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EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND I HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT
TYPE: Narrative Short
GENRE: Comedy
STATUS: Development
LOGLINE
During the pandemic, a New York couple spends it together, envisioning fun and games. But the strain of being alone threatens to destroy their relationship.
SYNOPSIS
Gabriel and June are New Yorkers who decide to spend quarantine together, despite only dating for a few months. But what should be a blissful honeymoon phase is threatened by too much confinement in tight quarters, memories of ex-boyfriends, a dog with a sensitive stomach and the difficulties of making a living during a pandemic. Everything Is Perfect And I Have Nothing To Complain About is a smart, energetic comedy about being cooped up in a small apartment.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
There’s a refrain repeated in the film industry: don’t make movies about the pandemic. Everyone’s sick of it. They want to put it behind them. Maybe that’s right. There’s no reason to assume it’s not. I don’t know every person in the world, so it’s hard to say. And while I’ve only seen one movie set during the Covid lockdown – Glass Onion, which I really liked – the few others that I read about were horror films. None looked for the humor. But it’s there in almost any situation, if you bother to look for it.
I’ll pause here to say that Glass Onion had lots of funny moments. But it wasn’t about the pandemic, per se. It was an enjoyable murder mystery that, I suspect, was in progress when the pandemic hit and the filmmakers skillfully adapted to the circumstances. If Covid hadn’t happened, it would’ve probably still been about a billionaire who invites his friends to a Greek island, minus the social distancing and masks.
Ever since I started thinking about film in a grown-up way, I’ve had a love for ‘60s movies with lively, boundless energy. Films that revel in the joy of being alive. Movies of the French New Wave like Breathless and Lola. Italian comedies like Il Sorpasso. The works of Richard Lester, like A Hard Day’s Night and The Knack... And How To Get It. Two For The Road by Stanley Donen.
During the fall of 2022, I was invited to participate in the Talent Lab of the Reykjavík International Film Festival. It was an amazing experience. The best part was getting to meet so many gifted, ambitious filmmakers from all over the world. Many of them were busy making short films and one even took the festival’s top prize, the Golden Egg. I’ve been so focused on developing features that I haven’t shot anything in a few years. Being around these filmmakers, who have become friends, inspired me and made me eager to direct another short.
I wanted it to be something with minimal locations and a small cast, so the focus could be on the story, the performances and the cinematography. My thoughts kept going back to the films I love. Breathless is about a man and a woman. Il Sorpasso is a picaresque tale of two men on a road trip. Two For The Road is about a married couple reliving their past.
During the bus ride back to Reykjavík after a festival-sponsored outing to the stunningly otherworldly countryside and the Icelandic Museum of Rock 'n' Roll, I realized what the short would be about. The most recent event that had forced people into tight quarters was the pandemic. But it would be funny. It would have joie de vivre and a sense of dancing exuberantly as the world burns.
Dino Risi, the director of Il Sorpasso, famously said, “life is a comedy that ends in tragedy."
From all that, EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND I HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT was born.
KEY CREW
Mark L. Feinsod - Writer/director
MARK L. FEINSOD got his start as a reporter for IndieWire and was later promoted to News Editor. Since then, he has become an award-winning writer, director and producer whose work has been described by Time Out New York as “urbane.”
The New York Times wrote that A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT "at times evokes Orson Welles," while The Village Voice called it "a superb 30-minute stimulation of the senses." Mark's micro-budget feature THE DEAFENING SILENCE OF A VERY BRIGHT LIGHT was described by The New York Post as "haunting." His original TV projects have been optioned by NorthSouth Productions and others. He has directed music videos for Riviera, Rebecca Pronsky and Monocle.
Mark's feature script STUDY ABROAD won first place in the Beverly Hills Screenplay Contest. It is in development with Kristin Ellingson directing and Eleanor Hoppe and Milk & Honey Pictures producing. The project’s agent is Claire Best of Claire Best & Associates.
He was a participant in the Talent Lab of the Reykjavík International Film Festival in 2022. Mark will be shooting a short called EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND I HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT later this year. Also, he is in development on his second feature A REALLY BIG DEAL.
Dawn Green - Producer
Filmmaker and producer, Dawn is the founder of Nordic Dawn Productions. She has worked on narrative and documentary film and television projects. Her work as a producer in television has included shows for the SyFy Channel and the Oxygen Network. Dawn worked as a Lecturer at Stanford University. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA from Brandeis University. She received her MA in film producing from the American Film Institute Conservatory.
Barbara McNamara - Casting Director
Barbara McNamara, CSA, is president of Barbara McNamara Casting, which she established in New York in 2005. For the past 18 years, she has been casting actors for numerous television shows and feature films, including HBO’s SEX AND THE CITY, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and 30 ROCK.
She started her principal casting career with Rob Burnett’s WE MADE THIS MOVIE and continues to cast many mini-series such as History Channel’s THE FOOD THAT BUILT AMERICA and most recently cast GO FOR GRANDMA, starring Amy Madigan and Justine Lupe.
Prior to her casting career, Barbara directed and produced fashion shows and major ad campaigns and holds multiple degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.
Barbara is Vice President of the Black Bear Film Festival in Milford, Pennsylvania.
Rich Bennett - Composer
Rich Bennett is an engineer, producer, and composer who has worked with a diverse array of bands like The Shaggs,
Hologram Teen, Mahogany, Rodney Cromwell, Alice Hubble and Monocle. He is also one half of the Brazilian funk duo
Limoncello (Far Out Recordings) and releases quirky space ge jazz under the moniker “Roman Angelos.” His most
recent record Music For Underwater Supermarkets was released in 2022 on Happy Robots Records and featured on BBC Radio 6.
This is the third time Rich and Mark have collaborated. Mark directed the music video for Monocle’s single Plastic Beach. Rich composed the music for Himalayan Cats With AK-47s And Eating Disorders, a web series Mark co-wrote, co-produced and directed.
Pegah Pasalar - Editor
Pegah Pasalar is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker and film editor currently based in Brooklyn. Her autoethnographic practice encompasses video, installation and film, exploring themes including identity convulsion, cultural memory, fragmentation, temporality and displacement. Pegah is particularly interested in oral histories and modes of storytelling people use to refabulate the past.
She is the recipient of City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs grant, 3ARTS’ “Make a Wave” grant and the New Artist Society grant. She has also received fellowships including the Kala Media Residency Award, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Yaddo, Banff and Points North. She was recognized as one of NEWCITY Magazine’s 2020 Film 50 Gems and has showcased her work internationally in venues and festivals such as Athens International Film and Video Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de Buenos Aires (FIDBA), Austria International Film Festival, Onion City Film Festival, Ecra, E-flux, Arte East and more.
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