STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
Eventually, producer Gia Franzia came on board. She found DP's in each city and helped skype audition actors. She dealt with agents and was there for over all moral support. What a God send!
Echoing the themes of each short, it's been a journey of cultural differences and language barriers for myself, my actors and my limited crew, but what an amazing experience it's been! So many people generously gave their time, talent, and wonderful locations! Thank you all for believing in my project!
Tracy Pellegrino
P.S
Thank you, Mark for doing sound, being a P.A.... writing and rewriting and attempting to be a first A.D.
About
As an actor on a popular television show, my husband is invited to fan conventions around the world. In 2012, we were going to be in several different countries. How could I, as a filmmaker, let this opportunity slip away?
The seed of an idea began to grow. I would work with writers and make 10-12 different shorts in different cities that would weave together and become a feature. A character in one short would possibly be in another. The fish out of water theme would extend through the entire film.
I didn't have much time from the moment the idea was hatched to when we were scheduled to leave. There was no time or money to find a DP, casting director, location scout, sound man, prop master, etc. I would have to bring my own equipment and do most of the work. It was guerrilla filmmaking to the extreme.
Luckily, there was someone on each film that helped me out in some way. Pia Pownall-Staff and Jenny Pena, actresses from my Cannes film, not only helped find important locations, but Jenny introduced me to a French cameraman who would work on most of my European shorts. I was not fluent in French; he was not fluent in English, echoing the film's theme behind the scenes. This, in fact, became a very common working condition on each film. At times it was even necessary to direct actors that didn't speak a word of English.