Mission Statement |
Love & Vodka celebrates transatlantic love between America & Ukraine. We are a woman-led team with members based in Berlin, New York City & Detroit who believe that films can be fun & sustainable. We aim to screen at film festivals and spread the word about our support for Ukraine & women in film.
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Film Synopsis |
Based upon a true story, LOVE & VODKA is a romantic dramedy with a heart-felt, dramatic twist about Bobby, a high school film teacher/fledgling screenwriter who recalls the magic of 2018, when he falls in love with Katya, a Ukrainian exchange student, and impulsively travels to Ukraine to propose to her and meet her family. His travels to Eastern Europe, filled with missteps and culture shock, not only open his eyes to a whole other culture, but ultimately enable him to learn more about himself and the world around him. Three years later, Russia attacks Ukraine. Inspired by his love for Katya, her family and Ukraine, Bobby keeps their memories and the hope for their reuniting alive by writing the tales of his surreal adventures there and working to get Katya and her family away from the war to safety. Can he finish the script, save the love-of-his-life AND rescue her family?
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Based on a True Story
The film script was inspired by a true story that now High School teacher, R.J. (Bobby) Fox, experienced over twenty years ago in 2001). A young, awkward, and hopeful screenwriter dreaming of his goals in Hollywood ran into a different destiny when he met a Ukrainian exchange student.
15 years later, Bobby published a memoir of his time in Ukraine and soon after that, he began writing a script to get his story onto celluloid. Destiny decided to intervene again and brought Bobby and one of his students at Huron High School's mom (me/Heidi/Director/Producer) together. After sending the script to me, I immediately fell in love with his story, the people he met in Ukraine, and knew this film needed to get made. As a Producer/Director, I had one request of Bobby...he had to be involved and help get it made...together. And so we got to work. We had a script and a production schedule ready to start making the film in Ukraine.
But destiny wanted to add some more twist and turns. I moved to Berlin, Germany with my German husband, continuing and then gradauting with an MBA in Management from Eastern Michigan University via Zoom. Bobby went through a divorce and wrote a new book that is now 700 pages long. Then Covid-19 locked everything down.
And then Ukraine was attacked, the war began, and millions of lives where destroyed.
I'll be honest. We were crushed on so many levels. But honestly, at that moment in February/March of 2022, our film LOVE & VODKA was the last thing on our minds. What was? Protesting. Helping. Donating. Giving.
15 years later, Bobby published a memoir of his time in Ukraine and soon after that, he began writing a script to get his story onto celluloid. Destiny decided to intervene again and brought Bobby and one of his students at Huron High School's mom (me/Heidi/Director/Producer) together. After sending the script to me, I immediately fell in love with his story, the people he met in Ukraine, and knew this film needed to get made. As a Producer/Director, I had one request of Bobby...he had to be involved and help get it made...together. And so we got to work. We had a script and a production schedule ready to start making the film in Ukraine.
But destiny wanted to add some more twist and turns. I moved to Berlin, Germany with my German husband, continuing and then gradauting with an MBA in Management from Eastern Michigan University via Zoom. Bobby went through a divorce and wrote a new book that is now 700 pages long. Then Covid-19 locked everything down.
And then Ukraine was attacked, the war began, and millions of lives where destroyed.
I'll be honest. We were crushed on so many levels. But honestly, at that moment in February/March of 2022, our film LOVE & VODKA was the last thing on our minds. What was? Protesting. Helping. Donating. Giving.
And we found our hearts pouring out for Ukraine and our Ukrainian friends and colleagues we had come to admire and love. So we protested in Berlin, helped find homes and German lessons for Ukrainian refugees in Germany, and delivered cartloads of non-perishable groceries and bottles of water to the volunteers working at Berlin's Main Trainstation, who were there to help Ukrainians mothers, children and elderly arriving around the clock from all areas Ukraine with little more than the clothes on their backs.
