After a successful premiere at Dances with Films, Michelle Bossy’s short film – klutz. –starring Malka Wallick, produced by Girl Gang Production(s), is screening at several additional and upcoming film festivals, Including:
Imagine This Women’s Film Festival – Virtual – Sep 24- Oct 3
Detroit SheTown Film Festival – Virtual – Oct 1-3
Female Filmmakers Berlin: – Live – Oct 6-10
LA Femme – Virtual – Oct 14- 17
Soho International Film Festival – Virtual – Nov 4-9
Praise for klutz. from early festival press
“Effortlessly interesting and watchable.” – AiPT!
“Despite the brief runtime, klutz. lands the punches hard, but with grace and ultimately with hope.” – Film Threat
“Melancholic yet tempered with cosmic bliss… superb storytelling” – the WORD
“I loved the dialog in this film which beautifully walked the line between being real and being scripted.” – Unseen Films
“It’s a pleasant combination of factors which allows Klutz to shine…” – Visually Stunning Movie Podcast
(New York, NY) – Michelle Bossy’s film, klutz. – made in collaboration with Girl Gang Production(s) – just wowed audiences and critics alike at the 24th Dances With Films Festival at the famed Chinese Theatres in Los Angeles, and now it is scheduled to show at five more virtual festivals including Imagine This Women’s Film Festival, Detroit SheTown Film Festival, LA Femme, Soho International Film Festival as well as Female Filmmakers Berlin which is a live, in-person festival.
Overall, klutz. is a story of perseverance and family. Using universal themes, klutz. sees Zowie (Malka Wallick) struggling as a first time novelist when she is thrust into the throes of grief as she loses her sister Lida (Mara Kassin). Zowie also seemingly loses her gravitational pull as a supernatural side effect of her grief, which allows for her to reconnect with Lida every time she falls or feels pain. However, the space-time-continuum giveth, the space-time-continuum taketh away, and the next time she hurts, her sister is gone. When present, Lida acts as a force of nature and attempts – in her plucky, bullying way – to get Zowie back on her feet and to focus on her writing.
Left to right: One of those intimate moments of Lida (Actress Mara Kassin) being a big sister to Zowie (Actress Malka Wallick).
As a result of her grief and trauma, the only writing that Zowie seems able to accomplish is a children’s book about a girl whose superpower is falling down; a story that struggles to find a publisher. Frustrated and depleted, Zowie is torn between moving on or withering on the vine. So, in a whiskey fueled dream-state she makes a choice: to fall one last time, this time back to reality.
The script sees klutz. weaving between the past and present, as the character of Lida is omnipresent even though she is no longer alive. The humor Elizabeth Narciso (writer) uses is essential and offers moments of relief for the audience. The film is shot to reflect Zowie’s emotional state. The colors reflect the cold loss of her sister in the present and the warm glow she feels when Lida is near in her fantasy. The cinematic beach location (with filming taking place in Far Rockaway and other locations in the NYC area) elevates the moments between the sisters and the feeling of loss. With visual effects and elaborate cinematography, klutz. Is able to clearly delineate between memory and reality.
This strong dynamic between two sisters was sensitively wrought with stellar performances by Mara Kassin and Malka Wallick. The hilarious, touching supporting cast includes Broadway, TV and film veterans Sanjit De Silva, Florencia Lozano, Angel Desai, Geneva Carr, Geoffrey Owens and Wai Ching Ho.
About Michelle Bossy- Director:
Michelle Bossy is a Mexican-American theater, television, and film director.
Michelle’s films have premiered at the Austin Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival, Dances with Films, LA Shorts International Film Festival, and the Female Eye Film Festival, among dozens of others. Her films include: 18, She Grinds Her Own Coffee, The New 35, Friendly Neighborhood Coven, Ladies Lounge, Miracle Baby, Incurable, klutz, Chance of Showers, and The Trespassed.
She directed music videos for the band Yassou and singer/songwriter Brooke Josephson. Michelle directed the web series There’s a Special Place in Hell for Fashion Bloggers and the kids’ show The Broadway Babies Show. Theater Michelle has directed in New York and internationally includes There and Back, Sex with Strangers, Every Good Girl Deserves Fun, Sex of the Baby, Cloven Tongues, Un Plugged In, South Beach Rapture, and Sarajevo’s Child. Michelle co-created the musical High School Confidential for Primary Stages, where she was the Associate Artistic Director.
She holds the first undergraduate directing degree from Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts. Michelle teaches for NYU, UCLA, and Syracuse University. Member: Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and SDC.
