RICHARD’S WEDDING premieres at Sarasota Film Festival

Cast of RICHARD'S WEDDING

This weekend, “Richard’s Wedding” has its world premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival.  The Inside, the Festival’s website blog, posted this piece about our film:

INDEPENDENT VISIONS COMPETITION SPOTLIGHT: Exclusive interview with the Filmmakers and Cast of RICHARD’S WEDDING!

Watching “Richard’s Wedding” is like going to a party and meeting a tight group of friends who instantly welcome you into their fold and make you feel like you’ve known them all your life. It is a film that delivers its themes through sparkling conversation and terrific acting. What follows, much like the film, is a fun whirlwind roundtable discussion with actor/writer/director Onur Tukel and actors Jennifer Prediger, Lawrence Michael Levine, Heddy Lahmann, and Adam Schartoff. “Richard’s Wedding” plays Friday, April 20 @ 8:15 PM, Saturday, April 21 @ 5:00 PM, and Sunday, April 22 @ 5:45 PM. CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS NOW!

THE INSIDER: What inspired you to make this movie?

Onur Tukel (Writer/Director/”Tuna”): I love the dialogue-driven movies of Woody Allen, Richard Linklater, Noah Baumbach and Whit Stillman. I always wanted to make a New York ensemble movie. I moved to New York in October of 2010 to get inspired. I had been cast in a really great indie film called “Septien” by Michael Tully and was really inspired by Tully’s process. He made that movie without any real fear of how it would be received. I remember him saying specifically, “I don’t care if this movie gets distributed. I don’t care if it gets into film festivals.” And then he went and made a brilliant movie! It was incredibly inspiring. So Tully was hugely influential.

There are three specific movies that have inspired/informed “Richard’s Wedding”. One specific influence was the movie “Tape” by Richard Linklater which takes place in a hotel room in real time. The two male leads spend the first half of the movie talking about a character that doesn’t show up until the second act. more…