Details
Union:
Union
Area of media:
Short Film
Network:
Paid?:
Yes
Rates:
- Contract: SAG-AFTRA Short Project Agreement
- FRANK: $400 per day + 10% agency fee
- JOSEPH: $300 per day + 10% agency fee
Deadline:
Mar 29, 2024
Shooting locations:
New York, NY
Cities for response:
New York
Comments
ADDITIONAL PROJECT INFO:
- Auditions: Self-tapes
- Callbacks: Virtual callback session
- Rehearsal: One (1) day (rehearsal & wardrobe fitting)
- Shoot dates: Eight (8) shoot days in July 2024: July 6-7, 13-14, 20-21. Dates of the two remaining shoot days are TBD.
- Shoot location: NYC
- Travel/ Accommodations: Production will provide travel, per diem, and accommodations if talent is not a NY local. Travel dates are TBD.
ABOUT WRITER / DIRECTOR:
Zoe Beloff is an artist and filmmaker based in New York. Born and bred in Edinburgh, Zoe studied painting and drawing before moving to New York to attend Columbia University’s MFA Film program. With a focus on social justice, she draws timelines between past and present to imagine a more egalitarian future. Her projects often involve a range of media including films, drawings and archival documents organized around a theme. Zoe’s work has been featured in American and International exhibitions and screenings; include the Whitney Museum Biennale, MoMA, the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Berlinale, the M HKA museum in Antwerp, International Film Festival Rotterdam and FID Marseille. She has been awarded fellowships from the Graham Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
CAST ATTACHED:
SARAH ADLER - Kate Valk (Wooster Group)
SOL - Jay Dobkin (The Living Theatre)
MRS. RUBENOVITCH - Joanie HIeger Zosike (The Living Theatre, Action Racket Theatre)
*Please do not contact anyone on the creative team or cast list.*
- Auditions: Self-tapes
- Callbacks: Virtual callback session
- Rehearsal: One (1) day (rehearsal & wardrobe fitting)
- Shoot dates: Eight (8) shoot days in July 2024: July 6-7, 13-14, 20-21. Dates of the two remaining shoot days are TBD.
- Shoot location: NYC
- Travel/ Accommodations: Production will provide travel, per diem, and accommodations if talent is not a NY local. Travel dates are TBD.
ABOUT WRITER / DIRECTOR:
Zoe Beloff is an artist and filmmaker based in New York. Born and bred in Edinburgh, Zoe studied painting and drawing before moving to New York to attend Columbia University’s MFA Film program. With a focus on social justice, she draws timelines between past and present to imagine a more egalitarian future. Her projects often involve a range of media including films, drawings and archival documents organized around a theme. Zoe’s work has been featured in American and International exhibitions and screenings; include the Whitney Museum Biennale, MoMA, the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Berlinale, the M HKA museum in Antwerp, International Film Festival Rotterdam and FID Marseille. She has been awarded fellowships from the Graham Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
CAST ATTACHED:
SARAH ADLER - Kate Valk (Wooster Group)
SOL - Jay Dobkin (The Living Theatre)
MRS. RUBENOVITCH - Joanie HIeger Zosike (The Living Theatre, Action Racket Theatre)
*Please do not contact anyone on the creative team or cast list.*
Storyline
Evocative yet playful, LIFE FORGOTTEN is a short film that is a black and white art film that asks how everyday entertainment brings people together and acts as a catalyst for social change. Set in NYC’s Lower East Side in the early years of the twentieth century, it centers on a real storefront cinema, Frank Seiden’s Variety Theater. Here silent movies were anything but. Frank and his sons improvised dialogue for the films and sang Yiddish ballads to an audience that didn’t hesitate to join in or argue back. It was a welcoming space for women and the film follows a group of radical young garment workers who gather there to figure out how to fight for women’s rights and change their world.
LIFE FORGOTTEN will be presented as a feature program in art cinemas, along with another short Beloff is directing (a retelling of Franz Kafka’s short story “Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk”).
LIFE FORGOTTEN will be presented as a feature program in art cinemas, along with another short Beloff is directing (a retelling of Franz Kafka’s short story “Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk”).
Roles
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | FRANK SEIDEN | Male 40 - 48 Years old |
Description Ethnicity: White. This role is based on the real-life historical figure Frank Seiden, a Galician Jewish Jack-of-all-Trades in Turn-of-the-Century New York. Talent does not have to look exactly like him, but should be dark-haired and on the taller side. Most importantly, candidates should be able to capture Frank’s essence - a witty, lively, and agile showman and salesman who will turn his hand to whatever people want to see to make ends meet. He charms himself out of the trouble he gets himself into. Born in Galacia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Frank came to New York in 1877. By the 1880s, he had a colorful career as a street magician, fire eater, Punch and Judy man, and a ventriloquist as well as a bar owner on the Bowery. He advertised himself as “Prof. Seiden, Austrian Prestidigitateur”. He became a Columbia Records recording artist, recording folk songs, Yiddish theater songs, and comic scenes. By 1905, he opened two early Nickelodeon theaters (one of which was the Willet Street Theater which became a family business). He applied his skills in vaudeville and singing to the new medium. He and his sons improvised the voices for the silent movie actors. He also provided live entertainment with conjuring tricks and songs. LEAD. Needed for 1 rehearsal day and approx 8 shoot days. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Supporting | JOSEPH SEIDEN | Male 17 - 19 Years old |
Description Ethnicity: White. Dark-haired preferred. This role is based on the real-life historical figure Joseph Seiden, Frank Seiden’s American-born son. Joe was present at the very dawn of the film industry in New York, as he was a picture operator and voiceover actor. Joe is a bit of a smart-ass and has just discovered girls. He is excited about this new film business and in a few years will become a pioneering Yiddish language film producer. The character smokes so should be ok with smoking a fake cigarette. Needed for 1 rehearsal day and 9 shoot days. | ||