Indican Pictures has selected Apr. 30 for the DVD
debut of writer/director Daniel Stine’s award-winning gem-of-a-film, Virginia
Minnesota.
The film is fresh off a limited theatrical run which
yields an ARR of 60 days … and prior to that Stine’s film worked the film
festival circuit and piles up win after win!
Stine’s story is based on his own memories as a
child — his grandparents ran a home for troubled boys — and he coupled this
with his desire to showcase the rugged beauty of the northern shore of Lake Superior
(filmed in and around Grand Maris, Minnesota) … a place where few people
travel, but nonetheless magnificent.
For an independent film, sometimes that is all you
need to tell a story that draws you in and stays with you long after the
credits have run. Stine has switched up
the boys home to that of a former home for girls and that is where the story
begins with Lyle (Rachel Hendrix — October Baby, The Perfect Wave,
Unbridled, etc.) “coming home” at the
behest of Hillman (played by Stine), the nephew of the woman who ran the foster
home. Other alumni have arrived for the
reading of the will, which can only happen when all included in it have been
assembled.
![Indican Pictures Looks To Apr. 30 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Daniel Stine's Virginia Minnesota DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgck43cfOpREwn17gCVk_nl9eRiAxwsMfTzZfvQLNPleVkT-29lNI3Ct4DI0QmaP5IolaO9J4lesRaDSP6ylvay-PuG7dRepqSF1wfWxkBitNeHozRNjD4TkBtISP5hE4zwhyphenhyphenhPOWZ-NPxv/s320/Virginia+Photo.jpg)
The core of film is what happens next, Lyle goes to
the small little town on the Lake Superior shore to retrieve the reluctant
Addison and it is the interaction between the two that makes Virginia
Minnesota such a marvelous little
film. Call it a road trip with beautiful
vistas; a bonding series of events … and a cathartic experience for the two
alienated young women.
Virginia Minnesota is
well-written, blessed with wonderful performances — Aurora Prrineau and Rachel
Hendrix are terrific together — and has some nice little touches (a talking
robot/computer named “Mister”) that makes this a road trip well worth taking.
In other DVD release news from Indican Pictures this
past week, we learn that writer/director Nathaniel Lezra’s In Echo
Park will be making its DVD debut on May 14.
![Indican Pictures Looks To Apr. 30 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Daniel Stine's Virginia Minnesota DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV2IvXwNUW8xr7I9CswrFd3E0fNiwZWzjk-f2YRcNVzVylZwPfsqyIx_knhVe7fQbI_ZdTCCjVtVMLnb4VibA8YXBNhKKymHiZIj8ZjWsvHMwc-XjdFu6qXhyD6DgIV-Tmz0wGrPsVoOYJ/s320/In+Echo+Park.jpg)
Filmmaker Nathaniel Lezra, who makes his
feature-length directing debut here, lived here, he knows the streets and has
fashioned a story that draws from his personal experiences.
He takes us off of the busy freeways and into the
heart of the community where we are introduced to millennial street hustler JJ
(Andrew Asper — Retake, Cilla …
and who previously teamed up with Lezra for two of his short films, Waiting
for George (2014) and Young
Bull (2015)) and his girlfriend Nina (Kodi Saint
Angelo — 14 Cameras, Throwdown,
etc.). Their current home in an
abandoned box spring mattress with a view of downtown … JJ is a “musician,”
while Nina is an attractive young woman and clearly comes from an upscale
family, but for now she has chosen the street.
Crossing their path is Jared (played by Jared Brown
… he also previously worked with Lezra on his short films No Place
for Soft Eyes (2014) and Waiting
for George (2014)), a would-be comedian who
works the clubs and hopes for his big break.
And the mix of characters is completed with Luis
(Bryan Michael Nunez — Pretty Dudes),
the son of immigrants from El Salvador, who is trying to get an education and
make something of himself, but the local ethnic gang views him as nothing more
than a future recruit … join us “brother” or else.
![Indican Pictures Looks To Apr. 30 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Daniel Stine's Virginia Minnesota DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbSaUNtmu_m7UWkOCksyO3xHpsR-ejQbM_8MS_g_Xqur7TGUbrB04_GJ0epLyORbaOn-BrZbo3nsjJJSM_ENhE6sKgfIHDXZxY80hGRNn4hgcH2YDdjpZ2cH_7HUSD-D4R6sF0HyaKSa4/s320/Echo+Park+Photo+Two.jpg)
In Echo Park
captured Best Feature and Best Feature Director at the Los Angeles Independent
Film Festival Awards, plus the Award of Merit at IndieFest Films Awards …
Indican Pictures gave it a brief arthouse showcase as well. This one is certainly worth a look-see.
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