Foldes’ first such endeavor, Finding Home, follows a young woman’s efforts to unearth her family’s dark secrets. The drama stars Louise Fletcher, Geneviève Bujold, Lisa Brenner, Justin Henry and, in his last film role, the late Jason Miller.

Finding Home received its South Florida premiere during the Palm Beach International Film Festival and opened locally on April 29. Film South Florida.com spoke with Foldes directing such an earnest drama, landing a great cast, and opening Finding Home in South Florida before New York or L.A.

Film South Florida: How did the PBIFF audience enjoy Finding Home?

Foldes: We had a very good reception. I was really impressed, especially as we practically had a full house and the film was brought in at the last minute. There was no information on the film in the festival guide, and we still had a full house.

Film South Florida: In a nutshell, what is Finding Home about?

Foldes: It’s about a young woman’s journey to discover the mysteries of her family’s troubled past, and how she discovers herself in the process.

Film South Florida: How get you get such a great cast?

Foldes: This is the ninth picture I’ve made. Most of the previous films were more genre and action films, and it was all about money. But this is a very different film. When you do a very passionate film you care about, and the script reflects that and it has wonderful characters and a wonderful story, then it’s not about money anymore for the actors. It’s about the part, and the actors want the part.

Film South Florida: Was it a smooth transition from action to drama for you?

Foldes: Nothing is ever smooth. The film came about in a very unusual way. About six years ago, I started to feel creatively unfulfilled. Making a movie is great, especially an action film. It’s a thrill because there’s nothing more exciting than demonstrating automatic weaponry to your actor. But it’s a temporary fulfillment, and I started feeling like I wanted to do something more lasting. What was the legacy I was going to leave behind? Was it going to be a bunch of action titles on the Blockbuster shelf? Or something that started to move people, touch people? And around that time, [producer] Victoria [Paige Meyerink] was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and so we dropped everything for about a year to research all the treatment option. During that time I made a decision, that I don’t care how many films I made in my lifetime as long as they say something a move an audience and have a lasting impact. That’s when Finding Home literally found us. We’ve been teaching for 14 years up at a film workshop in Maine, and every in class, students come up with script ideas or stories, just to get our opinions. And this one student came up to us with this very simple treatment and said he wanted our opinion. We put it off and put it off and put it off while Victoria was being treated. And when she was better, she read it and she was exactly very touched by it and asked me to read it. I read it and called up the student and said that it was a project worth pursuing. He said he’d like us to make it and that the company he worked for has part of the money. So to how a really good project drop into your lap with part of the money doesn’t happen often.

Film South Florida: Why open Finding Home in South Florida before New York or L.A.?

Foldes: It was [distributor] Castle Hill’s idea. The decision came after we screened the film at the Sarasota Film Festival. We had a wonderful reception, and [Castle Hill] decided based on the reception they had up in Sarasota, they wanted to sneak the film here in Palm Beach and then open it here. Because of the makeup of the audience and the time of year, they felt it would be the right place to do it. To tell you, based on the reception [at the PBIFF], they’re right.

Finding Home is now in theaters. Click here for more information.

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