Press for the queen’s jewels
Hear from the director
Join Courtney Bailey from the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and The Queen’s Jewels writer and director, Josh Friedman, as they give us a behind-the-scenes look at how The Queen’s Jewels came to be.
“The process is challenging, and if anyone were to tell you otherwise, don’t believe them. It entails dedication, passion, trial and error, and a lot of observation. It also has a lot of vulnerability. Getting a project written that you’re proud of and ready to share is obstacle one, and then finding the funding and building that trust and rapport with investors is an entirely different one that requires an entirely different skill set.”
“There’s not a lot of family films where Grandma can take her grandchildren and everybody can enjoy the film. So this is a family film to enjoy and to escape like I did when I was a kid going to the movies.”
“This movie is about pure entertainment. The kind of movie my mum and dad would take me to as a child and we would get a chocolate covered ice cream and I would let myself be taken on the story of the film. This is a fun, adventure film for the whole family that makes no political or religious statements. We saw an opportunity to make a film that we believe people want to see. This is an independent film, we raised the money ourselves and the film has taken us to four different countries and we have not only made a great film that is almost ready for distribution, we have experienced different cultures and made some wonderful, new friends.”
“I love when you come across multi-generational families of making films for decades. I saw this in our photography and sound team. In the DR the sound team had multi-generational family members working on the film. Hearing how they used to capture sound versus how they do it today was fascinating. Being invited to sit with them and hear the stories of how the expertise was passed down through generations was a privilege.”
“When I set down the path of becoming a filmmaker, I knew there was no turning back. Twelve years and 25+ awards later with a feature film currently in post-production, I don’t really think I have a choice but to continue doing what I’m doing.”