Farid Eslam, the director, has added a new dimension to the film because of the Arab spring. As he says, “ We have filmed in Beirut, Cairo, Alexandria, Ramallah, Amman, Haifa, the Golan Heights, California and all over Europe and finally finished filming last week!

It’s been a very eventful year for the Middle East and most of our protagonists as well, who have been involved in or directly affected by the uprisings and other events connected to the Arab spring.  Most of our featured artists were heavily influenced by this year’s events, experienced dramatic personal loss, state violence, despair, but also sparks of hope and the feeling of being in control of their own future for the first time. We managed to capture this amazing atmosphere of change and turmoil.

Our next step is postproduction and we plan to be finished with a rough edit in late spring 2012. At the moment we are trying to raise about 25,000 EUR in completion funds.”

The Zora in Desire trailer that we have submitted to the International Movie Trailer Festival was made with a budget of $0.00. You got that right. Zilch. Nothing.

Lacking a budget wasn’t fully an obstacle when creating this trailer (I’m responsible for 12 half-hour episodes of the Oblivion web series which were also made without any funds…hence, no big deal). What truly was a challenge was offering a teaser that captures just a hint of what the movie will become without a) giving the plot away and b) without casting one of three leads. This particular lead is the muse mentioned above. Almost every scene he shares with Zephora the two become whole…completing engulfing one another fervently. So the sexual aspects that the film will contain had to take a backseat.

The eventual feature will have the look of a silent film. A lot of fake backdrops will be used in flashback sequences. Character make-up and lighting will be influenced by German Expressionism. The story itself plays a small homage to The Double Life of Veronique and fantasy films in general. I want the audience to consider the characters as fish out of water. The story does take place in modern times but I want a timeless quality in there as well. A lot of the wardrobe harkens back to a late-1920s look. Since we’re missing a budget, we thankfully had wardrobe leftover from past productions that my good friend, and Oblivion stylist, Yvonne Trinh provided.

Cinematographer Amberlie Bankoff and I shot the teaser in two days. Aside from Yvonne on the first day of shooting, we had no other crew. In Zephora’s only speaking bit at the end of the trailer, I sat in for her eye-line and boomed as well. One day was dedicated to exterior scenes, shot within a few hours, and the following day to all interior shots (which took a bit longer since Amberlie and I had to set design). I took cues from the final draft of the script, I made my shot list, presented it to Amberlie, rounded up our props (alright, alright, okay, so I lied…a bought a set of candles from the local .98 cent store), set our eyes on Downtown Pasadena and certain areas of Burbank, hung up a giant black curtain in our living room, and began to improvise. One broken mirror and melted wax all over the floor later…we got what you see before you.

About a week before planning the trailer, I caught Black Flamingo performing at the Echoplex here in Los Angeles. They’re friends of mine. I mean, not only does Amberlie play bass and sing in the band, but she’s also my girlfriend (and we all used to live together at one point). They announced they had a new batch of songs the audience hadn’t heard before (and miraculously, neither had I). The first one was introduced, titled “Heavy Life”. 15 seconds into the song I knew I was going to feature it in the trailer. After they wrapped their set I went up to Kimi Recor (Black Flamingo singer/songwriter/guitarist) and asked her who wrote the song. She responded with, “We all did.” I told her that I wanted to use it in the Zora in Desire trailer. She gave me the approval. Kimi will now be composing the film’s soundtrack.

I remember there was one day when a frightened citizen spotted one of our prop guns and reported to the police. Undercover officers infiltrated a ditch we were filming in armed with shotguns. One of our film’s lead actors, Kelvin Girdy, had turned a corner only to literally run into one of these armed police officers. Thankfully, he has a way with words when under pressure and no one was hurt.

On a technical level, we wanted Roughrider to feel like the action films of the 80s and 90s, which featured simplistic, yet implausible action sequences and hand-made effects. The overall look of the movie is very old and grainy to support this. This is a movie that winks at the audience – when making a film whose main character is a skateboarder with a machine gun, I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t try to make something dramatic. It had to be tongue-in-cheek at all costs. Sure, the movie touches on serious issues found in today’s society such as drug cartel violence, but the story is delivered as a modern day swashbuckler.

The main character is Jack Urban. He’s not our average hero. He fights only for himself and if he happens to save the day, it was probably by accident. When his younger sister is lost to drug violence and cops and politicians fail bring about justice, Jack believes the only way to fight fire is with fire. It isn’t until he’s faced with a bigger threat when he starts to realize that the problems of the world are bigger than what matters to him personally.

I hope you enjoy this trailer and I look forward to bringing this film to you in 2012.

For the most up-to-date information, you can follow Roughrider on www.facebook.com/roughridermovie or www.twitter.com/roughridermovie

This movie deals with central concepts in human existence from a psychological point of view. In order to take the human individual as the unit of this work I tried to build a unique relationship between the camera and myself. Most of the shots in this movie were made by myself without any other operators or film crew members, even during the acting parts. What I was looking for was to experience a filmmaking individualism able to push my creativity and sensibility as deep as possible. Working with an open screenplay until the end allowed me to melt frame by frame the role of producer, screenwriter, director, cinematographer and actor. It was like living a dream in hell, but I could feel the spirit of true independent cinema: one vision without any compromise. Every great movie I admire is distinguished by a unique expression of creativity and I think that’s the way it should be for myself too. If we are talking about art and not money, what’s the point in reviving something already done?

