Sundance Intensive Fuels Screenwriter Tory Kamen‘s “Eleanor the Great”
LOS ANGELES, CA – Screenwriter Tory Kamen credits the Sundance Institute’s 2018 Screenwriters Intensive with providing the crucial support and confidence to bring her deeply personal film, Eleanor the Great, to life. The project, initially titled Eleanor, Invisible, centers on a 95-year-old woman forging unexpected connections within a Holocaust survivors group after relocating to New York City following the loss of her roommate and best friend.
Kamen’s path to independant filmmaking diverged from her father Robert Kamen’s blockbuster career – he penned action hits like The Fifth Element,Karate Kid,and the Taken franchise.While inspired by his dedication, Kamen found her own cinematic voice through films like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. ”Little Miss Sunshine is one of the most vital independent films that came out when I was old enough to be watching movies and understanding them,” Kamen recalls. “And from that moment, I was obsessed with Sundance and kind of thoght it was like the pinnacle of taste and being…like, wow, there are a whole town of people coming together for these smaller stories that I adore.”
Connection through storytelling is central to Kamen’s work. She actively sought a community of fellow writers, recognizing a shared ambition to participate in Sundance Institute programs. “That just becomes the dream,” Kamen explained. “You find othre people that feel like you feel – like, want to be writing – and you realize that all of their dreams [are also] to go to one of these labs or go to Sundance, or just be affiliated with Sundance in general.”
eleanor the Great draws loose inspiration from Kamen’s own grandmother’s move to New York,aiming to capture the importance of community – a value Kamen actively cultivates in her own life. accepted into the Institute’s intensive in Los Angeles, Kamen found not only a supportive network of artists but also the validation to trust her instincts with this moving, personal narrative.
