Particles
of Truth
(the
official site link)
click
for official site movie trailer
An interview with Jennifer Elster, by Christina Radish
TriBeCa Premiere party (08/05/03) pictures from wireimage
26/09/03 - Particles of Truth will be screened at the Austin Film Festival on Friday, October 10th at 9:30pm, and Wednesday, October 15th at 7:00pm at the Driskill Theater.
11/09/03 - Particles of Truth will be screened at the Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita, Kansas. The festival runs from October 2-5, 2003. Particles will close the festival on the 5th, playing at 7:30pm at the Teall Theatre. For more information regarding tickets and locations, please check here. (pdf file)
09/06/03: Particles of Truth is gearing up for its premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. It will be screened on Saturday June 14th at 4:30pm and on Monday June 16th at 7:00pm. RedlandsDailyFacts says-- PARTICLES OF TRUTH: Jennifer Elster's debut feature has generated some heat since it screened last month at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. It's an unlikely Manhattan love story between a painter (Elster) and a writer (Gale Harold of "Queer as Folk'), she still carrying the baggage of being raised by drug-addled parents and he a reclusive germophobe who spends hours on end in his BMW SUV. (Gee, wonder which character the Los Angeles audience will relate to more easily?) >>read more
Particles
of Truth
will be screened at the TriBeCa
Film Festival on the following days:
Thursday, May 8th at 9:30pm: UA Battery Park 16; Friday, May 9th at 1:00pm
at UA Battery Park 11; and Saturday, May 10th at 12:00 noon at UA Battery
Park 9. A video clip of the film can be accessed by clicking on the "American
Express Screening Room" link at the festival site.
Jennifer
Elster in NYNewsday: Filmmaker Jennifer
Elster is making her world debut at the Tribeca
Film Festival -- right in her backyard. The Battery Park City resident is
showing her first full feature
film, "Particles of Truth," on May 8-10, part of a group of New
York-themed movies being showcased at the festival. >>read
more (also view a video interview with Elster regarding the making of
the film). WNBC also has an interview with Jennifer which can be seen here.
| Actors
Jennifer Elster and Gale Harold attend the opening night party for the
2003 Tribeca Film Festival at the Winter Garden in the World Financial
Center . (Photo by /Evan Agostini/Getty Images) |
Hanging in the
Tribeca Film Festival hospitality suite are Gale Harold, star of "Particles
of Truth,"
with director/writer and producer Jennifer Elster. Brian Brooks/indieWIRE
From indieWire: ...As for Harold, he seems content taking a break from playing a gay icon on the cult fave "Queer as Folk." "It's a new acting experience for me," he says. "All I care about is people's response to the movie. I'm on summer vacation [from the TV series]." Also, he added with a flirtatious smile, "It's not that hard for me to play straight." >>read more
~
From
Particles
of Truth Press Release from Jeremy
Walker and Associates
Synopsis: It is often said that films made on location here
can reflect the true energy of the city, but rarely have we seen this done
with such an artistic eye as that of Jennifer Elster, who makes her feature
debut with Particles of Truth. starring Elster and Gale Harold, best known
for his portrayal of sexual predator Brian on Showtime’s “Queer
as Folk,” the film follows a very eventful 48 hours in the life of a
painter on the eve of both her first big gallery show and, perhaps, the first
honest relationship of her life.
On the way, Particles of Truth takes us from downtown to uptown and back again, weaving a narrative about love, family, trust and ultimately facing one’s self. Making as she did bold choices with color, music, composition and characterization, we were not surprised to learn that Elster has made a living as one of New York’s top stylists for countless photo shoots and music videos. Particles of Truth is as beautiful to look at as it is emotionally honest.
A film written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Elster. It is about life, love and the fear of failing; about two people, Morrison and Lilli, who are trying to become someone in spite of where they're from. Morrison is an obsessive, compulsive guy who falls in love with, and wants to rescue Lilli. In particles of truth Iwanted to take the feelings that we normally keep on the inside and put them on the outside. I’m excited by the idea that in 48 hours things can become so emotionally tense that a person can fall apart or piece themselves together. With this film, I hope to reflect some kind of emotional truth, move the audience… make them think. (Jennifer Elster)
Gale was quoted in the New York Observer in an article about the TriBeCa Film Festival: Particles of Truth, directed by a woman — mirabile dictu! — is about the relationship between a woman dealing with her father’s drug-addled decline and a recluse who spends all his time writing in a car."It’s a nice car," said Queer as Folk actor Gale Harold, who plays the scribe. "I mean, it has really nice wheels and tires and leather seats and a sun-roof."
