Member Screening Series: Thirsty

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening Series showcasing Thirsty, a film by Margo Pelletier (Director, Co-Writer), Lisa Thomas(Producer) and Laura Kelber (Co-Writer). The filmmakers will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening.

The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. Screenings take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar.

This screening of Thirsty is in Memory of
Margo Pelletier
November 23rd, 1951 – November 27th, 2016

Thirsty
Margo Pelletier (Director, Co-Writer)
Lisa Thomas (Producer)
Laura Kelber (Co-Writer)
2016, 97min

Bullied girly-boy Scott Townsend grows up to become drag queen sensation Thirsty Burlington, known for her spot on impersonation of Cher; but is it enough? A true-life musical adventure as dramatic as it is entertaining. Starring Scott Townsend, Deirdre Lovejoy, Cole Canzano, Jonny Beauchamp, Christopher Rivera, Michael DiGioia, Keith Leonard and Malina Weissman.

Margo Pelletier (pictured above) spent twenty-five years as an award-winning fine artist showing her work in galleries and museums in the greater New York area before working in film. Prior to her feature directorial debut on the musical film Thirsty, she was the Director, Co-Producer and Editor for the independent documentary Freeing Silvia Baraldini. Pelletier also directed and edited the short films, Cast to the Wind and Out of Service. She produced two live programs for the LGBTQ Center in NYC: Celibacy, Our Choice or Not and Post Queer: Building A Brave New World. Pelletier received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Science and Art and attended the Milton Avery Graduate School at Bard and the Institute of Audio Research.

Lisa Thomas has been working in film and television since graduating from Evergreen State College in 1994. Currently she is producing the animated feature The Adventures of Drunkystarring Sam Rockwell, Steve Coogan, Jeffrey Tambor and Nina Arianda and the upcoming series The Jellies for Tyler the Creator for Adult Swim. Thomas was the Supervising Producer on the hit animated series, Ugly Americans for Comedy Central and the Adult Swim animated series Xavier: Renegade Angel. She produced the cult MTV series Wonder Showzen, as well as Zoolander Supermodel for Paramount. Thomas produced Freeing Silvia Baraldini about the former U.S. political prisoner of the same name and Sid Bernstein Presents about the man who brought the Beatles to America. She has worked for NBC, PBS, HBO, Maysles Films, PFFR and Augenblick Studios.

Laura Kelber has written 21 screenplays in addition to co-writing Thirsty. Her script Fatal Woman won the Grand Prize in Francis Coppola’s 2010 Zoetrope Contest. Another script was a semi-finalist in last year’s NYWIFT Writers Lab. Kelber has written coverage for Goldcrest Films and other indie production houses, and is a script doctor for private clients. She is an organizer of NY Screenwriters Co-op, where she is in charge of vetting scripts and corresponding with writers. Kelber’s latest screenplay Mocha Dick, is a re-imagining of Moby Dick, set in a NYC coffee house. Kelber is also developing a supernatural script with London-based director Shan Ng.