“Heart, Baby!,” to make its world premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival–Friday 4/21 at 5:30PM
“Heart, Baby!” is the incredible TRUE STORY of a young black man, George Lee Martin (Gbenga Akinnagbe, The Wire), who at the age of 18, received a 40-year sentence for robbing a house in TN. While serving his time on the inside, George became an unbeatable prison boxer with the help of his best friend and cornerman, Doc (Jackson Rathbone, The Twilight Saga). Word of his talents quickly spread to an US Olympic boxing coach who eventually offered George the chance for freedom and Olympic gold in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer games. Surprisingly, George turned down the offer after officials refused to allow him to bring the one thing he could not live without – his white transgender female cellmate, Crystal (Shawn-Caulin Young, Godless). The film reveals the true story of a fighter who ended up winning far more than gold.
“Heart, Baby!”will be making its global debut onFriday April 21 at 5:30 PM at Triangle Square Cinemas, 1870 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92627.
There is also second screening will be on Thursday April 27 at 2:00PM at Island Cinema, 999 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660.
Following each screening there will be a Q & A after the film and several of the cast members who will be in attendance.
About the Director: Angela Shelton
Angela Shelton is an award-winning filmmaker, whose first screenwriting and producing credit, “Tumbleweeds” (1999), received the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker’s Trophy (2000) and earned actress Janet McTeer an Academy Award® nomination and a Golden Globe®.
After being named one of the Top Ten Screenwriters to Watch (Variety), Angela followed-up Tumbleweeds with an adaptation of Kaye Gibbons’ novel “Charms For The Easy Life” (2002) starring Mimi Rogers and Gena Rowlands (Showtime). In 2001, she made her directorial debut with the documentary “Searching For Angela Shelton”. Angela traveled the world with the documentary for ten years and became internationally recognized as a social activist and public speaker, raising money for various rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters. Her memoir, Finding Angela Shelton, published by Meredith Publishing in 2006, describes how making the documentary changed her life.
In 2016 Angela returned, writing, producing and directing her first feature film, “Heart, Baby!,” starring Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire), Jackson Rathbone (The Twilight Saga) and Shawn-Caulin Young (Godless).
(Sources: IMDb, Press materials provided by Amy Prenner, The Prenner Group)
