Deceived by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, a 90-year-old woman sets out on a quest to reclaim what was t | dG1fR01zNkEzS1RTOFk
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 Hi, my name is Josh Margolin,
00:06 and I wrote, directed, and edited "Thelma,"
00:08 which is premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival
00:11 in premieres.
00:12 The film centers on a 93-year-old woman,
00:15 played by June Squibb,
00:16 who gets swindled by phone scammers
00:18 and sets out on a treacherous quest across the city
00:21 to reclaim what was taken from her.
00:23 It takes inspiration from action movies
00:25 like "Mission Impossible,"
00:26 as well as something that actually happened to my grandma.
00:29 My real grandma Thelma and I have always been very close,
00:32 and a few years back, she got tricked
00:34 by someone pretending to be me
00:35 and nearly sent them thousands of dollars.
00:37 I started imagining what it would be like
00:39 if she had taken things into her own hands
00:42 and set out to get it back.
00:43 I wanted to tell her story with the tools of a genre
00:46 that could capture her spirit and her tenacity,
00:49 and for me, that was action.
00:51 The film shrinks these tropes down
00:52 and uses them to explore aging and anxiety.
00:55 At 94, this is June's first leading role
00:59 of her 70-plus-year career,
01:00 and she carries the thing on her shoulders.
01:03 She also terrifyingly did most of her own stunts,
01:06 but I think Tom Cruise would be proud.
01:08 It was also a real honor
01:09 to work with the late Greg Richard Rountree,
01:12 as well as the rest of our fantastic cast,
01:14 led by Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey,
01:16 Clark Gregg, and Malcolm McDowell.
01:18 I am so excited for Thelma to premiere at Sundance.
01:21 The idea of seeing it on a big screen
01:23 with the cast and the crew and amongst this community
01:25 that I so greatly admire is an absolute dream come true.
01:29 So thank you so much for having us,
01:31 and I hope you guys enjoy the movie.
01:33 (gentle music)
01:36 (mouse clicking)
01:39 (upbeat music)
01:41 (logo whooshing)
01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]