The New Year Parade, a domestic drama following one year in the life of a family affected by divorce set against the backdrop of the Mummers Parade, kicks off a Philly-only one-week theatrical run starting tomorrow. The film picked up a bunch of national and international awards and nominations since it premiered at Slamdance Film Festival in early 2008. It took home Best Narrative Feature at Slamdance, Best Indie Feature at the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival and snagged a Gotham Independent Film Award nod, among others. The film generated strong buzz and elicited emotional reactions among those who saw it the past two years, but it has yet to acquire studio distribution.
Tom Quinn, Parade’s writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer, impressively made the film over the course of four years with a skeletal budget of $7,000 while he worked to complete his M.F.A. at Temple. The cast consists of mostly first-time actors and members of the Mummers who were heavily encouraged to improvise.
I was able to recently interview Quinn and wrote a piece, which ran in this week’s issue of Philadelphia City Paper, in stores today. Read it here.
Part of the proceeds from the screenings, which run from Fri., Oct. 30 to Thurs., Nov. 5, at Ritz at the Bourse, 400 Ranstead St., will go to Save the Mummers, a non-profit supporting the Mummers tradition. Cast and crew question-and-answer sessions will occur Friday and Saturday at the 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. screenings. This is also pretty cool - the South Philadelphia String Band will be playing live in front of the theater at 8:30 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, in the spirit of the holiday(s), there will be a costume contest at the 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. shows. The DVD will be released via Carnivalesque Films on November 24 on Amazon and Netflix.
Feel free to post your thoughts on the film and to discuss the profile of Quinn.
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