Poker Night, the first cinematic project from the partnership of local Los Angeles film and theatrical producers/writers, and Hollywood Fringe veterans Tom Cavanaugh (Inland Empress, Under The Jello Mold, The Shift) and Matt Ritchey (Angel’s Flight, Martha Washington Killed A Redcoat, Matt & Mike’s Movie Mangle) , will have its film festival premiere at The 7th Annual New York/Los Angeles International Film Festival on October 25, 2017, at 6:00 pm, at the Whitefire Theatre, Sherman Oaks, CA. The short film was co-produced by Cavanaugh and Ritchey.
A weekly buddy’s poker night goes sideways when a secret emerges and threatens to tear apart friendships. Featuring Steven Richard Harris, Jon Christie, Jonathan Tipton Meyers, Gabriel Rissa, and Ashley McGee.
“I’m so happy to be part of the NYLA International Film Festival! It feels great to have a film in a festival at these two venues that I call home! I’ve spent many hours creating in The Whitefire Theatre of L.A. and The Producers Club of NYC and to have film in a festival that is connected to both…. it’s a Home Coming in many ways for many reasons!” ~Tom Cavanaugh
“Tom had a play called Poker Night which I thought was great – he suggested making it into a short film that we shoot at his house. Our DP dropped out at the last-minute. Best thing that happened to us. I sent the script to another DP, Luc Nicknair, who is fantastic, and he said “This is an award-winning script.” …Oh, there are stories…. Some good ones…[like coming] to fisticuffs [with some of the actors and landing in jail…on the sound-stage next door. (Alas. The other soundstage was a bar and that would have been far more fun.) Tom’s a really great producer. We’ve got lots of future plans – both theatre and film. I love the idea of blending theatre and film – something done a lot in stage shows now with projection – finding ways for stories that begin as small theatre shows to grow into filmed content…I think is exciting.” ~Matt Ritchey
Paris Avenue Productions and Imaginary Reality present
A Matt Ritchey Film
Poker Night
Written by Tom Cavanaugh
Produced by Tom Cavanaugh and Matt Ritchey
Directed by Matt Ritchey
Cinematography by Luc Nicknair
Run Time: 10 minutes, 40 seconds
Gia On The Move 
One response to “‘Poker Night’ Screens at the NY/LA International Film Festival”
[…] Ritchey is an L.A. based film and theater director whose short film Poker Night won Best Comedy at the Culver City Film Festival, and whose stage productions of Angel’s […]
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