Based on a true story, two-time Oscar® nominee Catherine Keener plays a small-town nurse Susette Kelo, who emerges as the reluctant leader of her working-class neighbors in their struggle to save their homes from political and corporate interests bent on seizing the land and handing it over to Pfizer Corporation. Susette’s battle goes all the way to the US Supreme Court and the controversial 5-4 decision in Kelo vs. City of New London gave government officials the power to bulldoze a neighborhood for the benefit of a multibillion-dollar corporation. The decision outraged Americans across the political spectrum, and that passion fueled reforms that helped curb eminent domain abuse.
Date: Thursday, February 9, 7PM and Saturday, February 11, 6PM
Location: Diana Event Oval, LL100 (2/9) and James Room, 418 Barnard Hall (2/11)
Q&A session to follow with director Courtney Moorehead Balaker and Susette Kelo
Filmmaker Bio:
Courtney Moorehead Balaker is an award-winning film director, producer, theatre director, and co-founder of Korchula Productions, a film and new media production company devoted to making important ideas entertaining. Courtney has produced for the likes of Dimension Films, The Weinstein Company, NBC News, PBS, and Universal Pictures. Courtney wrote, directed, and produced Little Pink House starring two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener (Capote, Being John Malkovich, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love, The Firm, Basic Instinct).
Courtney’s script was selected as a finalist for the Athena List, which recognizes the best scripts featuring strong female protagonists. Little Pink House will be released in 2017, and has been covered by publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, and Deadline Hollywood. Courtney co-authored a USA TODAY column about Little Pink House and Susette Kelo’s inspiring saga.
Courtney’s films have screened at more than 20 film festivals including Slamdance and the Hamptons International Film Festival. Her films have received many awards, and Cute Couple, a short film which she wrote and directed, received the audience choice award at the Jackson Hole Film Festival and Dances with Films in Los Angeles.
