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PDF Q & A WITH DIRECTOR MICHAEL RISSI |
Director Michael Rissi and Annabel Lee Camera Crew shooting on the cliff lined beaches of Santa Barbara.
The independent feature was written and directed by filmmaker Michael Rissi (Soultaker, Up Against Amanda) and stars newcomers Jon Woodward and Kristen Hagen. Produced by Christopher Perez (Up Against Amanda), the Edgar Allan Poe classic also stars Ron Becks, Ken Wolt, and the film’s executive producer Bill Bordy, in a featured role.
The six-week production was shot in Sony 24P High Definition and took full advantage of the distinct and picturesque locales around the seaside community of Santa Barbara. Among the locations featured in Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Annabel Lee,’ is a dramatic cliff-lined beach, the renowned La Ladera estate in Montecito, the historic Santa Barbara Public Library, and the exquisite chapel at St. Mary’s Retreat House.
The adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Annabel Lee’ (Showcase Entertainment) tells the story of Jack Blythe, an artist who rents a summer house in a quiet seaside town to find creative inspiration. He gets more than he bargained for when he meets a captivating but hauntingly mysterious woman who offers to be his subject for a painting. When Jack discovers that his seductive stranger resembles a woman presumed dead for 18 years, he becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth, only to wind up caught in a dangerous pursuit that defies all apparent rationality.
The journey from page to production is the result of an enduring love affair between the poem and the film’s executive producer Bill Bordy, the retired founder and publisher of Drama-Logue Magazine (now “Backstage West”). A lifelong fan of Edgar Allan Poe, Bordy first began his quest to bring Annabel Lee to cinematic life back in the early 1960’s. After meeting Rissi and seeing his work in the independent feature Up Against Amada (New Concorde Home Entertainment, 2000), Bordy commissioned Rissi to adapt a screenplay and the subsequent production was quickly green lighted.
For more information on the film, see www.annabelleemovie.com.
Director Michael Rissi explaining a scene to Actor Jon Woodward as Artist Jack Blythe in Maria Lydia Pictures Production of "Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee".
Coming soon.
For additional press information, contact producer Christopher Perez at Contact@rissiproductions.com or (951) 279-3306.