Review: Sedona International Film Festival Presents LUCY IN THE SKY ~ The World As Seen Through The Eyes Of A Diamond

On what she defines as the first day of the rest of her life, Lucy (Zoe Margaret Colletti), prepares to enter a mainstream high school. For a 14-year-old girl on the autism spectrum, the transfer is loaded with anxiety.

The angst is exacerbated by a family in tumult ~ stressed-out parents (Catherine Curtin as mother Ellen and Broadway star Danny Burstein as father Dan), an impish brother (Adrian Raio), and a twin sister, Rachel (Quinn McColgan) who doesn't want to be embarrassed by her sister's peculiarities.

How does such a child navigate the world around her and adapt to the challenges of high school? Indeed, how should the world adapt to and embrace her?

LUCY IN THE SKY, an exceptional 11-minute film, written by Jen Rudin and directed by Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, and featuring an outstanding cast, probes these questions with a vivid, sensitive, and engaging journey through a few days in the life of Lucy.

Colletti delivers an exceptional performance as a diamond in the rough, a teenager, fidgety and self-conscious, whose creative potential is unrealized and under-appreciated, whose mind is a mystery to those in her orbit. Her acumen in math and science and a remarkable ability to cite detail grant her only the status of a curiosity and an outcast. She lacks what her father calls the "whole package," and her sister says that she's without creative talents. If Lucy has value, it surfaces when a school doctor (Kelly Hu) advises her family that, because she is autistic and a twin, they are eligible to participate in an NYU genetic research project study. But, there is more to Lucy than meets the eye.

The uphill battle to fit in and define her niche turns a corner when Lucy and Rachel enter the classroom of a wise and poised drama instructor, (Whoopi Goldberg). Lucy wants to audition for The Crucible and Rachel, worried about embarrassment, urges the teacher to give her a lesser role.

In a stunning moment of revelation and victory, Lucy defies all expectations. She has given us something dear to cheer.

The film, based on Rudin's TV pilot script, is the winner of the 2016 Sloan Foundation Writing Award and the 2017 Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation Award. It is one of the features at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.) Deservedly so, as Rudin has brought together a star-studded cast to create a compelling and insightful view of a very special human being and a condition that merits understanding.

Still credit to Rick Carmona

Sedona International Film Festival ~ https://sedonafilmfestival.com/ ~ 928-282-1177

Saturday, February 23rd through Sunday, March 3rd

Purchase passes at https://sedonafilmfestival.org/purchase-passes/

Multiple venues: Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. Highway 89A; Harkins Theatres, 2081 W. Highway 89A; Sedona Performing Arts Center, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road

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