Grace is Gone

A Reel Progress Screening

November 12, 2007, 7:30pm – 10:00pm

About This Event

There was a time when Stanley Phillips (John Cusack) could see his entire life clearly. He dreamed of patriotic service and was destined for a military career. He came close to that dream until it was cut short simply because of his poor eyesight. Now he's serving customers at a home supply store while his Sergeant wife is fighting in Iraq.

Equally as awkward at home as he is at work, he's raising Heidi, their twelve-year-old daughter and her 8-year-old sister Dawn. Although a loving father, Stanley is unable to conform to a more affectionate role and the girls miss their mother deeply.

While tolerating his job and stumbling through parenting he is abruptly awakened when tragedy strikes. Ill prepared to deal with it himself, he is at a complete loss contemplating how to tell his children. Desperate to delay telling the children they embark on a spontaneous road trip. Grasping to give them their last moments of innocence, Stanley reveals a softer side as they travel to Dawn's chosen destination - Enchanted Gardens Theme Park.

The farther they drive the closer they become yet Stanley knows he must face the inevitable task of changing their lives forever.

Please join us for a provocative Q&A session immediately following the film.

Followed by a discussion and Q&A with:

James Strouse, Writer/Director, Grace is Gone
Helene Cooper, Diplomatic Correspondent, New York Times

Location

E Street Cinema
555 11th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004

Biographies

James C. Strouse (Writer and Director) is from Goshen, Indiana. He previously wrote the screenplay for Lonesome Jim, an IFC Films release directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Seymour Cassel and Kevin Corrigan and Mary Kay Place. Strouse, who lives in New York City, is also a short story writer and cartoonist. His stories have appeared on Nerve.com and in the New York literary magazine Open City. Grace is Gone is Strouse's second screenplay and his directorial debut.

Helene Cooper is the diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times. Prior to joining the Times in 2004, she was a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, where she covered international economics, foreign policy and the war in Iraq. She is the author of The House at Sugar Beach, a memoir about growing up in Liberia, which will be published by Simon and Schuster in May 2008.