Daily Local News: Movie Made in West Chester Will Premiere Virtually Next Year
The Daily Local News featured producer/writer/cast member Carrie Brennan in an article about BLOCK:
We all have secrets we hold deep inside.
West Chester native Carrie Brennan chooses to open up about what many others often keep to themselves.
Brennan stars in, produced and wrote a movie, “Block,” about embracing herself as a gay woman.
The movie recently nabbed several awards at the Los Angeles International Indi Shorts Festival, including for Best Actress.
Viewers will recognize many of the filming locations in the West Chester Area. Sprout Music Collective, Fenn’s, Stroud Preserve, West Goshen Plaza, Dr. Sharon Kelly’s Village Psychiatry office where Brennan came out and a former West Chester synagogue, are all featured.
“My goal is to make an impact,” Brennan said during a recent interview at Benny’s Pizza. “It’s not me acting or making a movie, but telling a story that needs to be told, that might make a difference in other people’s lives.
“I’m very public about being gay because I want to show other people the importance of celebrating who you truly are meant to be. I wanted to hear the story that I needed to hear growing up as a queer, closeted woman.”
A 100-person production crew filmed the “coming out” flick, for six straight 12-hour days.
Brennan described the 43-minute film: “In a fit to detach herself from an imaginary cinder block, Kit O’Brien comes out of the closet.”
The protagonist in the film is named “Kit O’Brien.”
Brennan, a former high school lacrosse and field hockey player, and Communications major at James Madison University, is wonderful in the movie, but the true star of the film is that cinder block that the character Kit couldn’t shake loose from.
Brennan was scraped and bruised by the 30-pound block as she trained and ran with it.
“It was part of me and something that helped me get through it was the burden that people who struggle with things go through and the power and freedom that comes from embracing and collaborating with who you truly are,” she said.
But what about that block?
“The block can mean a lot of different things--not just being gay,” she said. “I didn’t do it for myself—I did it for them—anyone who has struggled silently with things that other people might not know about.”
The 27-year old Saint Agnes Elementary School and Villa Maria High School, in Malvern, graduate, was in the closet for 10 years.
She realized she was gay in seventh grade after a character on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy gave this young Chester County girl hope that she could be both successful and gay.
The guitar player and singer didn’t escape to come out in a major city like many do.
“Coming out in West Chester, of all places—a suburb of Philadelphia—was interwoven with my own experience,” she said about her role as Kit. “I graduated college and came back to West Chester having to rewrite my life story in a place I had grown up in.
“I didn’t want to run away. I wanted to embrace who I truly was in the town that I grew up in.”
Anybody who has visited Stroud Preserve will instantly recognize the place where Brennan said she came out to someone there while running.
“This movie was meant to be filmed at Stroud, the skateboarder said. “It was about telling a story that would inspire people to see and celebrate the best in themselves for who they truly are.”
Three cheers for the actress, writer and producer. Brennan is an inspiration for all and I certainly appreciate her determination and honesty.
Block won several awards at the Philadelphia Playhouse West Film Festival, including Audience Choice Award for Best Film/Drama and for Best Actress and Grand Jury Award for Best Short Subject.
The movie will virtually premier in 2021. Go to www.blockthefilm.com or blockthefilm on Instagram or search for “Block” on Facebook.
Bill Rettew is a Chester County native and weekly columnist. He holds very few secrets. He may be contacted at brettew@dailylocal.com.