A film by Elena Kritter ’12, “Not Everyone’s So Lucky,” is an official selection for the Indie Short Film Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia, March 22-24.
The roughly 15-minute film — described as a “fun noir about a thief who accepts a lucky break” — will be screened at Violet Crown cinema. It’s part of a block of screenings that begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 22. Tickets are $15 and available here.
“Not Everyone’s So Lucky” is a modern retelling of “The Story of B 24,” one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Round the Fire Stories.” Kritter, a former Westover Honors Fellow and volleyball player with a bachelor’s degree in theatre, wrote the screen adaptation of the story and directed the film.
After graduating from Lynchburg, Kritter moved to New York City, where she pursued an acting career. She attended the American Theatre Wing’s SpringboardNYC program and completed a Certificate of Acting at the internationally acclaimed William Esper Studio.
In 2016, she portrayed true-to-life title character Victoria Woodhull in a play about the first woman to run for U.S. president. “It was kind of wild, doing that play because we did it … during the 2016 presidential election” when Hillary Clinton was on the presidential ballot, she said.
“We had some very packed houses, because it was a play about the first woman to run for president and … the city was also incredibly emotional and palpable, in terms of the election. It was a very emotional fall.”
Around this time, Kritter also became a founding member of Trinacria Theatre Company, in Sicily, and created her production company, Ground Rush Productions, which produced “Not Everyone’s So Lucky.”
As Kritter explains on her website, Ground Rush — named for her family’s farm in Culpeper, Virginia — “produces female-driven stories almost lost to history.”
One of these was “Night Witches,” which tells the story of an all-female Soviet bomber regiment in World War II. The script, written by Kritter and six other women in 2017, was based on the book “A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II” and also on oral histories.
“Night Witches” debuted at Lynchburg in April 2017, following a weeklong residency in Dillard Fine Arts Center. “I talked with Jeff Wittman, wrote to him in February,” Kritter said, referring to the chair of Lynchburg’s theatre department.
“I said, ‘I’m doing this residency. We don’t have a script yet or a play, but we’re going to write a play, and can we come perform it when it’s ready?’ He said ‘Sure!’ I said, ‘Just so you know, it doesn’t exist yet,’ and he said, ‘You can consider it a workshop.’”
For Wittman, having Kritter and her cast and crew on campus was an opportunity for his students to see a production unfold.
“I wanted our students to get exposed to a process that included Elena gathering her company of actors and bringing the script, of course, and some set pieces, because it was done in an abstract, imaginative way,” he said.
“The company came in and we had a wonderful time. Of course, it’s Elena’s script and Elena’s company — we just let her loose. We provided the space and some lights and some very interested students to observe one of our alums create this project.
“It was really, really exciting and engaging for the students, of course, and it helped Elena. We love to continue our connection with our alums and support their future endeavors, wherever that may take them.”
Following the film festival in Charlottesville, Kritter has her eyes set on several projects for Ground Rush. One is “The Peach,” which won “Best Short Screenplay” at the 2023 Paris International Film Festival.
“The Peach” is based on a family story her father told her in 2015. Kritter started writing the screenplay in 2020, while pursuing a Master of Arts in film and media production from American University.
“I started writing the story in January 2020, originally tossing ideas around with my father, and then we tragically lost my father in June 2020,” she said. “One of my first classes in grad school, later that fall, was Writing the Short Film. Basically, I turned that story into a song for my father.”
Other projects in the idea phase include a western-themed “murder ballad revenge story for my dog … because someone actually shot my dog in October and we don’t know who did it,” and “Ultra Bridesmaids,” the story of a scorned bride who seeks “money and more importantly, glory” by competing against her ex-fiancé in a team ultramarathon relay.
Kritter, a marathoner herself, describes “Ultra Bridesmaids” as “somewhere between the movies ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.’ It’s a song for all the women in my life, who are so amazing and resilient. It’s about … moving forward and … moving forward together.
“Having that working metaphor for a group of women has been a consistent message throughout my life … and a message I want to put out into the world, especially in the world of athletics.
“And who doesn’t love a running movie? And a girls movie?”
