Puppytown
Written by
Derek Kroessler
Directed and Edited by
Kia E Davis
Shot and Edited by
Kelly L Riley
Wine, Poetry, Whatever . . .
James is an up-and-coming rock musician who has left his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island to “make it happen” in New York. Anita is his best friend, a professional chef and intimate of Providence's art scene. Helen is her younger sister and James' ex-girlfriend, a pretty young thing currently dating Ted, a pompous older noise musician. Will they all get along having dinner chez Ted, or will the moules à la portugaise wind up on the floor along with everybody's feelings?
A Note From the Director
Part social experiment, part environmental portrait, Puppytown grew organically out of my friendship with screenwriter Derek Kroessler. After working on a few other independent films, we wanted to finally make one of our own together about our shared hometown of Providence, a city with few prospects but an abundant imagination.
We began with a feature-length script written by Derek, loosely based on The Rules of The Game and both of our (more) youthful experiences in Providence. Mining our social circles to find creatives and empaths that reminded us of his characters, we were able to uncover the latent dramatic talents within a few local bozos (also our friends). After two months of rehearsals, we wrote a new script with the original characters as reanimated by the actors. Ultimately, they improvised each scene without ever seeing our copy of it. This would not have been possible without the focused eye and energetic coordination of our DP Kelly Riley. His skills and experience in documentary filmmaking allowed cast and crew to search for the story fluidly, and without self-consciousness.
This collaborative feedback loop resulted in a phrenetic reflection on relationships in a creative community. With a cascade of distractions, disappointments, and self-indulgences getting in the way of the task at hand - a rock n’ roll performance - Puppytown is a slice cut directly from the pizza of life.