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The Woods Hole Film Festival 2023-24 Dinner & A Movie series concludes on Saturday, May 18th with the narrative feature EARLYBIRD by Martin Kaszubowski and starring Cape Cod’s own Joshua Koopman. Dinner & A Movie is a program of the Winter/Spring Film Series, twice-monthly in-person screenings of the best in independent film. The screenings are held in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Redfield Auditorium, located at 45 Water Street, Woods Hole. The film begins at 7 pm. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $16 and $12 for WHFF members, student/military $10. Tickets are on sale in advance at www.woodsholefilmfestival.org and at the door if they are not sold out in advance. On May 18th, before the screening patrons may receive a 10% discount on the meal portion of dinner at the Quahog Republic Leeside Pub, 29 Railroad Ave, Woods Hole and at The Captain Kidd Restaurant 77 Water Street, Woods Hole. Contact the restaurants for more information. EARLYBIRD by MARTIN KASZUBOWSKI, narrative feature, USA |2023| 101 mins, not rated starring Joshua Koopman, Julie Pope, Chloe Skoczen ABOUT THE FILM In this comedy of errors, a hopeless independent theatre owner Michael Wagner (Joshua Koopman) faces skyrocketing rent bumps and decides to take a “screw it” approach to the end of his dream life. Before breaking the bad news to his troupe, he mounts a play called “Cat War” which was written on a dare and definitely was never meant to have an audience. Much to his surprise, the play is a hit! However, this new “strategy” creates a whole new set of challenges. With his entire company working around the clock to put on “joke plays” and Michael’s ego running wild with the corrupting agent of small-town fame, this colorful cast of characters implode on one another. ABOUT THE FILMMAKER AND CAST FILMMAKER, MARTIN KASZUBOWSKI Martin Kaszubowski is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and editor based in Milwaukee, WI. He is the creator of several short films, music videos, and stick figure drawings. Shorts and features produced by Martin have premiered across the country in top-tier film festivals. Christopher Darling (2016) —his feature film directorial debut— is a dark comedy which had an award-winning festival run in 2016 (Best Music Film). Martin works professionally as a commercial video editor and specializes in narrative editing + sound design. He graduated from the experimental film program at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2013, ranked as one of the top 25 film schools by The Hollywood Reporter, and renowned for developing skilled “auteur” filmmakers. CAST, JOSHUA KOOPMAN, JULIE POPE, CHLOE SKOCZEN Joshua Koopman (Michael) is a former active duty Army Captain and Syracuse graduate. After active duty he became part of the award winning original cast of “Ajax in Iraq” produced by Flux Theater Ensemble, New York. In New England he starred in “The Golden Scallop” opposite Game of Thrones’ James Cosmo, a feature length comedy about the fried seafood industry on the Cape. While enrolled in UCLA’s Professional Program in Producing, he was cast as a lead in a groundbreaking television pilot “Doubleblind” directed by Rod Holcomb and produced by Beau Marks. He also joined the cast of LA’s longest running theater production “Point Break Live!” and “Terminator Too: Judgment Play” under the direction of Punk Theater Impresario Thomas Blake. His latest film “How to Rob” received domestic and international distribution after its IFFBoston premiere and debuted online to rave reviews. Joshua lives on Cape Cod and is the President of Pleasant Lake Pizza Shark. Julie Pope is a Chicago born musical theatre & film actress, singer, vocalist, commercial, television and voiceover artist currently located in Kansas City. Chloe Skoczen was born in St. Charles, Illinois. She is currently studying acting at Columbia College Chicago and continues to take classes outside of school to further her experience in the field and do what she loves as often as possible. Some of her credits include; a Co-Staring role on Chicago Med NBC, lead roles in independent films such as Undergrads, Tiger Style and more. Chloe has always had a passion for art, music, and film. Outside of acting she enjoys reading, watching movies, playing guitar and piano, and writing. On Sunday, June 9th at 4 pm at WHOI’s Redfield Auditorium, Woods Hole Oceanographic’s Sea Grant and the Woods Hole Film Festival will co-present a screening of the feature documentary INUNDATION DISTRICT by David Abel as part of Cape Cod Ocean Resilience Week. Tickets are free, but attendees must register in advance online at www.woodsholefilmfestival.org. This screening will sell out, so register today. __________________________ Passes and ticket packages go on sale at www.woodsholefilmfestival.org on June 1 for the 33rd Woods Hole Film Festival, Saturday, July 27 - Saturday, August 3rd. Individual tickets on sale, July 1st. The Festival is supported in part by grants from the Mass Cultural Council, Cape Cod 5, Martha’s Vineyard Bank, Woods Hole Foundation, Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, the Falmouth Fund of the Cape Cod Foundation, and YouthInk. For more information email info@woodsholefilmfestival.org or call (508) 495-3456.