THE BALLROOM DANCE COMEDY, “Leading Ladies,” from co-directors Daniel and ErikaRandall Beahm shot last summer in and around Champaign/Urbana, has been racking up accolades on the festival circuit since it premiered in June at the Sonoma Film Festival.
Real-life dance champion Melanie LaPatin stars as an overbearing stage mother nursing her two daughters’ dance careers. With Benji Schwimmer, Laurel Vail, Shannon Lea Smith and Nicole Dionne.
Randall Beahm co-wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Bechtel, based on Randall Beahm’s experience as a dancer. Beahm produced and composed the score. Pete Biagi was DP.
Ronnie Scheib wrote in Variety that “Leading Ladies’ “expertly shot, energetically choreographed numbers boast a lightness of touch miles away from the freneticism of Baz Luhrmann, while the tyro thesps’ unaffected performances add a note of sweetness to pic’s atmosphere of guileless simplicity.”
It screens Sept. 25 and 26 at the King Head Film Festival in Champaign.
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