Storytelling for the Screen: The Moon and Back

  • Thursday, November 21, 2024 / 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (PST)
  • Pollock Theater
  • Screening Format: 4K digital projection (74 minutes)
  • With Leah Bleich (writer/director)
  • Starring: Isabel May, Nat Faxon, Missi Pyle, P.J. Byrne, Miles Gutierrez-Riley

A year after her father’s death, high school senior Lydia Gilbert finds herself directionless. Everything changes, however, when she stumbles upon an epic screenplay for a ridiculous space opera—written by her dad. With zero experience, a VHS camera, and next to nothing for a budget, she decides to honor her father by turning his final script into a full-fledged movie. Led by a sprightly Isabel May and featuring Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Missi Pyle, The Moon and Back is a heartfelt dramedy about the joy of filmmaking and an exploration of loss and legacy. Filmed in November of 2020 with a micro budget and an abbreviated shooting schedule, it is a labor of love that showcases the creative possibilities of independent cinema.

The Moon and Back is the directorial debut of UCSB Film and Media Studies alumnus Leah Bleich. The Carsey-Wolf Center is proud to welcome Leah back to campus for a post-screening discussion of her film with moderator Ross Melnick (Film and Media Studies, UCSB).

This event is free but a reservation is recommended in order to guarantee a seat.

Biographies

Filmmaker Leah Bleich appears against a black background at a film premiere. She is smiling at the camera, and wearing a black and white striped top.

Director Leah Bleich

Leah Bleich is an LA-based director, producer, and writer. A mentee of director Cathy Yan (Birds of Prey), Leah recently completed her feature directorial debut, The Moon and Back, as one of five filmmakers selected out of over 350 applicants for “The Six Feet Apart Experiment,” a groundbreaking filmmaking competition from Wayfarer Studios. Leah was a selected director for MTV Entertainment Studios’s inaugural First Time Director’s Initiative, during which she wrote and directed an ad campaign for Paramount that aired nationally on MTV and Comedy Central. She recently sold a six-episode scripted podcast (Sirens) to AudioUp Media, and wrote a feature on assignment for MarVista Entertainment. She directed a two-episode docuseries for PBS and Roadtrip Nation, during which she lived in a bright green RV and drove from New Orleans to New York City.

In addition to her directing experience, Leah has a background in film and TV development. She began her career in the mailroom at Creative Artists Agency before becoming a Development Executive at Solstice Studios, where she worked closely on the films Unhinged with Russell Crowe and Hypnotic with Ben Affleck. She most recently worked in Comedy TV Development at Just For Laughs, where she produced projects with talent including Marlon Wayans, Lil Rel Howery, Diplo, Pete Holmes, Nicole Byer, and Nikki Glaser. She loves to tell stories about bizarre, wonderful, flawed, and extraordinary characters, and nothing makes her happier than making audiences laugh and cry at the same time.

RossMelnick_Headshot

Moderator Ross Melnick (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)

Ross Melnick is Professor of Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He was named an Academy Film Scholar and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for his book Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power Around the World (Columbia University Press, 2022), which received the Richard Wall Memorial Award from the Theatre Library Association. He is also the author of American Showman: Samuel ‘Roxy’ Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry (CUP, 2012), co-editor of Rediscovering U.S. Newsfilm: Cinema, Television, and the Archive (AFI/Routledge, 2018), and co-author of Cinema Treasures (MBI, 2004), inspired by the website (cinematreasures.org), which he co-founded 25 years ago. His research has appeared in Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Film HistoryThe Moving Image, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Aniki, and in numerous edited collections.

This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center.

Storytelling for the Screen

Since their emergence, cinema and television have been in a state of constant technological and industrial flux. But even as our ways of distributing and accessing moving images have changed, and even as tastes and styles continue shifting with the times, our passion for compelling onscreen storytelling persists. At the Carsey-Wolf Center, we are committed to fostering a nuanced understanding of cinematic and televisual storytelling across genres, formats, styles, and historical periods. To this end, we sponsor a wide range of events, programs, and workshops designed to cultivate a new generation of media storytellers, and to help audiences better understand the evolving role of narrative across diverse media forms.