A young mother’s American Dream turns into a living nightmare until she finds the inner strength to hear a voice she hadn’t heard before: her own. Donna : Stronger Than Pretty, featuring Kate Amundsen (Shameless) in an unforgettable performance, premieres on all major streaming platforms February 23 from Gravitas Ventures. The film’s director Jaret Martino had long wanted to bring his mother’s story to the screen.
When and where did the idea for “DONNA” come up?
After many years Producing awareness content and watching so many brave people, I felt compelled to start sharing my own families story. I was traveling frequently between Los Angeles and New York and I wrote the first draft of the screenplay on a plane ride. It was born out of a need to make sense of things that shaped me. It was as personal as a journal entry and happened to be written in screenplay format since I’ve been in the industry since childhood. With the amount of characters involved and the span of three decades it was also the easiest way to get it all down. Eight years later we’ve had a staged reading, hired a co-writer who spoke at length to my Mom, Donna, the cast and crew became an extended family and we made a short, and after some further development and a partnership with The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence it was time to create the Feature Film to ensure the ripple effect of change had it’s platform to do the work.
The film is a mix of psychological thriller and horror – do you think it helps to personally be ‘into’ these types of films to make one?
In this case diving into the psychological thriller aspects is part of the psyche of most abusers. Whether it be emotional, verbal, physical or financial. The thread is narcissism and control mixed often times with an intense emotional and physical connection. In our company mission of creating awareness for subjects deserving attention we often times have to look at the darker side of things to address what is left to transmute. It’s really the only way to create the change needed.
Did you sit down and watch any similar themed films before kicking off work on this one?
Erin Brockovich was always a Film that I had in the back of my mind through the development of this Film. I’m also a huge fan of John Marc Valle’s work so Wild and Big Little Lies were captivating and influential stylistically.
Being a genre pic, is it hard to ground? How do you maintain that balance?
It was not difficult to ground. There were so many points of growth and lasting impressions that inspired me to get to the root of why this story needed to be told. For all the people that have lost their lives to domestic violence and to the people that need a tool to show them that they’re not victims but survivors. I will never forget sitting down with Ruth Glenn, the CEO of The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence hours before I spoke in front of thousands of advocates about our project. My Mom and I sat there and told Ruth our story and why this Film was made. Ruth then shared how she was shot three times and left for dead. It was a moment I will never forget. The bravery and courage to dedicate the rest of your life to helping others see that they are not victims they are survivors will forever encourage me to get the warrior boots out and tackle this topic with gentle strength and determination. 
By the same token, what kind of pointers do you give your actors that they don’t play it too over-the-top?
I worked with talent that understood that these characters are layered and at the root of it just wanted to be loved.
Tell us about putting together the cast. Who gets the credit there?
We started with a staged reading and casting was done by myself, Brianne Michele and Pat Branch. We worked with a cast and crew of over 200 so it was an enormous job.
And there’s a couple of very recognizable actors in there too I believe?
We worked with Catharine Daddario who plays Sybil.
How did you go about seeking distribution for the film?
Early on we started working with a sales agent. Our audience building efforts began very early on through the staged reading, the short film and the Film Festival circuit which was worldwide. We’ve also cross marketed with companies that align with our message and are proud partners of The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. All Against Abuse and The Retreat held a private industry screening at Guild Hall in East Hampton which was incredibly powerful as we sat on a panel with a dozen survivors and the events moderator was NY Times Best Selling Author, Leslie Morgan Steiner.
What countries can the film be seen in?
Currently we are in the United States for the first part of the release and we are working on worldwide Distribution as soon as possible!