Lez Bomb uses comedy to tell about a young woman who brings her girlfriend home for Thanksgiving to meet the family, but her coming out efforts are thwarted by the unexpected arrival of her male roommate.
Jenna Laurenzo wrote, directed and acts in her first feature film. Bobby Farrelly, known for his work on Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary is the executive producer. It stars Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman, Academy nominated Bruce Dern, Emmy Award winner Kevin Kane and an ensemble cast that includes Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Pollak, Elaine Hendrix, Deirdre O'Connell, Brandon Michael Hall, and Caitlin Mehner.
Showtimes:
• 4:15 p.m., Thursday at Apple Blossom Theatre
• 4 p.m., Friday at Marvel Experience in Skylight 3
Both shows are sold out, according to the Bentonville Film Festival website.
Source: Staff Report
The film will have its world premiere Thursday and be shown second time Friday. It has a 90-minute run time.
Laurenzo, based in New Jersey, recently spoke with the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about the film, that it was inspired by moments of her own coming-out journey and her thoughts about premiering them film in Arkansas, typically known as a conservative state.
A lot of coming-out stories are heavy. Can you discuss the role that comedy plays in this movie?
It was really important for me to write a comedy in this space because of that reason. A lot of the coming-out stories that I had access to when I was going through it were dramatic. When you have distance between going through it and looking back on it, I think that allows you to look at challenging emotions through a comedic lens.
And I really wanted to tap into the universality of it. It's difficult coming home and coming out with really any sort of truth that your family's not expecting. Sexuality is one thing, but everybody has their own situations going on. Coming home for the holidays tends to be stressful regardless if you're coming out of the closet because your family has expectations, and you hope to live up to their expectations. Sometimes those expectations don't match with the reality of those expectations.
Even though it is a coming out story, there's a more universal theme of everyone has their own thing and are not sure how people, in this case their family, will react.
Could you share a little bit about your coming out journey?
It was difficult for me. I really try to make this point in Lez Bomb where the self acceptance that the character I'm playing is fighting for is my own. Personally, I had reluctance to come to terms with it because it didn't match up with this future I had envisioned growing up.
With lack of exposure, it's not until you think 'oh, maybe this is where my life is going' and then (it's not until you see) other people, you can relate with them, it's an option.
My family, my parents in particular, are very wonderful, supportive and loving, but I didn't tell them. I had built this scenario in my head where they weren't going to understand it, and I was mad at them for something that had never even happened.
By the time I did tell them, I was angry at them for not accepting me but I never even gave them the option to because I didn't tell them. If anything, I hope to encourage people not to waste time, their truths and authenticity.
How do you think your journey or your experiences would have been different had their been more films like Lez Bomb to give you exposure that you didn't have in a more light-hearted way?
A lot of the movies were dramatic and many of them did not have happy endings and so I just really wanted that hopeful, big happy ending that some times life isn't always a happy ending. I do think it's important to have faith in the happy ending.
This will be your first time to the Bentonville Film Festival. What drew you to this festival?
Everything the Bentonville festival stands for is really in line with what my producers and I personally are attracted to with greater representation of underserved demographics. The female filmmaking aspect, the lack of female directors and writers and roles, I like the fact that Bentonville actively trying to put light on the fact that we need greater representation. I see all these things being posted on social media, "If they can see it, they can be it," and I think that's so important.
What are your expectations for the festival?
I would hate to say that I have expectations because, you know, sometimes our expectations don't match up with reality. I am looking very much forward to premiering this film in Arkansas, specifically, because it is not where I expected to premiere a film called Lez Bomb. There's something hopeful and optimistic about that in itself."
Are you nervous to premiere the film here?
Here's the thing. I was told from everyone that the person who was going to be financing was going to be a woman, she may be behind the LGBTQ cause, she would be super liberal, ectera, ectera. It was a guy who ends up financing my movie, and he's Republican from the south. So I think that made me very aware that sometimes we have these assumptions that may be totally off the mark.
Laurenzo and cast members will hold a Q&A after each screening.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
NW News on 05/02/2018