“Tears to a Glass Eye,” a new detective film by Chicago-based writer-director Jack Kenny, will be featured at the upcoming Coronado Island Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 1 pm in the Coronado Performing Arts Center. Kenny will take audience questions after the screening. The film stars Chris Browning as Martin Dye and Natasha Henstridge as Dori.
The film takes place in a small-town and centers on retired Los Angeles detective Martin Dye, who is drawn by chance into investigating a 20-year-old car crash involving Eddie, a drug dealer who recently passed away. Dye learns that money from the crash went missing. An unlucky night, a bag of money — and 20 people over 20 years — Dye unravels a web of deception that leads to the film’s surprising conclusion.
Chris Browning (Martin Dye) has been in “310 to Yuma” (2007), “Terminator Salvation” (2009), and “Cowboys & Aliens” (2011). Natasha Henstridge (as Dori) has starred in the science-fiction thrillers “Species” (1995), “Species II” (1998), and “Species III” (2004), and in “The Whole Ten Yards” (2004), among others.
Kenny said he chose both Browning and Henstridge because of their upbeat personas, which counter the usual dark atmosphere of a traditional neo-noir detective film.
“A neo-noir detective film must have some traditional noir elements, but it must also have some difference,” said Kenny. “I fashioned “Tears to a Glass Eye” to engage audiences in the mystery and noir thrills but also to provide audiences with a bit of upbeat material to savor. The characters and plot center not on the usual noir urban setting, but on a kind of everyday American town, where yet anything can happen.”
“Tears to a Glass Eye” is the winner of multiple awards, including: Jury Prize at the Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival; Best Mystery Film at the New York International Film Awards; Best Director, Best Film Noir, Best Mystery and Best Original Score at the Milan Independent Awards; Best Actor-Mystery Film, Best Actor- Detective Film, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director-Detective Film at the Best Actor & Director Awards–New York; Best Mystery Film, Cannes World Film Festival; and most recently, Best Director, Best Thriller and Best Original Score at the Portugal Indie Film Festival.
Coronado Island Film Festival’s 10th anniversary film festival will be held November 5-9, 2025. Tickets and additional details are available on the Coronado Island Film Festival website.