Welcome to Conventioneers!

2006-09-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

I was detained for 14 hours-- spent a night in a prison cell-- during
the making of my first feature CONVENTIONEERS. Was it all worth it?
Every second of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making
CONVENTIONEERS has lead up to this date-- October 20, 2006 when the
film will be released in my hometown of New York City.

The two year roller coaster journey that has been my life with
CONVENTIONEERS began in a very spontaneous way-- an idea to direct a
narrative film set against the Republican National Convention, held for
the first time in NYC. In July 2004, I came up with the idea for a
Romeo and Juliet story between a Republican and Democrat that would
last the days of the 2004 RNC, and that would explore the issue of the
divide in our country. A month later, we were shooting.

I had no money, no equipment, no script but I had a treatment, great
actors, the best producer in town in the form of my husband Joel, and
all of my closest friends crewing for us. It was as if we were taking
away all the things you think you might need on a film and stripping it
down to its barest essentials -- the story and the performances. We had
a story we were passionate about and a hard start date – the Convention
and surrounding protests represented a moment in history that we only
had one chance to capture. With no one to tell us no, we were
unstoppable.

The most important thing for me was to capture something that felt
real, mixing my actors into the actual events of the Convention--
Matthew Mabe and Woodwyn Koons, who play the star-crossed lovers MASSEY
& LEA filmed their climactic reunion amongst 500,000 protestors; Alek
Friedman stayed in character as DYLAN while on stage interpreting for
President Bush. The actors were so brave and such a joy to work
with-- most of what I remember from our downtime is laughing at one of
Woodwyn’s stories. Coming out of our week of rehearsals, the actors
really knew the characters and we knew the beats of the scenes, but
then within that, every day was a surprise. Every day something crazy
was happening right in front of our eyes. Because of the way we were
working – small mobile crew all embracing the spirit of improvisation –
we had the freedom to incorporate events as they unfolded around us.

My film’s premiere – at the Tribeca Film Festival – was the first time
I saw it play for an audience. The sold-out screening was packed with
both Democrats and Republicans laughing and getting into it; many of
whom were shocked by what they saw because even though they were in the
city during the RNC they did not know about all of the protests! That
night was a mixture of one of my scariest moments – the projector
breaking right at a crucial moment in the film – and one of my proudest
– my mother (who sees more movies than any person I know!) seeing the
film for the first time.

Tribeca was the first stop on a worldwide festival tour for
CONVENTIONEERS, each audience completely different from the next – from
the huge mob of young film buffs in Korea, to the chatty, interactive
audience in Hawaii and to the mostly Republican audience in Wichita.
During the Q&A after the Spirit Award nominees screening, a fight broke
out between strangers over the meaning of CONVENTIONEERS. People
shouted across the aisles at each other. I loved it – I wanted to
provoke a dialogue with CONVENTIONEERS, and here it was.

Winning the Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavetes Award came as a
complete shock to me. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected it.
I was just giddy to be in the same room with some of my favorite
directors and actors. I had no speech written, no plan – what was the
point? I thought, we’re the underdogs, just enjoy the moment. Well, I
froze when I heard our name. But I am so grateful to all the people
who voted for the film, as they gave the film a new life-- a chance to
be seen in theaters!

With much love and gratitude, I thank my wonderful cast – Matthew Mabe,
Woodwyn Koons, Alek Friedman – and our amazing crew of Hyphenate
filmmakers who all juggled multiple jobs on the shoot. Without their
talent and dedication, I could not have made CONVENTIONEERS nor been
able to tell you the story about how it got made.

The film changes and grows with the audience. As we approach this
upcoming election, the issues at the core of CONVENTIONEERS, ring even
more true. I hope CONVENTIONEERS stands as a time capsule for that
tumultuous moment in history.

I am proud to open CONVENTIONEERS in New York City on October 20th at
the Village East. Joel & I will be there for Q&A’s that first weekend
so stay tuned for more info about that and our opening night party.
After NYC, we will expand into other cities so please be sure to check
here for the latest breaking news.

xo
Mora Mi-Ok Stephens

Mora Stephens

Welcome to Conventioneers!