forgiving the franklins Tagged Articles at Cinematical

During Sundance we reviewed Forgiving the Franklins and brought you an interview with the full cast. Now, just in time for South by Southwest (SXSW), we bring you at long last this video interview with director Jay Floyd and producer Rob Houk.  Jay talks about his motivations for making the film and how he feels about it being labeled "controversial". You can catch Forgiving the Franklins at SXSW this Friday, March 10 and Tuesday, March 14.

Watch the video.

It wasn't all just snow and screenings at Sundance for the Cinematical; every chance we had, we were snapping pics as well. Here's a round-up of the best of our Sundance pics (more photos past the jump).

Forgiving the Franklins is a unique parable about shame, inhibition, and religious intolerance. In the film, three members of a fundamentalist Christian family die in a car wreck and meet Jesus, who removes their original sin and sense of shame and sends them back to their bodies to live again free of inhibition. Cinematical had the opportunity to sit down with the cast of the film for an interview. Cast members interviewed were:

Teresa Willis – Betty Franklin
Robinson Dean – Frank Franklin
Vince Pavia – Brian Franklin
Aviva – Caroline Franklin
Mari Blackwell – Peggy
Andy Forrest – Preacher

We all sat down for a roundtable discussion to talk about the film, their parts in it, and the message the film has about shame, inhibition and religion.

Note: This interview contains spoilers.

With some films, you can give someone an idea of what it's like by describing it in relation to other films - "It's kind of like Back to the Future meets Reservoir Dogs, with a dash of Forty Shades of Blue (and wouldn't that be the most bizarre film ever?)". Forgiving the Franklins, the first feature film by writer/director Jay Floyd, though, utterly defies that kind of shoeboxing. The film tells the tale of the Franklins, a Southern fundamentalist Christian family with a handsome son who plays football, and a perfect cheerleader daughter.

They eat meals together; they say grace together; they go to church together. Betty and Frank, the parents of the family unit, have perfectly respectable, completely dispassionate sex together. Son Brian agonizes over whether he'll be playing football on Friday night; daughter Caroline, a lovely girl, is convinced she's fat, ugly and stupid, and is certain she's a disappointment to God.