Michael Glover Smith’s ‘Hekla’ Wins Big in Montana, Sets Chicago Premiere at Music Box in May

Elizabeth Stam has won the “Big Damn Deal” award at the Covellite International Film Festival in Butte, Montana, for her lead performance in Michael Glover Smith’s Chicago indie feature HEKLA. This is the second win for Stam in just the film’s first three festival screenings (she also received the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival’s “Spirit Award” following the world premiere in Florence, Alabama). Now the director/actress pair will be bringing it all back home, as the Music Box Theatre has programmed the highly anticipated local premiere of HEKLA for a screening on Sunday, May 10 at 7pm.

For the occasion, Smith has provided an exclusive statement to SCREEN about the film: “Liz and I have had an amazing time taking this movie on the road and showing it to audiences in Alabama, Wisconsin and Montana. The character of Hekla, a chaotic artist who’s always hustling, is clearly one that resonates with people everywhere, and it’s extremely gratifying to see Liz get the attention she deserves from audiences and festival juries alike. We can’t wait to bring this baby to the Music Box in May and share it with a hometown crowd. That should be one hell of a party.”

Here is your first look at HEKLA…

https://youtu.be/M30GCHHWiM8?si=zrrsMijsis3H2d4R

HEKLA, which Smith has described as a “mostly self-financed labor of love,” details a day in the life of a busy Chicago actress who must navigate auditions, headshots, heartbreak, and a climactic performance as Lady Macbeth in a dive-bar production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The Music Box screening will be followed by a Q&A with Smith and Stam, as well as cast members Wendy Robie (TWIN PEAKS), Mary Tilden (ROUGH RIVER LAKE), Brookelyn Hebert (CHICAGO MED), Sadieh Rifai (SHINING GIRLS) and Sadie Rogers (PRINCESS CYD), moderated by Cinema Femme Magazine founder Rebecca Martin Fagerholm. Click here for all of SCREEN’s exclusive coverage of HEKLA.

For more information about the Chicago premiere, including ticket info, visit the Music Box Theatre’s website by clicking right here.

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