Inez & Doug & Kira, a feature written & directed by alumna Julia Kots ’08, will play as part of the Big Apple Film Festival next week.
The film, which is Kots’ first feature, premiered at Woodstock Film Festival last October.
Inez & Doug & Kira follows spouses Doug and Kira as they grieve Kira’s sister, Inez, following her suicide. Inez leaves behind only a series of photographs that the couple endeavors to piece together, prompting flashbacks that reveal each spouse’s relationship to the troubled Inez.
The film stars Michael Chernus (Orange is the New Black) as Doug, Talia Thiesfield (Succession) as Kira, and Tawny Cypress (House of Cards) as Inez.
The film also received the NY Foundation for the Arts’ Made in NY grant as part of the Women’s Film, TV, and Theatre Fund, an initiative by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment endeavoring to address the lack of representation of female creatives in media.
The project was selected from 544 applications for a pool of four features receiving up to $50,000 each.
“Such an intricately told tale likely couldn’t have been even conceived, let alone pulled off by anyone without the experience Kots has as an editor,” wrote The Moveable Feast. “She proves to have a light touch working with a strong cast as well, with compelling performances from Chernus, Cypress and Thiesfield.”
Emigrating from the former Soviet Union, Kots attended Yale before earning her MFA in Film at Columbia. Her award-winning short films have screened on PBS and in numerous film festivals worldwide, including Slamdance, Cinequest, and Hamptons Film Festival.
She has also received awards such as the IFP Audience Choice Award and has been a resident at the prestigious MacDowell Colony.
Beyond projects she has written & directed herself, Kots has worked extensively as an editor, including on the Oscar-nominated My Week With Marilyn (starring Michelle Williams and Eddie Redmayne). She currently works as an editor for Thirteen/PBS.
The film will screen at Chelsea Cinepolis on Monday, February 10, as the Big Apple Film Festival’s opening film. Tickets are available for purchase on the festival’s website.
