Newton Native Starring In Film Featured At 2022 Boston Film Festival

NEWTON, MA — Newton native Roxy Striar is starring in an indie film being featured at this year’s Boston Film Festival, taking place from Thursday, Sept. 22 through Sunday, Sept. 26.

Always, Lola is the debut feature of award-winning filmmaker Jeffrey Crane Graham. The film is a coming-of-age dramedy loosely based on Graham’s best friendship with his late classmate Peggy. It follows Lola Siglione, Clifton High School's wildest senior, and the lives of her five best friends after Lola’s life is cut short by a tragic overdose.

Before her death, Lola is infamous for her annual birthday camping trip, where she sets up a scavenger hunt with items for each of her friends. After she dies, however, her friends question whether they should return to the campsite without her, ultimately discovering that Lola had set up her annual scavenger hunt weeks before her death. Their final gifts, and a shocking secret, are waiting the woods.

Striar, a University of Southern California graduate, plays Lola in the film. She got involved with the production through working with Graham at AfterBuzz TV, where he was a producer and worked on the show "Unproduced Table Read."

“We did that show together for a while and when he wrote this script, he brought me in to do a table read. I auditioned and got a call back and all of that.”

"It’s been amazing,” Striar added. "When we started filming in Ohio last summer, I had no idea what the movie was going to be like, but the chemistry between cast members was incredible and it felt like summer camp. I had the time of my life."

Since its release, Always, Lola has won several accolades, including Best Feature at Marina Del Ray Film Festival in Los Angeles and Best Director at Silicon Beach Film Festival in Hollywood.

“You don't know how the movie is going to be received, but not only was the house packed and we got a standing ovation at Marina Del Ray, but we ended up winning the whole festival,” Striar said. “It’s a wild feeling I’ve never felt in my life and I hope to feel a million times again.”

Striar will be in attendance at Boston Film Festival, she said. She is looking forward to seeing the screening of Always, Lola and the rest of the films at the festival.

"I love [Always, Lola], I think it's really beautiful with an incredible message and will hopefully be very well received,” she said. “And it’s so cool to come back to where I’m from for a festival. I went to school here and grew up in the theatre program and I want people to know that if this is their dream they can make it happen. Even 3,000 miles away from Hollywood."

This weekend’s screening of Always, Lola will take place at 9:15 p.m. at Regal Fenway. To purchase tickets, click here.