All the while, slowly, but surely, I started to understand that this war was just as much about CULTURE and IDENTITY as it was about geopolitics; this then led me to believe that maybe making a film about LOVE and Ukrainian culture wasn't such an off-kilter idea or aim, after all.
Maybe, just maybe, as an artist activist who understands the power of STORYTELLING and the important of empowering differences in perspective - something I've been actively participating in via theater and film ever since I studied Semiotics & Contemporary Critical Theory at the University of Michigan's Residential College in Ann Arbor, Michigan - we could transform this film about love and Ukraine into a vehicle for HELP and HOPE.
So we decided that, no matter what, we would get LOVE & VODKA made, and we would shoot the film in the summer of 2023. Due to the still-ongoing war in Ukraine, we had to think about how to create a movie set in Ukraine without actually being able to step foot into the country. Oh, and we also wanted to help the displaced Ukrainian refugees, somehow.
Destiny comes again and connects me to the Ukrainian community in southeast Michigan.
All the while, slowly, but surely, I started to understand that this war was just as much about CULTURE and IDENTITY as it was about geopolitics; this then led me to believe that maybe making a film about LOVE and Ukrainian culture wasn't such an off-kilter idea or aim, after all.
Maybe, just maybe, as an artist activist who understands the power of STORYTELLING and the important of empowering differences in perspective - something I've been actively participating in via theater and film ever since I studied Semiotics & Contemporary Critical Theory at the University of Michigan's Residential College in Ann Arbor, Michigan - we could transform this film about love and Ukraine into a vehicle for HELP and HOPE.
So we decided that, no matter what, we would get LOVE & VODKA made, and we would shoot the film in the summer of 2023. Due to the still-ongoing war in Ukraine, we had to think about how to create a movie set in Ukraine without actually being able to step foot into the country. Oh, and we also wanted to help the displaced Ukrainian refugees, somehow.
Destiny comes again and connects me to the Ukrainian community in southeast Michigan.
Amber Galkin and Ukrainian Community Friends at the Ukrainian American Archives & Museum of Detroit
Not long thereafter, I reached out to the Ukrainian diaspora in Michigan in search of finding an authentic voice for the script and non-profit organizations focused on helping Ukrainians-in-need with whom to partner. I came across a NYTIMES article about a woman by the name of Amber, and how her and her family are navigating complicated connections with their homeland as they embrace a new national identity when the war broke out in her mother country, Ukraine.
At the same time, as Destiny would have it, I was in Michigan this past December (2022), renovating my mother's home in Ypsi, and we needed to find a new home for an old bed, no longer needed (as our kids have grown up). I posted a picture on Facebook and - guess what!? - Amber saw my post! The next thing you know, we're loading up the children's bed together for a young Ukrainian refugee in need of one. And that's how I met Amber Galkin, who is, herself, Ukrainian by birth and a massive force in helping the Ukranian community in Michigan.
It was a Miracle! It was Destiny! It was Fate! It was... people helping people in a time of need.
At the same time, as Destiny would have it, I was in Michigan this past December (2022), renovating my mother's home in Ypsi, and we needed to find a new home for an old bed, no longer needed (as our kids have grown up). I posted a picture on Facebook and - guess what!? - Amber saw my post! The next thing you know, we're loading up the children's bed together for a young Ukrainian refugee in need of one. And that's how I met Amber Galkin, who is, herself, Ukrainian by birth and a massive force in helping the Ukranian community in Michigan.
It was a Miracle! It was Destiny! It was Fate! It was... people helping people in a time of need.
Meanwhile, Bobby put the word out to his Huron High School and southeastern Michigan artist's community for support and help. I also reconnected with Bruce Falcon of Hell's Half Mile Film Festival in Bay City for ideas. Bruce is an avid filmmaker and actor, himself, and after many discussions, he came up with a brilliant idea:
"Why don't you come to Bay City and check out our area for locations? I'm sure we can make it work!"
"Why don't you come to Bay City and check out our area for locations? I'm sure we can make it work!"
