Podtalk: Mikaela McParlan on Her Short ‘Open House,’ at Midwest Film Festival, July 28, 2021

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CHICAGO – The Midwest Film Festival is celebrating the season with their upcoming “Summer Bash & Comedy Screening” on July 28th, 2021 (7pm), at the Chi-Town Drive In. The event will feature a meet-and-greet and an evening of funny-bone short films, including “Open House,” a directorial debut by Mikaela McParlan. For more info, tickets and the film line-up, click here.

“Open House” is a flat out hilarious film, directed and co-written (with Troy Sugrue) by Mikaela McParlan in her director debut. A murderer (Mark E. Penzien) takes his still-alive victim (Tony Belsito) to an empty neighborhood house. Meanwhile, a real estate agent (Ruth Kaufman) is determined to sell the same house. When the two purposes come together, pitch black wackiness ensues.

Midwest Film Festival, July 28th, 2021, Featuring ‘Open House’
Photo credit: MidwestFilm.com

The Midwest Film Festival has been a staple in Chicago’s film community for 16 years. At the beginning of 2020, it reinvented itself with Executive Director Erica Duffy (click here for an interview) and a celebratory perspective on the local Chicago and Midwest film community.

In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, director Mikaela McParlan talks all things “Open House,” while riding the Chicago El Train (a first for the interviewer). In Questions Two and Three, “Ruth” refers to Ruth Kaufman, portraying the Real Estate Agent in the film …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com