2009 Tri-City Independent/Fan Film Festival Film Submissions

Capes (USA)

Director: Bryan Cohan

Running time: 15m

website: http://www.capesthemovie.com

A floating city among the clouds, miles above Earth, where inhabitants have the technology to fly with the help of enchanted capes. Atreus, our hero, is the star of a national cape ceremony, in which he will receive his cape and fly for the very first time. With much fanfare, Atreus is adorned with his new cape. He takes off into the sky, soaring through the air with agility & strength. His delight is cut short in mid-flight by a stroke of chance — a lightning bolt in a cloudless sky — and our young hero falls. He dives for miles, picking-up speed and losing control until he crashes onto the cold hard rock of Earth’s floor.

Director – BRYAN COHAN

CAPES director and producer BRYAN COHEN has many years of experience in film and television. He was post-production supervisor for the Academy Award-winning short ‘West Bank Story’ (Best Live Action Film, 2006), as well as producer for the short independent film ‘Return to Sender.’ As animator, editor, and graphics designer, Bryan has worked with Vivendi-Universal, Spike TV, MTV Networks, KRON-TV San Francisco, and Apple Computer.

Bryan is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema. He is an accomplished pianist, and his love of music, the fine arts, literature and theater is his springboard for creating memorable films that bridge traditional artistic boundaries.

CAPES is Bryan’s writing & directing debut in the world of animation. Produced over three-years, Bryan worked with a talented network of artists around the globe to bring his vision to the screen. He looks forward to sharing CAPES with festival audiences, as well as creating future projects that continue to explore the imagination.

The Bug (Netherland)

Director: Marijn Smits

Running time: 15m

website: http://www.martijnsmits.com/en/page/Nieuws

Mia is an elderly lady, living is a retirement home. One day her daughter gives her a mobile phone, in case of emergencies. But a ‘bug’ in the phone turns Mia’s life into a living hell.

Director & Writer – MARIJN SMITS

Martijn is a director with a great passion for ‘fantastic’ storytelling. Imaginative themes appear in all of his short feature films. When necessary he uses all kinds of (digital) visual effects to tell his story as convincing and compelling as possible. His extensive knowledge of shooting a film with visual effects gives him complete creative freedom.

He directed numerous commercials and music videos which included vfx. Because of his experience he knows how to direct actors in a (sometimes) completely virtual shooting environment. Martijn’s strength is to visually stun the viewer and his goal is to always tell a story in the most original way possible.

The Delivery (Germany)

Director: Till Nowak

Running time:

website: www.delivery.framebox.de

In a grey, industrial and uninhabited future, an old man lovingly waters a flower, perhaps the last flower to exist. In his home, across from a factory spewing gas, noise and bad vibrations, the vision of which constantly reminds him that the world isn‘t what it was, the man caringly tends the flower because he knows it‘s his last hope. Unexpectedly, he receives a surprising package that could change the world, at least his world, and perhaps a little more. A surrealistic fable on the world to come, the portrayal of a corrupt society infested by machines, that has forgotten the human being, a future in which there is still place for hope: flowers can grow again.

Director & Writer – TILL NOWAK

...was born in 1980 and lives in Mainz, Germany. In 1999 he started his small studio “frameboX” and works as a freelancer for 3D, print and web media. During the last 8 years he has produced hundreds of projects like brochures, animations, visualizations, flash applications and other kinds of artwork. He works mainly for creative agencies as well as clients like ZDF, SCHOTT AG and others. He is now focussing on cinema and art.

Perchance to Dream (USA)

Director: Lauren Kimball

Running time: 7m

website: http://www.solaceskies.com/

After forty years of captivity, ‘Perchance To Dream’ offers a new perspective in the life of Miami Sea Aquarium’s star performer, Lolita the Killer Whale. Brutally taken from her family and home waters in Puget Sound, Washington and flown across the country to live in Miami, Florida, Lolita is expected to perform daily to an enthusiastic crowd; a crowd completely ignorant to the plight of her gentle spirit.

Director & Writer – LAUREN KIMBALL

My name is Lauren Kimball, I am 21 years old and am currenly working on a double major in both 2D and 3D animation. My primary focus is in character animation, but I also specialize in character concept design, story boarding, and 3D modeling. I am interning at Film-It Productions under director Darla Rae. My recent work includes animating the introduction to “Making Burros Fly” and doing some editing and graphics work for “Dandy Kids”, a documentary about children with Dandy Walker Syndrom.

