The Strasburg Film Festival comedic feature Lars the Emo Kid, tells the story of the deeply depressed Lars Hyde. He’s lost his best friend, he’s being bullied at school, his parents are divorcing… he is ready to give up. It takes a group of misfits to show him what real friendship is.
Catch Lars at the Shenandoah Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday, November 9th at 3:25 PM as he tries to find his place in this dark, funny and ultimately uplifting teen coming of age tale.
Tickets can be found on the film’s event page.
Director Biography
Joe Grisaffi is an actor and award-winning director from Houston, Texas. The films he has directed include Laughing Boy, Dead of Knight, Conjoined, and Lars the Emo Kid. Films Joe has appeared in include Psychic Experiment, Jacob, Doll Factory, The Haunted Trailer and the upcoming films In a Madman’s World and Gem of the Rainforest. Joe spent some time at ADV Films where he directed the English dub of Cyberteam in Akihabara and voiced roles in the anime Tears for Tiara, Megazone 23 Part II, Saiyuki and others. Joe is also working with videogame programmer Jason Santuci creating games based on his films Dead of Knight, Laughing Boy and Conjoined… for the Atari 2600. Visit Joe’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/joegrisaffi or his IMDb page at http://www.imdb.me/joegrisaffi
Director Statement
This film’s life began on the set of a short film where I met a young filmmaker named Paxton Gilmore. Paxton told me about a short film he made called Lars the Emo Kid. I went home and watched it and loved it. The next day I called Paxton and told him if he was to write a feature length screenplay based on Lars, and I liked it, I would produce and direct it. Well, I liked it and here we are.
Lars the Emo Kid has become a very special film to me. Not only did we create a very heartwarming film with characters many people can identify with, but the film now also represents survival – I went down with a serious illness just before production wrapped, one cast member had a heart transplant shortly after production and is doing well now, and another crew member fought off cancer.