The Production
We shot the microbudget-feature-with-a-big-heart between June 29th and July 20th, this past summer 2023 in Bay City and Grayling, Michigan. We just secured the fantastic Michigan-based (and Motion Picture Institute of Troy, Michigan film grad), Matt Jarjosa, as Production Designer/VFX Artist who worked closely with our Ukrainian team in Michigan to make sure that we chose locations that could be altered to look and feel like the scenic Ukrainian countryside and Dacha ("summer cottage") interiors.
Oh, and did we mention that we worked with Director of Photography in Jay Feather? Jay's biography is on our Team page. You can also go directly to his website to see what amazing work he creates: www.jayfeather.com.
And we held a LOCAL CASTING and CREW outreach -- with our sights specifically on making local Michigan opportunities for Ukrainian cast and crew -- in early June 2023.
Oh, and did we mention that we worked with Director of Photography in Jay Feather? Jay's biography is on our Team page. You can also go directly to his website to see what amazing work he creates: www.jayfeather.com.
And we held a LOCAL CASTING and CREW outreach -- with our sights specifically on making local Michigan opportunities for Ukrainian cast and crew -- in early June 2023.
Director's Perspective
Director H.E. Philipsen-Meissner
As someone who fell in love with her husband (of now twenty years) at a train station in the middle of the Black Forest, Germany, I was drawn to making this film because it’s a fun and adventurous take on romantic love and what it can do to build bridges across deep divides and far distances.
But I'm also making Love & Vodka because my husband was once a refugee. I know what it's like to be a foreigner in a country where I did not grow up and do not have citizenship (Berlin, Germany), and aside from being an artist, I am an activist and mother who believes that movie-making is such more more than just making sure you achieve the financial bottom line.
But I'm also making Love & Vodka because my husband was once a refugee. I know what it's like to be a foreigner in a country where I did not grow up and do not have citizenship (Berlin, Germany), and aside from being an artist, I am an activist and mother who believes that movie-making is such more more than just making sure you achieve the financial bottom line.
I’m also an American (from Michigan - #GoBlue!) ex-pat living in Berlin, Germany, and am all too familiar with the cultural calamities that awake one when venturing out beyond one’s home country and into the unknown (wherever that may be). How have I addressed being an ex-pat abroad? I feel that a sense of humor is essential, highlighting the good experiences and putting a lighter perspective on the negative ones.
Accordingly, in directing LOVE & VODKA, I aspire to create a stylistically beautiful, yet madcap, hilariously funny and bright cinematic body of work that is both colorful and authentically real in style, and that pulls the audience in, compelling them to empathize with the protagonist as a result -- all the while showcasing all the beauty of the Ukraine landscapes (via Virtual Production) and exciting backdrop of Upper Michigan (where we will be shooting because we can't safely shoot in Ukraine and insurance companies won't insure our production there during the war).
Accordingly, in directing LOVE & VODKA, I aspire to create a stylistically beautiful, yet madcap, hilariously funny and bright cinematic body of work that is both colorful and authentically real in style, and that pulls the audience in, compelling them to empathize with the protagonist as a result -- all the while showcasing all the beauty of the Ukraine landscapes (via Virtual Production) and exciting backdrop of Upper Michigan (where we will be shooting because we can't safely shoot in Ukraine and insurance companies won't insure our production there during the war).
Our Goals
In short, LOVE & VODKA must captivate, enlighten, entertain its audience and - above all - make them laugh in spite of themselves and cry tears of joy. I want audiences to fall in love with this story and the land and people it inspired as much as I have and do.
When I think of screening LOVE & VODKA, I see many of the Ukrainian's I know and care about, feeling joy and pride about their country - and having a brief respite, if only for the length of the movie, from the pain and suffering they are going through when thinking about their loved once back home in Ukraine during this time of war. I want them to celebrate each other, the unique Ukrainian experience, and see themselves in the characters.
