Glena (film)

Glena

Poster for documentary film "Glena"
Directed by Allan Luebke
Produced by Ashley Scherman
Allan Luebke
Josh Leake
Eric Stolberg
Patricia Hodge
Written by Allan Luebke
Starring Glena Avila
Music by Peter Bosack
Cinematography Allan Luebke
Edited by Allan Luebke
Release dates
  • September 25, 2014
  • Showtime
Running time
 84 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Glena is an American documentary film directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Allan Luebke. The film tells the story of Glena Avila, a single mother who turns to cage fighting to support her family.

Production

Filming of Glena began in November 2010 in Oregon.[1] The movie was shot on a low budget. The main camera used was a Canon XH-A1, and a Panasonic DVX-100 was used to shoot some early footage. The one-man-crew relied on a wireless lavaliere microphone and camera-mounted shotgun microphone to capture audio. Available lighting was used almost exclusively, though a camera-mounted LitePanels Micro was utilized at times.[2]

Development

Luebke made use of a $5,000 Kickstarter campaign to raise funds. The Kickstarter campaign was originally intended to pay for two months of editing on a short film version, but the project would ultimately be in production for another three years as a feature-length film was developed.[3]

Critical response

Film Colossus said "Glena...is right up there with Hoop Dreams.".[4] Marc Mohan of The Oregonian called the movie an "...astonishing real-life saga of grit, tears and vicious competitive combat." [5] John Ford at SLUG Magazine called it "...rousing and inspirational..."[6]

Release

Glena world premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. It was one of only eight documentaries selected from 5,000 films submitted.[7] Its American television premiere was on Showtime on September 25, 2014.

The movie received the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Women + Film VOICES Film Festival in Denver, Colorado, the Special Jury Award for Inspirational Filmmaking at the Arizona International Film Festival in Tucson, Arizona, and the Special Jury Award at Indie Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. It was selected as the Opening Night Film at the Portland Film Festival.

It has also played at the Sarasota Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, San Francisco DocFest, Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles, Tacoma Film Festival, Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival, and more.

References