WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
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A few reviews after WALLABOUT'stheatrical release in Paris:
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Quelques critiques après lasortie en salle à Paris de WALLABOUT:
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Télérama
"Many scenes in this first feature contain ideas that collide to create new ones… Wallabout reveals the talent of the director... he moves us with the wanderings of this thirty- something struggling to reinvent herself.""Bien des scènes de ce premier film contiennent des idées qui s'entrechoquent pour en créer de nouvelles. Wallabout démontre le talent du réalisateur... il émeut avec l'errance de cette trentenaire qui peine à se réinventer."-Pierre-Julien Marest
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Le Masque et la Plume - France Inter
"The favorite film of the week""Coup de coeur de la semaine"-Alain Riou
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Positif
4 stars / 4 étoiles ****"Eric McGinty's writing is beautiful yet simple, an American independent film script that follows its characters in the urban landscapes of New York with an empathetic gaze, but not too much. Just enough.""C'est une belle écriture toute simple que celle d'Eric McGinty, une ecriture de film indépendant américain qui suit ses personnages dans les paysages urbains de New York avec un regard empathique, mais pas davantage. Juste ce qu'il faut."-Eric Derobert
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Le Canard Enchainé
"This first feature by the Franco-American director Eric McGinty paints an engaging and nuanced portrait of a young woman in a full slump (embodied by the charismatic Ivy Elrod).""Ce premier film du réalisateur franco-américain Eric McGinty brosse un portrait attachant et tout en nuance d'une jeune femme en plein passage à vide (incarnée par la charismatique Ivy Elrod)."-David Fontaine
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PublikArt
"A bittersweet atmosphere sets the rhythm of this intimate and invigorating urban odyssey. The camera sticks to Alex (Ivy Elrod) very closely, unearthing her inner doubts and her artistic ambitions. Wallabout fits into a generous lineage of moving American independent films. It's a film to discover if you appreciate charming stories dealing with the everyday and full of empathy.""Une ambiance douce amère cadence cette odyssée urbaine intime et vivifiante. La caméra colle Alex (Ivy Elrod) de très près, exhumant ses doutes intérieurs et ses ambitions artistiques. Wallabout s’inscrit dans une généreuse ascendance de films indépendants américains émouvants. A découvrir si vous êtes sensibles aux récits charmants, ordinaires et forts en empathie."-Stanislas Claude
La Grande Parade
"As Alex, Ivy Elrod embodies with sensitivity a young woman steeped in doubt and emotional instability, Steve Ward proves to be an endearing and seductive Frank. A touching story filmed with a realistic eye... An urban drama that will not leave indifferent those who are curious about lives that are out of the ordinary...""Ivy Elrod incarne avec sensibilité Alex, jeune femme pétrie de doutes et d’instabilité affective, Steve Ward s’avère un Franck attendrissant et séduisant. Une histoire touchante filmée en caméra réaliste... Un drame urbain qui ne laissera pas indifférents ceux qui ont la curiosité des destins singuliers…"-Julie Cadilhac
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Froggy's Delight
"Wallabout by Eric McGinty is proof of originality...a New York independent film that leaves the beaten track...a beautiful stroll in a rather unusual New York. This good-looking first feature by a Franco-American is watched with pleasure and has the advantage of putting the spotlight on a young actress, Ivy Elrod, who carries the entire film on her shoulders without difficulty.""Wallabout" d'Eric McGinty fait preuve d'originalité... un film indépendant new-yorkais qui sort des sentiers battus... une belle balade dans un New York assez inhabituel. Ce joli premier long-métrage d'un franco-américain se voit avec plaisir et a l'avantage de mettre en lumière une jeune comédienne, Ivy Elrod, qui porte tout le film sur ses épaules sans difficulté."-Philippe Person
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Culturebox - FranceTV Info
"Thanks to the excellent Ivy Elrod, this stroll through New York is followed with ease... The young actress has sex appeal energy, and we want to give her support even though the system wants her to toe the line.""Grâce à l'excellente Ivy Elrod, cette déambulation new-yorkaise se suit agréablement... La jeune comédienne a du chien, de l'énergie, et on a envie de la soutenir alors que le système lui réclame de rentrer dans le rang."-Pierre-Yves Grenu
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Vocable
"An independent film that is a beautiful declaration of love to the city of New York.""Un film indépendant qui est une belle déclaration d’amour à la ville de New York."
WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
.
Logline
A single woman struggles to rebuild her life in Brooklyn after spending 10 years abroad as the unrecognized muse to a famous filmmaker.
Synopsis
Alex struggles to reinvent herself in Brooklyn after having spent 10 years in France as the unrecognized muse to a famous filmmaker. It’s been over a decade since Alex finished college and her resume is out-of-date. As she tries to start over in New York City, Alex is still determined to pursue a creative career and help care for her ailing father. But when she gets evicted and loses her job, Alex turns to family and friends only to be rejected. At the end of her rope, she picks up shady part time work to get by. Eventually she meets Frank, an enigmatic film producer, and they fall in love. But Frank’s even more checkered past catches up with the couple. Wallabout is an intimate account of an overeducated and underemployed outsider who survives by her wits and determination as she encounters an often corrupt and hypocritical society. It’s an urban meditation on artistic perseverance and the eternal search for family.
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Principal CastAlex..........Ivy Elrod
Frank.........Steve Ward
Jenny.........Jo-Anne Lee
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FilmmakersWriter-Director...........Eric McGintyProducer..........Anna Sang ParkCo-Producer..........Monica Vega-GorsunDirector of Photography...........Christopher RaymondEditor..........Elizabeth McDonoughComposer..........Vernon ReidSound Design..........Eric HelmuthProduction Sound Mixer..............Jesse FlaitzCasting..........Marta MichaudCostume Design..........Nadya GurevichArt Director..........Yvonne YiA Veronique Films ProductionAspect Ratio : 1.77
Sound : Stereo
Camera : Arri Alexa (ProRes 4444)
Poster Design : Timur YorkAwards :
Best Feature Narrative Bushwick Film Festival
Best Personal Narrative Manatthan Film FestivalScreened in 2016 for a month at the Cinema Saint-André des Arts in Paris, France
WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
.
Filmmakers
Eric McGinty
Writer/Director
Eric McGinty has directed short films, including The Mitten, starring Vivian Bang, and a documentary, TransMission 1998, featuring the painter Luke Gray. He has also worked extensively as a first assistant director. Eric is half French/half American and has often collaborated with French directors, including Luc Besson (The Professional), Cedric Klapisch, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb, and the American Sundance Grand Jury prize winner Jonathan Nossiter (Sunday).Previously, Eric worked in theatre and dance in Paris as an actor and stage manager. He grew up in Paris and Washington, D.C., attended the American School of Paris and the Sorbonne, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he concentrated his studies in film and literature. WALLABOUT is Eric’s feature debut as a writer/director.
Anna Sang Park
Producer
Anna Sang Park has directed several unscripted TV series and has produced programs for the BBC, PBS, TLC, Discovery, The History Channel, among others. She was the development producer on the Emmy Award-winning The Loving Story, an HBO/Augusta Films documentary directed by Nancy Buirski based on the Supreme Court case Loving vs. Virginia. Anna was also a producer of Pangea Day, a 4-hour multi-media program created for TED Conferences that was broadcast live simultaneously to 200 countries.Previously, Anna worked in feature film casting. She was the casting director on Rachid Bouchareb’s French art house hit Little Senegal and the associate casting director on Spike Lee’s Bamboozled. Anna began her career as an assistant to legendary casting director Mali Finn (Titanic, LA Confidential, Matrix). Born in South Korea, Anna grew up in Seoul then Philadelphia and graduated from Emerson College. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Independent Filmmaker Project.
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Monica Vega-Gorsun
Co-Producer
Monica Vega-Gorsun was born in San Jose, Costa Rica but reared in North Carolina. She graduated from Appalachian State University and studied cinematography at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Her love of cinema began when she was an elementary school teacher, using film to reach out to her students so they would have a better understanding of Latin American culture. Her credits include such films as Junebug and Michael Clayton. She also works on a variety of commercials and has had the privilege to work for directors like Stacy Peralta, Brett Ratner, and Tony Goldwyn and DP’s including Wally Phister, Janusz Kaminski, and Matthew Libatique.
