International Cinema Festival of India

In 2009 Breaking Upwards was released. This is an independently made micro budget film. Indie filmmaker Zoe Lister-Jones and her boyfriend Daryl Wein co wrote, directed, and produced the full length feature film. They achieved a major accomplishment by producing the movie with a budget less than 15,000 dollars, an unheard of task in the film industry.

The film’s script is hilarious. It invokes the comedy of early Woody Allen movies. The script closely mirrors the relationship and real life issues that Daryl and Zoe have experienced throughout the course of their six year relationship. Casting the movie was quite simple. In the film, Daryl and Zoe play themselves. Renowned Broadway actors, Andrea Martin, Julie White, and Peter Friedman signed on to the production to play the young couple’s parents.

The movie is generally about two Jewish young adults in their early twenties who are in a committed relationship. It is set in Manhattan, New York. After being together for two years, Zoe and Daryl find that their relationship is having some problems. Instead of breaking up and ending the relationship completely, the young couple decides to try an experiment.

They elect to spend alternate days together and apart. As they continue this new way of dating, the pair becomes conflicted and often hurt when emotions grow out of control. Things become really complicated when other dating matches arise. The most comical part of the movie comes when the young couple has to explain their polyamorous relationship to their aging parents who do not understand the arrangement at all.

Daryl and Zoe worked within their small budget by hiring young crew members off of ads placed on Craigslist. The crew actually volunteered to work with no pay. Also, some of the actors and the older Broadway actors volunteered to work with little or no pay.

The film crew used inexpensive cameras and other equipment. The film was solely shot on digital cameras. Because the film was shot this way, it allowed Daryl to edit the film on his own without having to pay for a film editor. He edited the movie in his living room using a computer and a flat screen television.

When they experienced a hard time finding a distributor for the film, Daryl and Zoe took to the number one resource they had at their disposal, the Internet. They promoted their film on the most popular social media sites and showed the movie at film festivals all over the country. Eventually the film was picked up by the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

The movie opened in a few movie theaters throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco. IFC made the film available with many satellite and cable providers through their video on demand features. IFC also ran the movie on their channel for a select amount of time as well.

After releasing Breaking Upwards, Daryl and Zoe embarked on three more movie projects. These movies had projected budgets of at least three million dollars but have been rejected by most major studios. They have stated that the estimated budgets are still too small. While this movie was a start for the young filmmakers, Daryl and Zoe may be forced to continue making micro budget movies until their immense talent is recognized by Hollywood.

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