Katherine Dieckmann makes her feature debut with A Good Baby, an atmospheric southern fable about good, evil and redemption shot in the Smokey mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Based on Leon Rooke’s novel of the same name, Baby centers around the efforts of a solitary young mountain man, Toker (Henry Thomas), to find someone to take care of an infant he’s found abandoned in the woods. Elsewhere the radiant baby might be irresistible, but no one in this poor-as-dirt town can afford to adopt the child. The abandoned baby also seems to harbor magical qualities. Meanwhile, a bedraggled 12-year-old is making her way towards town on foot in search of her missing teen-aged sister. Who gets taken in by whom is the film’s big surprise.

Dieckmann started out as a writer and photographer and has been published in a range of magazines from Spin and Rolling Stone to Vogue and Art Forum. She got her first directing break in 1986 when REM’s Michael Stipe asked her to do a music video for "Stand." The resulting track launched Dieckmann as a music video director, and she went on to clips for artists like Everything But The Girl, Throwing Muses, Wilco and Aimee Mann. In 1992 she directed the pilot for "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" for Nickelodeon and, when it proved to be a hit, stayed on through three seasons.

Baby was workshopped at the 1996 Sundance screenwriting and directing labs and is being produced by Lianne Halfon and Kardana Films’ Tom Carouso. Halfon was a production V.P. for J&M Films in L.A. for six years before leaving to executive produce Crumb. Carouso formed indie-finance specialist Kardana Films in 1993 and has since executive produced five features – Safe, Drunks, Office Killer, Arresting Gena and Kiss Me Guido – and produced The Blood Oranges.

Baby set up shop in Asheville in mid-March for an April 6 shoot with a full complement of New York crew including much-in-demand d.p. Jim Denault. North American rights are available; Pandora is selling international rights.

Cast: Henry Thomas, David Strathairn, Caroline Seymour, Hindmarch Credit, Jayne Morgan, Danny Vinson, Allison Glenn, Danny Nelson, Jerry Foster, Emily Jacobs. Crew: Producers, Lianne Halfon, Tom Carouso; Co-Producer, Derrick Tseng; Screenwriter/Director, Katherine Dieckmann; Cinematographer, Jim Denault; Production Designer, Debbie De Villa; Casting, Avy Kaufman; Editor, Kris Boden. Contact: Tom Carouso, Kardana Films, Inc., 285 Hudson Street, 2nd floor, New York, New York 10013. Tel: (212) 255-9680, Fax: (212) 255-9648.

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