News & Updates

Alice-Heart has exciting news to share! Keep up-to-date by checking out this page, signing up for our digital newsletter, or following us on our social media channels linked at the bottom of our website! :-)

On May 22nd, the Alice-Heart team returned to the West Coast, eager to drive up to the woods of Northern California for the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. For our third festival appearance, the team was evenly split between our East Coast and Los Angeles cast and crew members.   

At Mammoth Lakes, the Alice-Heart team instantly connected with so many exciting filmmakers and documentarians. Our team spent the weekend attending screenings in a log cabin, singing our hearts out at karaoke parties and watching the sun rise in the area’s natural hot springs.  

Alice-Heart had its sole screening on a Friday night to a packed house at the US Forest Auditorium. At the Awards Ceremony, Alice-Heart took home The Audience Award for Best North American Narrative Feature! This award comes with a cash prize and grant towards an equipment rental package from Panavision, alongside an adorable little wooden bear called The Orson!  

Alice-Heart is beyond grateful for the opportunity to play at Mammoth Lakes. A huge thank you to all the filmmakers, programmers, and audience members who believed in us. Because of you, we will be making movies forever.  

Additionally, in just FIVE DAYS, Alice-Heart will be having its East Coast premiere at Brooklyn Film Festival! We're SO excited to finally bring Alice-Heart to our East Coast friends and family, as we anticipate a sold out screening. If you would like to join us, please reserve a ticket online through Brooklyn Film Fest's website linked here. We'll be playing Sunday, June 8th at 6pm at the Windmill Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Bring all your friends, loved ones, and bunnies! 

With BFF around the corner, we are now up for a handful of awards- so keep your fingers crossed for Miss Alice-Heart and vote for our film at the fest if you can make it! Every bit of support helps immensely as we try to make a name for ourselves and bring our first feature film to the spotlight. 

An awards ceremony will immediately follow our Brooklyn screening at 8pm at the same location. We hope to catch ya’ll there!

After extensive anticipation, we're ecstatic to announce that Alice-Heart will have its EAST COAST PREMIERE at BROOKLYN FILM FESTIVAL! 

As a largely East Coast based team, we're honored to stand alongside so many groundbreaking independent films just from our backyard! You can catch us at the Canadian Screen Award qualifying festival for one day, and one day only on: 

• Sunday, June 8th at 6PM at Windmill Studios (300 Kingsland Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222)

Tickets are available for purchase on Brooklyn Film Festival's purchase link found HERE, Additional information on the film and festival can likewise be found on BFF's website.

We hope to see you there when our Philly girl Alice-Heart takes on The City That Never Sleeps!

Alice-Heart is coming BACK to California to screen at the stunning MAMMOTH LAKES FILM FESTIVAL, on: 

• Friday, May 23rd at 8:30PM PST at the US Forest Service Auditorium

If you missed us in LA at Slamdance, don't miss this chance to check us out as we travel back to the West Coast! We're so, so honored to be screening at picturesque Mammoth Lakes alongside so many wonderful films. We can't thank the MLFF team enough for this opportunity to foster and celebrate independent cinema. 

Further information about the screening and ticket purchases can be found on Mammoth Lake's Film Fest's website linked HERE!

We’re thrilled to announce that Alice-Heart is an official selection of ATHENS INTERNATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL (AIFVF)! We will have two screenings at the academy award-qualifying festival, playing at the historic Athena Cinema in Athens, OH: 

• Thursday, April 10th, 2025 @ 7:30PM 

• Saturday, April 12th, 2025 @ 7:00PM 

If you, your friends, or your family happen to be breezing through Athens on these dates, check out this page for more information on screenings and ticket purchases! It was incredible to fill so many seats in Los Angeles at Slamdance, and we can only hope to do the same for our Ohio premiere <3

Additionally, we've started an Alice-Heart digital newsletter if you or anyone you know would like to keep up with the film outside of social media. If you want to be amongst the first to receive the latest Alice-Heart news, sign up on this page to get the good word! And of course, we’ll continue to update our Instagram and Facebook with any and all exciting information!

From February 20th - 26th, sixteen members of our cast and crew attended Slamdance Film Festival to represent and support Alice-Heart’s World Premiere in Los Angeles, CA. It was an unforgettable experience to finally introduce Alice-Heart to the world and we were so, so fortunate to receive positive feedback and reception from Slamdance programmers and audience alike. 

While at Slamdance, not only did we sell out our second screening, but our team was awarded an Honorary Mention for the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize, AND Lissa Carandang-Sweeney took home the festival’s Outstanding Acting Award as Alice-Heart! We couldn’t have asked for a better world premiere, and we’re forever grateful to everyone who helped us get there <3

If you'd like to read more on our experiences and reviews, take a moment to check out a handful of incredibly gracious articles highlighting Alice-Heart in regards to our time at Slamdance below:

• IndieWire : "16 Slamdance Films to Check Out as the Indie Fest Hits L.A."

• SPIN Magazine : "Slamdance Soars West"

• In Review Online : "Alice-Heart — Mike Macera [Slamdance ’25 Review]"

• Film Threat : "Alice-Heart"

• Hollywood Chicago : "Red Carpet World Premiere of ‘Alice-Heart’ & Actor Lissa Carandang-Sweeney of ‘Alice-Heart’"

• IndieWire : "Slamdance Film Festival Announces Award Winners from Inaugural Los Angeles Edition"

• Horror Movie Uncut : "Slamdance 25' Alice-Heart - Movie Review"

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you again to our team and supporters. Working on Alice-Heart has been one of life's greatest honors and we're excited for the future of our humble, little movie.

Long live indie film!

We're beyond excited to announce that Alice-Heart will debut it's world premiere under the sunny skies of Los Angeles at SLAMDANCE, 2025! 

As advocates of affordable, accessible filmmaking, we are so honored to be a part of THE festival for filmmakers, by filmmakers. Alice-Heart was selected as one of the festival's Narrative Features, which you can read more about on Slamdance's Indiewire article found here! 

We will have two screening dates:

• Friday, February 21st at 12PM PST 

• Sunday, February 23rd at 9:45PM PST

Purchase your tickets TODAY from Slamdance's Eventive Page found HERE! 

On July 7th, 2024 we pictured wrapped Alice-Heart after three months of principal photography. The script had been written in early 2022. The first ten minutes were shot in Fall 2023 as a proof of concept spec. And pre-production for the rest had begun in January 2024. It took over two years for Alice-Heart to finally come to life.

After wrap, our team sought a quick turn around time to deliver a finished product for Fall film festival deadlines. In August, editor Adam McAlonie and writer/director Mike Macera locked themselves in their apartment for weeks to crack at the edit, with the goal of a picture locked cut by the end of the month. Multiple rough cut viewings were held in New York City with cast and crew and total strangers alike. Feedback and notes were gathered on how to make Alice-Heart the best it could be. By the end of the month, Alice-Heart was fully cut and ready to be sound mixed and color graded.

Throughout September, Alice-Heart was sent off to our re-recording mixer and sound designer, Trevor Misplay, while our director of photography, Matt Connelly worked on bringing out a rich contrast for our color grade. An early sound and color pass was tested at the Hiway Theater right outside Philadelphia, where our lead actor and producer, Tony McCall works. This was attended by a few members of our core team.

By October, Alice-Heart was completely finished and submitted to festivals! What a journey it has been!