Work by former daytime star Cady McClain (ex-Dixie Cooney, All My Children; ex-Rosanna Cabot, As the World Turns; ex-Kelly Andrews, The Young and the Restless) is in hot demand! Both her documentary Seeing is Believing: Women Direct -- which she wrote, directed, and edited -- and the narrative short Butterflies -- which she also directed -- have been named official selections for the Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival, taking place on May 10, 2018, at the Bow Tie Cinema in Ridgewood, NJ.
Seeing is Believing: Women Direct has been making the film festival circuit and has already won several awards. The documentary features interviews with well-known female directors, and it covers and unfolds the many layers of women storytellers. The one-hour version of the film won the Audience Award for a feature film at the 2017 SOHO International Film Festival, and the 30-minute short (which is playing at Ridgewood) won Best Short at the Glendale and Burbank Film Festivals, and a Jury Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
"It's been really great to move behind the camera. I blame Jon [Lindstrom, my husband] because Jon started directing, and I encouraged him to direct his first feature-length film, and I watched him do it, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, never! That's horrible. That is so difficult.' And then he said, 'Oh, you've got this short. You should direct that!'" McClain tells Soap Central about her move from acting to directing. "And then... I did it, and I was like, 'Oh, my God, this is so much fun!' And then, 'Oh, my God, this is so much work! Ugh, this is so stressful.' But then you keep doing it. You get addicted! It's just the greatest ever to be behind the scenes."
Butterflies is a short film directed by McClain and written by and starring Carlotta Summers. It is a sensitive and compelling short film about the problem of bullying and young girls. This screening will be the film's New Jersey premiere.
McClain is a two-time Emmy winner for Supporting Actress, best known for her daytime roles as well as those on Cheers, St Elsewhere, My Favorite Year, and Venice the Series (for which she received an Outstanding Directing Team in a Digital Series Emmy nomination this year). She starred on AMC from 1989 to 2011, on ATWT from 2003 to 2010, and on Y&R from 2014 to 2015. She can still be found acting but has turned her talents to producing and directing. In 2017 and again in 2018, she became a two-time Emmy-award nominated director for Crystal Chappel's Venice the Series. She has most recently directed and starred in episodes of a new web series Switch, featuring Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis.
For more information on the Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival and how you can view McClain's films, visit its official website here.
You can check out video our Dan J Kroll chatting with Cady McClain and her husband Jon Lindstrom at the 2018 Daytime Emmys Creative Arts ceremony below.
What do you think about McClain's past and current film festival success? How much do you miss seeing her in front of daytime cameras? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
