Loving Annabelle

Running time: 90 mins

World Premiere

A new student at a strict all-girls Catholic high school, Annabelle quickly draws attention from her peers and teachers for numerous improprieties: a nose ring, Buddhist prayer beads, cigarettes and a penchant for bringing up sex in poetry class, where teacher Simone Bradley doesn?t know how to control her.

Simone, however, quickly learns that the real challenge is not Annabelle?s behavior but the attraction budding between them. As Annabelle unleashes the passion that Simone has learned to restrain, Simone must decide whether or not to enter an affair that could cost her everything for which she has worked. Based on the 1931 German film, Maedchen in Uniform, director Katharine Brooks? Loving Annabelle gives a modern retelling of a love story that continues to be controversial in 2006.

With beautiful cinematography by Cynthia Pusheck, Loving Annabelle offers excellent performances from its female leads, Diane Gaidry and Erin Kelly, as well as a featured performance by Academy Award nominee/Golden Globe recipient Kevin McCarthy. Brooks' film deftly explores the complexity of love and the struggle of two women who have every reason not to feel the way do. Loving Annabelle takes a poignant and honest look at a relationship that?s as taboo as it is pure-hearted, at a love that dares to push all boundaries.

MAVERICK COMPETITION