Dear Zoe Screening in Pittsburgh
By Sean Armstrong
Pittsburgh has had many notable indie movies filmed here over the years from Me, Earl and The Dying Girl to The Perks of Being A Wallflower, but none have come at a more pivotal time than Dear Zoe.
In the wake of COVID-19, when so many are experiencing loss and grief, Dear Zoe is a story that according to one of the producers - Pittsburgh native Marc Lhormer, who is also the screenwriter for the film - can be seen in a new light, “Now, all of a sudden, people are going to be able to relate to Dear Zoe in their own way.”
“Without COVID we have a story set against the backdrop of 9/11, a long ago horrible incident,” Lhormer explained. With the pandemic, that need for understanding and support in a moment of pain is fresh. It is not something to be remembered, it is the here and now, “COVID has multiplied the definitions of grief and loss. It is not just loss of life but loss of access, loss of time.”
Without rehashing the mundane reality many lived through these past few years, Dear Zoe is a film made with the best intentions, from a place of understanding and compassion. This newfound need to feel connected even played a role in selecting the film’s 2022 November release date, so the premiere could coincide with Children’s Grief Awareness Month. There were opportunities to debut the film online a year ago, but the team behind Dear Zoe wanted to give audiences that in-person communal experience.
For an idea that started back in 2008, when the author of the book Dear, Zoe originally made the movie deal, it has come a long way. The lead actress, Sadie Sink, was just a new member of the ensemble on Stranger Things when she was cast for the role of Tess.
In part, the persistent drive to press onward may be the result of the personal connections the people responsible for creating the work have with the source material. Lhormer, for instance, lost one of his parents in a similar way to how Tess lost her sister, “I lost my mother in a plane crash, one of those small safari bush-planes in Africa.”
Just like something can be gone in an instant, something can also be created in a moment. Dear Zoe is a work that is the result of countless people coming together through the shared vision and experience that grief brings. While loss is never easy to overcome, many times it only lessens, the community it forms in its wake is something to cherish.
Tickets to the premiere of Dear Zoe at The August Wilson Center on Nov. 2 are on sale here. Each ticket is $98 and the doors open at 5 p.m. for a hosted pre-reception, with the film screening at 6:30 p.m. and a Q + A to round out the night. After the public debut, there is an encore screening Nov 3 at the Oaks Theater, and then Dear Zoe opens Nov 4, both online and at the Manor Theatre, Waterworks Cinemas, Cranberry Cinemas and Century Square Luxury Cinemas.
