CUDDLE OFFICIAL PRESS KIT

FAST LANE PRODUCTIONS
presents
www.thecuddlemovie.com
facebook.com/thecuddlemovie
www.imdb.com/title/tt3605700/
#powertothecuddle
Length: 67 minutes
Contact:
Jason O’Brien
205-520-3074
jaobrien@charter.net
flprods.com
“I know we just met,
but will you hold me?”
Cuddle parties, snuggle houses, cuddle
therapy … from Alabama to Colorado to
San Francisco to Wisconsin and to New
York, the cuddling movement is growing bigger and bigger, gaining more
media attention, all while it faces an
uphill climb in attaining mainstream
acceptance. This new feature length
documentary explores this revolutionary trend in restoring basic human
needs to a world where meaningful
touch seems to happen less and less, especially in today’s smartphone culture.
My friend Tracy Gilliom, a facilitator of Cuddle Parties in my
home town of Birmingham, Alabama, told me in the summer of 2013 that she was
going to start hosting them again, and it reminded me of an idea I had a few years
before when she had first mentioned cuddle parties to me. I had never heard of
them and was immediately fascinated by the concept, and felt that this would be a
perfect subject for a documentary, especially as I researched some more and discovered that not a lot of people had heard of them, and for those that had, there
was a great deal of misconception and preconceived ideas about what they were. So
I knew the time was now to make that documentary.
By: Jason O’Brien, Director
As I was beginning interviews in Birmingham in September of 2013, I stumbled
across a Facebook post from a friend up in Madison, Wisconsin, that mentioned a
place called The Snuggle House and the difficulties they were having in opening
this one-on-one snuggling business. I had never heard of services like that one, and
I immediately thought that this film should be much more than just about cuddle
parties. I delved even further into research and saw that a movement was underway, with businesses around the country opening up offering cuddle services or
therapy, and there was a definite struggle for mainstream acceptance and understanding. Just about that time, I lost my corporate job when my position was
phased out, and I knew it was a sign for what I needed to do.
I packed up my equipment, and hit the road for Madison, Wisconsin, arriving in
mid October just as The Snuggle House was deep in the midst of the controversy
with the City Attorney, and working hard to open despite all the concerns about it
being a front for prostitution. While I was filming events in Madison, I did even
more research, and realized I needed to cover even more places around the country,
to provide a complete portrait of what these services offer and how it’s growing so
differently and yet so unified around the world.
By November, I was in snowy Boulder, Colorado, where I filmed some of the most
amazing footage I would capture, at a snuggle service called “Be The Love You Are.”
Two weeks later, I was in San Francisco to meet and film the founder of “Cuddle
Therapy”, Travis Sigley, as well as Marcia Baczynski, one of the original cofounders of “Cuddle Party.” And two weeks after that, I braved the crazy 2013 winter in New York, first with a visit to Rochester, where I interviewed one of the innovators of the one-on-one snuggling business, Jackie Samuels, at the Snuggery, followed by a trip back to Manhattan, where Ali C at “Cuddle U NYC” was just getting
her cuddle business started … part of a new group of people such as Samantha Hess
in Portland, Oregon who are not only launching these new businesses, but getting
incredible media attention and a huge number of clients as well.
I believe there are some movies that find you, movies that you were destined to
make. The journey I took with this film and the people I met through the making
of this film saved me during a time of great stress after the loss of my job, and allowed me to embrace being a filmmaker FULLY for really the first time.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639600/
Inspired at a young age, Jason O’Brien has worked to fulfill his
life-long dream of writing and directing both short and feature length
films. Beginning in the summer of 2004, he shot his first feature film, a
comedy called Killing Christian. He would go on to not only direct and
co-produce it, but also to edit it. Later, he acquired behind the scenes
footage and made his first feature length documentary in 2009 called
How to Kill Christian: Or How We Made Our First Movie and Didn’t
Kill Each Other.
In 2008, Jason completed writing a new screenplay, Beautiful Torment. In 2011, he wrote a short script based on
this film idea and would later go on to produce and edit the short film After the Torment. This short film was an Official
Selection in six film festivals nationwide and won two awards, including a Golden Ace Award at the 2012 Las Vegas Film
Festival.
In the summer of 2012, Jason wrote, directed, produced, and edited his first short comedy Oh, Shit! This project
was based on the bathroom antics of one of his best friends and creative partners. Oh, Shit! was an official selection at the
2013 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.
