STRAIGHT LACED Film
Triple Threat Independent Film Project (IFP) 2024: "Straight Laced"
"Straight Laced" just made its World Premiere at the renowned Dances With Films festival at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on June 22!
Logline: When a conscientious honors student buckles under the academic pressure in her town of overachievers and overearnest parents, she makes a choice that leaves everyone in her life rethinking whether getting into the "right" college matters at all.
Synopsis: Lucia is an honors student, star rower, and good kid. Her dad didn’t grow up with the privileges she and her sisters enjoy, so there is no excuse for her not following his path to Princeton. Even as an unlikely friendship develops with the school’s drug dealer, Eddy, Lucia is not planning to play her peers' risky game of experimenting with fake prescription pills as study aids. But when she begins to buckle under the academic pressure in her town of overachievers, she makes a choice that leaves everyone in her life rethinking whether getting into the "right" college matters at all.
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Director's Statement: Our film takes place in a town full of type-A parents, who expect their children to be high-achievers and get in the best colleges. It depicts the ways in which those children cope with the pressure they feel to succeed at all costs. Although the plot and characters are mostly fictional, the lead character and the climactic event were inspired by a real person and true story. I wanted to tell this story because I believe our society is built upon the myth that being more, having more, getting more is the key to success, and that such success equates to happiness and feeling whole. This message surrounds our children. They can’t escape it, whether from their parents, teachers, coaches, or social media. Some kids can weather this storm but many succumb to the weight of the stress, striving dangerously to live up to expectations that are unrealistic and emotionally damaging. Societal demands take their toll on our youth, sometimes in deadly ways. Suicide, depression and drugs are often the result of the burdens they feel. I hope the audience takes a step back and reconsiders the messages of our culture. Unless or until we teach our children that self-esteem and self-worth come from being good human beings, and not from material possessions or external acknowledgements such as grades and SAT scores, then we will continue to have a mental health and teen overdose crisis in this country.
Directed by: CYNTHIA GIBB
Written by: JILL JOHNSON MANN
Produced by: JILL JOHNSON MANN & CYNTHIA GIBB
CAST
LUCIA: NATALIA MANN
EDDY: MATTHEW BUKZIN
ELISE: AINI ROCKWELL
FRANK: MARIO MANNA
GABRIELLA: PENELOPE SAJDA
GIULIA: CALLIE SARRO
SCARLETT: SOPHIE JASMIN WALTHER
WHITNEY: ISABELLE LEEMING
ARLO: BRIGG LIBERMAN
PIERCE: BLAKE RAHO
GAVIN: BRIAN LOMBARDI
ANNIE: CLAIRE BUTLER
SAM: PHOEBE MCCANCE
NIKKI: CHLOE CARSON
BRIANA CHLOE DEBUCK
AXE: CHARLIE WATSON
MACK: CAMERON MANN
WILLOW: VIVIENNE LEEMING
MARLO: ELLIE ROCKWELL
DELPHINE: ELLA DAVIS
LIV: LOLA ROCKWELL
CELESTE/ PRINCIPAL: JENNIFER MALAQUIAS RYAN
VICKI/VICE PRINCIPAL: MARKLEY RIZZI
REAGAN: DEB KATZ
XANDRA: MICHELE FEINBERG
JULIANNA/ SKATER: JILL JOHNSON MANN
LAUREN/ HIPPIE MOM: CHERYL NADZAM
HOPE: BELLA RIZZI
NATE: COTTON BODELL
BENJI: WYNSTON BROWNE
BERNICE: LINDE GIBB
ROWING COACH: MIKE O’HARA
EMT 1: MARC HARTOG
EMT 2: RICK BAUMBLATT
CREW
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MIKE GALEOTTI
EDITOR: COLTON ANDERSON-OLIVAREZ
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: TYLER STIRLING
SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: TYLER ROCKWELL
SOUND MIXER: MATT LEAKE
ASSISTANT SOUND MIXER: DOM FRACKIEWICZ
ASSISTANT CAMERA/GAFFER: JONATHON CHANG
HAIR AND MAKEUP DESIGNER: KATHLEEN FILLION
COSTUME DESIGNER: ROBIN SINGER
ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNERS: IVY PARHAM & ZOE MANN
SET DESIGNER: MARIA MENDOZA- SMITH
ASSISTANT SET DESIGNER: ANA-MARIA LEEMING
PROPERTY MASTER: CHARLES WATSON
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR: MOHAMAD MAHMOUD
ASSISTANT SCRIPT SUPERVISOR: CHARLES WATSON
MUSIC SUPERVISOR: GREG RACER
AUDIO CONSULTANT: DANIEL IANNANTUONO
COLORIST: DANIEL DORMANN
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER: NICOLA WALTHER SET PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: LEE NORMAN
CATERING COORDINATOR: AXEL WALTHER
CATERING: PLANET PIZZA
MUSIC
“Home Where”
Performed by Sir Chloe
Produced by John Congleton
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
THE DUVALL-SAJDA FAMILY
THE GRANOLA BAR
PLANET PIZZA OF WESTPORT
WESTPORT VOLUNTEER EMS
DAN WOOG AT 06880
WESTPORT MAGAZINE
SAG-AFTRA