The Custom Mary | |
---|---|
Directed by | Matt Dunnerstick |
Written by | Matt Dunnerstick |
Produced by | Becky Wang |
Starring | Alicia Sixtos James Jolly Travis Hammer Henry LeBlanc Dave Vescio Bill McKinney Eileen Dietz |
Cinematography | Alison Kelly |
Music by | Timo Chen |
Distributed by | GoDigital |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 81 minutes |
Language | English/Spanish |
The Custom Mary is a 2011 American drama film written and directed by Matt Dunnerstick. Set in Los Angeles, the film tells the story of young Latina in East Los Angeles, who meets an African-American Lowrider, and struggles to reconcile her faith and blossoming love affair while becoming dangerously involved in a religious attempt to clone Jesus.
Searching for purpose and meaning in the world, a young Latina in East Los Angeles becomes dangerously involved with a storefront church where a young minister enthralls her. At the same time, she meets Joe, a self-empowered African-American lowrider mechanic.
Mary, struggling to reconcile her faith and her blossoming love affair with Joe, is pulled into a group from the church who believes they can clone Jesus, with Mary's help. Mary becomes pregnant, and as the day of birth approaches, both Joe and the preachers fight for her attention. Battling real and imagined truths, Mary begins a secret journey to the desert, seeking answers in a surprising and surreal way.
The Custom Mary is a combination of a classic, indie love story and an exploration of faith and fanaticism, set amidst the gritty urban world of lowrider culture. [2]
The film features one of the last performances of the late Bill McKinney.
Music by the Mexican indie band, Porter, appears throughout the film.
The film was first shown at the 2011 New York International Latino Film Festival and also at the 2012 San Diego Black Film Festival, where it simultaneously won Best Cutting Edge film and Best Religious Topic Film, in addition to being nominated for Best Director, Best Feature, and Best Overall Film, It went on to play through the indie film circuit, particularly at Latino and Black film festivals, winning 8 awards and 4 nominations in the process. In 2013, it was distributed in the US by GoDigital.
A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body. These customized vehicles are generally individually painted with intricate, colorful designs, rolling on wire-spoke wheels with whitewall tires. Lowrider rims are generally smaller than the original wheels, ranging down to 13 inches (330 mm). They are also fitted with hydraulic that allow height adjustable suspension, where the vehicle is raised or lowered at the owner's command. Given these specific characteristics, while a lowrider is always a lowered car, a lowered car is not always a lowrider. The term is used to describe a class of vehicle, not simply the height from ground to chassis.
America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, producer, and director. Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, Ferrera developed an interest in acting at a young age, performing in several stage productions at her school. She made her feature film debut in 2002 with the comedy-drama Real Women Have Curves, earning praise for her performance. Ferrera has won many awards including an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award among others.
Real Women Have Curves is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Patricia Cardoso, based on the play of the same name by Josefina López, who co-authored the screenplay for the film with George LaVoo. The film stars America Ferrera as protagonist Ana García. It gained fame after winning the Audience Award for best dramatic film, and the Special Jury Prize for acting in the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. The film went on to receive the Youth Jury Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Humanitas Prize, the Imagen Award, and Special Recognition by the National Board of Review. According to the Sundance Institute, the film gives a voice to young women who are struggling to love themselves and find respect in the United States.
Pernilla August is a Swedish actress, director and screenwriter. Being one of Sweden's leading actresses and a longtime collaborator with director Ingmar Bergman, she won the Best Actress Award at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival for her role in his The Best Intentions. She is best known internationally for portraying Shmi Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
Bonnie Piesse is an Australian actress and singer. Her breakthrough role was playing a trapeze artist in the Australian children's television series High Flyers at the age of 15 and not long after that she was scouted by George Lucas to play a young Beru Lars in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, a role she reprised in the 2022 Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). She also had recurring roles on Blue Heelers, Horace and Tina, Stingers, and Last Man Standing.
David Scott Lascher is an American actor best known for his roles in Blossom, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and the Nickelodeon show Hey Dude.
Kamala Lopez is an American filmmaker, actress, writer, director, and political activist. She has had starring roles in Black Jesus, Medium, 24, Alias, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and 21 Jump Street. She has been a featured actress in films including Born in East L.A., Deep Cover, The Burning Season, Clear and Present Danger, Lightning Jack, and I Heart Huckabees.
Melonie Diaz is an American film and television actress who has appeared in many independent films, including four shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. She received Independent Spirit Awards nominations for performances in films A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) and Fruitvale Station (2013). From 2018 to 2022, she appeared as the leading role of witch Mel Vera on the remake television series Charmed on The CW.
Brittany Leanna Robertson is an American actress. She is known for her lead role in The First Time (2012), and has appeared in the films Tomorrowland (2015), The Space Between Us (2017), A Dog's Purpose (2017), and I Still Believe (2020).
The Manacled Mormon case, also known as the Mormon sex in chains case, was a case of reputed sexual assault and kidnap by an American woman, Joyce McKinney, of a young American Mormon missionary, Kirk Anderson, in England in 1977. Because McKinney and her accomplice skipped bail and fled to the United States before the case could be tried and were not extradited, they were never tried for these specific crimes. According to Anderson, he had been abducted by McKinney from the steps of a church meetinghouse, chained to a bed and raped by her.
La Mission is a 2009 drama film starring Benjamin Bratt and Jeremy Ray Valdez. It is written and directed by Peter Bratt. The film has been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Deeper and Deeper is a 2010 American erotic psychological thriller written by Cyndi Williams and directed by Polish-American filmmaker Mariusz Kotowski.
James Haven is an American actor. He is the son of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, and the older brother of actress Angelina Jolie.
Tabloid is a 2010 American documentary film directed by Errol Morris. It tells the story of Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 was accused of kidnapping and raping Kirk Anderson, an American Mormon missionary. The incident, known as the Mormon sex in chains case, became a major tabloid story in the United Kingdom and triggered a circulation battle between two popular tabloid newspapers, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express.
Sylvia Morales is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. Morales is recognized as one of the first female Mexican-American filmmakers to have established a Latino cinema. In her filmmaking career, Morales has been nationally recognized winning awards for film and video documentary on topics ranging from the farm workers struggle to the music of Los Lobos.
Demetrius Navarro is an actor, writer and director as well as the CEO of D Street Films.
Summer-Joy "SJ" Main Muñoz is an American filmmaker primarily known for directing television and award-winning short films often of the Western genre or featuring Latino themes.
Lowriders is a 2016 American drama film directed by Ricardo de Montreuil, written by Elgin James and Cheo Hodari Coker, and starring Demián Bichir, Gabriel Chavarria, Theo Rossi, Melissa Benoist, Tony Revolori and Eva Longoria. It was released on May 12, 2017. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $6 million.
Tara Beier is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Her music has been often described as a blend of folk, alternative, country, and pop.
Arienne Mandi is an American actress best known for playing Dani Núñez in The L Word: Generation Q.