2017 PS Film Festival
film synopsis
In this affectionate, touching and startlingly candid double portrait of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher it's clear from the get-go that filmmakers Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens are on unusually intimate terms with their subjects. That intimacy results in a Hollywood documentary like no other: it's as if we're eavesdropping on a private conversation.
No ordinary mother and daughter, Carrie and Debbie are best friends, next-door neighbors and Hollywood troupers who have seen it all, and seem to have nothing left to hide. And what lives they've led: from Singin' in the Rain to Star Wars, from the Eddie Fisher/Liz Taylor scandal to Carrie's battles with drugs and manic depression, and her best-selling memoir, Postcards from the Edge. Reynolds, who began her career at 16, still can't imagine life without performing. Here she is, in front of an adoring Vegas crowd, singing one last rendition of "Tammy," and then at 82, in failing health, rallying to accept her Lifetime Achievement award, her devoted, anxious daughter at her side. Hilarious and heartbreaking, Bright Lights is Hollywood history up close and very personal.
"This very funny, engrossing movie couldn't be more mainstream or more delectable." Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
film details
guests in attendance
Fisher Stevens – Director (January 11 & 12 only)