5Q'sw/David Zelina "Cold Water" Director
SATURDAY | BLOCK L | 2:30 |
Cold Water (95 min) dir: David Zelina
#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it in less than 280 characters?
Cold Water is a quirky dramedy about Alice and her dysfunctional family spending a week together at their cabin in Colorado. They must hash out issues from the past to hope for a future. It stars a real-life dysfunctional family of actors.
#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?
Everyone has a family. It's probably f'd up. It's probably full of feelings. Alice's family is no different. Cold Water explores the universal family dynamic in a quirky, comedic and heartbreaking way. The movie shows that the only way forward in life is through the truth, no matter how painful it is.
#3: What is your movie making background? Tell us about yourself.
With a BFA in Acting from CCM, a conservatory in Cincinnati, David moved to LA to pursue his dream of acting in film. David quickly realized he was more interested in what was going on behind the camera and his dreamed changed to making an independent feature film. With his wife's (actress Amy Shelton-White) support, he made a handful of short films; mostly comedies. Then came a very small window to take a shot at a feature. Their baby girl was a year old and they were hoping to get pregnant again soon, so they decided to write a script to shoot five months later, before Amy, the film's star, would start looking too pregnant. Cold Water marks David's first feature film. A passion project that took them five years to complete. If you look closely, you'll see that Amy was three months pregnant during filming :)
#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?
It's a toss up. First, If it can go wrong, it will. You've heard this. It's true. Next, keep going. At the beginning of the project, my wife said that she had acted in many indie films that were never saw the light of day, and that if we were going to make this film, I had to complete it. It took five years, but her challenge kept me going.
Finally, and most important, this is something I'm only learning at the end of this process: trust yourself. If you spend your energy wondering if you're doing it the right way, you'll never get it done. Do it your way.
#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?
Cold Water will continue to play at festivals over the next six months, while distribution is arranged. David is pitching a series to Netflix and the like, that he co-wrote with his friend Anthony Hawkins Woods. He is also working on a romantic comedy that he hopes to shoot in the coming year.
