Natasha & Sam
An American and two Quebec girls learn the art of deception as they embark on a dance contract in the mid 90s in Japan, where they also must work as hostesses.
This study of a feature, and experiment in collaboration and rehearsals, emerged as the director created her own version of a Sundance Director's Lab and used 'the obstacles as the road'.
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Tawny FoskettDirectorGirls Who Smoke, Dear Emma, Lost Almost
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Tawny and CastWriterGirls Who Smoke, Dear Emma, Lost Almost
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Tawny FoskettProducerGirls Who Smoke, Dear Emma, Lost Almost
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France MauriceKey Cast"Natasha"She has worked on a multitude of projects and stage productions, some of her highlight roles include Shakespeare’s iconic Juliet, and Harper from ‘Angels in America’.
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Julia ThomasKey Cast"Samantha"the upcoming film Moonfall (Lionsgate), the CTV show Transplant, performed shows with WIVES collective from 2010 to 2017 in Montreal, Toronto, New York and Vermont.
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Alexandre Nour DesjardinsDirector of Photographyhttp://alexandrenour.com/about
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FÉLIX TELLIER POULIOTComposerFelix regularly plays with legendary bassist Michel Donato, whom he performed with at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2016. He performed in January 2020 with Ranee Lee at the Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival in Haiti. He performed with his quartet at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2015, playing his own compositions. At the moment, Felix is working with his jazz-rock trio «Ness» and the Pop Punk band «Reign The Sky»
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Project Type:Experimental, Short, Student
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Runtime:20 minutes 49 seconds
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Completion Date:June 30, 2020
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Production Budget:4,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:Canada
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:RED
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Aspect Ratio:1.89
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes - Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Concordia University, Montreal
Director/producer/editor, Tawny Foskett, began studying and making films in 2001. Her 7 shorts include the award-winning, Girls Who Smoke, which played many festivals around the US, Canada and Europe. She holds an MFA in Film Production from Concordia University in Montreal and studied narrative directing in Melbourne, Australia at the VCA School of Film and Television. She’s taught film production at Humboldt State University and workshops, along with cinematographer, Sanne Kurz, at the HFF in Munich. Her current short film, Natasha & Sam (a version of her feature-in-development of the same name) is beginning the festival circuit in 2021. She’s also in production on a documentary entitled, A Member of the Precariat.
Natasha & Sam utilizes a façade-like visual appearance. It is filmed entirely in a studio, using minimal sets and props and the actors pretend-smoke their cigarettes. It is influenced by the visual design of Dogville by Lars Von Trier, and also Vanya on 42nd Street, by Louis Malle. As with these films, it has sets similar to a play, which merely reference the real and ask the audience to suspend their disbelief. This film also pulls from an idea witnessed in Luis Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire, in which two actresses share the central role. In this incarnation of Natasha & Sam, two actors split the role of Brittney - the third main character.
This incarnation of Natasha & Sam is both its own short film, and also a proof-of-concept (though with a different visual style) to my feature of the same name.