About Malka Wallick, Executive Producer and Cast Member:
Malka Wallick is a NYC based multi-hyphenate creative. She is the Founder and Executive Producer at Girl Gang Production(s), and stars in their inaugural film “klutz.” Her pilot “Our Bodies & Other Shames,” was a semi-finalist with the ScreenCraft Pilot competition and the Golden Script Competition. It is currently in the second round of considerations for the top 100 of the Launchpad Pilot Competition.
She has also written, produced, and acted with Bad Guru Productions (“Our Bodies and Other Shames” short, “Bachelorette, Bachelorette”). Malka was the Artistic Director of the Rogue & Peasant Players, a NYC based Shakespeare company and has been performing in NYC for nearly a decade.
She grew up in the Modern Orthodox community in Brooklyn, NY. As a queer woman, she aims to bridge the gap between her upbringing and her art. As an artist she is committed to using her voice to empower young girls. Her work is about expanding and exploring female narratives that push boundaries and raise questions about what it means to be a woman today. Malka is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA.
About Mara Kassin, Producer and Cast Member:
Mara Kassin is an award-winning actress and producer. This past year, she produced and acted in several upcoming narrative podcasts. Her recent award-winning films EXTRA INNINGS, LADIES LOUNGE and FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD COVEN, can be found on Amazon Prime. She co-produced Shawn Christensen’s CURFEW, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. Mara starred in and co-produced, GRANDMA’S NOT A TOASTER, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. She co-starred, wrote & produced her award-winning directorial debut, NOW OR LATER, which screened at dozens of film festivals. Recent film credits include DATA RECOVERY, KLUTZ, THE ONLY BEAUTIFUL THING, CUL DE SAC, and BEFORE I DISAPPEAR. Selected theatre credits include works by Elizabeth Irwin, Halley Feiffer, Heidi Schreck, Anna Ziegler, Erica Saleh, and Caroline McGraw. Member of AMPAS, SAG-AFTRA & AEA. www.marakassin.com
About Elizabeth Narciso, Writer:
Elizabeth Narciso is a writer, actor & filmmaker living in New York City. Her stage plays have been finalists and semi-finalists for the Woodward/Newman Award, TheatreWorks New Works Festival, the American Shakespeare Center, The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Princess Grace Awards, Blue Ink Award and nominated for the Lark Venturous Playwright Fellowship. She is a writer member of The Actor’s Studio, José Rivera’s writer’s group, as well as Dorset Theatre Festival’s Women Artists Writing. She is a co-founder of Girl Gang Production(s) and member of the Dramatist Guild of America. www.elizabethnarciso.com
About Jonathan Chekroune, Cinematographer:
Jonathan Chekroune is a Producer, Director, and Cinematographer living in New York City. He is best known as Director of the award winning short film, Sasha (2016), for which he was featured in the Cannes Short Film Corner (2016). He works in both narrative and commercial film. As a cinematographer he has filmed locally and internationally for commercial clients including: Jeep, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Christie’s Auction House. Selected credits include: Sasha (Executive Producer/ Director) Perspective (Director), Forgotten Patient (Cinematographer), Reflection (Cinematographer), Bacardi: Drink to Remember (Cinematographer), Einstein: The God Letter (Cinematographer).
About Estelle Bajou, Composer:
Estelle Bajou is a NY Innovative Theatre Award-winning Actor, Drama Desk Award-nominated Composer, Writer, Director, and Educator. A first-generation French-American raised in a furniture factory town in the North Carolina mountains, she’s loved traveling across North, Central, and South America, Europe, and the Middle East, including Iraq, for projects, and is now based in The Bronx. Broadway: Once. TV: “Boardwalk Empire”; Ken Burns’ “Prohibition”. Feature Film: Charming the Hearts of Men; Spielberg’s The Post; Chaplin of the Mountains; subHysteria; Fireworkers; Beneath Disheveled Stars. Short Film: Starring Austin Pendleton; Lullaby for Ray; Broke, Henry Buys a Hat. Theatre: PS122, Edinburgh Fringe, LaMaMa, 59E59, 14th St Y, New Ohio, NJ Rep, FringeNYC, Under St. Marks, Shadowland, A.R.T. Oberon, Barrow Street, three National Tours, et al. At age nineteen, she earned a BA in Theatre and Creative Writing from Bard College at Simon’s Rock. She then earned an MFA in Acting from the School of Drama at The New School in New York City.
About Girl Gang Production(s):
Girl Gang Production(s) is dedicated to telling electrifying stories that disrupt and defy societal expectations of the female narrative both on stage and on camera. Girl Gang Production(s) is dedicated to helping empower girls to find their voices and remind them that their narratives are there to be created, by them, for the world.
Girl Gang Production(s) Online: