Carol invites Annette over for homemade pie and after much prodding divulges her special secret and scandalous ingredient. It’s Thelma & Louise meets Sweeney Todd via Stepford, Connecticut.
Watch “The Pie” – Full Movie
What starts as a simple baking session turns into something far more sinister in The Pie. Carol bakes a beautiful cherry pie for her younger, prettier friend Annette, but there’s a secret ingredient hidden within its luscious layers—something Annette never expected. After taking a bite, Annette is horrified when Carol reveals the truth behind the pie’s mysterious flavor. And just when things couldn’t get more unsettling, Carol shares another revelation that changes their friendship forever. But rather than let jealousy and rivalry divide them, the two form an unlikely alliance in this dark, twisted tale.
Synopsis:
Carol bakes a gorgeous cherry pie with flour, butter, sugar, and of course
cherries…
But there’s another ingredient, something indistinguishable, that Carol feeds
through her spiralizer (that’s one of those cute kitchen tools that Gwyneth
Paltrow favors, in case you didn’t know).
Is it? No…. It can’t be. Can it….. ?
The doorbell rings, and Carol’s younger, prettier friend, Annette, arrives, and Carol serves her a scrumptious, carefully carved slice of the gorgeous pie. It was, after all, baked especially for Annette. After tasting a bite, Annette ardently proclaims its deliciousness, and wants to know what that special, secret flavor is, that deep earthy spice. After much prodding, Carol finally confesses its clandestine contents. And it’s pretty horrifying, at least, to Annette. She wishes she’d never laid eyes on Carol or the pie, let alone eaten a piece of it and been privy to its ingredients.
While Annette is in this vulnerable, shell-shocked state, Carol takes the opportunity to gently divulge yet another secret truth that changes their friendship forever – you know, even more than it was already changed by the whole pie thing. And instead of perpetuating their cloaked, jealous rivalry, the two join forces and take on the world…or at least this lady date, gone woefully wrong.
Cast
Awards and Laurels
Behind-the-Scenes Moments
Featured Scenes
Press & Quotes
“… every aspect of the production (is) top notch…we both laughed out loud….Oh,
and the acting was terrific.” - Mitchell Burgess & Robin Green (Three-time Emmy
Award winners, The Sopranos)
“But I believe it’s not the tale, it’s the telling that makes a short worth watching.
Tennor believes in the power of suggestion, giving at best just glimpses of viscera,
leaving far more to our imaginations. It fills “Pie” with a delightful sense of dread,
and yet the twist may be more human than you’d think.” - Derek McCaw, Fanboy
Planet (full review: http://fanboyplanet.com/cinequest-2018-pie/)
“Darkly original…visually rich…uncomfortably beautiful…You can’t bear to watch,
but you don’t want to look away.” - Ruth Copland, It’s a Question of Balance
“I’ve been looking forward to seeing this film for nearly a year, and let’s just say it
does not disappoint…With delightful performances from both Tennor and Paré, Pie
ends up being a fruity insight into the underlying darkness of suburbia.” - Vijay
Varman, Circle of Cinema
“FUCKED. UP. I love it….Lemme know when we shoot!” - Jessica Paré upon reading
the script.
Fanboy Planet Podcast - Cinequest 2018: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/
fanboy-planet-podcast-503-cinequest-2018-more-creators/id164051160?
i=1000406913906&mt=2
Radio Interview: It’s A Question of Balance with Ruth Copland: https://
www.itsaquestionofbalance.com/arts-interview-jessica-pare-adria-tennor-mindyelliot-cinequest-world-premiere-film-pie/
Radio Interview: Robert Emmett at KFJC - Cinequest 2018 featuring music by J.
Peter Robinson: https://vimeo.com/262743817
Film Makers
Adria Tennor (Writer, Director, Producer) see bio above.
Cindi Knapton (Producer, First AD, UPM) earned her architecture degree from UC Berkeley and worked around the world scheduling, budgeting and managing the construction of mammoth building projects, all while studying comparative religions. While living in Australia, she was hired to do drafting for the art department on a film, and found herself shifting to cinematic production design, working on several high concept pieces such as Star Wars Episode II & III, Matrix Revolutions & Reloaded, Son of the Mask and Superman Returns. Cindi then forayed into producing, working on the critically acclaimed Hate Crime which stars Amy Redford. Her passion is producing female driven stories, particularly comedy and science fiction. She is currently developing a feature thriller set in the rainforests of Queensland, as well as a near-future Sci-Fi television pilot about a school for psychic teenagers set on the Moons of Jupiter. She is a dual US/Australian citizen.
