A BEAUTIFUL BELLY premiered at the Enzian on April 16 at 4 pm. This popular film will have a second screening today (Sun. Apr. 17) at 2:15 pm at Regal Winter Park Village. The director and cast will be in attendance. [details]
By Sultana F. Ali
Contributing writer
When UCF Film School graduate turned instructor, Andrew Kenneth Gay, began writing “A Beautiful Belly,” he may not have imagined its premiere at the Florida Film Festival in his home theater, Enzian. Nonetheless, the grinning director, his proud former professor, the cinematographer and his cast, were lined up on the stage following its triumphant screening this weekend. Shot on location in Orlando, Winter Park and at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, this film about love, broken hearts and pregnant bellies, left the audience wa
nting more of this young, talented filmmaker.
Danny is the love of Jason’s life and after she ends her longtime relationship with her high school sweetheart, he wastes no time winning her heart, walking her down the aisle and preparing to bring a bundle of joy into the world. But all is not well for this pair. The audience experiences the dips of an emotional rollercoaster as each person devolves into their own personal relationship crisis. With a story line that echoes off director Andrew Kenneth Gay’s own story of coming to his realization of the desire to have children, it is a heartfelt and at times sorrowful tale with wide appeal.
Jason, a children’s entertainer and musician, teaches piano lessons and performs in bookstores to make ends meet while Danny seems to live in her own world, residing in a pregnant state along with her bartending job for the major duration of the movie. What is the right way to tell someone you are married when you should have long ago? Is it normal to imagine sleeping with someone else? What can you expect when you weren’t expecting? As Jason questions his own desire to have children, pulling away from Danny, she begins to look elsewhere for attention. The relationship begins unraveling when Jason questions whether to wear his ring out to a gallery opening. The wedding band becomes the centerpiece of the movie – its symbolism a central role to a marriage.
The story is beautifully set to the music of Jason Kupfer of The Pauses, though the silent spans of the movie provide a thoughtful intensity to the depth of the characters’ actions and thoughts. Chris Worley, in his debut film, portrays Jason with passion and anguish alongside the talented cast. An emblematic and true-to-life piece, UCF Department of Film Interim Chair, Steve Schlow poignantly stated at the premiere that the director had indeed “climbed a mountain” with the making of this film. No relationship is perfect, but the moral of this story seems to be that if there is enough love between two people, then “anything is possible.” Bravo Andrew, A Beautiful Belly is a beautiful movie.
By Sultana F. Ali
Contributing writer
When UCF Film School graduate turned instructor, Andrew Kenneth Gay, began writing “A Beautiful Belly,” he may not have imagined its premiere at the Florida Film Festival in his home theater, Enzian. Nonetheless, the grinning director, his proud former professor, the cinematographer and his cast, were lined up on the stage following its triumphant screening this weekend. Shot on location in Orlando, Winter Park and at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, this film about love, broken hearts and pregnant bellies, left the audience wa
nting more of this young, talented filmmaker.Danny is the love of Jason’s life and after she ends her longtime relationship with her high school sweetheart, he wastes no time winning her heart, walking her down the aisle and preparing to bring a bundle of joy into the world. But all is not well for this pair. The audience experiences the dips of an emotional rollercoaster as each person devolves into their own personal relationship crisis. With a story line that echoes off director Andrew Kenneth Gay’s own story of coming to his realization of the desire to have children, it is a heartfelt and at times sorrowful tale with wide appeal.
Jason, a children’s entertainer and musician, teaches piano lessons and performs in bookstores to make ends meet while Danny seems to live in her own world, residing in a pregnant state along with her bartending job for the major duration of the movie. What is the right way to tell someone you are married when you should have long ago? Is it normal to imagine sleeping with someone else? What can you expect when you weren’t expecting? As Jason questions his own desire to have children, pulling away from Danny, she begins to look elsewhere for attention. The relationship begins unraveling when Jason questions whether to wear his ring out to a gallery opening. The wedding band becomes the centerpiece of the movie – its symbolism a central role to a marriage.
The story is beautifully set to the music of Jason Kupfer of The Pauses, though the silent spans of the movie provide a thoughtful intensity to the depth of the characters’ actions and thoughts. Chris Worley, in his debut film, portrays Jason with passion and anguish alongside the talented cast. An emblematic and true-to-life piece, UCF Department of Film Interim Chair, Steve Schlow poignantly stated at the premiere that the director had indeed “climbed a mountain” with the making of this film. No relationship is perfect, but the moral of this story seems to be that if there is enough love between two people, then “anything is possible.” Bravo Andrew, A Beautiful Belly is a beautiful movie.