But no project has been a personal labor of love as much as his feature documentary, Cuddle. What started off as
an idea for a short documentary about a Birmingham, Alabama cuddle party, quickly grew into a nationwide quest in discovering the heart of the snuggle movement. Traveling to five additional cities in less than two months, he met people
who have been hard at work, hoping to revolutionize the idea of touch therapy. Taking what he’s learned and the vast
footage he’s acquired, he has carved out a documentary that already has people on both sides of the issue talking. What
has resulted is a journey into the movement that reveals the human heart in a unique and beautiful way. “People need
human touch, yet we are existing behind a pane of glass. I don’t want to be behind that glass any longer.”
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
MADISON, WISCONSIN
Featuring:
Kate Donnelly
Bryan & Tracy Gilliom
A Film by Jason O’Brien
Featuring:
Lonnie Johnson
Emily Noon
Matthew David Hurtado
Ophelia Thomas
Directed, Produced, Written,
Filmed and Edited by
Jason O’Brien
Additional Footage:
Kelly Lajter
Producer & Host
Project Famous Films
Birmingham Mountain Radio:
Will Lochamy
Reed Lochamy
Associate Producer:
Janet Robinson
Joey Broyles
Producer & Production Manager
Project Famous Films
Photography:
Jenny O’Brien
Production Assistance:
Kate Donnelly
Bryan & Tracy Gilliom
Chris DeCicco
Marcia Baczynski
Ben Wydeven
Camera Operator A
& Post Video Editing
Makeshift Media Group
Cuddle Party Participants:
LeeAnn Smith
Kevin Winters
Michelle Martin
Meghan Frost
Dawn McCarty
Assistant Camera & Lighting:
Hannah O’Brien
Janet Robinson
Special Thanks:
Melissa O’Brien
Iron City Birmingham
Alabama Theater
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
Featuring:
Jacqueline Samuel
Special Thanks:
Colleen
The Snuggery
Country Inn & Suites
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
Featuring:
Ali C.
Samuel Julius Barnes
Special Thanks:
Heather Sabella
Bill Ogg
BOULDER, COLORADO
Ty Parish
Camera Operator B/Audio Engineer
Parish Productions
Featuring:
Chris DeCicco
Kendra Seone
Rebecca Close
Paul Sterling
Audrey Elisabeth Gunn & Chris Diaz
Marcelo Mainzer & Max Woodfin
Special Thanks:
Ophelia Thomas
Delana Jackson
Linda Weidemann
Florence Bergmann
Jennifer Redcay
Snuggle Party Participants:
Thomas Hoebel & John Kristjanson
Birgit Mueller & Marcelo Mainzer
Amy Eudis McBain & Sheila Gentry
& others!
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Special Thanks:
Chris DeCicco
Cary Leech
Sujata Redden
Cydney Fodeman
The Laughing Goat
Adi Shakti Kundalini Yoga
Featuring:
Marcia Baczynski
Travis Sigley
Special Thanks:
AirBnb
Jay Antioco
Reid Mihalko
Lanae St. John
Golden Gate
Nation Parks Conservancy
INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTORS
“Cuddle Favorites”
Amy McGraw
Amy & Sydney Nicholas
Cheri Whitt
Dick & Cheryl O’Brien
Kate Donnelly
Laureen & Duane Pederson
Lori Ann Parker-Danley
Neal McBurnett
Ophelia Thomas
Rune Hetlelid
“Cuddle Buddies”
Ali C.
Anne Marie Barrios
Ashwin Kumar
Becky Norton
Brent Brandt
Bryan & Tracy Gilliom
Chelsea DalPra
Chris Flescher
Dennis Ebert
Elizabeth LaVenuta
Gloria Calderon
Lisa Jones Anglin
Mark Johnson
Melissa Banczak
Shauna Strand
Thanuja Seneviratene
Tom Homans
INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTERS
MUSIC SUPERVISOR
Donna Britton
MUSIC SCORE BY
Aaron Zimmer
ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE
“Cuddle Party Highlights 2004”
Courtesy of Reid Mihalko
“Snuggle House Set to Offer
Cuddle Time in Madison”
&
“Snuggle House Continues
to Face Obstacles to Opening”
Courtesy of Channel 3000/News 3
Madison, Wisconsin
www.channel3000.com
“Let’s Visit Snuggle House Cuddle Only Brothel”
Courtesy of 1OneMinuteNews
“Free Hugs Lebanon”
Courtesy of Bilal Kamoon
Footage of Samantha Hess
Cuddle Up To Me
Courtesy of Samantha Hess
“Cuddle Huggers”
Angelia Schultz
Becky Mitchell
Cara Capuano
Devin Assuncao
Diana Armas
Emily Hill
Irma Celeste Zamot
Jennifer Slaight-Hansen
Joel Sucher
Kathi Humphries
Lisa Rotella
Lori Lacher Malvey
Mike McDonald
Ryan Cole
Shannon Wentworth
Shea Patrick Layton
Suzanne Pharr
Tabitha Boyd
Vittoria Pesante
“Cuddle Cuties”
Dory Birchfield
Jennifer West
Max Woodfin
Naomi McDougall Jones
Tami Olheiser
“Close” Credits
Written by
Aaron Zimmer & Donna Britton
Performed by
Aaron Zimmer
In May 2014, Donna Britton, an Oscar contending vocalist and award winning songwriter, was brought on board as Music
Supervisor. One of her first tasks was to help write a new original song for the film. Performed by Brooklyn based artist
Aaron Zimmer, the new song, entitled “Close”, is featured during the end credits of the film, and is written by Aaron W.
