What Alice Found
What Alice Found is a Sundance award-winning feature film released in U.S. theaters in 2003/2004 and for U.S. home video in 2004. It has aired on the Sundance Channel, Lifetime Movie Network, IFC, Canal Plus in France and ABC affiliates across the U.S. The independently made film was the second feature film for writer/director A. Dean Bell.
Plot
The film is a harrowing coming of age tale about a young woman who flees her poor New Hampshire hometown life to follow her wealthier and socially accepted friend down to college life in Florida. But her car breaks down on the highway under mysterious circumstances and a middle-aged "snowbird" couple in an RV come to her rescue, offering a ride all the way south. Before too long we're wondering if it wasn't the seemingly good Samaritans who sabotaged her car in the first place. What Alice Found is a complex story about mothers and daughters and the "haves and have-nots" in American society as Alice is turned into a truck stop prostitute.
Critics
Critically acclaimed, What Alice Found was selected by The New York Times' Stephen Holden as a "Critic's Pick" and was praised by Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times: "Sweet, suspenseful, funny, poignant and adult. Judith Ivey gives flat-out one of the year's best performances... a terrific showcase for lovely newcomer Emily Grace...an unexpected treat for sophisticated audiences". Variety had Ms. Ivey as a dark horse Oscar candidate.
Honors
"What Alice Found" was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2003 Deauville Festival of American Cinema by Jury Chair Roman Polanski. The film is held in the collection of the UCLA film archive and the screenplay was invited into the collection at the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Cast
- Emily Grace - Alice
- Judith Ivey - Sandra
- Bill Raymond - Bill
- Jane Lincoln Taylor - Sally
- Justin Parkinson - Sam
- Katheryn Winnick - Julie
- Lucas Papaelias - Alex
- Michael C. Moronna - Alice's Boyfriend
- John Know - Trooper
- Tim Hayes - Danny
- Tom Tumminello - Pete
- David Rose - Rough Trucker
- Clint Jordan - Lot Trucker
- Rita Fredricks - Judge
- Mathew Campbell - Counter Clerk
- Laura Poe - Julie's Mom
- Greg Jackson - Irv
- Lisa Balkun - Young Alice
- Brian de Benedictis - John at the Bar
- Martin Pfefferkorn - Lot Trucker
- Georgiana Enders - Food Stamp Mom (uncredited)
- Harper Scout di Liberto-Bell - Crying Baby
- Yoel Cassel - Clothing Cashier
- John Kennedy Connors - Creepy Guy
- Joshua Estelle - Toddler
- Araxy Lopez - Cashier Supermarket
Awards and festivals
- 2003 Sundance Film Festival—Special Jury Award
- 2003 Deauville France Festival—Grand Prize
- 2003 Cinema Paradiso Festival (Hawaii) -- Best Feature Film
- 2003 Tribeca Film Festival—Official Selection (competition)
- 2003 Athens International Film Festival—Official Selection (competition)
- Official Selection—Stockholm Film Festival, Denver Stars Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, Bangkok Film Festival
