The Folly of Paris, or, The Original Snub
Short Film (2024)

Cleveland International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024

Santa Fe International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024

Sunscreen Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024

Reading Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024

CineSol Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024

Yale in Hollywood Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024

Annapolis Film Festival
Official Selection, 2025

The Folly of Paris is a modern and darkly comic feminist re-telling of the Greek myth “The Judgement of Paris,” in which a royal wedding guest list perpetrates an unforgivable snub, no one listens to Hera because she’s a woman, and Paris awards a golden apple allegedly to the Goddess he deems most beautiful, but really to whoever offers the most tantalizing bribe. Accompanied by and artfully choreographed to Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, movement the first I. Poco Sostenuto – VivaceFolly is an intensely crafted, rapid-pace, non-stop multi-layered comedy offering an audience as much on the third viewing as it does on the first. 

Starring Tony-nominated Christopher Sieber (SpamalotMatilda the MusicalShrek the Musical); Tara Westwood (Fleishman is in TroubleThe GrudgeThe Blacklist);  U.K.-born Broadway actress Holly James in her first on-screen role (theater credits HamiltonMoulin RougeAmerican Psycho); and CG (The BearQueer as Folk), Folly takes its casting cues from Bridgerton and Hamilton in populating an ancient story with a brilliantly ensembled diverse cast, assembled by up-and-coming casting director (and Gorgoness team member) Shannon Corey.

In the vein of Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Folly offers a fresh, view-driven take on the myth-driven comedy.  Drawing inspiration from comic greats ranging from Monty Python to the Muppets, writer/director Laura Lionetta pays homage to classic cinematic comedy with vintage cinematic tools such as choreographed action across foreground/midground/background and clever reveals.  Keeping with the style announced in her first film, The Strawberry Jam (2022), Laura Lionetta presents in Folly a truly visual story that could be told nowhere but on the screen.

Behind the Scenes…