"The Visit" won the U.S. Short Film Award Of Excellence at the Catalina Film Festival last month. The award ceremony took place at the historic Avalon Theatre in Catalina Island, featuring honorees like veteran producer Marcia Nasatir, young actor Wyatt Oleff and director Catherine Hardwicke among others.
The 12-minute psychological drama, "The Visit," starring Oscar Nominee June Squibb (Nebraska, About Schmidt) and Sean Maher (Firefly, Serenity), written, directed and produced by emerging director Romina Schwedler, had also received the Juried Short Film Competition Audience Award at the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival two weeks earlier and has been collecting awards and nominations in the international circuit including Best Short Film by a Woman, Best First Short Film and Best Short Film since its completion in February of this year and even at its Burbank debut screening last fall when the film was still a work-in-progress; having already gained inclusion in 26 highly regarded festivals, some of which are Academy Qualifying Cinequest and St. Louis International Film Festival (coming up); Vail Film Festival, San Antonio Film Festival and Sedona International Film Festival.
The Visit is a compelling story skillfully told by Romina Schwedler, featuring memorable performances by Squibb and Maher as well as the exquisite cinematography of Alain J. Carmona and a masterful original score by award-winning composer Dan Zlotnik.
During a phone conversation with her father in 2015, Romina was captured by stirring news concerning her great aunt Elsa, at the time 102 years old, who enthusiastically claimed that she needed to get ready for a party where she was going to see her parents and sister later that day.
Because of her advanced age, Elsa had lost all friends and family members from her generation, so this was the way her brain helped her manage, in isolated occurrences where she deviated from her otherwise lucid thinking process.
Fascinated by her great aunt's excitement and the curious resources the human mind has access to in order to handle grief and extreme circumstances, an idea sparked into Romina’s mind based on which she would immediately begin to write The Visit.
The film had its theatrical release at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in Los Angeles, CA in September of this year, making it eligible for Academy consideration.
Romina Schwedler was an Honoree at the 12th Annual SHOOT Magazine’s New Directors Showcase in 2014 with her directorial debut How a Man Gets Ready: A spec commercial she also wrote, produced and starred in.
How a Man Gets Ready and her next spec ad Bad Connections would later earn her 34 awards and 7 nominations combined, as well as paving the road for her to shortly after write and direct The Visit.
The Visit will be screening at the Orlando Film Festival October 24th and 25th, after which it will be having its NY Premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival November 3rd, followed by the Kansas International Film Festival November 5th and St. Louis International Film Festival November 11th.
For additional information please visit www.VisitTheFilm.com
