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Check out photographer Mollie McClure’s time-lapse video of Ashleigh Sumner painting in her LA studio. Ashleigh was the star of “And Then Came Lola” and Mollie’s photographs are featured in the film.

Published on Jul 1, 2012 by mcclureimages
L.A. based artist Ashleigh Sumner creates in her studio over a three hour time period. A time-lapse is set-up to capture the process…every 4 seconds a frame is captured, the shutter speed was reduced to 1/4th of a second so that her movement, which is such a strong aspect of her style, can really be felt.

If you haven’t already seen her work, go find it.
Here, I’ll help you out… www.sumnerstudio.com

Out Actress Ashleigh Sumner Arrives in “And Then Came Lola”: Autostraddle Interview

Out lesbian actress Ashleigh Sumner is mega-hot and stars as the title character in the new free-wheelin’ lesbian romantic comedy And Then Came Lola alongside Jill Bennett & Cathy DeBuono. This isn’t just another coming out story, it’s a funny guilty pleasure indie flick set in the super gay-ed up streets of San Francisco. And this time, writer/directors of the film went out of their way to cast lead actresses who were all openly gay — amazing, right?

Click here to read Ashleigh’s full interview with Jess on Autostraddle.com.

To read more about Ashleigh and “And Then Came Lola” and Co-Director’s Ellen Seidler & Megan Siler, go here.  (Pages 24, 30 and 85)

A colourful, dizzying mash-up of German cult classic Run
Lola Run made entirely by lesbians and starring lesbians.
And Then Came Lola is a low budget feature film from San
Francisco that has been winning accolades at LGBT (Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) festivals across the globe.
The film sees Lola on a desperate trio of bids to get some important
photographs to her girlfriend on time because if she doesn’t their
relationship will get the chop. There’s nothing really original about the
story and the filmmakers are fully aware of the movie’s source
material, even down to the animated sequences which they gleefully
ape. What’s refreshing is that everyone involved in the film wanted to
make an out and proud lesbian film, set in a city seemingly populated
only by gays and dykes.

To read full story: PDF download here

The star of new lesbian rom-com And Then Came Lola is causing ripples of excitement through the queer film industry. 30-year old Ashleigh Sumner plays the titular character alongside an all-lesbian cast in a part writer-directors Ellen Seidler and Megan Siler say she was born to play.

Rachael Scott met with the multi-talented film, TV and theatre actress who is also a successful painter during the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival to chat about her breakthrough role.

What was it that attracted you to the part of Lola?
I was very interested in having the chance to play a comedic role because most of the parts I play are very hard drama. The CSI’s, Crossing Jordan – I’ve been on all of those and someone’s dead or something. The theatre that I’ve done is mostly drama, too, but I actually kind of think I’m pretty funny. [Laughs].

So, I was drawn to the opportunity to use those skills, but also the chance to be given the lead in a film. I’d never been given that opportunity before. I’d played leads in theatre all the time and, for a lot of the time as an actor, that’s really hard to do when you’re unknown. They took a chance and I wanted to see if I was up to the challenge.

Can you tell me where your character is in her life when the film starts?
I think my character is where a lot of people are in their late-20s and early-30s. I think that there’s a shift that starts to happen about that time of life for many people. Some people it’s earlier and some people it’s later, but I think you start to examine what a relationship is. What kind of stable relationship you would like, if you are ready for one.

I think part of that is when you become a real partner, when you are ready for that challenge. It’s showing up and what that is. Personally speaking, there are some growing pains involved in that and I think that’s where my character is. She’s figuring it out and I think when you meet the person who’s right for you, you realise that you want your best to be even better.

To read the full interview at GaydarNation.com go here.

Jill Bennett’s acting career started with roles in Beverley Hills 90210 and she went on to star in beefcake supernatural soap opera Dante’s Cove. She’s since embraced internet TV with a vengeance producing We Have to Stop Now with her partner Cathy DeBuono and videoblog The Violet Underground for shewired.com, where she tackles a multitude of gay issues.

The sexy actress stars in lesbian romantic comedy And Then Came Lola and she told Rachael Scott about working on the film, what it’s like to be one of the few out actresses working in Hollywood and her thoughts on gay cinema today.

So how did you come to work on the film?
Ellen Seidler contacted me through MySpace actually! She sent me the script and explained that it was a low budget project, by and for the lesbian community. She expressed that they wanted to hire within the community, which was a big draw for me. The rest, as they say, is history.

