Holly Hardman’s clever seaside romantic tragedy, April V, portrays a May- December romance between a thirtysomething Cape Cod lobsterwoman, Vicky, and Damien, the Harvard B-school dreamer she hires as her first mate.

Before Damien shows up, Vicky is content to eke out a modest living with her lobster enterprise, and Shep, a local admirer, is happy to pine for her from afar. But Damien’s arrival awakens both Vicky and Shep to the limitations of their constrained existence.

"Sometimes those misbegotten loves that seem to overwhelm the sufferer’s forward progress are actually the glue that binds a broken heart," says Hardman of her characters’ dilemmas.

Susan Gibney (The Great White Hype) plays Vicky; theater actor Liam Waite, Ralph Waite’s son, makes his film debut as Damien; and Jim Chiros (The Beans of Egypt, Maine) plays Shep. Also in the film is Amy Wright (William Hurt’s eccentric sister in The Accidental Tourist), as the wise proprietor of a local new age store.

Originally an actress, Hardman’s varied career has included five years as a writing assistant to Aaron Latham (The Program, Urban Cowboy), a stint in music promotion with bands like L7, and work as a performance artist in L.A. and New York. Her foray into film began with three shorts, including this year’s New York Underground Film Festival hit Seaschell Beach. A one-time off-season resident of Cape Cod, she wrote April V while trying to drum up producer interest in another film, a drama about a molested child, and wound up forging ahead with the 35mm April V by financing production herself. Hardman has completed a rough cut she’s showing completion financiers and investors. All rights are available.

Cast: Jim Chiros, Susan Gibney, Amy Wright, Liam Waite, Richard Cox, Holly Angell Hardman. Crew: Producer/Screenwriter/Director, Hardman; Co-Producer, Sabine Schenk, Isen Robbins; Line Producers, Sabine Schenk (NY), Daniel Solinger (Cape Cod); Cinematographer, Howard Krupa; Sound, Robert (Taz) Larrea (NY), Coll Anderson (Cape Cod); Production Designers, Tini Manfredi (NY), Charlotte Bourke (Cape Cod); Editor, Doug Rossini; Sound Editor, Darin Hallinan. Contact: Holly Angell Hardman, Surf ’n Turf Films, 225 Lafayette St., #611, New York, NY 10012. Tel: (212) 431-5788, Fax: (212) 431-9005.

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