User:Filmgeek90/sandbox

= The Clearing (2019) = The Clearing is an independent feature film from Writer/Director Stephanie Trainer and Writer/Producer Karl Nykwest with Cunning Folk Films and Friendship Creative. Shooting in June/July 2019. It is the second collaboration between Trainer and Nykwest.

Synopsis
The Clearing follows the story of a journalist studying the effects of a storm that has been continuing to swell over Appalachia for 5 months with no sign of stopping.

While she and her colleague are on route to continue ongoing interviews with survivors about strange psychological behavior following the storm, she inexplicably wakes up alone in an empty jeep, parked in a clearing, surrounded only by Appalachian wilderness. After realizing the car will not start, she makes the bold decision to find her way back to civilization on foot, despite being lost.

While on foot, vivid recurring thoughts and visions of personal childhood trauma begin to manifest around her, as she draws perplexing similarities between her past and the testimonials she has been collecting. Growing increasingly obsessed with the introspective connections she shares with the interviewees’ stories, she finds herself unable to leave the woods, instead mysteriously returning to the clearing.

Cast
Ivana - Amna Geko

Steven - David JM Bielewicz

Ivana's Mother - Sam Parente

Ivana's Father - Eric Swader

Kay - Tamara Siegert

Tammy - Christine Starkey

Tarasenko - Andy Pivarnik

Ian Stowell - James Quinn

Christine - Christina Chickis

Theresea Brand - Samantha Camp

Dr. Morgan - Arjun Kumar

Soldier - Jeremy Hill

Crew
Writer/Director - Stephanie Trainer

Writer/Producer - Karl Nykwest

Co-Producer - Emily Goode

Director of Photography - John Zeller

1st AD - Ryan Austin

Production Designer - Kait Nykwest

Editor - Karl Nykwest

VFX Studio - Friendship Creative

VFX Supervisor - Allen Ellis

Locations
The Clearing was shot in Edinboro, PA and Beaver, PA.