Oklahoma-made Western to hold OKC premiere
For The Oklahoman
The film “Painted Woman” premieres in Oklahoma City this Friday as a true Western with an Oklahoma native’s vision.
Director James Cotten and producer Amber Lindley both spent some time talking about their journey with this film, where the Oklahoma setting is perfect in both scene and convenience.
“Definitely what brought us to Oklahoma was the combination of the landscape and the filmmaking resources, and a big part of it was the Oklahoma Film and Music Office,” Lindley said.
The film features an in-depth look at a woman escaping her captive lifestyle after being forcefully held against her will as a prostitute. Cotten said the film would not only show the rough side of her abusive lifestyle, but encourage its viewers by the perseverance of this female protagonist.
Lindley wanted to tell this story based on the story of “The Mustanger and The Lady,” a Western story written by Dusty Richards.
“The Painted Woman” already has picked up awards from several film festivals including Bentonville, The Wild Bunch film festival, Covellite and The Alaska International Film Awards.
“It’s very rewarding where we showed at the Bentonville film festival where we were the spotlight film of female empowerment,” Cotten said. “For all those women to be there talking about how great the film was is great for me to hear, but more importantly than that was looking out into the audience and seeing probably 20 women crying at what they had just seen; that’s what we make movies for.”
Actors include Stef Dawson, of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay”; Matt Dallas, from “Kyle XY”; Kiowa Gordon, of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”; and David Thomas Jenkins, of “Return to the Hiding Place.”
“One thing I was really really impressed with was the amount of great auditions; I mean they were seasoned trained professional actors,” Cotten said.
The film already has premiered in Poteau on Nov 10 and in Tulsa on Dec. 1 before coming to Oklahoma City for its red-carpet premiere at 7 p.m. Friday at AMC Quail Springs 24, 2501 W Memorial Road. The premiere will be attended by Cotten, Lindley and author Richards.
“This is really brilliant, not a lot of indie filmmakers or directors are this willing to be flexible with our low budget and that creativity which (Cotten) could pull off,” Lindley said.