Run Amok is written and directed by NB Mager, starring Alyssa Marvin, Patrick Wilson, Margaret Cho, Sophia Torres, Elizabeth Marvel, and Molly Ringwald. The film centers on the precocious Meg, a lonely teenage girl who wants to use her voice to enact change by creating an elaborate and unconventional musical based on a school shooting that occurred at her local high school, which she holds a strong connection to. The film is produced by Tandem Pictures, founded by Julie Christeas, the production company that supports diversity in film, on and off the screen.
“I founded Tandem Pictures in 2010. We’re a platform for people, the planet, and powerful storytelling. We started with a mission to give women more opportunity behind the camera, and that very quickly changed because I realized, well, it’s not just women, it’s people of color, it’s LGBTQIA, it’s differently abled people, it’s older people.”
Christeas explained that there are people who find themselves ostracized from joining the film industry for a multitude of reasons, and how it gives real opportunities to form communities and leave them better than they once were.
“And that’s where the sustainability piece of our filmmaking really bloomed, is that intersectional environment idea that the human and the place interact together, and that we wanted to leave that community for the better. I mean, that’s what independent film does is we shine a light on stories that you might not have a chance to see otherwise.”
Christeas provides her voice about how she partnered with Project Unloaded for this important and poignant film.
“So we didn’t partner with any organization, but what we did do in developing the project was work closely with a great group called Project Unloaded. And Project Unloaded’s specialty is intergenerational communication. So they focus on how do we take the experience of Gen Z and Gen Alpha and give them the tools to communicate their different experience with these challenges to their parents and to their grandparents, who may have empathy but don’t have understanding that crosses over into different behavior.”
Christeas felt the need to screen the film with activists and youth to nurture and spark conversations about their fears of gun violence.
“So we did some screenings with some amazing young people… of the short, and had some really fabulous conversations where I think anyone who is in the audience walked out learning something about what kids are experiencing today and the… fear that they carry and the anxiety that they carry on their skin simply by being alive in a climate where these things are status quo.”
Watch our entire interview in the video above. And read our coverage of the premiere here.
