Film producer Charlotte Hendrickx has been nominated once again for her incredible film work. The award-winning American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni has been nominated for four incredible awards at this month’s 43rd Paladino d’Oro Sport Film Festival in Italy.
We chatted with Charlotte to chat about award nominations and more.
Welcome to The Ritz Herald! Huge congratulations on your recent award nominations. Tell us about the movie “Promises, Promises.”
Thank you so much! “Promises, Promises” is a sports film that follows a hardworking cross-country athlete who, after missing the cutoff to make the college championship team, decides to sabotage her top-ranked best friend in the most important race of their college careers.
It’s a story about friendship and sacrifice. How much does friendship mean when we’re trying to be the best at something and achieve our goals? Is friendship enough to make us see past our goals? How much can we forgive our friends? These are all topics and themes of the movie.
It’s a very real and raw story. I believe it’s a very recognizable situation because I think everyone has been in a similar situation, where they wish they were in the other person’s shoes, but where do we draw the line to get to where we want to get…?
What was your role in the project?
The film was written and directed by Yunyi (Sophia) Zhu. I’m one of the producers on the project and helped the casting team find our two lead actresses J. James, who plays Ann and MJ. De La Cruz, who plays Jodi.
During the shoot, I had to step in as a 1st AD on one of the shooting days due to a scheduling conflict as well, so it was a fun all-hands-on-deck project where I got to wear a couple of different hats. Those are always enriching cause you get to be involved in many different ways!
The movie was recently screened at the Big Apple Film Festival in New York and the Silver Wave Film Festival in Canada. Tell us about that experience.
As a filmmaker, you always hope your vision comes across and that people will understand and appreciate what you’re trying to show. You can finish a project, and it can turn out exactly how you envisioned it, but if your audience doesn’t leave the theater with a sense of fulfillment, what’s the point?
With Promises, Promises, I truly believe we achieved our goal of creating a story that’s recognizable for many of us, and audiences seem to enjoy watching the film. The reviews were super positive and touching, and as someone who aims to tell impactful and moving stories, that’s the most wonderful compliment I could ask for!
So, the experience of having our film screened at such wonderful festivals and having people leave the theatre with only good things to say about the project is indescribable!
The movie has received rave reviews and now has been nominated in four categories at the prestigious Paladino D’Oro Sport Film Festival in Italy. How does that feel?
I am thrilled, as is the whole team. We are nominated for Best Fiction, Best Short, Best School Award, and Best University Award.
It’s always an achievement when you finish a project and can watch the finalized product and be proud of it, but to receive recognition from the outside … that’s just the icing on the cake!
As I mentioned earlier, you always hope people will understand and appreciate the stories you try to tell, so when it’s all coming together and audiences leave the theater with a feeling of satisfaction … it’s the best feeling in the world. To then be able to top it off with nominations such as these is just amazing!! Hopefully, we can continue to ride this wave and maybe even take an award home!!
You are on a roll right now. What other projects are you working on?
I have a couple of projects lined up that I’m really excited about, but I can’t say too much about them as they are in the early stages of pre-production. One project I can talk about is a short film titled “Open the Door.” The story is about a young girl about to make a big step in her life and realizes how scared she actually is to be starting this next chapter.
We’re currently in pre-production and are aiming to finish the project by the end of this year. I wrote the script and will be producing and acting in it, so I’m super excited to be in front of the camera once more, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out and share it with everyone!
How can people follow your journey?
You can follow me on Instagram, my website, or my IMDb
Many thanks to Charlotte Hendrickx for taking the time to do this interview.
