(NEW YORK, NY) – Director Arnon Z. Shorr is pleased to announce Broadway’s Reese Bogin (Leopoldstadt) as Ellie in the upcoming short film, The Unburdened. Set to premiere later this year, the film stars Elana Safar (Small Miracles), Elisabeth Ness (Lady in the Lake), and Eve Austin (In Fidelity).

Miss Bogin is a New York-based actress who originated the role of Young Sally/Mimi in the Broadway production of the Tony and Olivier-award winning play, Leopoldstadt. She also appeared in a reading of Miss Lulu Bett starring Anna Chlumsky at Classic Stage Company. On filming The Unburdened, she says, “I’m proud to help tell this important story and bring the character of Ellie to life.”

The Unburdened tells the story of a dedicated mother who is racing to assemble a Holocaust memorial program for her daughter’s school while facing opposition from an anonymous parent. Amidst preparations, a faded friend from childhood interrupts with news that the land containing their buried time capsule is about to be sold. As the women hurriedly dig it up, buried secrets emerge.

Director Arnon Shorr says, “When I began my work on The Unburdened, it was a story about a generation grappling with a trauma that was experienced long before they were born. But by the time we filmed, in late 2023, many of us were in the midst of a new trauma, still reeling from having just witnessed the horrific attacks of October 7th, which ripped fresh gashes into our collective psyche. As a result, the role that Reese plays in the film – not just a young child, but a source of wisdom and a mediator between the distant past, painful present, and hopeful future – became all the more important.”