The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Arizona premiere of the new indie drama/comedy “Adopt A Sailor” on Tuesday, Aug. 18. There will be two screenings of the film at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. at Harkins Sedona Six Theatres. The film is the sixth in the festival’s seven-week “Best of Fest” series featuring award-winning films from festivals around the world.
“Adopt A Sailor” features a stellar ensemble cast including Tony and Emmy Award-winning Bebe Neuwirth, Emmy Award-winner Peter Coyote and Ethan Peck (grandson of legendary actor Gregory Peck). The film premiered at the prestigious Palm Springs International Film Festival and has garnered acting awards for its cast at festivals throughout the country.
Actor Ethan Peck will be in Sedona for this special premiere. He will be joined by the film’s writer/director Charles Evered and producer Kim Waltrip.
“This will be a very special evening for our audience,” said festival director Patrick Schweiss. “It is an incredibly poignant, timely and entertaining film. Plus we get to have the director, producer and actor here for this premiere. This is what every indie-lover dreams of.”
He fell out of a plane and into their lives. “Adopt A Sailor” tells the story of a sophisticated New York couple (Neuwirth and Coyote) who inadvertently “adopt a sailor” (Peck) during Fleet Week, when Navy ships visit New York City. It is a study of three characters who significantly change each others lives during a one-night encounter as this unsuspecting sailor spends an unpredictable evening with an equally unpredictable couple.
Over burned chicken and Cocoa Puffs, they learn a little bit about him and more about themselves. In the course of one evening, these three very different people become a kind of surrogate family and change each others’ lives forever.
The film combines drama and humor, as does the story of its making. “Adopt A Sailor” began as one piece in a program of 10-minute plays written to commemorate the first anniversary of the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center. Neuwirth, who was involved in the project, became an advocate for its expansion into a film. In expanding it, writer/director Charles Evered took out explicit references to 9/11, although the characters speak of an unspecified war.
“ ‘Adopt a Sailor’ was born out of my own experience, living as I was, at the intersection of two distinct worlds: the world I inhabited part time as a sailor, and the world I inhabit everyday as a writer,” said Evered.
“It was important to me that this film not advocate anything other than humanity in general,” added Evered. “At the heart of this film, is a very simple story about a very complicated relationship between three very different people. These are people who meet by chance, and who — in less time than it takes to have dinner — become a kind of ‘family’.”
With a strong, poignant story and a timely plot line, Evered is the first to admit that the beating hearts of the film are the performances by his award-winning cast.
Neuwirth, who was passionate about the project from the start, has won two Emmy Awards for her performance as Lilith in the hit television series “Cheers”. She went on to win a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway revival of “Chicago”. Coyote has performed for some of the world's most distinguished filmmakers, including: Barry Levinson, Roman Polanski, Pedro Almodovar, Brian DePalma, Steven Spielberg and many others. He is one of the most versatile, talented and gifted character actors of this generation. In 1992 he won an Emmy Award as the
host for a nine-hour series, “The Pacific Century”.
As the grandson of the late great Hollywood icon, Gregory Peck, Ethan has been acting since he was nine years old in a number of television series, commercials and pilots. “Adopt A Sailor” marks his second feature film lead role.
"In my estimation, Ethan has a natural star quality that isn't far removed from his grandfather. For a 21-year-old, he's calm, collected, grounded,” said Evered. There's something about his delivery that is simple and truthful. In a sense, it reminds me of his grandfather. He has a soulfulness in him."
Peck, Evered and producer Kim Waltrip will all be in Sedona to present “Adopt A Sailor” and host Q&A sessions following both screenings.
The title sponsor for the event is Grant Custom Jewelers, owned and operated by Grant Bair; the supporting sponsor is Vora Financial. The series is also made possible by a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Sedona.
“Adopt a Sailor” will be shown at Harkins Sedona Six Theatres on Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $10, or $8 for Film Sedona members, and will be available starting at 3:00 p.m. that day in the Harkins lobby. Cash or checks only. Film Sedona members can purchase tickets in advance at the Sedona International Film Festival office, 1785 W. Hwy. 89A, Suite 2B, or by calling 282-1177.
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