As far as the trailer is concerned, I mainly tried to express the atmosphere of the movie, emphasizing on some of its relevant themes. It’s a conceptual trailer in the end: a fragment of the human psyche. It aims at combining three states of mind: the introspective calm at the beginning, the persistent doubt in the middle and the anxious chaos at the end. People are watching the trailer and they’re asking me: “Is this a horror movie? Is it a thriller? What kind of movie is it?”, but honestly I believe it’s none of them. In fact, I couldn’t place it in any specific genre. There are dramatic moments, just like horror or thriller, but also romantic, realistic and even surrealistic ones. I rather think of this movie as an individualistic movie.

For more information about Study visit the Official Movie Site at http://www.studythemovie.com or follow Study on Facebook and Twitter.

Having grown up in the country in the 1970s with seemingly “perfect” families all around me, I put the Miller family in this setting. In the feature, the story starts off with beautiful weather days only to turn to what I call “MRI grey” as the bad news progresses down the story line. In the short film version, Evidence, we come right into the middle of the story. It’s grey, depressing and no sun.

Before we shot the short film over a three day weekend, the forecast was for thunderstorms. It would have been nearly impossible to shoot outside in that kind of weather. But I think Mother Nature read my script and knew what we needed. Oh she threatened us just enough but gave us the overcast we needed to make the atmosphere for Evidence work. Frankly, she saved us a lot of money in post!

With Evidence, I wanted to give audiences a taste of Justice is Mind while also providing them the very real possibility that someday our thoughts may not be our own—by the choices we make.

“The screenplay won best script at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood at the beginning of this year. Apart from writing it, I hope to direct it given the opportunity.

“When I began to write a trailer script of my film for the IMTF trailer screenplay contest, I had to think of what is the function of a trailer. Although in my “Macbeth” screenplay, I have edited Shakespeare’s text, and in many cases told the same story visually, the main text still remains. For the trailer, images prevailed – words were at a minimum, just a taste.The trailer uses more and more rapid intercuts, reaching to a dramatic climax. Of course images in themselves, no matter how dynamic, can remain empty – unless as in “Macbeth” there is an innate psychologicalthread that links them and grips us.

“I had to imagine an audience that had no idea of the story. (Shakespeare is no longer required reading in our schools ) The trailer and the film have quotes on the screen at the beginning, that give the “why”of the film. What I would wish for is that the popcorn is put aside as we race to the end of this great and powerful story. That we are moved……and possibly, see ourselves.”

I set about gaining access to and filming cancer experts and survivors.  I knew about skydiving but I didn’t know much about breast cancer.  After a few of these interviews, the thread we would follow became apparent, and I made the decision to focus on prevention. In the world of formation skydiving there is an oft repeated caution, “Don’t be a victim.”  This phrase would form the undertone of theme for Pink Skies.

Directing the shoot of the JFTC event was one of the most challenging things that I’ve done as I was also one of the participants.  I’d made an extensive shot list ahead of time and my team, Director of Photography – Zac Heileson and audio – Michael Wine made it happen.  I would make new shot lists on the way to altitude, shifting my thoughts to the jump for the last 15 minutes or so.  When I landed, a production assistant would meet me, take my notes and run them to the camera crew. Then I would grab a microphone and find the next person we needed to interview.  Early morning arrivals to capture sunrises and arrivals, 100+ degree temperatures, multiple jumps and then staying on to cover the evening activities as well, made for long days.

We made three more trailers before we were finally happy.  In the making of each trailer we also clarified our vision for the film because we were highlighting the important points of the film.

In addition to our premier in Los Angeles, as the opening night film, “Pink Skies” has gone on to win a Gold Medal for excellence at the prestigious Park City Film Music Festival and Best Documentary Film at the VegasCinefest in Las Vegas. Pink Skies also just won Best Documentary at the Beverly Hills Film, TV and New Media Festival. In addition we recently screened at the EAA Airventure at Oshkosh, New York City International Film Festival, and the Kiev International Film Festival.

The best part about making this film though isn’t winning awards, it has been the reaction of the people seeing it.  Recently after a festival a woman come up to me and with tears in her eyes told me how important seeing this film had been for her.  She said she had spent the whole night after watching it going over the film again in her mind and making lists of the changes she was going to make in her life.  She thanked me profusely for making this film.  I’ve had multiple inquiries from schools and state institutions to show the film.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

See www.PinkSkiesthemovie.com for more information and follow Pink Skies on Facebook and Twitter.

“Thanks to a science accident (kaBOOM), a world of monsters (us) collides with a monster world (them). Next thing you know, there are hideous top-hat wearing trolls and pumpkin zombies popping up in gas stations, restaurants and city parks, places you’d normally go to the bathroom.”Monstrosity” is that film.

“Based on the kid-friendly horror film short “Unpleasantville” (2010), “Monstrosity” does a Tim Burton maneuver, combining colorful costumes and remarkable creature masks with Goth-y stop motion and digital animation. As “Monstrosity “is family-ready, don’t expect exploding brains, blood baths and/or pumpkin goo gone wild.”

For more, visit http://mansplat.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/monstrosity/

“Broken Roads” tells the story of Aldo Russo who survives a traumatic car accident in which his mother dies and he is sent to live with his grandmother whom he’s never met. A heartfelt drama about life, dealing with loss; a journey of rediscovery and the hills climbed which forever change us. A compelling thought provoking story of stark  contrasts leaving us with the belief that it is never too late to be brand new.

For further information about “Broken Roads” please contact Crevice Entertainment: executive@creviceentertainment.com