Christopher Raymond
Director of Photography
Christopher Raymond is a New York City-based cinematographer and still photographer. His work includes feature and short dramatic films, commercials, and music videos. Christopher has also shot documentaries in Brazil, the Philippines, Jordan, and Haiti. He learned his craft working as a camera assistant for twelve years under the guidance of cinematographers such as Ellen Kuras, Eigil Bryld, Declan Quinn, and Dion Beebe.
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Vernon Reid
Composer
Vernon Reid is the recipient of Grammy Awards, International Rock Awards and MTV music video awards. Best known as the founder of the groundbreaking African-American multi-platinum rock band Living Colour, Vernon has repeatedly been named one of the best guitarists of all time by many publications including Rolling Stone magazine. He’s composed for the Miramax film Paid In Full by Charles Stone III, Dr. Hugo by Kasi Lemmons, the documentaries Ghosts of Attica, That’s My Face, Almost Home and many others. Vernon was the music supervisor for the film Mr. 3000 starring Bernie Mac and scored for Five Fingers, a film produced by and starring Laurence Fishburne.Vernon has collaborated with Bill T. Jones, Mick Jagger, Spearhead, Public Enemy, Tracy Chapman, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Jack Bruce, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Salif Keita, James Blood Ulmer, Bill Frisell, Donald Byrd, The Roots, and many others artists.
WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
.
Ivy Elrod
Ivy Elrod was born to a tribe of medical eccentrics in Boston, MA. She escaped to NYC where, after training with Alvin Ailey, she landed on Broadway dancing and singing and eventually tapping as a Radio City Rockette. She received her Meisner acting training under the tutelage of Maggie Flanigan/William Esper, and is a founding member of the NYC downtown theater company Partial Comfort Productions. She holds a BA from Columbia University in English Literature and Playwriting, and is the author of the full length plays Mestiza and The Sham, and is a published poet and essayist.
Alex
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Steve Ward
Steve Ward was born in Toronto, Ontario. In Canada he took part in productions of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker and Sam Sheppard's Melodrama Play. A graduate of The Lee Strasberg Institute, his New York credits include Lanford Wilson's 5th of July, Adam Bock's Swimming in the Shallows and David Rabe’s Hurly Burly in the role of Eddie. Steve was invited back to The Lee Strasberg Institute to teach a film class called 100 EYES. He recently played real life serial killer Charles Cullen on Discovery ID's EVIL, I.
Frank
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Jo-anne Lee
Jo-anne Lee, originally from Singapore, holds an MFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She dances with the highly athletic Brian Brooks Moving Company, a New York-based contemporary dance company. When director Timothy Haskell approached her in 2006 to play the lead in the martial arts play The Jaded Assassin, Jo-anne discovered her two great loves: acting and punching. Jo-anne has continued to work in theatre, short films and television, including another of Haskell’s fightsicals Last Life and co-starring in an episode of CBS’s Blue Bloods. Jo-anne trains in kung fu at the USA Shaolin Temple, and is also a certified Pilates Instructor.
Jenny
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Cast List
Jessica Kahler..............................Leonora
Komal Kapoor..................................Nadia
Mark Reay......................................Alonzo
Mat Devine..............................Roommate
Gabrielle Ryan.......................................Liz
Elise Rovinsky.................................Stacey
Diane Love..........................Alex's Mother
John Coleman Taylor............Alex's Father
Michael Wiener....................................Yuri
Justine J. Hall............................Ms. Lopez
Joshua Clinton Brown.....................Roland
Victoria Guthrie....................................Rita
Lester Greene......................................Dirk
Pascal Yen-Pfister............................Oscar
Temple K Barros.................Storage Guard
Justin Stiver.......................................Donal
Gilles Decamps.............................Jacques
Ari Malul.........................................The MC
Eric McGinty..............................Guy in Suit
Mark Strackbein.......................Henchmen
Charles Tisa................................................
Ian Monroe......................................Timmy
Oona McGinty.................................Frannie
WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
.
WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
.
WALLABOUT
A film by Eric McGinty
.
.
.
A few reviews after WALLABOUT'stheatrical release in Paris:
.
Quelques critiques après lasortie en salle à Paris de WALLABOUT:
.
