Review Fix Exclusive: Kew Gardens Film Festival Coverage: Darien Sills-Evans Talks ‘One Bedroom’

Review Fix chats with director and actor Darien Sills-Evans who discusses ‘One Bedroom’ and its appearance at this year’s Kew Gardens Film Festival in Queens New York.

Review Fix: How did you feel the first time you read the script of this film?

Darien Sills-Evans: I can’t remember. As the writer, I read and re-read scenes so many times as I wrote them, all I felt was that I wanted it to be funny. However, the first time we had a table reading I felt that we had something that had the potential to be surprising, unique, and a lot of fun.

Review Fix: What was the feeling like on set?

Sills-Evans: With the cast, very light. I’m not a micro-manager, I enjoy working with people for what I think they can bring to a project and once they’re hired, I try to just let them do whatever it is they do, unless a scene isn’t working. There were pressures, sure, not enough money, not enough time, but overall, the experience was very good.

Review Fix: What makes this film special?

Sills-Evans: This film is special because it’s not often we see complex stories about African Americans that are about love and feelings. Most films about African Americans seem to fall into two categories: Historical tragedy and broad slapstick comedy.

Review Fix: Who will enjoy it the most?

Sills-Evans: The beautiful thing about touring with this film has been that all audiences have thoroughly enjoyed it. The leads are brown, sure, but the themes and situations are universal. The characters in One Bedroom only discuss their lives and feelings. There are no politics and there is never any talk about race. I think that has allowed a very diverse audience to enjoy the film. Everyone sees themselves or someone they know in the film and that’s been rewarding to see.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of the Kew Gardens Festival?

Sills-Evans: Kew Gardens is our Queens premiere and it feels great! I lived in Brooklyn my whole life until a few years ago and anytime I get to come back to New York is special to me. Queens is one of the most diverse places in the world it’s quintessential New York. This is going to be a blast.

Review Fix: Bottom Line: Why must someone see this film?

Sills-Evans: Do you like to laugh? Hate predictable plots, stories, and characters? Have you or anyone you know had a really messy breakup? One Bedroom is for you.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Sills-Evans: More film festival touring and I’ll be announcing my next film soon film. I’m also developing some TV projects, but in the meantime, I will next be seen in City of Lies with Johnny Depp and in dozens of US Cellular commercials.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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