Given

Writer/Producer's Statement - Glory Simon
I have been obsessed with The Mad Greek Cafe in Baker, CA. since I was 20. The only place you could get a real salad and at a drive through no less, between Barstow and Nevada. I knew I wanted to make a movie inspired by the place and I knew I wanted to be in it. So I wondered what would have to have happened for a woman like me (educated, white, middle class) to end up there at 40 ish. Who would she be? How did she get there? Why did she stay? I had no clue. In "Big Magic" Elizabeth Gilbert explores how inspiration knocks on the door and if you don't answer after a few visits it will move on to another host. One morning in July 2021, I was available to answer the door and the entire story was delivered. I wrote the first 20 page draft that day.

The details are not personal but the themes of being stuck in miserable comfort and needing to make a change but not knowing how or not having the motivation resonated deeply with me. A lot of people could use something or someone to shake them into action. There is also a piece of this story I don’t hear people talking about and my hope is that people have strong opinions about it. My favorite movies are those that lead to passionate conversations and disagreements afterwards. I have felt so disconnected to live human interaction in the last 4 years since Covid disrupted and I know I’m not alone. I hope this film leaves people wanting to talk to each other about these characters and who they are rooting for but also about their lives and maybe what they missed out on and would like to do differently going forward. I also hope to inspire more women in mid-life to share their own stories where they are the center of the story not just the backdrop that lets others shine.

I am not a mother of a human, dog or dragon but I did conceive this film, carry it to term and birth it, after previous miscarriages and abortions with other partners. it was NOT an easy pregnancy and I have many more scars, heartbreaks and low bank accounts than I anticipated. Sadly, we did not get to shoot in Baker. There is one airbnb in a 50+ mile radius that sleeps 6 and the UFO hotel has been coming soon for years but I still dream of shooting the feature there one day.

In the meantime, I can’t wait to share this film with my peers and other film lovers at festivals around the world because as someone who was a programmer of a small Michigan Film Festival for 8 years there is nothing like the energy, the bonds and the celebration that occurs at Film Festivals. There’s almost nowhere else I would rather be.