Penny for your Thoughts
Black Filmmakers
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Short Films, Fantasy, Documentary, 23-Mar-2023
Recalling a story from her youth, a grandmother reckons with a life-changing decision and tries to reconnect with a mystical source. Tatiana Tift directs “Penny for your Thoughts,” a magical realist hybrid fiction about memory and identity. What at first appears to be a straightforward portrait of Alda Smith, a woman who makes copper jewelry, soon moves into the realm of a fairy tale. Smith recounts a fateful day when she was young playing in the woods by her house and coming across a mysterious woman standing behind a booth. The woman offers her valuable coins but it comes with a price she’s still living with today. The film is effective because the lead performance feels utterly real and because the fanciful premise is delivered with emotional heft, self-assuredness and originality. -KA. Director: Tatiana Tift. Cast: Beth Francisco, Virginia Archibald, Ariana Tift. Main Photographer: Isabelle Grybow. Director of Photography: Chalky the King and Noah Llyod Torres. Makeup Artist: Leanne Mattern. Colorist: Noah Gonci. Set Designers: Tracey Tift, Lissette Tift.
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