Award winning domestic abuse biopic, Finding Nicole, coming to theaters and VOD
Directed by Harley Wallen, Finding Nicole (based on the book of the same name) is the story of how Nicole Beverly escaped a life threatening domestic abuse situation. Filled with horrifying stories from Beverly’s life including violent attacks, stalking, and even multiple attempts to kill her. The film shines a light on how difficult it can be to escape domestic abuse and violent situations. Freestyle Releasing has picked up the award winning film and will be bringing it to a limited theatrical and VOD release this fall.
Wallen brought Nicole Beverly to the set and he has said that her input was critical to maintaining the truth of the story.
“I wanted the reenactment to feel so raw that it’s as if we’re peeking right into the lives of those who have been victims and what they were put through,” says the filmmaker.
For director Wallen, the film hit close to home as he too was a victim of domestic violence, suffering at the hands of his father at a young age. He said it was incredible to have Nicole Beverly herself on set to draw from as they worked through the story.
If the case sounds familiar it’s because it’s one of the most popular episodes on Chris Cuomo’s Inside Evil and the case was highly publicized on NPR and other news outlets.
Finding Nicole has already received praise from audiences and has even won numerous awards including the Audience Award at the notable LA Femme Awards and Best Lead Actress at ARFF Barcelona for Wallen. It has also taken top honors with Best Feature Film at London Movie awards, Paris Film Awards, Sunny Side Up Film Festival, Hollywood Gold Awards, Cowpokes International Film Festival and many more.
“It feels good to have a voice in the matter after being silent for so long” said Wallen “I wanted the reenactment tone to give it a rawness that allowed us to peek right into their lives.”
Kaiti Wallen (Beneath Us All) leads the diverse cast as Nicole alongside an ensemble with Sean Whalen (Twister, That Thing You Do), Richard Tyson (Black Hawk Down), Shawntay Dalon (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson), Mari. G. (Tale of Tails) Blanca Blanco (Betrayed), Debra Lamb (Showdown in Yesteryears) Marcus Woods (Empire) and Vida Ghaffari (The Mindy Project) and was written by Geoffrey Calhoun and produced by Kaiti Wallen, Harley Wallen, Nicole Beverly, Joseph Williamson, Pierre Aristide (who also plays Officer Bobby), Jeff Berry, Painted Creek Productions and Lamont Martinez.
Finding Nicole will have a limited theatrical engagement and be available on VOD this fall.
