World Premiere at Oscar Qualifying Festival for Chicago Film; ‘Walking Dead’ ‘Chicago Med’ Stars Lead Cast

Chicago-made short film After (A Love Story) will have its World Premiere at the Academy-Qualifying 46th Cleveland International Film Festival. The film, which tells the story of a surviving couple working to begin healing the emotional and psychological wounds of a shared trauma, is directed and produced by Chicago/Los Angeles actor and filmmaker Clare Cooney, and stars Glenn Stanton (The Walking Dead), Alyssa Thordarson (Chicago Med), and Susaan Jamshidi (Chicago PD). Thordarson also wrote and produced the film.

“I’ve wanted to play at CIFF for years,” Cooney shared with SCREEN. “It’s a thrill to be kicking off our festival run at such an incredibly well respected fest. I’m so proud of the entire AFTER team and can’t wait to celebrate the world premiere together!”

Writer and lead actor Alyssa Thordarson added, “There is a great deal of vulnerability and ultimately, hope, in this story, and I think the question of ‘Will we ever be able to get our normal lives back after going through this?’ will resonate with audiences, especially in this cultural moment. We are so grateful to CIFF for seeing the potential for that connection in our film and bringing it to their audience.”

Here is your first look at After (A Love Story):

The film will premiere in-person at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square on April 5th and will be available virtually via CIFF46 Streams On Demand April 10-17th.

Thordarson and Cooney also produced After, alongside Executive Producers Juan Francisco Villa, Raymond Esposito, and Divisionist Films. Jill Oliver co-produced the film, and Associate Producers include lead actor Glenn Stanton, Jerry Sun, We Make Movies, and Mike McNamara.

Click here for your in-person and virtual tickets, available at ClevelandFilm.org