“The Starling Girl,” a film featuring Thomas More University student Paige Leigh Landers, has been selected for inclusion in the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, running January 19-29.
The prestigious, 44-year-old film festival is an annual gathering that brings together storytellers and audiences for dramatic and documentary features, short films, and episodic content. The festival also hosts daily filmmaker conversations, panel discussions, and other related events at its Park City, Utah location.
Paige Leigh Landers (Photo from TMU)
Landers, a Villa Hills native, portrays Kelsey, a “mean girl” in the dance troupe who bullies the film’s protagonist. Landers’ talent shines beyond her acting, as she also choreographed all of the dance scenes that the troupe performs in the film.
“Overall, this has been such a great experience,” Landers said. “from the very first audition to going to see the film at Sundance. I learned so much throughout the process, and I cannot wait for everyone to see it.”
The Thomas More community came together to support Landers and celebrate her success. Two anonymous faculty members quickly acted to ensure Landers had the resources needed to attend the film festival. Rebecca W. Bilbo, Ph.D., chair of the Creative Media department, purchased a ticket so that the Thomas More community could participate in the film’s virtual screening on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
“As someone who has covered Sundance for a dozen years,” sayid Stephen Oldfield, assistant professor of creative media. “I can tell you, this is huge, potentially life changing, and will put Paige on a new and very big stage.”
Landers credits her time as a student at Thomas More in helping her prepare for her acting career.
“My classes thought me how to develop a character and to step out of my comfort zone as an actress,” says Landers. “I have also learned important communication and networking skills that helped me in getting the role.” After graduating, Landers plans to apply to acting schools in Europe.
“The Starling Girl” focuses on seventeen-year-old Jem Starling, who struggles to define her place within her fundamentalist Christian community in rural Kentucky (also the filming location). Even her greatest joy, the church dance group, is tempered by worry that her love of dance is actually sinful, and she’s caught between a burgeoning awareness of her own sexuality and an instinctive resistance to her mother’s insistence that the time has come to begin courting.
For more information about Thomas More University, visit www.thomasmore.edu.
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