Actress and indie filmmaker Sarah Goer says she was tired of waiting for complex, well-written roles to come along for her to audition for, so she joined up with actress/writer Amanda Ives to shoot their own project in Sunnyvale.
The film, titled “Three Roads,” is a dramedy about three female childhood friends in their early 30s who return to their hometown in the wake of the death of a father. Sunnyvale is Goer’s hometown.
“The aim was to make a film that would be touching, funny and represent women and their friendships with the depth we experience and don’t often see on screen. We’re feeling really good about it,” says Goer.
Ives wrote the script along with actress Vanessa Donley and director Kip Calendine.
Goer says female friendships portrayed in the media are either overly glamorized like those in “Sex in the City” or portrayed as “self-absorbed characters that treat each other badly.”
Ives and Goer say they looked to how they could make the film inexpensively, which involved shooting at Goer’s parent’s home in Sunnyvale and other locales such as Leigh’s Favorite Books downtown. The crew of seven, which also included cinematographer Christiana Charlambous and actor Todd Lanker, all lived in the home during the 15-day shoot.
“It felt really idyllic and like home,” says Ives of shooting in Sunnyvale. “It has a really nice homey feeling, great culture and great community, so it really added in my experience of the character because felt like I could imagine myself growing up there.”
Leigh Odum of Leigh’s Favorite Books says she was happy to support independent filmmakers by allowing filming in her independent bookstore.
“It was a lot of fun to watch them do it. I love it when people try to create any type of art and try to do something independent,” says Odum.
The crew hopes to send “Three Roads” out to film festivals next year, and is raising money to finish some of the post-production. To that end, they’ve set up a Kickstarter campaign complete with movie trailer.
Goer says the average movie-goer may not know about the vast numbers of indie films being produced, but adds that “Three Roads” could be an introduction to the genre.
“I would be so honored if our film was viewers first forays into films that are being made at the smaller indie scale,” she says.
To find out more or help support the film, visit threeroadsmoviekickstarter.com or amandasarahfilm.com.
