A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison, a documentary by Bushra Azzouz, will be shown at Portland State University on Saturday, April 27th, at 2 pm, in the Academic and Student Recreation Center (ASRC), Room 001, 1800 SW 6th.

The film was recently shown at Lewis & Clark Law School on March 7th. Following the screening there was a lively conversation with Brandon Gillespie (actor) and Johnny Stallings (director) and Professor Aliza Kaplan.

 

 

 

Here’s a trailer for the film:

  

 

  photo by Ellen Thomas

 

photo by Ellen Thomas

 

We had a wonderful screening of Bushra Azzouz’s documentary film “A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison” at First Unitarian Church of Portland on  January 6th. It was a Love-In! The showing of the film was followed by a Q & A with actors Josh Underhill, Allen Mills, Aaron Gilbert, Celeste-Destiny Handler & Jack Baird. Producers Ellen Thomas & Johnny Stallings were also part of the Q& A. Nancy Scharbach, Katie Radditz & Brenda Erickson organized a sumptuous Feast of Snacks! Medallions were awarded. The whole thing was organized by Katie Radditz. Thank you, Katie! 

 

For inquiries about hosting a screening, contact Ellen Thomas (ellensthomas@gmail.com) or Johnny Stallings (stallingsjohnny@gmail.com).

 

On November 1st, Johnny Stallings & Brandon Gillespie took the film to the University of California at Riverside. Johnny showed the film at University of Michigan on November 9th, and at Notre Dame University on November 14th.

In October, Josh Underhill took the film to the Red Rock Film Festival in Cedar City, Utah.

THERE WERE LOTS OF FESTIVALS IN SEPTEMBER!

Enie Vaisburd & Ellen Thomas took the film to the Love & Hope International Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain. 

Brandon Gillespie & Sierra Slocum took the film to the Local Sightings festival in Seattle, where in won an award for Best Documentary Feature Film. 

Abe Green took the film to the Montana International Film Festival in Billings. 

Aaron Gilbert & Tessa Talbot took the film to the Klamath Independent Film Festival in Klamath Falls, Oregon. 

Zeina Daccache took the film to the Lebanese Independent Film Festival.

In July, Johnny Stallings showed the film at the home of Vassiliki Katrivanou in Athens, Greece, and at the Glasshaüs in Beirut, Lebanon, hosted by Zeina Daccache. The screenings were followed by lively discussions.

The film screened live on March 18th in Sebastopol and at the Socially Relevant Film Festival in New York.  

Actor Aaron Gilbert and the play’s director, Johnny Stallings, went to New York to represent the film.

Here’s a link to a conversation that Johnny and other festival participants had with Nora Armani, the festival’s Artistic Director:

 

 

Actor Josh Underhill, along with Post Production Director Enie Vaisburd & Post Production Producer Ellen Thomas, went to Sebastopol with the film.

Actor Allen Mills and the play’s director Johnny Stallings went to the Santa Fe Film Festival in February of 2023.

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison received an Honorable Mention Award from the Paris International Film Festival!!!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison was shown at the Eastern Oregon Film Festival on October 22, 2022, and at the Santa Fe Film Festival on February 19, 2023. The audiences were deeply moved by the film. IT WON AN AWARD at EOFF!

We will continue to hear from the many other film festivals we have entered. Stay tuned to this website for updates.

 

The World Premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison at Cinema 21 on August 7th was a great success! An enthusiastic SOLD OUT audience loved the film. We honored Bushra Azzouz, the many people who made the film possible, and six of the actors who are in the film. It was a total Love-In!

A gift of any size is greatly appreciated. Donations will be used to help distribute the film, so it can be seen by as many people as possible–in Oregon and around the world. Information on how to donate to this film can be found on the Donate page of this website.

 

S W Conser interviewed Enie Vaisburd, Ellen Thomas and Johnny Stallings for KBOO radio. If you’d like to listen to that interview, click here:

https://kboo.fm/media/110648-midsummer-nights-dream-prison

Marc Mohan wrote an article for Oregon Arts Watch about Bushra’s film A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison, after interviewing Enie Vaisburd, Ellen Thomas & Johnny Stallings. Check it out:

https://www.orartswatch.org/a-dream-come-true-director-bushra-azzouzs-a-midsummer-nights-dream-in-prison-has-its-world-premiere/