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Las Vegas Movie "Frank & Lola" Screens At Sundance

The film "Frank & Lola" premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this week.
Lola Pictures
The film "Frank & Lola" premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this week.

This week at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the movie “Frank & Lola”is being screened.

The film was produced by the Nevada-based Lola Pictures. The film was shot in Las Vegas and Paris.

“Frank & Lola” is one of nine films and TV shows that have benefited from the state’s tax credits since their inception in 2014. The credits are designed to encourage film and television productions to use Nevada as a location.

Chris Ramirez was a producer on the film. He told KNPR's State of Nevada the film was originally set in Brooklyn but the filmmakers, including the director Matthew Ross, decided to move the location to Las Vegas.

"I think once we wanted to make this movie here in Las Vegas it just changed what that story was," Ramirez said, "It changed who these people were."

The story centers on Frank, played by Michael Shannon, who is the owner and chef of a bistro in downtown Las Vegas. Carson Kitchen was used as the set for his bistro. 

He meets Lola, played by Imogen Poots, on Halloween night at his bistro and the story unfolds from there. Ramirez describes it as a "dark love story."

Besides Carson Kitchen, filmmakers also used the Stitch Factory, the Velveteen Rabbit and the Wynn hotel-casino on the Strip as locations for the film. 

Ramirez turned to locals to help finance the film, which he said is much different than trying to find funding in Los Angeles.

"It's a weird pitch here in Vegas," he said, "If I was in LA, people know what the movie business is, but you're competing for the same dollars."

He said in Las Vegas getting financial backing came down to personal relationships. 

The film was screened for the media this past weekend and it will premiered Wednesday. Ramirez hopes to have all the distribution of the filmed wrapped up in time for it to be shown at the Las Vegas Film Festival this summer.  

Chris Ramirez, producer, "Frank & Lola"

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Since June 2015, Fred has been a producer at KNPR's State of Nevada.