Written by Kristen Legg
Leading Ladies, which is screening at the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, is a dance/musical/dramedy (in the vein of Dirty Dancing and Little Miss Sunshine) that weaves the tale of an overbearing mother and her two daughters through the vehicle of ballroom dance.
Directed by former Seattlite, Erika Randall Beahm, Leading Ladies stars Benji Schwimmer, season two winner of So You Think You Can Dance, as well as long-time SYTYCD choreographer and renowned Latin Ballroom World Champion, Melanie LaPatin. The film’s “grocery store musical” scene also stars several SYTYCD finalists including Kherington Payne, Courtney Galiano, Katee Shean, Sara VonGillern, etc., and features music by Ben Folds’ producer John Mark Painter. The soundtrack has been garnering rave reviews with songs from Phoenix, Andrew Bird, The Old Ceremony, Alva Leigh, Malena Muyala, Earwig, The Randys, Havilah Rand, Danny Leisure and The Suites, and many more.
Leading Ladies was shot by veteran cinematographer Peter Biagi who worked with Robert Altman on The Company and A Prairie Home Companion and is credited as cinematographer/DP on over 40 feature films. Biagi was also the cinematographer for the first season of Project Greenlight.
Leading Ladies premiered this year at the Sonoma International Film Festival where it won a juried Showcase Award. Since then Leading Ladies has sold out shows at NewFest (250+ seats, NYC) and Outfest (600 seats, Directors’ Guild of America Theater, Los Angeles) and is continuing this trajectory on the festival circuit. Leading Ladies was selected as one of only two feature films from NewFest to screen an encore performance at the end of August at BAM in NY for the “Best of NewFest” presentation. Besides Seattle, the upcoming fall festival season is packed with screenings that include the Denver Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival, as well as festivals in Tampa, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Hong Kong, and Italy.
For info and trailer: www.leadingladiesmovie.com
For tickets: http://post.thestranger.com/seattle/Shop?film=4869733§ion=4848783
