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Written, directed, and starring Nadine Crocker, Continue screened at the Cinequest Film Festival over the weekend. Crocker’s story is inspired by her own journey, and during our interview the filmmaker talked about the challenge and joy behind making a personal and ambitious narratiive.
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Continue centers on Dean (Nadine Crocker), a young woman who is sent to a mental institution afer a suicide attempt. With the help of supporting and newfound friends (Lio Tipton, Annapurna Sriram), along with a new man in her life (Shiloh Fernandez), Dean’s life may be taking a more positive turn. Dale Dickey and Emily Deschanel round out the ensemble.
A big part of the indie film’s strengths lies within its uncompromising storytelling, as Crocker refused to cut corners in making her feature.
“I heard from a lot of people that no one wanted to talk about suicide,” said Crocker. “No one wants to talk about mental health. And I disagreed (and said), ‘Well, I do.’ I’m just not going to stop. I ended up having to make it in a (smaller), indie way because there were certain things I was not willing to budge on which was my ending, my mission, and the whole message for the film . . . I had to do it my own way to get it made.”
With Continue being based on Crocker’s struggles with “depression and mental,” the feature has allowed the filmmaker/actress to have a dialogue with various audience members. “I just feel honored that people share their stories with me because they saw mine.” said Crocker. “That’s all I ever wanted to do. I want to start a conversation. I want to make a movie that people talked about long after they left the theater. Whether they hated or loved it.”
Check out my full interview with Crocker below: