Minnesota filmmaker and Columbia College alumnus Steven J. Foley is returning to his native Chicago for the local premiere of his debut feature, the HD-cam romance “Strange as Angels.”
Writer/director Foley and producer Michael Moylan raised the “way under” $1 million budget from private investors, mostly in Chicago, through Foley’s Saint Paul-based Almost Reel Productions.
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| Marie-Fran?oise Theodore and Christian Payton star in “Strange as Angels” |
Marie-Fran?oise Theodore stars as an independent-minded painter who falls into an ill-fated romance with a divorced journalist (Christian Payton.)
“Strange as Angels” screens Aug. 8 and 10 at the Film Center’s Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video. Foley and Theodore will attend.
Foley’s script evolved as a more down-to-earth version of his earlier, Lynchian surrealist script “Grey Caf?.” “I was also very interested in making a film from a female protagonist’s point of view, and continuing the resurgence of black cinema that started in the mid- 1980s with ‘She’s Gotta Have It,'” Foley said.
The film has screened at the Pan African, Minneapolis/St. Paul International, Berlin Black International, San Francisco Black Film, Hollywood Black Film, and American Black Film festivals. Foley said he’s garnered some interest from distributors, “but I’m not getting excited until I get a check and it clears.”
Foley started making films as an undergrad at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where Saul Williams (“Slam”) starred in his first short, ‘pencil & graphite.’ Foley got his MFA at Columbia before moving to St. Paul, where in addition to his own work he is a director, writer, producer and DP for hire.
He just completed a Fulbright seminar in Germany and has been exploring the European film industry. “I hope to unearth and pursue more opportunities in Europe and one day make a film about the experiences of people of African heritage living in Europe,” he said.
“Strange as Angels” co-stars Jamila Anderson, Inny Clemons, Mimi Ayers, James Craven, Herschel McPherson and Karin Smith. Gaffer was Kevin Pittman.
AC, Jennifer Biver. Chris Rejano (“Boricua”) shot the Chicago-set picture in July 2003 in Chicago and Minnesota.
“Strange as Angels” screens Sunday, Aug. 8 at 5:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 10 at 8 p.m. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State.
See www.almostreelproductions.com.
? by Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com
