Sharing a Palm Springs Popsicle

The official website biography page for Leslie Jean Porter, writer, producer and co-director of $35,000 Palm Springs indie noir Popsicle, is a trip. A tongue-in-cheek profile penned by a third party begins with the observation that even though she is only "pretty enough," she owns a room when she enters it and her presence cannot go unnoticed; later on, to the question 'What is your motto,' Porter answers 'I want to delegate.'


That motto no doubt came in very handy during the bare bones production of Popsicle, which screens at the Camelot Theatre in Palm Springs on June 12th ahead of, hopefully, a long run on the film festival circuit. Shot in HD over a period of a year in and around the Coachella Valley, it's the strange tale of a quiet neighborhood battle between Popsicle Man and the Daughter of Satan.

With a running time of 49 minutes, Popsicle marks the feature-length directorial debut of Porter, made in collaboration with local colleague Bruce Feagle. She previously produced a similar length film, the elderly duo caper Blind Love, and the award-winning 10-minute short Mystical Fire, about a sacred Native American ceremony. Both of these efforts will also be screened on the 12th.

Porter was born in New York and raised in Paris, before eventually returning stateside to study at Bard College. She has worked as a fashion model, a photographer and was recently exhibited as a painter at the M Modern gallery in Palm Springs. All of which would seem to separately make her "talented enough."

[Popsicle, Leslie Jean Porter]