Hope's Friendly Gathering

Bruce Von Stiers

Hope is hosting a small gathering of her friends. What should have been a nice and easy party turns into something more dramatic. It seems that Hope is going off to Europe. To die. Apparently, she has some disease or tumor or something that is causing her life to shorten.

This is the premise for a short drama film called Get-Together.

Hope's friends do their best to discourage her from traveling away from them. They want to spend as much time with her as they can. And they would take care of her. But Hope has something else in mind.

Instead of actual names for the characters, the film uses emotions to identify them. There is Shock, Bargaining, Denial, Depression, Anger and Acceptance. Each of them utilizes their emotion to try to get Hope to stay.

Rose Callahan is Shock. Her credits include the short films, Balloons, The Next Right and Second Shot. Shannon T. McNally is Bargaining. As an actor, she has guested on Murdoch Mysteries and Fatal Vow. But she also has been a production coordinator for several films.

Shiva Safari is Denial. She appeared In White House Down and several episodes of Umbrella Academy. Annie Yao is Depression. She co-starred in Tag, You're It and appeared in Fatherhood.

Matt Lacas is Acceptance. He appeared in Brick Mansions and co-starred in the limited series The High Note.

Amanda Lynn Petrin is Hope. She has wrote, directed, produced and starred in several other short films, including All The Things and Touched. She was the primary producer for this film.

Jonathan Vanderzon is Anger. He co-starred in Reverse Romeo and Juliette and short films such as Street Walker and A Date With Death. Also, he's produced a few films, including co-producing this one.

Byron A. Martin was the executive producer. His credits include being supervising producer on two of Hallmark's Crossword Mysteries films.

Mat Rich was the director. His previous film credits include Unlocked and Reverse Romeo and Juliette. Rene Arseneau was the cinematographer. He was the cinematographer for films such as Hostage and Scarpedicemente.

There is a beautiful song at the end of the film titled For You, which was written and performed by Sarah Vanderzon.

Get-Together is a surprisingly good drama. I wasn't sure what all the angst and concern was at first. Then, later, all of the emotions Hope's friends expressed made sense. When you care deeply for someone, their life decisions have a significant impact on your life. And I think that was the underlying concern of her friends.

The trailer for Get-Together is being shown at the Yes! Let's Make A Film film festival on September 20th in Montreal. It has also been submitted to the Santa Clarita International Film Festival for possible inclusion in this year's upcoming festival.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers