Binge ∞ Purge

After losing her job, Valerie (Valynn Turkovich) relapses into bulimia. It takes the new found friendship of an oddball woman named Jacey (Kate Hughes) to help her find the way back to recovery.

Binge ∞ Purge was a labor of love by an incredibly dedicated cast & crew all working for free on a mission to bring awareness to eating disorders, most especially bulimia, with a compelling and unique story.

Now that the film's lengthy post production process is finally complete as of February of 2018 Binge ∞ Purge can finally begin it's film festival submission process. We're hoping it will begin the festival circuit in the Spring of 2018.

The Cast

Valynn Turkovich

Kate Hughes

Jeanie Olah

Bill Gibson

Maria Sole

Elizabeth Shumway

Orianna Nerino

Virginia Wilson

Ryan MacNamara

Additional Cast

(in alphabetical order)

Urszula Abolik, Eva Bello, Kristal Baerga, Katie Case, Brie Friedman, Noelle Gabovitz,

Mary-Kate Malhurn, Mindy Markovich-Sedlock, Katie Moorcroft, Zena Spratley,

Leanne Koder, Bethica Carlisle, Eliana Spaziani, Sue Stasko.

Behind the Scenes

Pre Production & Rehearsals

The initial inception of Binge ∞ Purge came about after production on Living Proof Pictures' feature film The Ground that Sinks had stalled. On Halloween of 2015 writer/director Brandon C. Lay penned the script with actress Valynn Turkovich in mind for the part of Valerie.

Valynn and Brandon had already been working closely together for several months on the role of Paige in The Ground that Sinks. She accepted the role immediately and pre production and casting started right away in November. Aside from breaking for the holidays rehearsals were scheduled twice a week and lasted until February of 2016 when Principle photography began.

The Filming Process

The shoot schedule was a rigorous yet regimented one. Excluding an all day weekend shoot at the Nerino household, which served as Valerie's home, all shoots were either Sunday mornings or the same weekdays as the originally scheduled rehearsals.

The luxurious rehearsal process allowed for a strong immersion for the actors portraying the roles especially for leading actress Valynn Turkovich who had to portray a woman with both bulimia and depression. During a particularly emotional sequence which was shot in one continuous take Valynn actually binged on the food her character eats on screen.

Long takes are favored by writer/director Brandon C. Lay who employed them frequently throughout the process. Also while the dialogue and script were adhered to, the exploration of the characters also allowed for improvisation on the set and in many of the scenes.

The cast was made up primarily of women and actors Ryan MacNamara and Bill Gibson never appear on screen. This thematic choice hopefully allows for the audience to fill in for the male gaze throughout the film as the female characters are constantly on screen under the world's scrutiny.

Living Proof Pictures films are a collaborative process; while Ryan MacNamara took on most of the sound operation there was not a single member of the principle cast who did not also take part running the sound equipment. The team on Binge ∞ Purge was small and efficient.

Throughout the principle photography phase the majority of the film was already being edited by Brandon C. Lay. Binge ∞ Purge was initially conceived as a twenty minute short film and it's first edit was over fifty minutes long. After the shortening of several scenes and the outright cutting of others including the role Brandon was originally playing Binge ∞ Purge was brought down to a manageable thirty nine minute length.

With over four months of dedicated work from the cast and crew, Living Proof Pictures planned for a May test screening with place holder music to celebrate team's accomplishment.

ArtsQuest Test Screening

On May 22nd the cast and crew gathered together with friends, family and Living Proof Picture regulars to screen the film. Even though the film was unfinished, a test audience of around a hundred people were still gathered to see the film which contained placeholder music and a rough edit of the film. ArtsQuest co-hosted the event with Living Proof Pictures and twenty five percent of all proceeds were donated to Neda: National Eating Disorder Association.

A Wrap on Principal Photography

Binge ∞ Purge
Talk-Back

Those who were able to attend the event joined cast and crew afterwards for a lengthy talk-back following the film discussing the filming process, inspiration and research involved in bringing Valerie's story to life.

Emmaus Encore Screening

On June 12th Living Proof Pictures had an encore screening of Binge ∞ Purge for those cast and crew members who couldn't attend the first screening.

Post Production

Binge ∞ Purge endured a lengthy post production process due to a cursed score. Binge ∞ Purge's first composer Living Proof Picture's regular James Mason became injured during the process and the production went through three other composers all of whom met some sort of physical or personal catastrophe during the process of working on the score until late 2017 when composer James Mason recovered and reclaimed his post.

Festival Circuit

37695348_944823272391669_790684835599561

Binge ∞ Purge kicked off it's festival circuit with nominations from the Top Indie Film Awards receiving nominations in five categories winning one for Best Editing.

Wins:

Best Editing: Brandon C. Lay

Nominations:

Best Short: Living Proof Pictures

Best Directing: Brandon C. Lay

Best Writing: Brandon C. Lay

Best Actress: Valynn Turkvoich

Top Indie Film Awards

World Premiere

Binge ∞ Purge premiered at the Marietta International Film Festival in September of 2018 where it was nominated for Best Actress in a Short and Best Supporting Actor in a Short.