FF2 Media is delighted to congratulate Angela Teresa Stern – an FF2 alumna! – on her big accomplishment as the writer, co-director, and lead actor of Because We’re Family.
Angela’s feature film debut had its World Premiere on June 15th at the 25th annual “Dances With Films Festival” in Los Angeles. This past week, on October 14th, the film made its way to Manhattan’s Regal Union Square as part of the 10th annual Chelsea Film Festival.
Because We’re Family is about a dysfunctional trio of siblings who are brought together by the passing of their mother. They fight over where to keep her ashes – and just about everything else – as they spend a holiday season together under one roof.
To Angela, this story is a personal one that she felt she needed to tell after her own mother passed. It started out as a 6-minute stage play, which grew into a full-length play, and then a feature script. She then went on to meet her co-star and co-director, Christine Nyhart Kaplan, and their producer, Alyssa Roehrenbeck. Together, they powered through to make this screenplay into a film.
…the easiest scene to write was the Christmas scene because so much of it was rooted in reality…
During the Q & A session afterwards, Angela commented that the easiest scene to write was the Christmas scene because so much of it was rooted in reality. She enjoys writing dialogue and said that once the characters take shape, they start “talking” themselves.
A big surprise to all of us in the audience was when Alyssa brought up that due to their tight budget, they had decided to go without an art department. Everything that was seen on the screen was put together by the three women behind the camera.
Completing and then distributing a first feature film is hard enough already. But a quarantimes independent movie that made it through to the big screen? These are gems that deserve nothing less than a salute and our utmost respect for the perseverance it must have taken to reach completion.
Congratulations, Angela!
© Katusha Jin (10/15/2022) – Special for FF2 Media ®
LEARN MORE/DO MORE
Read Andrea’s FF2 Quarantale – The Because We’re Family Team Powers Thru Quarantimes – posted right before the LA premiere.
Click HERE to watch the Because We’re Family trailer on YouTube.
Read about Angela Stern’s filmography on IMDb.
Read about Christine Nyhart’s filmography on IMDb.
Read about Alyssa Roehrenbeck filmography on IMDb.
CREDITS & PERMISSIONS
Featured Photo Credit: Katusha Jin for FF2 (10/14/22). From left to right: Christine Nyhart Kaplan, Alyssa Roehrenbeck & Angela Teresa Stern inside the Regal Union Square.
Bottom: Film still from Because We’re Family provided by Angela Stern. All Rights Reserved.
