Now you can see the award-winning, critically acclaimed short film, “Sovereignty” in the comfort of your own home, and even better…. its FREE! Just go to the hot new indy film site www.BigStar.tv and when you log in your first film (Sovereignty) will be free! Come on and see what all the fuss is about!.……“…beautifully POIGNANT… the acting is SUPERB…  these filmmakers clearly know what they’re doing… a very POWERFUL message, told in a very powerful way… worth watching again.”  - Micro Film Maker Magazine“…equal parts comedic, sardonic and moving…gripping…a veritable call to arms. If only all fims could do such things.” - Greg Robson, ResidentMediaPundit.com“…most noticeably Sovereignty, a brilliant and damning portrayal of our reluctance to help our world neighbors by director Jonathan Sale.”- Neil Baker - Fest21.com‘A short but POTENT allegory, first FUNNY then CHILLING, about how many Americans turn a blind eye to the World’s Troubles.’                                                 -Christine Dolan, Miami Herald‘…the acting, especially Heather Dilly…was DELICIOUS.’              -Rick Pender - City Beat

We are very excited to announce that “Sovereignty” will be playing as part of the Rooftop Films Summer Film Series next weekend!

SATURDAY, JULY 4 -  Doors open at 6 and films begin at 9:30.
Rooftop Summer Film Series - AMERICANA
Rooftop’s annual celebration of the weird and wonderful country we live in. A sunset party with free drinks, a fantastic fireworks view, live music, and short film comedies, dramas and political documentaries.

Click here for more info, directions, and tickets to this great July 4th event!

See you on the 4th!

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Wow.

What a fantastic time we’ve had. From coast to coast, from sea to shining sea. From New York to LA, from Florida to Canada “Sovereignty” has moved and entertained audiences all over the continent. But hey, don’t take our word for it…

“…beautifully POIGNANT… the acting is SUPERB…  these filmmakers clearly know what they’re doing… a very POWERFUL message, told in a very powerful way… worth watching again.”  - Micro Film Maker Magazine

“…equal parts comedic, sardonic and moving…gripping…a veritable call to arms. If only all fims could do such things.” - Greg Robson, ResidentMediaPundit.com

 “…most noticeably Sovereignty, a brilliant and damning portrayal of our reluctance to help our world neighbors by director Jonathan Sale.” 

 - Neil Baker - Fest21.com

‘A short but POTENT allegory, first FUNNY then CHILLING, about how many Americans turn a blind eye to the World’s Troubles.’                                                 -Christine Dolan, Miami Herald

‘…the acting, especially Heather Dilly…was DELICIOUS.’              -Rick Pender - City Beat

Stay tuned to find out what’s up next for “Sovereignty”!

Finally a chance to see “Sovereignty” right here in NYC!

We are proud to announce that we will be playing at the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival on Thursday, April 30th at 8pm at the beautiful Duo Theater on 64 E. 4th St. Normally I wouldn’t encourage buying tickets in advance, but the preview screening of our film sold out last month, so I can only imagine that the fesival itself will fill up very quickly. This is a beautiful place to see a movie and a hidden gem of downtown New York City, so please purchace tickets for $10 in advance on Smartix here. Many of the awards for this festival are given out on audience vote, so I’d love to have some friendly faces at our screening on Thursday the 30th.

We hope to see you on the home leg of our international, year-long, award-winning festival tour later this month!

Hey folks!

After a fantastic festival season that took us from New York to California, from Florida to Canada and saw us win Best Short Film three times in a row as well as a Best Actress award for our leading lady, Heather Dilly, we are now working hard on a distribution deal.

In the mean time check out our updated trailer for “Sovereignty.”

Thanks for all your support and check back often for distribution updates!

We are proud to announce that  “Sovereignty” has been named Best Short Film at the Artivist Film Festival, the Peace on Earth Film Festival and the Non Violence International Film Festival!

Come see us in Hollywood on October 4th at 10pm at the beautiful  Egyptian Theater. Past honorees at the festival include Jaoquin Phoenix, Matthew McConaughey, Ted Danson, Alyssa Milano, James Cromwell, Mira Sorvino. So come on out to our (hopefully) star-studded screening and the awards ceremony the following night at 7pm!

Come see why Greg Robson from ResidentMediaPundit.com raves “…equal parts comedic, sardonic and moving…gripping…a veritable call to arms. If only all fims could do such things.”

We are excited to announce that “Sovereignty” will be among the closing night film selection at this year’s Rhode Island International Film Festival. We will be playing at beautiful Cable Car Theater on August 10th at 9:30pm. Click here for directions. We’ll be playing along side the hilarious new Jonathan Winters film “Certifiably Jonathan” and we will be sitcking around for the awards cermony directly afterwards! If you are in the area please come by, if not we’ll see you in September in Canada!

Come see why Greg Robson from ResidentMediaPundit.com raves “…equal parts comedic, sardonic and moving…gripping…a veritable call to arms. If only all fims could do such things.”

Reach out beyond your garden.
Volunteer your money, time or resources.
Make a difference.

In conjunction with our soon to be released film “Sovereignty”, we at Laurel Films, Inc. want to help you reach out and help those in need in your community or around the world. To that end, we have constructed an ever-growing database of information and links in order to provide a bridge between your desire to reach out and those who need to be reached.

Additionally, if you know of or are affiliated with any organizations in your community who reach out to those in need and would be interested in being included on this website, please let us know. The more specific and targeted the cause, the better.

Good people reach out to help other good people. Together we can make a difference.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Sale
President
Laurel Films, Inc.

helpus@laurelfilmsinc.com

 Oh, “Sovereignty.” What a long, strange journey it has been. And we’re just getting started! To cut to the heart of it, FedEx lost our movie. The entire original. No kidding. The film canisters disappeared into the abyss, never to be heard from again. As if surviving an on-set hurricane and emergency appendectomy wasn’t enough already! Undeterred and completely out of money, we shot it again nine months later . You know what they say, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you a filmmaker.”

