Emmy Award winning writer and Philadelphia-based filmmaker Cory David Bortnicker’s short film “My Name Is Jonas” will be making its Philadelphia premiere at the First Glance Film Festival on Saturday, September 28th at 3:45 pm at the Ritz Bourse.
Shot in Philadelphia, the short film tells the story of Jonas, a young gay songwriter suffering from crystal meth addiction who believes he is a prophet. The story is based on Bortnicker’s own experience with addiction and seeks to raise awareness of the crystal meth epidemic and its impact on mental health in the queer community.
“Meth addiction has been an ongoing problem in the queer community for decades, but very few representations of the issue exist in film or TV,” Bortnicker says. “This film intends to shine a light on the problem while posing broader questions about society’s relationship to drugs and technology, as well as our attitudes towards mental illness and spiritual experiences.”
The film is playing at film festivals around the country, including OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival, in Durham, N.C., the Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival, the San Francisco Queer Film Festival, and the Global Drama Project Short Film Festival in New York City.
It is based on a television pilot script which this year has won numerous screenwriting awards, including WINNER at LGBTQ+ Toronto Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, SEMIFINALIST at the Los Angeles International Screenwriting Competition, and QUARTERFINALIST for the prestigious Inroads Fellowship.
Cory David Bortnicker is originally from Broomall, PA. After graduating from Boston University, he went on to become an award winning advertising copywriter and worked at Facebook for 7 years. He left the advertising industry to pursue filmmaking and screenwriting.
Film website: mynameisjonasfilm.com
Instagram: instagram.com/mynameisjonasfilm
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