FREESTYLE DIGITAL MEDIA AQUIRES SAMANTHA ROSE FOR SEPTEMBER 7 RELEASE
Director Andrew Morgan Gets Back to Creative Roots in Upcoming Feature Film SAMANTHA ROSE
Out Digitally September 7, 2021 Distributed by Freestyle Digital Media
Film Premiere Event in Los Angeles, September 7 at 7pm at Brain Dead Studios
Los Angeles, CA – July 14, 2021 – Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, has acquired North American VOD rights to Andrew Morgan’s feature film Samantha Rose which will be available to rent and own on North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms on September 7, 2021 through Freestyle Digital Media.
Director Andrew Morgan (Long Gone By, The True Cost) is set to release his latest feature film, Samantha Rose, conceived of, shot and completed during the 2020 pandemic in a small and safe cast and crew setting in the rural settings of the Pacific Northwest.
Centering non-binary actor, Sam Rose, the feature is a tale of a young woman battling family codependence and aimlessness alike. Samantha Rose returns to her hometown in northern Oregon and is reunited with a childhood friend and his misfit commune of friends where they work the fall harvest on the surrounding vineyards. Sam is lost, working a dead-end job, and afraid to pursue a real life of her own, while this ragtag family of runaways are fearless and free, leading Sam on a journey of discovery and healing. There are motorcycle rides and homemade wine, midnight swims and bonfires, horses, camping, and a love story that unfolds as Sam comes to see her life for what it really is: her own.
Said Andrew Morgan, “With so much heaviness in the real world, it felt like the perfect time to make something beautiful that hopefully could give people a sense of relief and escape from it all.” Months into the pandemic, with current projects on hold, he invited a group of friends up to Oregon to make a film together. “We needed to create something and I wanted to see if we could capture that simple joy of telling a story the way we used to in backyards growing up.” Filmed on a shoestring budget with all first-time actors, no famous faces and and very little time before other projects were starting, everyone agreed to come and set out together for what would become what Morgan describes as “absolutely unforgettable days.”
He says, “we built our own little world out there. We rode motorcycles, jumped off cliffs, drank wine, played music, outran forest fires, laughed so hard it hurt and made a new film that we are SO excited to share with you.”
Said Sam Rose, the lead in the film, “People showed up in the face of the pandemic to create a story that they believed in and there is nothing more beautiful than that.”
Centering a non-male protagonist was important to the team and to the actors. Said the first-time actor and lead, Sam Rose, “Everyone goes through what Samantha Rose goes through in the film whether it be self doubt, insecurities, or being lost. Having the story be told by someone who isn’t a white cis male gives a dynamic nature to the human experience. I want everyone who is on any spectrum of gender to understand the universal nature of this experience.”
In fact, the entire cast of Samantha Rose was made up of first-time actors; all of them were artists in various capacities including musicians and visual artists, but this was their first time acting in a feature film role.
About Andrew Morgan:
Andrew is an internationally recognized, award-winning filmmaker focused on telling stories for a better tomorrow. His experience includes a broad range of work that spans narrative and documentary storytelling for multiple film and new media projects that have been filmed and released all over the world. Previous films include After the End (2013), The True Cost (2015), The Heretic (2018) and Long Gone By (2020). The New York Times described his unique style as “gentle, humane investigations,” and Vogue Magazine wrote that it is “evidence that each of us can act as a catalyst for change within our own lives and work together towards a greater good.” He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Emily and their four kids.
The digital distribution unit of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films. Recent releases include THE WEDDING YEAR starring Sarah Hyland and Anna Camp, THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH starring Danny Houston, BERSERK starring Nick Cannon, UNTOGETHER starring Jamie Dornan, Jemima Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Alice Eve and Billy Crystal. Other Freestyle titles include the action-comedy BETTER START RUNNING starring Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons and Maria Bello, THE BACHELORS starring Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons, Julie Delpy and Odeya Rush, the award winning documentary HONDROS produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Jake Gyllenhaal, horror documentary DEMON HOUSE starring Zak Bagans, host of Travel Channel’s highest rated show Ghost Adventures, sci-fi thriller THE RECALL starring Wesley Snipes, MILES starring Molly Shannon and Paul Reiser, the animated feature HELL & BACK starring Nick Swardson, Mila Kunis and Bob Odenkirk, and THE GIRL IN THE BOOK with Emily VanCamp and Michael Nyqvist.
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Media Contact for Samantha Rose and Andrew Morgan:
Kathryn Musilek // Shark Party Media // km@sharkpartymedia.com
Media Contact for Freestyle Digital Media:
Eric Peterofsky // Eric@es.tv
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