Mindy Elliott (Editor & Co-Producer) edited and co-wrote the award-winning documentary, A Plastic Ocean, which gives an in-depth look at the alarming truths about plastic pollution in the world. The film won the Best of the Festival award at the Blue Ocean Film Festival as well as the Director’s Choice award at the Sedona International Film Festival. She also edited Anna Russon’s award-winning short Run Fast which won the Special Jury Award at the Aspen Shortsfest, Best Short Film at the USA Film Festival and the Woman to Watch award at the Underexposed Film Festival in North Carolina. She edited and produced Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, a documentary about the legendary cartoonist and illustrator known for his ghoulish horror-fantasy drawings, which won the Best Documentary award at Comic Con. Ms. Elliott also assisted Kevin Tent, A.C.E, on Alexander Payne’s Academy and Golden Globe nominated films Nebraska and Downsizing, and Payne’s Academy and Golden Globe winning films, The Descendants and The Holdovers. Mindy’s television work includes House of Lies, Girls, Ugly Betty, and When They See Us.
Jon Philion (Cinematographer) decided at 8 years old that he would be a cinematographer and made his first movie at 12. Raised by an artist father, Jon was drawn to visual storytelling and grew up surrounded by art. As a young man, he worked as a graphic designer and studied theater and photography until he began to put his artistic disciplines together. He learned about composition, lighting, and how point of view can be a powerful story-telling tool and got his degree in cinematography from the California Institute of the Arts. Jon has 10 years of experience in lighting and 10 years in camera. He has been an operator on large-scale Hollywood productions such as Master and Commander, War of the Worlds and The Avengers to name a few. He has worked on countless commercials for RSA, MJZ, A Band Apart, Tool, and @Radical Media, and has also found success shooting smaller narrative films and documentaries.
Finnian Riley (Cinematographer) found his love of filmmaking in 80’s and 90’s cinema that shaped his view of storytelling. After art school in Detroit and film school in Chicago, Finn moved to LA, began an equipment rental company and worked as a DP for shorts, docs, cable TV and indie features. He loves working with a team to use the kinetics of cinematography to set things in motion and then get out of the way. Currently he is shooting a documentary about Disney’s “Song of the South.”
J. Peter Robinson (Composer) is an English composer who studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoyed a successful career as a session keyboardist throughout the 1970s, working with artists such as Phil Collins, Al Stewart, Mike Rutherford, Shawn Phillips, Quatermass, Brand X, Carly Simon, Bryan Ferry, Stealers Wheel, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and others. He made his film music debut as a solo composer in 1985 with John Schlesinger’s eerie voodoo movie The Believers, and has since scored a number of successful films including Cocktail, Blind Fury, Cadillac Man, Encino Man, Wayne’s World, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Highlander III: The Sorcerer, Vampire in Brooklyn, Rumble in the Bronx, The World’s Fastest Indian and The Bank Job. J. Peter has also contributed music to a number of acclaimed TV series including The Wonder Years, Tales from the Crypt, Eerie Indiana, Charmed and The Handler. As a successful pop arranger, he has collaborated with Eric Clapton, Manhattan Transfer, Al Jarreau and Melissa Etheridge.
Denise Hudson (Production Designer) is an accomplished designer of film, fashion and theater. She earned a master’s degree in theater design at Yale University and studied haute couture fashion design at Syndical de la Couture in Paris. She also studied at Worcester College, Oxford University, England, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in Political Science. Her film work includes Flipper, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Goldmember, festival darling Quinceañera, the Sacha Baron Cohen starrer, Brüno, and Denzel Washington’s Unstoppable. Denise’s television credits include production designing the Crackle show Cleaners, as well as art directing Ryan Murphy’s hit show American Horror Story, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and won the Art Directors Guild award.
Jill Bogdanowicz (Colorist) is a senior colorist at Company 3 where she has brought her unique talents to features including Ghostbusters, The Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux, John Wick I-IV, and the upcoming Wicked, to name a few.. Previously, she spent two years at Modern VideoFilm, where she colored an impressive list of films, including the lush and beautiful The Grand Budapest Hotel for director Wes Anderson and cinematographer Robert Yeoman. Prior to that, Bogdanowicz worked for eight years at Technicolor on a large slate of projects that comprises almost everything Clint Eastwood finished during that period including the stark Letters from Iwo Jima and powerful period drama The Changeling. Bogdanowicz started her work as a digital colorist at Cinesite on the first full DI, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, for Joel and Ethan Coen and cinematographer Roger Deakins. She comes from a family of imaging experts — her father spent his career as a top-level scientist at Eastman Kodak and her sister is also a successful digital colorist. Bogdanowicz majored in Art and minored in Physics at the State University of New York, Geneseo. She is also an avid painter of large format oils and watercolors, which she has exhibited at a number of high-profile galleries.
Trina Turk (Principal Wardrobe) founded her women’s contemporary clothing line in 1995 with her late husband, photographer Jonathan Skow. Since then it has evolved into an iconic lifestyle brand, celebrating California style with eleven annual collections of chic women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, including jewelry, handbags, eyewear and footwear, plus swimwear, activewear, a Mr Turk menswear line, and residential décor and textiles. Trina splits her time between two historic, mid-century homes in Los Angeles’ creative enclave of Silver Lake and in Palm Springs. She also has a keen passion for architectural preservation and is an active philanthropist.