We are so proud and excited to announce that Heather Dilly will be named Best Actress at the 2008 Long Island International Film Expo for her work in “Sovereignty”! She was in competition against all of the actresses in all of the short as well as feature films and walked away with the big prize for her stunning work.   As Rick Pender of City Beat said of “Sovereignty” “…the acting, especially Heather Dilly…was DELICIOUS.” Ms. Dilly previously took home the same award two years ago for her portrayal of the down-and-out April in the award-winning short film “The Look Away Life”. (Watch it now!)

So please come on out and support our film this Thursday, July 10th at 9:30pm at the Long Island International Film Expo. Click here for directions.

Next up…. Rhode Island!

We are really rollin’ now! The prestigious Rhode Island International Film Festival is coming up in August and “Sovereignty” will be there! The RIIFF is one of the few festivals in the country to which the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences gives automatic Oscar eligibility to the winners. So come see us Thursday 7/4 in Long Island or road trip with us in early August to Rhode Island!

We are excited to announce that “Sovereignty” will be making its New York area debut at the Hoboken International Film Festival on May 28th at 8:30pm at Pier A in scenic Hoboken, New Jersey! The festival was recently called “in the world’s top 10″ and “the nations hottest true film festival.”

Tickets are free and directions to Hoboken can be found here. There are cash awards for the audience vote, so please come out and support our film trying to entertain and make a difference!

Here it is folks, the brand-spanking-new trailer for
our new short film, “Sovereignty.”   What is “Sovereignty,” you say?

Pulitzer Prize nominated author Rolin Jones, producer and writer of Showtime’s Emmy and Golden Globe winning series, “Weeds” uncoils a hilarious and caustic allegory of the lengths to which people will go to  ignore the horrors in the world around them.

Mrs. Elsbeth’s life is the picture of perfection.  Perfect neighborhood.  Perfect house.  Perfect garden. Perfect husband.  But all that is about to change.  Strange new neighbors and cryptic postcards reading “Help Us” are beginning to crack the façade of her forced perfection. How long will she be able to continue to say, “These things beyond the garden, they happen so far away” in the face of her increasingly perverse best friend, conspicuously absent husband and growing insistence from the outside world to “Help Us.”

While in the bay area, actress Heather Dilly stopped in beautiful San Francisco to smell the flowers. After all, “tulips, they need so much attention.” Mrs. Elsbeth would be so jealous! (See the movie, it’ll make sense! - Watch the trailer now!)

Watch the video intro of the exciting Cinequest Film Festival 2008 and come join us and stars like Danny Glover, Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Tom Wilkinson, Peter Fonda, Jack Black, Minnie Driver and many more this weekend!

After a great run at Cinequest 16 and signing an exclusive disribution deal for our last award-winning short film, “The Look Away Life,” we are back for Cinequest 2008! ”Sovereignty” will be playing 2/29/08 at 4:00 PM and again on 3/2/08 at 2:15 PM at the beautiful Camera 12 Theater in exciting downtown San Jose, CA!

Click here for directions!

Click here for tickets!

So if you are in the Bay Area, give yourself a treat and come see the new short film written by Pulitzer Prize nominated author Rolin Jones, producer and writer of Showtime’s Emmy and Golden Globe winning series, “Weeds.”

All you folks in the Bay Area get ready the rare, once-in-a-four-year event of the “Sovereignty” World Premiere on February 29, 2008, leap year day! After all the strange ups and downs, lost films, hurricanes, emergency appendectomies and the like, they had to carve and extra day out of the year to show a film this exciting, this entertaining, this moving and this meaningful! The Cinequest Film Festival screening venue is yet to be announced, but “Sovereignty” will be showing on Friday 2/29/08 at 4pm and again on Sunday 3/2/08 at 2:15pm. We can’t wait to see you there!

 Laurel Films, Inc. is proud to announce that our latest film, “Sovereignty” will be premiering at prestigious 2008 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA! Cinequest has long been a supporter of our endeavors, screening our last award-winning short film, “The Look Away Life” at the 2006 Cinequest Film Festival.

Distinguished honorees at last years’ event included Maverick Spirit Award Winners Minnie Driver, Stewart Copeland, Christine Vachon, J.J. Abrams and Christopher McQuarrie!

Screening dates and times will soon be announced and we hope that anyone who is anywhere close will take this opportunity to see our exciting new dark comedy with a conscience.

Come on down to our “Sovereignty” premiere party on Sunday, December 9th from 5-7:30 at Dip Bar and Lounge. (416 3rd Ave. between 29th and 30th St.) Enjoy fondue, open bar, great raffle prizes and watch the film projected on a big 8 foot screen! Film screening at 7pm. $25 at the door.So come check out the latest from Rolin Jones, the Pulitzer Prize nominated writer and producer of Showtime’s Emmy and Golden Globe winning series, “Weeds.”

Our first film, “The Look Away Life” was shot for just a few hundred dollars and won Best Short Film at the Big Fish Film Festival and Best Actress (Heather Dilly) at the Long Island International Film Expo.

What is “The Look Away Life?” What does that mean? Well, you’ll just have to watch it and decide for yourself.  But here’s a quick idea of the treat you’re in for!

When Ben’s marital problems spiral too far out of his control, he enlists the help of the down-and-out April to serve as an unorthodox marriage counselor. Through their unique interactions, he gains relief from the stresses of his marriage, but quickly finds that he has a fresh set of problems with his new acquaintance, April. The growing disparity between each of their desires and expectations leads to a climactic conflict, a break through, and a broken heart.