Cynara's Logline: A lesbian Wuthering Heights.
In 1922, Young Lillian Halcourt escapes her rural home for a bohemian writer’s life in Paris where, after adopting a male pseudonym Byron, she becomes a pulp fiction novelist. 10 years later she is living a decadent and superficial existence in the city of love, hanging with the literary lions of the early 1930'a. But her father’s illness causes her to return home where, through the unexpected love of another woman, Cynara, Lillian brings light to a dark family history and discovers the true artist inside her.
The film is a fantastically romantic story, written by the multi-talented Nicole Conn (see bio below) and to be co-produced with Victoria Alonso (special effects supervisor, "Ironman," "Big Fish" etc.). We are setting it in the romantic windswept beaches of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and we hope to shoot in fall 2008.
EXCERPT FROM EARLY IN THE STORY - Byron is now a celebrated pulp fiction novelist, hanging with the Natalie Barney salon crowd in Paris, having meaningless sex with men she has no interest in, unaware of the sexual awakening she is about to experience.INT. OPIUM DEN - LATER THAT NIGHT
A party is raging. Rabbit lolls on a couch next to Byron, who
takes a puff of opium. She falls back, beginning to float out
of her body. A slender, blond soldier in uniform reaches a
hand out to her. She takes it and is led away.
INT. OPIUM DEN, PRIVATE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The door opens on a darkened room, furnished only with a bed.
Byron weaves as she enters, followed by her soldier boy. He
turns her to him and they kiss, falling back against the
door.
The soldier begins popping each button of her shirt, finally
letting it fall to the floor. Byron sways, aroused and very
high. She begins to unbutton the soldier’s jacket, but he
seats her on the bed and begins to disrobe in front of her.
The jacket is removed, the shoulders curiously slender, then
the shirt is slowly unbuttoned exposing alabaster skin and
the small pert breasts of a woman.
Byron shakes her head to clear her vision. Her seducer moves
forward, but Byron pushes away. The soldier girl catches her
hand, capturing the middle finger in her teeth, slowly
sucking and licking. Byron responds, to her surprise. The
soldier girl leans Byron back on the bed, slowly rubbing her
body up Byron’s until she reaches Byron’s mouth again. She
kisses her and this time Byron hungrily devours her.
After seeing the director's short film, "The Touch" ( The Touch on MySpace - Visit to see Trailer ) at the Northampton Independent Film Festival, the lgbt newspaper, Rainbow Times volunteered to help publicize the producer's search for financing of "Cynara." We thank them for their support! Anyone with interest in investing, please contact us.
JANE CLARK (director/producer)
“Slate&Kelly†( Slate and Kelly on MySpace )
Jane’s fifth short film is slated for production in March ‘08. She has written the script and will direct, co-produce, and edit the project. It is a comic look at two police academy rejects who are given a second chance, when the police department is confronted with a serial killer in the drag world. The project is fiscally sponsored by the Woods Hole Film.
Jane’s fourth film, “The Touch†( The Touch on MySpace - Visit to see Trailer )
is a period lesbian romance, with fiscal sponsorship from Women make Movies. It was awarded the Panasonic Digital Filmmaker's Grant, as well as receiving a grant from the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and in-kind support from an overwhelming number of companies. It will begin festival screenings in 2008.
“Carrie’s Choice†is a film about a young girl who becomes unexpectedly pregnant and must examine her choices and make a decision. It was also fiscally sponsored by WMM, and granted the Panasonic Digital Filmmaker’s Grand Prize. It played a brief festival run, winning Best Women’s Issue film, nominated for best short and was a finalist in the USA Film Festival, before going into distribution through Intermedia, an educational distribution company. The film is currently being used in clinics and women’s study programs in the US and Canada,
Her previous short film, "A Host of Daffodils†is based on Jane’s experience with her family after her father had a stroke. It played 16 film festivals, won two awards (including the Emerging Filmmaker Award at WHFF), and was nominated four times for Best Short film, and is in distribution with Big Short Films. Her first short, "Dog Gone" was an amusing tale of one couple’s journey to rescue their stolen dog. It was one of the "program director's pics" at the 2003 Wood's Hole Film Festival and was distributed by Petstyle.com. It will be available for download on-line in early 2008.
Jane began her career as an actor and had a recurring role on "Chicago Hope." She attended the 2002 Sundance Institute producer’s conference and gained producing experience with a string of successful theatrical showcases and a sold out charity run of "Burn This" in Los Angeles.
VICTORIA ALONSO (producer)
Victoria is currently co-producer for Marvel Enterprises’ “Ironman,†starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow and directed by Jon Favreau, do out in May 2008. Her resume includes VFX Producer on other mega budget productions like “Kingdom of Heaven,†for which she won the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture. Other films include “50 First Dates,†“Big Fish,†and “6th Day.†In live action production she produced the hit gay film "Sordid Lives," starring Olivia Newton John, Beau Bridges, and Delta Burke which won 10 film festival awards and was distributed by Regent Releasing in the US and Optimale in France. Following that film Victoria wrapped production with producer Bonnie Curtis on “Brace Face Brandy,†a short film for Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks,SKG. She has worked on numerous high-end commercials, music videos and shorts for directors such as David Kellogg, Simon West, David Fincher, Sam Bayer, Marcus Nispel and Kinka Usher. Victoria also serves as VP on the board of the Gay Media Arts Project. She has a doctorate in Psychology and a master’s in theatre from the University of Washington.
