Paper Planes
Directed by Michael Glover Smith & Alyssa Thordarson
Sun Apr 7, 2024 5:00 pm Hendricks Arts Center
Sat Apr 13, 2024 2:30 pm La Casa Grande
Sat Apr 13, 2024 2:30 pm La Casa Grande
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Paper Planes
Directed by Michael Glover Smith & Alyssa Thordarson
Narrative Short
United States | 17 min | 2023
A woman with agoraphobia and the airbnb guest across the hall strike up a correspondence that becomes something more for the holidays.
News & Reviews
“Alyssa Thordarson of PAPER PLANES, Debuting at AfterImage Film Fest”
HollywoodChicago.com
” Alyssa Thordarson and Michael Glover Smith set World, Int’l and Local Premieres for ‘Paper Planes’”
SCREEN Magazine
Director Statement
PAPER PLANES is a Christmas-set romantic comedy about the need for human connection in the modern world. As co-directors, we bonded over our belief that the best rom-coms are films of genuine substance precisely because they show the kind of near-“missed connections” that are freighted with the potential for tragedy. We also believe that the best holiday films feature a streak of melancholy: after all, the season that is supposed to be “the most wonderful time of the year” often intensifies feelings of sadness for those, like our agoraphobic protagonist, Rachel, who find themselves spending it alone. Continuing the journey of connection, the film treats the characters’ queerness the way most romantic comedies treat their leads’ heterosexuality: implicit, safe, not an obstacle, and only pertinent as it pertains to their attraction to each other. We consider PAPER PLANES a cinematic holiday card, one that we hope will make viewers’ hearts full by the time the end credits roll. — Michael Glover Smith and Alyssa Thordarson
Michael Glover Smith
Director
Michael Glover Smith wrote and directed the feature films COOL APOCALYPSE (2015), MERCURY IN RETROGRADE (2017), RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO (2018), and RELATIVE (2022), all of which won awards at festivals across the U.S. and were the subject of rave reviews. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper wrote that “Smith has a deft touch for creating characters who look and sound like people we know” and RogerEbert.com’s Matt Fagerholm has called him “one of the Windy City’s finest filmmakers.” His films have screened at the American Cinematheque and Rooftop Cinema Club in Los Angeles, Spectacle Theater and the Regal UA Midway in NYC and the Gene Siskel Film Center and Music Box Theater in Chicago. He was a recipient of the Siskel Center’s Star Filmmaker award in 2017 and made Newcity Chicago’s “Film 50” list in 2018 and 2020 for being one of fifty individuals who “shape Chicago’s film scene.” He teaches film history at several colleges and is the author of FLICKERING EMPIRE (Columbia University Press, 2015), an acclaimed nonfiction book about film production in Chicago during the silent era.
Alyssa Thordarson
Director
Alyssa Thordarson is an actor and filmmaker whose screenwriting debut, the short film AFTER (A LOVE STORY), played over twenty festivals including Academy Award qualifiers Cleveland International Film Festival and LA Shorts. The film received nearly twenty nominations and nine wins, including Best Drama (Short) at North Hollywood Cinefest and Sherman Oaks Film Festival, as well as Best Screenplay at Sherman Oaks. As an actor she has worked in commercials and on TV shows including CHICAGO MED, EMPIRE, and THE CHI. Alyssa is represented by DDO Artists Agency in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Film Information
Director: Michael Glover Smith & Alyssa Thordarson
Country: United States
Year: 2023
Language: English
Runtime: 17 min
Rated: PG
Credits
Writer: Alyssa Thordarson
Producer: Michael Glover Smith, Alyssa Thordarson, Alan Strutz
Cinematography: Pouya Shahbazi
Editor: Eric Marsh
Music: Trev Gibb
Shaina Schrooten
as Rachel
as Rachel
Alyssa Thordarson
