma, but the performances also by our four young actors will hypnotize the viewer. Check out the clip below for a taste:
You must be logged in to post a comment.