Loggerheads is an independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 written and directed by Tim Kirkman

Tim Kirkman

Writer and director Tim Kirkman was born on November 2, 1966 in Monroe, North Carolina, the third child of a public school educator and a music teacher, and spent his childhood in nearby Wingate, North Carolina....

, produced by Gill Holland

Gill Holland

John Gill Holland, Jr. , better known as Gill Holland, is a Norwegian-American award winning film producer and co-developer of The Green Building in Louisville, Kentucky.-Background:...

 and released in the United States by Strand Releasing

Strand Releasing

Strand Releasing is a theatrical distribution company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Gregg Araki, Francois Ozon, Jean Luc...

 in October 2005. After its debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, Loggerheads screened at festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. The film won the Audience Award at both the Nashville Film Festival

Nashville Film Festival

The Nashville Film Festival , held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2009, Nashville Film Festival received close to 2000 submissions from 86 countries, programmed nearly 260 films and had an attendance...

 and the Florida Film Festival

Florida Film Festival

The Florida Film Festival, produced by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, is an annual international film festival. Showcasing the best American independent and foreign films, the festival has become one of the most respected regional film events in the United States.-Overview:The Festival...

, and took the top prize at Outfest

Outfest

Outfest is an LGBT-oriented film showcase and festival in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1982 as the "Gay and Lesbian Media Festival and Conference", the name was changed to Outfest in 1994.-Programs:...

, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Inspired by true events, Loggerheads tells the story of an adoption

Adoption

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

 "triad"—birth mother, child, and adoptive parents—each in three interwoven stories in the days leading up to Mother’s Day weekend, and each in one of the three distinctive geographical regions of North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

—mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

, Piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

 and coastal plain

Atlantic Coastal Plain

The Atlantic coastal plain has both low elevation and low relief, but it is also a relatively flat landform extending from the New York Bight southward to a Georgia/Florida section of the Eastern Continental Divide, which demarcates the plain from the ACF River Basin in the Gulf Coastal Plain to...

.

Plot

In Asheville

Asheville, North Carolina

Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...

, Grace (Bonnie Hunt

Bonnie Hunt

Bonnie Lynne Hunt is an American actress, comedian, writer, director, television producer and daytime television host.- Early life :...

), an airport car-rental agent living with her mother (Michael Learned

Michael Learned

Michael Learned is an American actress known for her role as Olivia Walton on The Waltons.-Personal life:Learned was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Elizabeth Duane "Betti" and Bruce Learned, a diplomat. Her maternal grandfather was an attaché for the United States Embassy in Rome...

), quits her job and embarks on a long-delayed quest: facing the legal barriers that keep her from finding the son she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager. Across the state in Kure Beach

Kure Beach, North Carolina

Kure Beach (ˈkjʊərɪ KYUR-ee) is a town in New Hanover County, North Carolina about 15 miles south of Wilmington. It is part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2000 census...

, Mark (Kip Pardue

Kip Pardue

Kevin Ian "Kip" Pardue is an American actor and model, best known for his roles in the films Remember the Titans, Driven, The Rules of Attraction, and Thirteen....

), a young man obsessed with saving loggerhead sea turtle

Sea turtle

Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...

s, meets George (Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly (American actor)

Michael Joseph Kelly is an American actor.-Early life:Kelly was born in Philadelphia and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, the son of Maureen and Michael Kelly. He has one brother and two sisters . He graduated from Brookwood High School in Snellville, Georgia...

), a friendly motel owner with some secrets of his own, who offers him a place to stay. In the center of the state is the small town of Eden

Eden, North Carolina

Eden is a city in Rockingham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,908 at the 2000 census. The city was incorporated in 1967 through the consolidation of three separate towns: Leaksville, Spray, and Draper....

, where a minister's wife (Tess Harper

Tess Harper

Tess Harper is an American actress.-Early life:Born Tessie Jean Washam on August 15, 1950 in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. Her parents' names are Ed and Rosemary Washam. She grew up around lots of quilts and quilt makers. On her own time, she liked to sit on the porch-swing and read...

) struggles to confront her conservative husband (Chris Sarandon

Chris Sarandon

Chris Sarandon is an American actor who was married to actress Susan Sarandon between 1968 and 1979. He is best known for playing Prince Humperdinck in the film The Princess Bride, the vampire Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night and Detective Mike Norris in the first entry of the Child's Play series,...

) over their estrangement from their son.

The film also stars Robin Weigert

Robin Weigert

Robin Weigert is an American television and film actress.Weigert was born in Washington, D.C. of Jewish heritage. After graduating from Brandeis University in 1991, Weigert attended New York University, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in the acting program at the Tisch School of the Arts...

, Ann Owens Pierce, Valerie Watkins, Trevor Gagnon, Kelly Mizell, Craig Walker, Michael Esper and Joanne Pankow. Irish singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Mark Geary

Mark Geary

Mark Geary is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician born in Dublin, Ireland into a large family with ten siblings, one of whom is actor Karl Geary. In 1992 he emigrated to New York City after being called up for a lottery-won green card...

 wrote the original score as well as two songs for the film. The music of singer/songwriter Patty Griffin

Patty Griffin

Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...

 is also featured prominently, and sonaBLAST! Records

SonaBLAST! Records

sonaBLAST! Records is a Louisville, KY-based independent record label founded by film producer Gill Holland in 2002. The label kicked off with Irish singer-songwriter Mark Geary, whose 2004 release Ghosts is nearing Gold status and received critical acclaim in Ireland and the USA.-Artist...

 released the soundtrack.

Loggerheads was filmed on location primarily in Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

in May, 2004.