A good portion of my free time I dedicate to my animated short, “Perchance To Dream”, a film about the Killer Whale Lolita (aka Tokitae) who lives at the Miami Sea Aquarium in Florida. Progress for my short can be read in my blog. What free time remains, I dedicate to reading books, drawing, volunteering with the local Wolf Sanctuary, and spending time with my loved ones.

Graw (USA)

Director: Joe Pettinati

Running time: 10m

website:

“A masked scavenger stealing from the victims of a horrific disaster is forced to decide between saving his bounty or his life.”

Director & Writer – JOE PETTINATI

Devoting his youth to becoming a comic book artist, award winning writer/director Joe Pettinati’s life took a sudden turn when a carefree hobby of penning television spec scripts earned him acceptance into New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts.

NYU allowed him to explore the many facets of independent filmmaking, resulting in several short films, two documentaries and many awards, including the Oliver Stone Screenwriting Award and the Carl Lerner Award for Social Significance.

Charlie Thistle (USA)

Director:Bragi Schut Jr.

Running time: 15m

website: http://www.gallantyne.com/

Charlie Thistle dreams of a better world. He dreams of a world in color, where animals speak and trees grow indoor. Unfortunately, Charlie works for the Department of Normality, where change isn’t tolerated. But there comes a time in every man’s life when he has to stand up for what he believes in, and Charlie’s day is coming!

Director & Writer – BRAGI SCHUT JR.

Bragi Schut is a working screenwriter in television and film. He is the creator of the CBS series “Threshold,” starring Carla Gugino and Charles Dutton, and has numerous screenplay credits to his name. Among those is SEASON OF THE WITCH, the winner of the Academy Award Foundation’s Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for 2003. Dominic Sena (“Swordfish,” and “Gone In 60 Seconds”) is attached to direct.

Schut’s previous script, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER, is currently setup at Phoenix Pictures with Brad Fischer attached to produce. He has also adapted two comic book properties, the popular graphic novel CRIMINAL MACABRE for Sony Studios, and the Marvel super-hero property SUB-MARINER for Universal.

Schut has directed one short film entitled “White Noise,” which won awards at the Boston Underground Film Festival and Houston Worldfest, and was recently accepted into the writer’s guild Showrunner Training Program.

Lazarus Taxon (Spain)

Director:Denis Rovira

Running time: 15m

website:http://www.lazarustaxon.com/

A short-film half way between horror and Sci-Fi. The feared consequences of global warming are at their peak when one man crosses the New Sea trying to save his daughter from the clutches of death. A tale about going beyond the limits of the human race and the survival of the species.

Director & Writer – DENIS ROVIRA

Writer/director Denis Rovira was born in Spain (1976) and studiedm Audiovisual Communication at U.A.B. and film directing at U.C.L.A. Author of awarded and well-known short-films in the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF), such as “LAZARUS TAXON” (www.lazarustaxon.com) and “ANGEL” (www.denisrovira.com).

The Hunt for Gullam (England)

Independent Online Cinema

Director: Chris Bouchard

Running time: 38m

website: http://www.thehuntforgollum.com/

The script is adapted from elements of the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The story follows the Heir of Isildur; the “greatest huntsman and traveller in Middle Earth” as he sets out to find the creature Gollum. The creature must be found to discover the truth about the Ring, and to protect the future Ringbearer.

Director & Exec Producer - CHRIS BOUCHARD

Chris is an upcoming film maker with a growing portfolio of independent film projects. Past short films include Disconnect, The Machine and the epic horror film project Human Residue. As a Lord of the Rings fan, he set out to make The Hunt For Gollum as a tribute to the work of JRR Tolkien and the films of Peter Jackson, but also as an experiment in low budget film-making. Aside from directing and overseeing the production, Chris is also supervising the orchestral score for The Hunt For Gollum. His past work as a composer includes the popular fan film Star Wars: Revelations, the internet phenomenon of 2005 that logged millions of downloads and worldwide press acclaim. Chris is proud to bring together many talented collaborators on this professional-quality volunteer production.

The Death in Charge (USA)

Deviant Pictures

Director: Devi Snively

Running time: 15m

website: http://www.deathincharge.com/

In the tradition of E.C. Horror Comics, this cautionary tale examines life through the eyes of Death who gets derailed when an impatient single Mom carelessly mistakes the scythe-carrying cloaked one for her tardy babysitter and leaves Death to care for her precocious 9-year-old daughter.

