Lead Actor Christopher Lloyd to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award as Part of the Festival's Opening Night Celebrations
Ft. Lauderdale, FL – The Boat Builder will celebrate its World Premiere on Friday, November 6, 8:00pm at Cinema Paradiso-Fort Lauderdale as part of the Opening Night events for the 30th edition of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
In a ceremony to precede the World Premiere screening, The Boat Builder lead actor Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Taxi) will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award celebrating his prolific career in film, television, and theater.
Written and directed by Arnold Grossman, a published novelist and nonfiction author, and produced by Richard J. Bosner (Fruitvale Station, The Wannabe), The Boat Builder also stars Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), and David Lascher (Hey Dude, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) – introducing young Tekola Cornetet.
The Boat Builder is also set to make its Colorado Premiere at the 38th Denver Film Festival – where it is in competition for the Festival’s True Grit award for Best Colorado Produced Film – on Friday, November 13, 6:30pm at the UA Denver Pavilions.
Christopher Lloyd stars as Abner, an embittered old mariner and widower living a solitary life. Withdrawn from his family and the tight-knit community of his small marine town, he is a grumpy and unsociable man who seems to live in the past – only finding comfort in the countless hours spent building a sailboat in his yard. When neglected young orphan Rick (Tekola Cornetet) wanders onto Abner’s property hiding from local bullies, the two find common ground and form an unlikely bond which changes their lives in unexpected ways.
The Boat Builder marks Arnold Grossman’s directorial debut on a narrative feature. At the age of 80, Grossman embarked on a venture to make “a film about the building of a dream.” Starting his journey as an indie filmmaker later in life “is the culmination of lessons learned from my life experiences and a long career in various creative fields,” said Grossman. “With this film, I was interested in exploring the story of two people at opposite ends of life, who find a bond in a shared dream” he continued.
“The genesis of the project began when a story came to me about two characters who, in spite of the years that separated them, had more in common than they themselves, and those who knew them, might have realized” said Grossman. “A key element in The Boat Builder is the unfolding of a character-driven story layer by layer, as the two principal characters gradually grow closer while working together,” he continued.
Writer and director Arnold Grossman, lead actor Christopher Lloyd, and producer Richard J. Bosner are expected to attend the screening and participate in an onstage Q&A immediately after. Opening Night festivities for The Boat Builder will continue with a party celebrating the film’s World Premiere in the Cinema Paradiso courtyard.
PHOTO GALLERY
Courtesy of Ron Koeberer and Reunion Film
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