2013 Angel Film Awards - Monaco International Film Festival angel awards

THE ANGEL FILM AWARDS HONORING SCREENPLAY WRITERS


IN OFFICIAL SELECTION “ONE HAND CLAPPING” WRITTEN BY JERRY ALDEN DEAL - SHORTLISTED FOR THE AFA

BIO:

2011's Dreams Awake was Jerry's feature directorial debut, although he's no neophyte to filmmaking. Over the past thirty years Jerry has been hired numerous times to develop and write screenplays for other production companies. During that same period several of his spec scripts were also optioned.

Jerry has also worked on other filmmakers' projects, learning the nuts and bolts of production, working from production assistant to producer, as well as directing several shorts. In addition, he spent several years at Sony Pictures Entertainment, which gave him a film business education into how the film industry works at the studio level.

Invigorated by the possibilities of modern digital media and the viewing public's expanding interest in transformational themes, Jerry decided to set up a production company, Way To Go Media, to develop his own projects. Thus, his seventeenth screenplay, Dreams Awake was born, which he also directed and produced. During the film’s 2012 festival circuit, it garnered 17 film festival awards worldwide.

Jerry is currently prepping to direct his screenplay One Hand Clapping, to be shot in the Austin, TX area in spring 2014. You might say that he is returning to his roots where he went to college and where he first got involved in indie filmmaking, and near where he grew up in San Antonio.

He also has several other film projects in development, with The God Dilemma and The Inner Sonic Key being at the top of the list. All these projects reflect his interest in mystical, metaphysical, and transformational themes.

‘ONE HAND CLAPPING’
Written by Jerry Alden Deal

Logline: Reincarnation in a small Texas town.

Brief Synopsis: Set in a small Texas town just before this new millennium, the story is a multi-generational, family drama that explores how the possibility of reincarnation can help three brothers make peace with their dying father, with the help of his 8-year-old grandson.

Longer Synopsis: Old, unresolved issues spring forth when three grown brothers return to their small Texas home town to face their bitter father, who is slowly approaching death. A terrible tragedy buried forty years in the past has set in motion a chain of events which the present seems completely unable to change. The three generations of the Ward family face an uphill battle in undoing the dysfunctional nature of their past and present situation.

However, the oldest Ward brother, DYLAN, an introspective new consciousness writer and his moody eight-year old son, MASON, may have within their power, in this single moment in time, the chance to change the direction of the future for them all. Dylan’s old friend MARIAH, a good-natured, fun-loving woman, helps support him as he tries to figure a way back to his path of healing.

Middle brother DAN, a charismatic born-again bible-thumper, attempts to come to grips with his own past demons, seeking absolution through his father. His fiery disposition is tempered by his loving and very pregnant wife, JENNY.

Youngest brother DERRICK, a substance abuser searching for a way out of the trap he’s created for himself, befriends Mason, and attempts to rediscover a path back to himself.

When these three brothers come back home to make peace with FRANK, their dying father, it isn’t just a journey home, but a spiritual quest to fix the past and rejuvenate the future. But not just for them, but for their tormented father, who hides a deep dark secret in his miserable past, and who must resolve his legacy with his departed wife and his three sons’ mother, CATHERINE.

Through a series of incidents, fights, revelations, flashbacks and tense moments, this family finally starts on a rough road to recovery. A glimpse into the subtle, but intense possibilities of the human spirit, this story encompasses the very powerful themes of life, death and rebirth within the subtext of problematic familial relationships, inner child trauma and healing, meditation as a mechanism for realization and healing; reincarnation as a device and vehicle for both trauma and healing, and multi-generational familial love. This is a family’s journey we can all easily relate to.