Written by Lisa J. Pellegrene
Dark Feathers is a feature thriller produced and co-directed by Crystal J. Huang. It is inspired from real life events in her life. Huang stars in the film as the leading lady, Kate. Dancer Gilles Marini portrays the male leading role of Remy in Dark Feathers and his wife Amelia in the film is portrayed by world class dancer Karina Smirnoff. As summarized on the production’s IMDb page, depicting the storyline of the film’s protagonist, Kate must choose loyalty to a historical Asian clan, and her non-traditional love, amidst the deaths of her dance partners being investigated by her new lover. Michael Madsen portrays Kensei, the operator of an underground society.
Director and actress, Crystal J. Huang states, “The preparation for this project started two years ago. I have always loved acting and storytelling, and have been involved in many performance based projects from childhood.The screenplay of Dark Feathers is created loosely based on my own experience. That is why Kate in the film dances, takes photos and does martial arts, as this is in line with some of my background.” Continuing, “I was involved in writing the screenplay to provide input as part of a true story that this screenplay is based upon. I also assisted our editor and music editor, and worked with the financial aspects of the film as the executive producer. This film has been such a rewarding process and consists of beautiful dancing inherent to the core of the entire story. I think audiences will be captivated by the dancing, and the storyline presents a mystery to be solved, which will keep the audience engaged.”
Huang discussed how this movie is not your “run of the mill” detective film. “The storyline within the film tries to deliver a philosophical idea that given evidence, the cause of an event cannot always be figured out by reasoning alone, even in simple cases. This is in contrast to old detective movies such as one adapted from a Agatha Christie novel, in which a detective is always able to crack a case through subtle reasoning based on evidence. Secondly, the film intentionally provides multiple possible causes related to the death of Kate’s partners. The stories are driven by possibilities, not definite events in the past, to provide room for audiences to imagine and explore, asking themselves who did it. It is a film of intrigue, and one that has the intensity to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.”
Crystal J. Huang portrays Kate, the film’s protagonist. Kate is a professional photographer who is single and loves ballroom dancing. She has a dark past. All of her prior dancing partners have died, yet she appears to not be involved. Kate is cold and hot, gentle and tough, artistic and dangerous, living a double life which has a bright side, and a dark side. Such a new and complicated role deserves attention. The story flow is unpredictable and there is never a forced moment, everything flows organically; for audiences who appreciate logically consistent stories, this one provides some fresh appeal.
Remy is a detective married to Kate’s dancing teacher Amelia, as portrayed by Gilles Marini. Marini is a French actor known for his role in Sex and the City, and countless other notable roles. He is a world acclaimed dancer who has won multiple seasons of Dancing with the Stars. Remy is interested in solving these cases and becomes Kate’s new partner. He later realizes that he may be following in the steps of Kate’s dead partners.
Amelia is portrayed by world dance champion Karina Smirnoff. Amelia is jealous about her husband and his best student spending a significant amount of time together, forming a seemingly close relationship.
Huang’s favorite moment in the film, “I found the ideal ambient light in the dancing studio,” states Huang, “and when we were filming Karina dance, I asked the entire crew to postpone lunch so that we could film in amazing lighting. This is an important scene when Amelia is dancing solo after losing her lover. Karina’s performance delivers such a powerful and emotional moment.” Karina Smirnoff is one of the most achieved world class ballroom dancers and a famous dancing teacher. Her immense talent as a dancer and her depth as an actress, perfectly fits the role of Amelia. All Karina needs to do in the dancing studio is act herself,” states Huang, “which provides an organic atmosphere to the stories.” Smirnoff is one of the professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars, where she was the winner of the thirteenth season. Karina Smirnoff is also a five-time U.S. National Champion, World Trophy Champion, and Asian Open Champion.
Dance is a core element of the film Dark Feathers; in addition to Marini and Smirnoff, there are multiple additional world class dancers in the cast to include Blackpool finalist Iveta Faraci, Andrea Faraci, and Dancing with the Stars winner William Orrock. They deliver the best possible ballroom dancing a movie screen can provide. Their roles help to shape the aspect of this movie as a dancing musical, from which the main story flows.
Dark feathers is written by Jin Yao, Daniel Benton, and Crystal J. Huang. The co-director of Dark Feathers is Nicholas Ryan. Additional producers include Lan Kay and Ned Kisner.
Keep up with this production at Dark Feathers on IMDb
Dark Feathers is produced by Unchaseable LLC in association with Lankis Entertainment and Ivy Images.
