Mary Pickford

Why Not Choose Love?

A Mary Pickford Manifesto

Synopsis

Why Not Choose Love? A Mary Pickford Manifesto is a controversial, avant-garde, poetic, & psychologically-unconventional biopic about the Mother of Hollywood, Mary Pickford. The film takes us on an enchanting ride through the artistic lens of the iconic female producer and movie star of Hollywood. Set against the backdrop of the rise of American cinema, we delve into the life of a woman who was simultaneously a lover and a fight, a little girl and a father figure, an actress and a business mogul.

Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 8, 1892. She was five years old when she first performed in the theatre. She was just fifteen years old when she reluctantly agreed to act in silent films at the urging of her mother to help provide for the family after her father passed away.

She first became known as “The Girl with the Curls” and later on as the first "America's Sweetheart”. Mary was the first actor to demand actors’ names be in the credits, a higher salary, and her own marquee. She was an advocate for art and artists, she transcended age, ethnicity and gender in the roles she played. Mary co-founded United Artists, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, produced her own films, being the first million-dollar actress, and the only businesswoman in early Hollywood.

Mary was definitely a multidimensional character that contributed not only to the Hollywood we know today but also to society as a whole.

Director Statement

The cinematic art form was considered a peep hole into reality, a dissolution of ego, and a sacred storytelling endeavor that added value to lives through characters larger than life. Mary embodied over 200 characters, of countless ages and ethnicities and transcended gender, too. There is a responsibility that goes into the ritual of passing along wisdom through stories. We should be portraying messages to expand consciousness, elevate people’s worth, empower to overcome hardship, and to connect through the simplicity of just being.

My mission is delivering this message: Why Not Choose Love? on Mary’s behalf, to pick up where she left off… This process is about wholeness, the integration of masculine and feminine, the doer and receiver, the producer and the artist, in essence… We are all of it, each one of us. We design our own realities with our thoughts. Mary called the key to happiness “right thinking.”