Interview with Cast of “OLYMPIA” at Los Angeles Film Festival
(Lto R)Otto Sharp, Charles Gardner, Gregory Dixon, McKenzie Chinn
OLYMPIA, a contemporary story about a young black woman who, on the cusp of her 30th birthday, finds herself at a major crossroad in her life.
OLYMPIA is a film that puts the stamp on LA Film Festival’s mission to bring ‘creativity and cultural evolution’ and ‘find fresh new voices from geographical and cultural axe.’ OLYMPIA is the latest from Chicago’s growing film community and speaks to 2008 college grads; those who have huge student loan debt – yet have different choices then other generations. When do they stop living for others and live for themselves?
OLYMPIA stars McKenzie Chinn (NBC’s Chicago Med) and Charles Gardner (Steppenwolf actor) and is hailed as “a refreshing look at the intimacy, nurturing and hard choices inherent to all relationships, but seen so rarely onscreen from African-Americans” (LA Film Festival 2018).
OLYMPIA is an example of the next generation filmmaking written, produced and starring a young black woman with other young, talented cast and crew members working in the Chicago film industry. Director Gregory Dixon captures the unique human qualities of the city’s culturally diverse friendships, and incorporates 30-somethings lifestyles into a new perspective of city life today.
McKenzie and Gregory met as Grad students at DePaul University in Acting and Film and brought together a unique production crew who graduated from the university’s school of Cinema. The cast also includes some of the best the city has to offer on stage, television and film with backgrounds at Second City, Steppenwolf Theater, Goodman Theater, and numerous television commercials.
“Everyone has their own idea of what it means to become an adult. Perhaps today more than ever, we question both the journey and the destination. Many of our traditional milestones for reaching adulthood – starting a stable career, buying a home – have become more and more difficult to achieve. Others – marriage, having one job for 30 years – aren’t as desirable as they used to be,” says Director Gregory Dixon.