The Cast
Jennifer
Elster:
Lilli Black
Gale Harold: Morrison Wiley
Susan Floyd: Louise
Larry Pine: Mr Wiley
Leslie Lyles: Mrs Wiley
Mark Margolis: Grandpa
Black
Richard Wilkinson: Will
Elizabeth Van Meter: Flora
Johnny: Alan Sumulski
Music:
Puckett
The Critics:
LA
Weekly: 12/06/03
The unforced pace of writer-director Jennifer Elster’s drama about a
group of New Yorkers struggling with their demons — principally an insecure
painter (Elster) and her obsessive-compulsive love interest (Gale Harold)
— gives viewers a chance to settle into storytelling that might otherwise
alienate right off. An affectionate feel for the benevolent aspects of urban
life and color further ameliorates the more pretentious aspects of Elster’s
cranky dialogue and occasionally strained plot points.
Los
Angeles Times: 12/06/03
The images of "Particles of Truth" are so sharp and cut so deep,
it's as if its writer-producer-director and co-star Jennifer Elster made them
with a scalpel. >>
read more
Variety
Magazine: 03/06/03 Particles of Truth
A Matter production. Produced by Jennifer Elster. Co-producers, Lewis Helfer,
Terry Leonard. Directed, written by Jennifer Elster. With: Jennifer Elster,
Gale Harold, Richard Wilkinson, Elizabeth Van Meter, Alan Samulski. Larry
Pine, Leslie Lyles, Susan Floyd, Mark Margolis.
By RONNIE SCHEIB
This pretentiously titled, zero-budget N.Y. indie airily pulls off what
Hollywood mightily strives for -- a believable romantic comedy. Admittedly,
pic's loving couple, two certifiably neurotic artists, hardly spring from
central casting. She, a painter (writer/director Jennifer Elster), can't
bring herself to visit her drug-addict father who's dying of AIDS, while
he, a writer (Gale Harold of "Queer as Folk" repute), has got major
germ
issues. But together they're unbeatable, so shocked at successfully
initiating human contact that they impatiently drop their defining
neuroses. Basically a chick pic, "Particles" may prove too marginal
to
reach wide auds, but charm of players might woo limited theatrical life
before cable beckons.
Pic unfolds over 48 hours, the pre-credit sequence sampling out-of-context
scenes labeled "today" or "tomorrow" before settling into
straight-ahead
chronology. Lilli (Elster) is spooked about her imminent gallery opening
and haunted by visions of her father. She flashes back to her childhood in
the hands of her affectionate but hopelessly stoned dad that has left her
defensive and insecure about her art.
Enter germaphobe Morrison (Harold), who sits in his car all day, unwilling
to sally forth into the microbe-crawling streets, jotting down notes for
what's presumably the sequel to his first book, the fittingly titled "Notes
From a Vehicle." He holds strained conversations with his painfully aloof
father in his parents' luxurious home, and performs complex sanitary
ablutions involving surgical caps and sterilized gauze in the stainless
steel bathroom of his own apartment.
Subject matter seemingly leans toward the pathetic, but Elster graces both
main characters with a wry distance from their own dysfunctionality that
makes them strangely appealing. Kindred spirits, they immediately recognize
each other's need to keep the world at bay. Neither magically escapist nor
psychologically correct, "Particles" proposes a pragmatic adaptability
at
one with the lived-in New York neighborhoods and artists' hardscrabble
career paths.
Within two days, the couple triumphantly sheds years' worth of hang-ups. To
Elster's credit, she makes the characters' instant conversions seem less
miraculous than long overdue.
Cherish Magiennis' production design tends toward the lush and
color-saturated, and Toshiro Yamaguchi's hi-def lensing gives upbeat patina
to Gotham streets and rooms.
Camera
(color, HDCam). Toshiro Yamaguchi; editor, Ron Len; music
supervisor, Mark Wike; production designer, Cherish Magennis; sound, Eban
Baume. Reviewed at Tribeca Film Center, New York, April 24, 2003. (In
Tribeca Film Festival -- NY, NY.) Running time: 101 MIN.
The Fans:
* captivating; intense; Gale carried the film; he was perfect for the part; seemed very comfortable during the Q&A at the end of the film.
* Pleasantly surprised - great movie!
* Lily is from a poor background -- an artist with a crazy mother who taught her to lie, and has many insecurities. Morrison is from a rich background, but has issues of his own. He's afraid of germs, always washing. Morrison has written a book that his father has not read, which hurts him. Lily is an artist who doesn't believe in her talent, or herself. "You are somebody," Morrison tells her. Lily encourages Morrison to show his father his book. Morrison encourages Lily to show her work at an art show.
* Despite different backgrounds, we're all people with insecurities, doubts, troubled pasts. Morrison and Lily find each other, encourage each other, help each other overcome their troubles and doubts, and are perfect for each other.
*
"Particles of Truth" is an extraordinary film that I have no doubt
will be picked up by a movie distributor. It's brilliantly written with well-developed
characters, acted out by a charismatic cast. The movie is funny yet moving,
and is just commercial enough to appeal to a wide movie-going audience. Gale
Harold and lead actress/producer/writer/director Jennifer Elster have a sweet,
endearing on-screen chemistry that makes you cry -- and makes you wish that
you could be soulmates like that with someone in real life. After
the movie's showing during a short Q&A session, Gale told the audience
that he did "Particles of Truth" because he liked the script. He
made an excellent choice.