Télérama
"Many scenes in this first feature contain ideas that collide to create new ones… Wallabout reveals the talent of the director... he moves us with the wanderings of this thirty- something struggling to reinvent herself.""Bien des scènes de ce premier film contiennent des idées qui s'entrechoquent pour en créer de nouvelles. Wallabout démontre le talent du réalisateur... il émeut avec l'errance de cette trentenaire qui peine à se réinventer."-Pierre-Julien Marest
.
Le Masque et la Plume - France Inter
"The favorite film of the week""Coup de coeur de la semaine"-Alain Riou
.
Positif
4 stars / 4 étoiles ****"Eric McGinty's writing is beautiful yet simple, an American independent film script that follows its characters in the urban landscapes of New York with an empathetic gaze, but not too much. Just enough.""C'est une belle écriture toute simple que celle d'Eric McGinty, une ecriture de film indépendant américain qui suit ses personnages dans les paysages urbains de New York avec un regard empathique, mais pas davantage. Juste ce qu'il faut."-Eric Derobert
.
Le Canard Enchainé
"This first feature by the Franco-American director Eric McGinty paints an engaging and nuanced portrait of a young woman in a full slump (embodied by the charismatic Ivy Elrod).""Ce premier film du réalisateur franco-américain Eric McGinty brosse un portrait attachant et tout en nuance d'une jeune femme en plein passage à vide (incarnée par la charismatique Ivy Elrod)."-David Fontaine
.
PublikArt
"A bittersweet atmosphere sets the rhythm of this intimate and invigorating urban odyssey. The camera sticks to Alex (Ivy Elrod) very closely, unearthing her inner doubts and her artistic ambitions. Wallabout fits into a generous lineage of moving American independent films. It's a film to discover if you appreciate charming stories dealing with the everyday and full of empathy.""Une ambiance douce amère cadence cette odyssée urbaine intime et vivifiante. La caméra colle Alex (Ivy Elrod) de très près, exhumant ses doutes intérieurs et ses ambitions artistiques. Wallabout s’inscrit dans une généreuse ascendance de films indépendants américains émouvants. A découvrir si vous êtes sensibles aux récits charmants, ordinaires et forts en empathie."-Stanislas Claude
.
La Grande Parade
"As Alex, Ivy Elrod embodies with sensitivity a young woman steeped in doubt and emotional instability, Steve Ward proves to be an endearing and seductive Frank. A touching story filmed with a realistic eye... An urban drama that will not leave indifferent those who are curious about lives that are out of the ordinary...""Ivy Elrod incarne avec sensibilité Alex, jeune femme pétrie de doutes et d’instabilité affective, Steve Ward s’avère un Franck attendrissant et séduisant. Une histoire touchante filmée en caméra réaliste... Un drame urbain qui ne laissera pas indifférents ceux qui ont la curiosité des destins singuliers…"-Julie Cadilhac
.
Froggy's Delight
"Wallabout by Eric McGinty is proof of originality...a New York independent film that leaves the beaten track...a beautiful stroll in a rather unusual New York. This good-looking first feature by a Franco-American is watched with pleasure and has the advantage of putting the spotlight on a young actress, Ivy Elrod, who carries the entire film on her shoulders without difficulty.""Wallabout" d'Eric McGinty fait preuve d'originalité... un film indépendant new-yorkais qui sort des sentiers battus... une belle balade dans un New York assez inhabituel. Ce joli premier long-métrage d'un franco-américain se voit avec plaisir et a l'avantage de mettre en lumière une jeune comédienne, Ivy Elrod, qui porte tout le film sur ses épaules sans difficulté."-Philippe Person
.
Culturebox - FranceTV Info
"Thanks to the excellent Ivy Elrod, this stroll through New York is followed with ease... The young actress has sex appeal energy, and we want to give her support even though the system wants her to toe the line.""Grâce à l'excellente Ivy Elrod, cette déambulation new-yorkaise se suit agréablement... La jeune comédienne a du chien, de l'énergie, et on a envie de la soutenir alors que le système lui réclame de rentrer dans le rang."-Pierre-Yves Grenu
.
Vocable
"An independent film that is a beautiful declaration of love to the city of New York.""Un film indépendant qui est une belle déclaration d’amour à la ville de New York."
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USA / 2014 / 102 minutes / color
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WALLABOUT
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