‘Perfectly Good Moment’ at Fort Myers Film Festival

Amanda Jane Stern stars in independent feature

By NATHAN MAYBERG nmayberg@breezenewspapers com

Three years ago, the Fort Myers Beach Film Festival screened “1 Angry Black Man” with actress Amanda Jane Stern in a supporting role

While this year’s Fort Myers Beach Film Festival has been sidelined due to Hurricane Ian, Stern is starring in her own independent vehicle at the Fort Myers Film F e s t i v a l t h i s w e e k S t e r n w r o t e a n d c o - p r o d u c e d “Perfectly Good Moment” which is being screened Thursday evening at the Sydney and Berne Davis Art Center as an official selection

Local film enthusiasts who see the film will get to see a talent who has been acting in films for two decades since she was a child but who has finally found her first starring role in a feature she wrote and produced

Which is baffling for a 29-year-old actress who resembles a mix of Julianne Moore and Ann-Margret with the determined confidence of Reese Witherspoon a n d t h e o c c a s i o n a l , m i s c h i e v o u s h i g h - b r o w a i r o f Christina Ricci

Stern made the film, a gripping thriller, during the COVID pandemic Inspired in part by films like “Hard Candy,” “Sleeping with the Enemy” and “Last Tango in Paris,” “Perfectly Good Moment” premiered at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival in February and played at the Sarasota Film Festival in March. Last month, the film won a special mention in the foreign feature category at the Unrestricted View Film Festival in London

“Perfectly Good Moment” centers on a couple with a a 15-year age gap who met at an alumni function when Stern’s character Ruby was 19 The film focuses on the couple’s reunification before taking on some unexpected twists and detours The 75-minute movie takes place almost entirely in the apartment of Ruby and her fiance David, played by the British-born Stephen Carlile Carlile is known for playing Scar in “The Lion King” on Broadway. Stern calls Carlile’s character “controlling” and “quick to snap ”

The cat-and-mouse plot delivers some suspenseful moments “I do like making movies that are unsettling,” Stern said

There is a romantic quality to the film in addition to the suspenseful thriller aspect

Ruby's character is flirtatious in the beginning and even “snarky,” Stern said The movie sees her develop as her impression of David changes

“The two characters have kind of been bopping around in my head for a long time,” Stern said “They first showed up in a script I wrote at 14. I kind of revamped that script when I was in college ”

Stern said she was finally able to complete the script “looking at it from the lens of an adult and not an idealistic teenage girl ”

Despite the conflict between her character and David, Stern says “I love him ” Stern said David’s character “sweeps you off your feet” but his emotional manipulations ultimately lead to quarreling that reaches a crescendo

Stern’s adeptness in building suspense can be credited in part to her vast knowledge of some of the classic suspenseful films, going back to Hitchcock thrillers she admires such as “Rebecca” and “Shadow of a Doubt ”

Stern studied theater arts and film history at Brandeis University, where she developed a taste for 1970’s Italian cinema

Her first role as a child was in the movie “Martin & Orloff” when she was 9 and had to recite an excerpt from “Macbeth ”

For “Perfectly Good Moment,” Stern enlisted Lauren Greenhall to direct her first film feature, along with sharp cinematography by Matt Braunsdorf Julian Seltzer cowrote the story with Stern and is a co-producer In the backdrop is a powerful musical score written by Mikey Coltun

The musical arrangement won the picture for best use of music award at the Julie Dubuqur International Film Festival in Iowa

The Brooklyn-based Stern had to do some extra legwork developing the music for the film She enlisted Staten Island singer Tony Babino to sing the Al Jolson classic “You Made Me Love You” and through a personal connection was able to contact the manager of Ben Folds to utilize their song “The Luckiest ”

Stern likes “don’t-trust-your-husband” movies like “Shadow of a Doubt” with Joseph Cotten and a young Teresa Wright Stern says the story is “creepy” and e 9 n W e e k o f W e d n e s d a y , M a y 1 7 , 2 0 2 3 f o r t m y e r s b e a c h t a l k . c o m F o r t M y e r s B e a c h O b s e r v e r

TURTLE TIME

The first loggerhead sea turtle nest of the season was documented by Turtle Time on Fort Myers Beach this Wednesday The nest had to be relocated due to the ongoing emergency berm construction