"Wise, witty, and richly specific in its evocation of family."
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"A refreshing comedy...
a noteworthy work from an upcoming dynamic duo." |
"Warm and wise... wonderful."
"Charming... a distinctively New York film, filled with quirky characters and moments of serendipity."
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"Reassuringly cozy... Especially if you're a longtime New Yorker."
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Judith Light is a prominent American actress, producer, and LGBT activist. Judith’s television career began with her two-time Best Actress Emmy award-winning turn as Karen Wolek on One Life to Live. She then went on to play Angela Bower on the hit comedy series Who’s the Boss?. She also co-starred on NBC’s long-running drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the recurring role of Judge Elizabeth Donnelly. In 2014, she began starring in the critically acclaimed Amazon Studios series Transparent, for which she received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nominations.
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Alec Baldwin is actor, writer, and producer, who has appeared in numerous productions on stage, in films and on television. He has received a Tony nomination (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1992) an Oscar nomination (The Cooler, 2004) and has won three Emmy awards, three Golden Globes and seven consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards as Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on NBC-TV’s 30 Rock.
He has been a regular host and guest star on Saturday Night Live. |
Mandy Patinkin won a Tony Award in 1980 for his broadway debut as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, and was nominated in 1984 for his starring role as George in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George.
In television, Mandy won a 1995 Emmy Award for his performance in the CBS series Chicago Hope. Currently, he can be seen in the Award-winning Showtime Original Series Homeland as CIA Agent Saul Berenson. |
Hannah Pearl Utt is a director, writer, and actor who’s feature directorial debut, Before You Know It, came out in theaters August 30th.
In 2017, Hannah participated in Sundance’s inaugural Catalyst Women’s Initiative, as well as the Sundance Screenwriter and Director Labs, and received a 2018 Adrienne Shelly Foundation Women Filmmakers Grant. |
Jen Tullock is an actor and writer best known for the 2019 Sundance comedic drama Before You Know It, which she co-wrote and stars in alongside collaborator Hannah Pearl Utt.
She was featured in the NBC Diversity Showcase and is the award-winning narrator of several New York Times best-selling audio books, as well as the voice of the title character in Emmy Award-winning short, Henry. |
Before You Know It
Directed by Hannah Pearl Utt Run time: 98 min. Public Performance Rights Licensing:
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Synopsis:
A pair of sisters find out that the mother they thought was dead is alive and starring on a soap opera. |
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Long Synopsis:
The film centers on a dysfunctional and codependent family who are struggling to maintain the family business, a small community theatre in New York City. Patriarch Mel is a failed playwright; his daughter Jackie is a quirky actress stuck in perennial adolescence despite being mother to teenage daughter Dodge; his daughter Rachel (Utt) is a business-minded lesbian whose attempts to be the responsible member of the family have made her something of a control freak.
After Mel self-sabotages a career opportunity that Rachel has lined up for him, her angry outburst causes him to have a fatal heart attack, which leads to the discovery that he had lied to her and Jackie for much of their lives about the identity and death of their mother; their real mother is in fact soap opera actress Sherrell, who has been left ownership of the theatre and the family home in Mel's will.
The film centers on a dysfunctional and codependent family who are struggling to maintain the family business, a small community theatre in New York City. Patriarch Mel is a failed playwright; his daughter Jackie is a quirky actress stuck in perennial adolescence despite being mother to teenage daughter Dodge; his daughter Rachel (Utt) is a business-minded lesbian whose attempts to be the responsible member of the family have made her something of a control freak.
After Mel self-sabotages a career opportunity that Rachel has lined up for him, her angry outburst causes him to have a fatal heart attack, which leads to the discovery that he had lied to her and Jackie for much of their lives about the identity and death of their mother; their real mother is in fact soap opera actress Sherrell, who has been left ownership of the theatre and the family home in Mel's will.