What appealed to you about the script?
It was a lot of fun – no coming out story, no dying of cancer at the end. Just a fun, sexy story for women. We need more of those types of movies!

What was it like working with Ellen and Megan?
They were fantastic – they did their best to take care of us during the whole shoot.

To read full article on GaydarNation.com go here.

Ashleigh Sumner stars as Lola, who has been something of a train wreck in her previous relationships but she wants to have something more serious with her girlfriend Casey (Jill Bennett). Casey calls her one day in a panic asking her to pick up some photos for a client presentation and to meet her in an hour at a bar across town. Lola is known for being unreliable and late for everything so she knows this is her chance to make things right. She goes on a wild crazy journey across San Francisco in a series of comical situations that she both causes and is a victim of. Lola’s former lover Jen (Jessica Graham) who runs the photo developing store where she is getting the photos, causes Lola think back to how things went wrong with Jen and how not to repeat the same mistakes with Casey. What adds to the tension is that Casey’s client is Danielle (Cathy DeBuono), a sexy Italian woman that Casey might have a past with. Once she arrives at the bar with the photos, it doesn’t go as Lola hoped and things are ruined between her and Casey. The next morning Lola wakes up again like it was a dream and it all happens again but Lola can try and make it right….and she then of course wakes up later again and to get a final third chance.

Go here to read full review in Toronto Film Scene.

So what was it about Run Lola Run that inspired you to write and direct your own version?
Megan: I think we both thought it was a great film obviously, but it affords you a lot of freedom to play with the media. The structure’s like Groundhog Day and this idea of doing something over and over and trying to get it right seemed perfect for a lesbian romp.

Ellen: What you alluded to really opened up the narrative possibilities and when you’re dealing with a low budget film, the fact that you can have great animation and integrate stills and kind of play with it in that way, it allows you some creative opportunities that you might not normally have.

Obviously it’s a hat tip to Run Lola Run and we named our character Lola because we didn’t want to pretend that it wasn’t, but it’s a very different film in many, many ways. We definitely thought the structure would be fun. It’s about having a fun time. It’s a little more up than the original.

Megan: Also, as a romantic comedy or a romp, it sounds a little fantastical. I think the pastiche of media and the whole kind of mixing of it allows you to be playful.

How did you go about casting the film? Did you have specific actresses in mind?
Ellen: Not initially. We did some casting in San Francisco and we found one actress up there called Jenoa Harlow who’s an out lesbian and plays the girl in the park with the dog. She’s wonderful but there really isn’t the pool of acting talent in the Bay area of San Francisco.

Megan: Ellen and I really wanted to work local.

Ellen: So we went down to LA and had open castings. We were really determined after that to find some actors who were actually lesbians, so we did some targeted castings and that’s how we found most of the people in our cast. We thought it was important for the success of this film that we had actors who understood the lesbian vibe.

We had a number of actors come through who were talented enough but it just seemed as if it would have been somewhat of a stretch to embrace the role they were going to be asked to play. And the sexuality, there’s a lot of that in the film and for them to be comfortable with that is a hurdle. Plus, I think it’s just great that we can have talented out lesbians in our film and show off their talent.

Megan: It’s also great for us because they understood and felt very supportive of the project. It ended up being a very collaborative film. The more people who are onboard and want to support this kind of project really helps independent filmmakers.

Go here to read the full interview in GaydarNation.com.

Loosely based on Tom Tykwer’s 1998 hit Run Lola Run, Ellen Seidler and Megan Siler’s version tells the same story three times over with differing outcomes, just like its predecessor. The writer-director duo pay homage to the original whilst giving it their own style and a few twists.

Such as the fact that And Then Came Lola is written, directed, funded, produced and acted by out lesbians. No mean feat within an industry where most people would struggle to name more than a handful of gay actresses who aren’t in the closet and working in Hollywood. Go here to read full review.

The relationship-challenged Lola (Ashleigh Sumner, a dead ringer for Jodie Foster) sprints around San Francisco to prove her fealty to girlfriend Casey (Jill Bennett) before Casey can get seduced away by a new business partner. Although it preserves the frenetic tripartite set-up of Tom Tykwer’s 1998 film, with Lola embarking on her journey three times (each with a different outcome), the lesbian-ified version of Run Lola Run replaces the crime and money with intense discussions about commitment. (Is that a rib nudge?)

Read more: http://thephoenix.com