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ToquiNotes: From Random Trip to International Film Festival, City Native Battles Returns to U.S. a Winner

By Jeff Toquinto on October 20, 2018 from ToquiNotes via Connect-Bridgeport.com

Former Bridgeport resident Emily Battles acting career is one she’s had with eyes wide open. Sometimes things happen and sometimes they don’t.
 
And sometimes when they do happen, there’s no way of knowing it’s going to happen.
 
Such is the case with Battles and her recent trip to Europe. What started out as serving as a travel companion to a friend ended up with her taking part in a 57-hour Challenge as part of the OFFLine Film Festival in Birr, Ireland.
 
The 57-hour challenge is exactly that. Battles was to take part in a short film over a period of 57 hours. That requires shooting the film, editing the film and submitting it among a field of other entrants all with the hope of being the sole winner and earning an invitation to present the short in next year’s The Galway Film Festival, an even bigger international film festival held in Ireland, in the summer of 2019.
 
Thanks to Battles background and those she worked with, the film was not only well received it won. That means she now has “international award-winning actress” as part of her profile thanks to a film that could be no longer than 10 minutes – including credits.
 
As amazing as that is, how it transpired is an even better story. Battles, who lives in Astoria in New York, flew into London with a friend of a friend looking who was looking for that perfect wedding in Scotland for venues, vendors and cake testing.
 
“(Megan Green) wanted her maid of honor to go, but she couldn’t so I told her I would go. It sounded like an amazing experience that included going to northern Scotland to lay down a few tracks for the wedding,” said Battles. “There wasn’t a whole lot more that I had planned.”
 
That would change. And it would change in a really big way.
 
The first destination after arrival was a church in London. As it turned out, the church visit for her friend Megan was going to be an “all-day affair.” That left Battles on her own in London.
 
“I put up a Facebook message asking if anyone was going to be in London. I had already put a message up that I was going to be in the UK anyway and my ex-roommate had tagged an Irish director I had worked with six years previously,” said Battles, who is a licensed personal trainer who operates Body by Battles along with doing acting and voiceover work. “ … That’s how everything started falling into place.”
 
Incredibly, the director from Ireland – Kevin Glynn of Big Idea Films – was in London working on a Netflix show. Not only was he in London, but he was nearby.
 
“He was literally two miles physically away from me so we met each other at a local pub,” said Battles. “As we talked, he said it would be great to film something.”
 
It was at this point that the 57-hour Film Festival was mentioned. Glynn, though, wasn’t entirely sold or optimistic about entering the competition.
 
“He told me they had never selected anything he had done and was kind of sick of entering it,” said Battles, who spent the first 11 years of her schooling in Bridgeport. “I told him I thought it would be cool and parted after that knowing that I wanted to do it because my favorite thing in the world is to act.”
 
Glynn came around. He told Battles he was ready to do it and, even better, had a “simple script” that required two women. The script was “Significant Loss.”
 
“He told me if we do this right we would have a chance. I still have to ask Megan if she was okay with me taking off and she was,” said Battles, who was now ready to shoot what she described as a short, dark comedy.
 
Once the 57-hour period began, so did the work by Battles and her co-star Sarah Fahy. Battles said there were plenty of entrants and plenty of talent as well. The issue was that there was just one winner.
 
“(Glynn) warned us from the beginning we will not win and told us not to get our hopes up. He said we’ll have fun and we’ll not win, but as we were doing it, everything just felt right,” said Battles. “When we were editing it, he said he thought it might have a shot. He said not to hope too much, but he really felt we had a chance.”
 
The feeling of having a chance increased with things falling into place. And with a bit or irony added to it as well.
 
“We wanted to do a female version of the Coldplay song since it’s a female centric story,” said Battles.
 
The problem was that those in charge didn’t like what was found. Then, Battles came up with an idea to utilize Monte Mader. While you may not know Mader, the irony involved is that she’s the Maid of Honor who Battles filled in for on the trip who just happens to be a singer-songwriter.
 
“I just thought her voice would be perfect, but with the time window I knew that would be a long shot,” said Battle.
 
That, also, wasn’t the case. As it turned out, the window was only four hours and not only did Mader need to be available, but so did a recording studio. Incredibly, both were.
 
“She laid the track down and it was perfect. Really, at that point with everything turning out the way it was turning out I started to believe we did have a chance,” said Battles.
 
They ended up having more than a chance. As Battles waited for the winner to be announced she just kept repeating the name of the short over and over and then that was what was announced.
 
“I screamed ‘what’ very loudly when they said it. Everyone turned and looked at me, but it was truly one of the best moments ever,” she said. “I should have been in Scotland, but was instead lucky enough to have everything go in a direction I never imagined.”
 
That direction has Battles part of a winning team at one film festival and entered into one considered “the Hollywood of Ireland” in 2019. Whether the film does well there remains to be seen. What is clear, Battle has one win under her belt and the title of “international award-winning actress” secured.
 
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Emily Battles, second from right, with Kevin Glynn, Sarah Fahy, far right, and an extra from the film. Second photo is a formal portrait shot of Battles, while she's shown recording a podcast in the third picture. Bottom photo shows Battles getting some tourist time in while in Loughrea, Ireland. All photos submitted by Emily Battles.


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