In the tradition of Perks of Being a Wallflower and Akeela and the Bee,
Four Strings is an inspiring coming-of-age movie about Lana, a troubled 16 year old foster girl living in Hawai'i. She finds her way back to empowerment when a reclusive old Hawaiian man on Moloka'i teaches her the ukulele... and she plays her way to the finals of the international Hawai’i Ukulele Festival in Honolulu.
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click here for sound -- you wanna hear this!
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Four Strings will shoot at authentic Hawaiian locations, feature ukuleles from local vendors, and cast Hawaiian actors in several lead roles
It will showcase the islands' rich musical history with the ukulele, and shoot at the actual International Ukulele Festival in Waikiki
It is a story about a girl who discovers love through music, a foster father who finds his true path, and the islands that bind them together
THE FILMMAKERS
director-writer
gregory poppen
Gregory Poppen has over 85 produced credits as a writer, director and producer for motion pictures, television, and the digital space. Specializing in family-friendly programming, he is the Head Writer and Segment Producer on the Emmy nominated Wonderful World of Disney Holiday Celebration specials on ABC for the past five seasons... head writer for the 74th Golden Globes... and directed Rocks my House for Disney Channel. He is the director and writer of the feature film Chilly Christmas starring Tom Arnold, which was awarded “Best Kids Film” at MipCom film festival in France. Through his production company Poppenfilms and 100FLY Productions, he produced and directed the pilots Adopting Dreams and Deli Doctor, along with the music video Gravity for singer Javier Colon (winner of the NBC hit series The Voice). With experience in major studio and network productions, as well as low budget indie filmmaking, Poppen is always ready and able to hit the ground running with a collaborative approach to creating amazing content.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
will barratt
Will is an award-winning cinematographer in features, television, virtual reality, and digital. The Emmy-winning director of photography has not only worked on 25 feature films and has over 80 credits in motion pictures and television combined, he has directed hundreds of national commercials for clients such as Audi, Jeep, Chevrolet, and Virgin America. Gregory and Will have collaborated on several projects, including shows for Food Network and Disney Channel. Will's ability to channel the emotion of the story into his stunning visuals is tailor-made for Four Strings, where Hawai'i itself is a major character in the movie.
PRODUCER
brian cavallaro
Brian is a Clio and Emmy Award-winning producer, director and writer who has created branded content for IMG, Uproxx Media Group, The NFL, and Disney. He has also produced and directed several documentary series for Discovery, Fox, Travel Channel, and NBC, as well as environmental documentaries for Al Gore and Mark Cuban. Gregory and Brian have collaborated on multiple projects, from Food Network, to Disney Channel and major ABC specials. Brian also wrote, produced and directed the feature film Against The Night starring Frank Whaley, and produced the A24 hit indie film The Last Movie Star starring Burt Reynolds, Chevy Chase and Ariel Winter.
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