As for others who, like me, may not have national or familial connection with Ukraine, I want them to go home feeling that the film touched them and gave them a much-needed escape from life’s stressors. I want them to remember what it felt like when they fell in love for the first time - and if they have never fallen in love, I aim to give them hope that such a love exists. And I want them to feel uplifted by the power and promise of hope that love creates.
And I want them to feel connected to Ukraine, its people and the desire to help lift them up.
I adore films that intersect all areas: Musical score, sound design, cinematic scope, the pacing of shots, and a defined color concept indicating the story’s message as created in the mise-en-scene. All in all, I balance these various styles into my own through extensive work, leadership, and collaboration with my actors, Director of Photography, Set Designer, Costume, Sounds, and Editor/Post-Production Designer.
When I think of screening LOVE & VODKA, I see many of the Ukrainian's I know and care about, feeling joy and pride about their country - and having a brief respite, if only for the length of the movie, from the pain and suffering they are going through when thinking about their loved once back home in Ukraine during this time of war. I want them to celebrate each other, the unique Ukrainian experience, and see themselves in the characters.
As for others who, like me, may not have national or familial connection with Ukraine, I want them to go home feeling that the film touched them and gave them a much-needed escape from life’s stressors. I want them to remember what it felt like when they fell in love for the first time - and if they have never fallen in love, I aim to give them hope that such a love exists. And I want them to feel uplifted by the power and promise of hope that love creates.
And I want them to feel connected to Ukraine, its people and the desire to help lift them up.
I adore films that intersect all areas: Musical score, sound design, cinematic scope, the pacing of shots, and a defined color concept indicating the story’s message as created in the mise-en-scene. All in all, I balance these various styles into my own through extensive work, leadership, and collaboration with my actors, Director of Photography, Set Designer, Costume, Sounds, and Editor/Post-Production Designer.
Cinematic Inspiration
Some of the films from which I take bits and pieces of inspiration here and there for different elements and aspects include: BEFORE SUNRISE (tone, sound, mise-en-scene), SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (music & sound design/editing), EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED (Theme, Characters/Casting), LOST IN TRANSLATION (dark humor), FRENCH KISS (slapstick comedy), SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (theme), THE BIG SICK (pacing) and, of course, MY BIG, FAT GREEK WEDDING (tone).
LOVE & VODKA should, at the end of the roll credits, be a feel-good film that reminds movie-goers of their favorite films - all the while giving them a fresh take on the romantic comedy-from today’s modern perspective on romantic relationships and gender roles, that bridges the global movie-going map between Eastern Europe and Western U.S. Such cinematic storytelling does so much more than just take up to another place in our imaginations or remind us of our own lives - it helps us to see brand new worlds, puts us in someone else’s shoes, and gives us the chance to remember why we all love movies about human connection and experience.
LOVE & VODKA should, at the end of the roll credits, be a feel-good film that reminds movie-goers of their favorite films - all the while giving them a fresh take on the romantic comedy-from today’s modern perspective on romantic relationships and gender roles, that bridges the global movie-going map between Eastern Europe and Western U.S. Such cinematic storytelling does so much more than just take up to another place in our imaginations or remind us of our own lives - it helps us to see brand new worlds, puts us in someone else’s shoes, and gives us the chance to remember why we all love movies about human connection and experience.
Company Biography
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PERSONAE ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES is the Michigan-made, USA-based film development & production company behind Heidi Elizabeth & Alexander Meissner, founded in 2000. We've been a leader in inclusivity, climate and social activism since the get-go and it has always been our driving force in filmmaking.
What started out as a small collective making short films, local commercials, and production managing low-budget indies in Michigan and upstate New York, has evolved into a company with a singular focus on international, transatlantic feature films spanning space, time, gender and country. Our films tell out-of-the-ordinary, transatlantic stories with a heartfelt and unique twist and we partner with cinematic storytellers with a like-minded focus. Our brick-and-mortar offices are in Ypsilanti and Berlin. |
© 2023 Personae Entertainment Pictures, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.