Paul Marcarelli

Pretty Doesn't Hurt

Who pays for dinner? A spark ignites when musician Steve and recent divorcee Mindy first encounter each other in the hallway outside their hotel rooms. Suddenly, Mindy’s eleven-year-old daughter Julia and her single sister Jess barrel onto the scene and Steve unexpectedly invites them out to dinner. A bet is made and Julia is caught in the middle as mother and aunt collide over who should pick up the check.

The Royal Road

A fascinating and unlikely reinvention story, The Royal Road simultaneously explores cinematic spiritual channeling, the conquest and colonization of Mexico and the American Southwest, fading historical Californian urban landscapes, and the passions found in butch identity to achieve an achingly beautiful and poetic defense of remembering. Probing roads from El Camino Real, to the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, to the road right outside the front door, Olson crafts a deeply intelligent and transcending observation of the human condition that reaches for redemption in the embrace of history, nostalgia, mindfulness, and sheer beauty. If you give yourself over to it, it will crack you wide open.

The Green

Michael Gavin and his partner Daniel trade the rat race of New York City for the idyllic charm of the Connecticut shoreline, with hopes of a simpler life and time for Michael to finish his first novel. All that changes when one of Michael's high school students accuses him of 'inappropriate conduct', and the town rushes to judgment.