LOGLINE

Quarrelsome siblings take a quick trip upstate to settle their uncle’s vineyard estate but discover a mysterious world that brings them together.

SYNOPSIS 

Three quarrelsome adult siblings take a quick trip upstate to settle their uncle’s Finger Lakes vineyard estate and enter a magical place where their ancient familial ways emerge. As they acquaint themselves with the vineyard they begin to work together, possibly for the first time, and a new possibility of the future begins to emerge. The catalyst, their old world Russian vintner uncle - with a little help from a transformative forest sprite.

TEAM BIO

Writers: Jeff Ureles & Jerry Stoeffhaas have been members of the Writers Guild of America, East since selling their first screenplay, Blood Lake, to WPW Productions. In 1989, their independent feature Cheap Shots - they co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed - began a successful festival tour (Sundance, London, Sundance/Tokyo, Avignon, et. al.), followed by a limited theatrical run via Hemdale Pictures. They currently reside in Upstate New York. Cheap Shots will soon be streaming on Amazon, Apple, Vudu and Google Play.  

Director: Arliss Howard has enjoyed a prestigious career as an actor who has worked with the most respected directors in the world, including Steven Spielberg onThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, twice with David Fincher on The Killer and Mank, with Bennett Miller on Money Ball and with Stanley Kubrick on Full Metal Jacket. Arliss has directed episodes of the NBC series Medium and was the writer/director on the feature films Dawn Anna, for Lifetime Television, and Big Bad Love, which was nominated for the SACD (auteur director's writing prize) at the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival, and was distributed by IFC Films.  

Producer: Ged Dickersin has been working on feature films for 38 years, starting as an office intern on John Sayles’ film Eight Men Out, producing his first feature A Reason to Believe in 1992, and continuing to produce and line produce on over 40 feature films including City Island, The Guitar, Tallulah, Nanny, She Came to Me and 3- time Academy Award winning film, CODA.

Producer: Paul Hamill began as a theater lighting designer and technical director then managed sound stages and worked in locations for over 50 productions, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies. He led Covid teams for 15 shows including Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro and partnered with Ged in early 2025 to develop films.