Lorenda Starfelt (January 11, 1955 – March 16, 2011) was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

, as well as a committed political activist and blogger who notably dug up president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's birth announcement in an August 1961 edition of ''The Honolulu Advertiser'' while researching her documentary on the 2008 presidential election, '' The Audacity of Democracy''.

Background

Lorenda Starfelt was born on January 11, 1955 in Belleville, IL. According to her website biography, she and her brother Brad Peters were raised by their mother, Phyllis Smith. During her high school years, a brief attempt was made to remove Starfelt from her mother’s care. While attending Belleville High School, Starfelt developed an interest in the theater, but circumstances prevented her from pursuing that passion until much later in life. Several years after graduation, Lorenda met and married an engineer named William Starfelt. The short-lived marriage produced a son, Graham, who remained under his mother’s care after his parents’ eventual divorce. Following a brief stay in Florida, Starfelt moved to San Francisco, where she quickly became involved in the political work of left-wing activist

Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring th ...

. Starfelt and her son eventually settled in Los Angeles, where she began work as an interior designer, while maintaining an interest in politics.

Career

Lorenda (Lori) Starfelt was the producer of the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

comedy '' The Watermelon'', which premiered at the 2008 San Diego Film Festival. Directed by

Brad Mays Brad Mays (born May 30, 1955) is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California. Background and education Mays was raised in the Edinburg section of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, attending the ...

, ''The Watermelon'' was written by

Michael Hemmingson Michael Hemmingson (July 12, 1966 – January 9, 2014) was a novelist, short story writer, literary critic, cultural anthropologist, qualitative researcher, playwright, music critic and screenwriter. He died in Tijuana, Mexico on 9 January 2 ...

and stars Will Beinbrink, Kiersten Morgan, Elyse Ashton, Julia Aks, Steven Shields and Mike Ivy. In 2000, Ms. Starfelt produced, in conjunction with Turman-Morrissey Productions, an independent feature film adaptation of Euripides' ''

The Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...

''. Her next project was an adaptation of

William Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

,'' entitled ''Shakespeare's Merchant'', directed by Paul Wagar. She followed up that particular project with ''Schooled'', a drama written & directed by Brooks Elms, which portrays the unique difficulties facing both students and teachers engaged in alternative education. Ms. Starfelt's next film project was the documentary feature ''

SING*ularity ''SING*ularity'' (also known as ''OperaWorks'') is an independent documentary film produced and directed by Brad Mays, and co-produced by Lorenda Starfelt at LightSong Films in North Hollywood. Deriving its title from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night ...

'' (2008), which examines the cutting-edge training of student and professional-level vocalists at Ann Baltz's world-renowned

OperaWorks OperaWorks is an opera training program, founded by program director Ann Baltz, and conducted in Northridge, California, USA. Description OperaWorks is a training program for singers and instructors working in the field of classical music. Ac ...

program in Northridge,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 2009, Starfelt's feature-length political documentary film '' The Audacity of Democracy'' was released. The film offered an inside view of the 2008 race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, focusing in particular on the notorious PUMA movement. In multiple Blog-Radio interviews, Lorenda Starfelt spoke candidly about her commitment to Hillary Clinton's presidential run, and the misogyny she personally encountered in various liberal political circles. In addition to her film work, Ms. Starfelt also produced for the Los Angeles stage, most notably ''

'' in 1997 at the Complex, ''

Marat/Sade ''The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'' (german: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgrupp ...

'' in 2000 for the Theatre of N.O.T.E. and a

multi-media Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

production of

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, d ...

' ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'' which was nominated for Best Direction, Best Revival Production, and Best Actress by the 2004

LA Weekly Theater Award LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...

Vanessa Claire Smith Vanessa Claire Stewart (born June 21, 1974) is an American actress, producer, and writer. Early life and education Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Stewart attended the Webster Conservatory for the Performing Arts in St. Louis, Missouri. After gr ...

won Best Actress for her gender-bending portrayal of

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

, the story's music-loving teenaged

sociopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

. In a 2011 web radio interview with Priscilla Leona, Ms. Starfelt discussed a new comedy web series, ''Customer Diss-Service,'' that she and her husband Brad Mays were currently engaged in. Stressing the need for strong scripts and experienced, well-trained actors, she asserted that working within small budgets enables creative freedom, thus affording experienced artists a change to present their work in a completely unfettered form. Starfelt also discussed a number of new projects in the works, including the musical feature film ''Beginning Blue,'' which she co-wrote. Starfelt died on March 16, 2011 after battling cancer. In 2013, the feature documentary '' I Grew Up in Princeton'', which Starfelt had undertaken with her husband Brad Mays before her death, had its inaugural screening in Princeton, New Jersey. The film, described in one Princeton newspaper as a "deeply personal 'coming-of-age story' that yields perspective on the role of perception in a town that was split racially, economically and sociologically", is a portrayal of life in the venerable university town during the tumultuous period of the late sixties through the early seventies.

Background

Career

Filmography

Notes and references

External links