The Laemmle Theatre in Pasadena, CA will be hosting the release of Calloused Hands on November 14. The movie was recently awarded the “Hearts, Mind, Soul” award at the Rhode Island Film Festival. Andre Royo of “The Wire” who stars in the film will be attending the special opening along with writer and director Jesse Quinones.
The hard-hitting drama, based on the true story of its writer/director Jesse Quinones, tells the narrative of Josh (Luca Oriel), a 12-year-old Jewish/Latino boy growing up in Miami that shows promise as a baseball player. Josh gets neglected by his mistreated single mom (Daisy Haggard) whose abusive drug and alcohol user boyfriend Byrd (played by Andre Royo) drives him to excel in the sport. Josh manages to forge his own path when his estranged grandfather (Hans Howes) insists he studies for his Bar Mitzvah.
Also attending the opening will be producer of Calloused Hands Paula Paula Crickard (producer) actors Hans Howes (“There will be Blood”), Luca Oriel (“Shameless), Sean McConaghy (“The Task”) who plays Rabbi Brookstein and Julia Grob (“East WillyB”) who plays Nicky.
In spite of its micro budget, Calloused Hands premiered at the Miami International Film Festival in addition to the Rhode Island fest and went on to screen in over 15 film festivals winning numerous awards. The heart-warming film was later picked up by New York based distributor Kino Lorber Films.