press kit - First Comes Love

First Comes Love
A Film by Nina Davenport / Runtime : 105 Minutes / 2012
The Film
First Comes Love Facebook page
Nina Davenport
[email protected]
www.ninadavenport.com
Sy nopsis /
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby
carriage. For filmmaker Nina Davenport, the nursery rhyme didn’t go as
planned. Still single at age 40, she decides to have a baby on her own–
or rather, with the help of her best friend Amy as birth partner and her
gay friend Eric as sperm donor. We see how the process of baby making
affects each of their lives profoundly and in surprising ways. The film taps
into the zeitgeist topic of how the modern family is being re-imagined.
­— Thom Powers, Toronto International Film Festival
“Davenport fearlessly puts her dreams,
doubts, swollen stomach, and disheveled
life in front of the camera for our viewing
pleasure and captures an unflinching, often
hilarious, and unusually moving portrait
of single parenthood in the 21st century.”
— Orlando Sentinel
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First Comes Love / Nina Davenport
“It’s an instantly likable
crowd-pleaser at times on par with a
Judd Apatow-produced work.”
— John Fink, The Film Stage
The Cast /
Nina
Bill
the protagonist
the disapproving father
Eric
Trudy
the gay sperm donor
the loving mother
Amy
Jasper
the devoted best friend
the long-awaited baby
The Crew /
John
the long-distance boyfriend
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First Comes Love / Nina Davenport
Directed, produced, written, filmed & edited by Nina Davenport
Associate Editor / M. Emily MacKenzie
Music / Ilan Isakov
Festiva l Screenings /
2012
Toronto International Film Festival — World Premiere
2013
Palm Springs International Film Festival — U.S. Premiere
2013
Rotterdam International Film Festival — European Premiere
2013
Gothenburg International Film Festival
2013
Big Sky Film Festival — Opening Night Film
2013
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
2013
Cleveland International Film Festival
2013
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
2013
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival
2013
Florida Film Festival
2013
Sarasota Film Festival
2013
New Zealand Documentary Edge Festival
2013
Sun Valley Film Festival
2013
Belfast Film Festival
2013
Dokfest Munich
2013
Women + Film VOICES Film Festival
2013
RiverRun International Film Festival
2013
Montclair Film Festival
2013
High Falls Film Festival
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First Comes Love / Nina Davenport
“Davenport, an accomplished and
acclaimed documentary filmmaker, uses
guerilla tactics of the self in her new movie,
and succeeds fearlessly, triumphantly,
and often with impeccable comic timing.”
— Susanna Sonnenberg, Mamalode magazine
About the Director, Nina Davenport /
Nina Davenport has been making feature-length documentary films since
graduating from Harvard College in 1990, where her mentors were Robb
Moss, Ross McElwee, and Robert Gardner. She grew up in Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Davenport’s films have all been
to varying degrees autobiographical. Her first film, Hello Photo (1994), is
a poetic and cinematic essay about her travels in India. It premiered at the
Rotterdam International Film Festival and received many festival awards,
including “Best Documentary” at Melbourne. Her second film, Always a
Bridesmaid (2000) is a humorous and poignant account of her love-life (and
is in fact the prequel to First Comes Love). It aired on HBO/Cinemax and
on Channel Four’s “True Stories”. Davenport’s third feature documentary,
Parallel Lines (2003) is a lyrical road movie about her journey from California
back home to New York, in the aftermath of September 11th. It premiered
at IDFA and aired on the BBC series “Storyville”. Her film Operation Filmmaker (2007) explored the relationship between filmmaker and subject, as
it followed an Iraqi film student who traveled from war-torn Iraq to a Hollywood movie set. That film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and aired on the PBS series “Independent Lens”. First Comes Love
is Davenport’s fifth feature documentary. She grew up in Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan and lives in Brooklyn.
photo by Corinne de Korver
[email protected]
www.ninadavenport.com
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First Comes Love / Nina Davenport
Broadcasts /
Press /
July, 2013
HBO
­— Sarah Hampson, The Globe and Mail / Full article
TBD, 2013
TVO
— interview : Montana Today / Link
TBD, 2013
The Knowledge Network
— Interview : Montana Republic Radio with Sally Mauk / Link
— interview : DOC Channel Blog / Link
— Susanna Sonnenberg, Mamalode Magazine / Full article
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First Comes Love / Nina Davenport