Zimmer and Donna Britton. The song was produced and engineered by Grammy and Dove Award nominated producer
Dave Tough (www.davetough.com) in Nashville, TN. The song manages to encapsulate a lot of the themes that Jason presents in the film, specifically around the need for touch, and also how our perceptions can often change once we finally see
or experience something, and the greater understanding that brings to everyone. That has been one of the goals that Jason hopes to accomplish with the release of the film. A music video was also created to help launch the song as a cross
promotional tool, and as part of Aaron Zimmer’s catalog of songs. The song was recorded on June 16, 2014 at Columbia A
Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, in the same studio where 48 years before, a young Bob Dylan also recorded.
DONNA BRITTON is a n Osca r con ten din g v oca list a n d a w a r d w in n in g son g writer, who has performed on ABC News “Dayside” 10/3/2013, “Love Can Feed the World”
released to help feed children, and on PBS’s “Conversations with Larry Weeks”. She regularly performs in Nashville at the The Bluebird Cafe, The Commodore, Hotel Indigo, and Jim
Parker’s Songwriter’s Series. Her songs have appeared in Showtime’s “L” Word, House of
Consignment, VH1, TVO, Green Heroes web series, Venice the Series, World News, & Rock
Band Network. She has also performed at the Troubadour, The Roxy, The Palomino, The Bla
Bla, and shared the stage with Al Jarreau, Don Henley, Billy Idol, Martha Reeves, The Four
Seasons, and The Bangles. She is a songwriter & advisory board member for the Songs of
Love Foundation and has written 145 songs for ailing children. She worked with Kid Pan
Alley Children’s project, along with notables like Delbert McClinton, Cracker, Kix Brooks, &
Amy Grant. She is the current Owner & Director of Licensing of Mountain Row Music, specializing in TV, Film & Commercial placements, and was the music supervisor & album director for the film Halloween Party, placing 27 songs, 7 written for the movie, with one being a
2013 Oscar contender. She is also President of Team Green World, a Non Profit, dedicated
to music education. For more information, go to www.whatsuponthemountain.com.
Brooklyn based singer/songwriter AARON ZIMMER is proud to announce the release of The
Surgeon / In Stone, the second in a collection of 7 vinyl releases. Written, performed, recorded
and produced by Aaron, these songs were inspired by the passing of his father in 2013. Zimmer
is making a name for himself in NYC and across the country, not only for his brand of pop/rock,
but also for his engaging one-man live show that includes a multitude of instruments, percussion, and loops. Zimmer is touring clubs and college campuses throughout 2014. For more
information, go to www.aaronzimmer.com.
Musicians:
Aaron Zimmer
Jason Ahlbrandt
Ebbert Gepner II
Engineered & Produced By:
Dave Tough
Co-Producer:
Donna Britton
Interns:
Jake Minnes
Andrew Christenberg
Recorded at
Quonset Hut / Columbia A Studios
Nashville, TN
Special Thanks To
Belmont University
Mastering:
Mike Monseur
Bias Studios
Springfield, VA
Music Video Edited By:
Jason O’Brien
Leesta Val Music (BMI)
Mountain Row Music (ASCAP)
Stone Shadow Mountain Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Mountain Row Music
© 2014. All Rights Reserved.
www.thecuddlemovie.com
facebook.com/thecuddlemovie
www.imdb.com/title/tt3605700/
#powertothecuddle
Contact:
Jason O’Brien
205-520-3074
jaobrien@charter.net
flprods.com
Length: 67 minutes
Date of Completion: July 2014
Aspect Ratio: 1.85
https://www.facebook.com/thecuddlemovie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWdDGbuVeYI
http://www.flprods.com/