Whitney teaches Death about life’s many marvels through violent video games, macaroni and cheese and the magic of Sea Munkees. But when Whitney reveals some dark tendencies of her own, it’s up to Death to lighten things up before returning to the grim duties that lie in wait ...

Director - DEVI SNIVELY

Devi has worked professionally as a ballerina, Spanish translator, hair model, book editor, video game writer, documentary filmmaker, newspaper columnist and video editor. She’s been decidedly unprofessional in several other careers. When she’s not making her own, Devi teaches a course on horror films at the University of Notre Dame.

Four Corners (USA)

Director: Douglas Mueller

Running time: 11m

website: http://douglasmueller.net/fourcorners/index

The crossroad of life is revealed to a cyclist when he encounters an unexplained traffic light.

Director: DOUGLAS MUELLER

Douglas Mueller is an artist and filmmaker. He earned his B.A. studying film at California State University Monterey Bay. In school, he developed The BBC; 2002, a documentary which won local awards for regional pertinence. His graduating capstone was Crazy Flakes a short film which screened at the Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival in 2003.

In 2005 Douglas completed Four Corners, a film he directed and co-produced. The film screened around the United States, including Newport Beach Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival and the Science Fiction Short Film Festival, at the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in Seattle, WA., where it took second place. Early 2006 Douglas co-founded a media production company, Gulf Coast Premier Media, LLC., specializing in regional commercial production.

In 2007 he also began producing short web-films for Chamber Music Monterey Bay. Recently Mueller was Production Designer for the feature film The Truth and Co-Producer of the feature film Prairie Love- both in post-production.

Douglas Mueller continues to develop scripts for feature films. He’s also completing production on a few short documentary film about Kristallnaght.

The Day the Robots Woke Up (England)

Director: Ed Hartwell

Running time: 8m

website:http://www.edhartwell.co.uk/robots/

The story takes place in a retro-futuristic view of London where tin robots are commonly seen working with man. After a comet hits the earth all technology mysteriously stops working. London is plunged into the dark ages. With no machines, no robots, no electricity, not even working cars, the people flee the city in search of a place unaffected by the mysterious comet. London is left empty and quiet for many years until today, when the old tin robots suddenly wake up!

Director & Exec Producer - ED HARTWELL

Ed Hartwell has been making short films from the age of 12. He is now 26 and lives and works in London making shorts, music videos and TV projects involving puppets and animation. Since its premier in February last year, “Bus Kong” has had 14 screenings internationally and won 3 awards. More films and info can be seen at www.edhartwell.co.uk

Marooned? (USA)

Director: Ryan Nagata

Running time: 14m

website: http://www.maroonedmovie.com/

A middle-aged science fiction nerd role-plays as his favorite space hero out in the desert when he hits his head and becomes convinced he is a space hero for real. When he starts to suspect his role-playing buddy of being an enemy alien, what started as a ridiculous fantasy game becomes a matter of life and death.

Director & Writer - RYAN NAGATA

My name is Ryan Nagata. I’m a director in Los Angeles. I graduated from USC film school. I’ve directed film, television, and web videos.

Booth Girls (USA)

Director: Adam Mallinger

Running time: 11m

website: http://www.YouTube.com/BoothGirls

BOOTH GIRLS follows bright-eyed Emily during her first day of work as a booth girl at a comic convention. Throughout the day, Emily is faced with crazed fans, leering weirdoes, power mad staff, and a cast of colorful spokesmodels, all with their own unique take on working the convention floor.

Director & Writer – ADAM MALLINGER

Writer/Director Adam Mallinger was inspired to make movies after the first viewing of Superman: The Movie at age four. This life long comic book geek – proud owner of a complete 22-year run of Superman comics – is a graduate of Denison University and currently works in Los Angeles as a script-reader.

Dungeon & Dragon Inc. The Quest for the +5 Stapler (USA)

Director: J Hanna

Running time: 9m

website: http://www.YouTube.com/ nonefilmproductions

Dungeon & Dragon Inc. The Quest for the +5 Stapler chronicles one young man’s tale of his quest for a stapler strong enough to staple any paper…and his co-workers’ misadventures along the way.

Director & Producer – J HANNA

J. Hanna attended film school at Hofstra University in New York and moved to LA to work in film and television, aspiring to one day become a writer/director. He has since worked on such films as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the recent Star Trek movie. He’s having a lot of fun and is working on developing his feature scripts. In the meantime check out J’s shorts on you tube at youtube.com/nonefilmproduction