SPINSTERS
FEATURE FILM IN DEVELOPMENT
SCREENPLAY BY SASHA CARRERA
A bittersweet comedy about two middle-aged, estranged childhood besties (both unexpectedly unemployed and stuck with aging parents) who find themselves thrust awkwardly face to face at the “most wonderful time of the year.” Forced to grapple with paths not taken and dreams fallen flat, they learn to forgive what was, embrace what is and imagine a future on their own terms, together.
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Creatives
Rahel Grunder (Director) creates authentic, sensitive, and female-driven stories as a writer and director in both fictional and documentary films. Her docudrama EMILIE KEMPIN-SPYRI about Europe's first female lawyer who moved to NYC in 1888 received high critical and public acclaim. The TV comedy DADDYHUNT was broadcast primetime on the biggest Swiss network.
Rahel's short HAPPY TOBIKOMAKI screened at the World of Women Film Festival, the Moscow Short Film Festival, and the Tucson Slow Food Film Festival. Her documentary SWIMMERS OF HOPE won the audience award at the Science et Cité Cinéma festival in Switzerland, and her documentary FARM WOMEN received the audience award at the Regard Bleu festival.
Originally from Zurich, Rahel moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and graduated from the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2012. She speaks four languages, and has an academic background in anthropology, film history, and art history. She’s an avid dancer, and a hiking, running, and cycling enthusiast. She teaches documentary filmmaking at University of Zurich, and is a mentor for the Munich Screenplay Workshop. She’s a member of Women In Film, the Alliance of Women Directors, as well as Glass Elevator.
Russ Hodge (Producer) is the Emmy Award-winning Founder and President of 3 Roads Communications, Inc. (a woman and veteran-owned small business, celebrating its Golden Anniversary). Best known for RESCUE IN THE PHILIPPINE, (Academy Award qualifying documentary) POLITICALLY INCORRECT with Bill Maher, FOX NEWS SUNDAY with Tony Snow, OFF THE RECORD for Fox, and THE McLAUGHLIN GROUP and McLAUGHLIN ONE ON ONE. Current ongoing series on PBS and Amazon: LEGENDS OF AIRPOWER (military aviation series), MOVING IMAGES (interviews with film luminaries), four different programs with Ric Edeleman, and the 9/11 documentary FOR THE LOVE OF THEIR BROTHER. 3 Roads has won more than 100 major video production awards including Emmys, Peabodys, Tellys, Communicators, Addys.
Sasha Carrera (Writer/Producer) is an actor, writer and producer best known as “fiery and complicated” series regular Petra Antonelli in the Baltimore based, award-winning series THESPIAN. On stage, she regularly appears with the Endangered Species (theatre) Project and has been heralded by Theatre Bloom as “one of the most notable members of the ensemble.” Sasha returned to the Mid-Atlantic after a decade in Los Angeles where, along with performing, she wrote and produced her first short film, MR. HOPEWELL’S REMEDY, inspired by a rural recycling center in Maryland. She holds a BA in theatre from Wesleyan University, completed the New Actors’ Workshop conservatory training program with Mike Nichols and Paul Sills, and holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University. Sasha won a scholarship to Maine Media for writing SPINSTERS and continues to hone her skills with Karen Kohlhaas, Aretha Sills and the Arvold/Warner Studios. SPINSTERS is her first feature film as a writer and producer.
Traditionally, spinsters played an important role in the family dynamic, primarily as caretakers for siblings or aging elders. Stereotypically portrayed as jolly aunties or dour old biddies, we may no longer look the part, but we're still here. And while society tends to see us in relational terms, we actually do have lives and aspirations of our own...SPINSTERS.
““The female audience, in nearly every market, is the most important cinema going audience. Women have always been a very important part of the cinema going population, very influential over other audiences, especially male. What we’ve seen in the last year [is] a greater focus on films about women, for women, and I can only see that trend increasing because it’s a very strong, very viable audience.””
“A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more. Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis.”