Genre
Synopsis
OUT OF STATE-A GOTHIC ROMANCE is a new film by Victoria Bugbee. She co-wrote the screenplay with her distant cousin, the late Charles Bugbee. On an ultra-micro budget, the writer/director financed and produced her debut feature in her Victorian house & garden in Hastings On Hudson, NY. Together with Cinematographer Ilya Shnitser, a sound person, an assistant (a tripod crew and three dogs under her kitchen table) and a small ensemble cast she shot 100 scenes in 21 days before Covid. When asked what we were making, I said it was a film about shut-ins. Everyone said "No one will get." The dark comedy found an international audience at 50+ indie film festivals since everyone around the world can relate to how strange you become when isolated from the real world. The dramatic comedy, set in the 1990's in a small town in The Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, has won top awards at 40+ indie film festivals from Mumbai to Dubai and everyplace in-between.
Elsa (Sarah Moliski), on the cusp of turning 18, is sent to live with her distant step-relatives, Aunt Marcia (Caroline Winterson) and her twenty-something sons. Tab (James Nester) is a gifted pianist and Marcia's favorite, Emery (A. Ryder Turner), the Cinderella of the family, restores antiques. Both are shut-ins and are forbidden by their mother to leave the house or garden. They suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where the captives identify with their captor. Elsa undermines Aunt Marci's control by boosting Tab & Emery's confidence in their respective talents. Both sons fall hard for Elsa. Who will leave with Elsa when she has had enough? Stay tuned to find out. Themes explored in the film are first love, matriarchal domination, filial devotion and the need for independence set against dysfunctional, yet quirky, family dynamics. It's dark with a sly sense of humor. Think "My Cousin Rachel" meets "The Royal Tenenbaums."
Director Identity
Bio
Victoria Bugbee is an award winning filmmaker, playwright, director and visual artist. Her debut feature film "Out of State-A Gothic Romance" has traveled the world from Mumbai to Dubai winning accolades at indie film festivals. For the past 25 years she worked for various New York film and video companies. She was special projects producer for B Productions, the leading fashion video company creating trend reports, video walls, TV specials "Murphy Brown -25th Anniversary" for Starz, "Vogue -The Making of Fashion's Night Out," (TV Segment) "Wedding March on Madison" for Brides Magazine and GQ Trend Report for MAGIC videowall in Las Vegas. Other companies include Digital Effects, Doros Animation, and National Video Center. Bugbee is the recipient of a commission from Creative Times to write, direct and produce "A Surreal Soap Opera-Toxic Waste Meets Beach Resort" at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting that she used to expand her performance piece "Life & Death With Business In Between" that she staged in an East Village furniture store to a full length musical. RiverArts and Arts Westchester funded her staged reading of her original play "The Gas Station Project" that was performed in OverSeas Autobody in Hastings on Hudson, NY. With three (3) Artist Initiated Grants from The City of Atlanta she wrote, directed and produce "Boxer Shorts in a laundromat, "The Vactation-Worlds of Desperation" staged in an urban parking lot and "Murder at Le Pavillion" staged in the windows of The Javo Gallery. With her first husband Santo Bruno and a handful of other artist they founded The Atlanta Art Workers Coalition as a service organization for visual artists. Currently she is working on adapting her play "The Gas Station Project" to a feature film. Also in the works is updating "A Surreal Soap Opera-Toxic Waste Meets Beach Resort" to reflect the current administrations withdrawal from protecting the environment.
Screening History
World Premiere - 11th Yonkers International Film Festival 2023
Premiere Japan - Tokyo Women Film Festival 2025
Premiere Netherlands- Rotterdam Independent Film Festival 2024
Premiere United Kingdom - Movie Play International Film Festival 2024
Premiere Germany - Berlin Women Cinema Festival 2024
Awards History
Rotterdam Independent Film Festival 2024- Best Female Director for Feature
Diario Italiano Film Festival 2024 - Best Picture, Best International Narrative, Best Director
New Hope Film Festival 2024 - Indie Spirit Award, Audience Choice Narrative Feature
Hong Kong Film Festival 2023 - Best Actor (James Nester), Best Actress (Sarah Moliski), Best Editor (K.A.Miille), Best Cinematography (Ilya Shnitser) Best Script (Victoria Bugbee & Charles Bugbee
Lumina Film Festival Librec Czech Republic 2025 - Best Drama, Best Director Debut, Best Producer, Best Costumes
Credits
Actor - Sarah Moliski
Actor - Caroline Winterson
Actor - James Nester
Actor - A. Ryder Turner
Cinematographer - Ilya Shnitser