Scene and Heard

Anthony Demings, owner of the Brooklyn Coffee Teahouse in Providence, Rhode Island, is pleased to announce his film Children of the Asylum (COTa) will have its world premiere at the Columbus Theatre on Broadway on Saturday, April 27, 2013, at 5:30 pm along with other great short films at the SENE Film, Music & Art Festival. The talented and accomplished Skip Shea directed the film, and Mary Kelliher DeBerry served as the multi-talented producer on this film working on all aspects of it, including wardrobe, research, running auditions, catering, and appearing as the mystery woman in the opening scenes. She even has been asked to write the stage adaptation for the story as well. We salute Tony, Skip and Mary for their extraordinary efforts in bringing this film to reality.

Newport: The Series – Tom Erb’s series based on the paintings of artist  William Heydt happens to star three of my favorite Massachusetts ladies: Paula Dellatte, Mary Yezukevich Wright, who I have had the pleasure of working with, and Jeanne Lohnes, who I will work with in Red Circles for its final season. This series promises to be a good one, and it also stars Susan Wyoral from right here in RI. Congrats ladies!!

Anthony Ambrosino and Nick Delmenico of Project 989 just took on the job of helping RISD senior Carolyn Colton produce her newest film New Shoes. The film stars Jami Tennille and David Carpenter as the parents. It also stars one of our own from the NE Kids’ Actors Group, Nicky Gem ( Sarmiento) who plays their young daughter. It is a dark film about the child’s happiness and innocence lost as she witnesses the disturbing exchange between her parents. Colton works in both video and traditional 16mm film, and draws influence from well-known directors Michael Haneke, David Fincher, and David Lynch. She is originally from the Washington, D.C., area, and aside from her film work she is an accomplished classical pianist, having played Carnegie Hall at age 12. She writes and directs all of her films, and is currently in pre-production for her next short film, Blue Devil, about a young girl with insectophobia.

A film with no violence, sex or blood that is 99 percent profanity-free? You bet! 50’s B&W comedy spoof film, Transsexuals from Space, produced, directed, and written by Brina Healy, is complete. Careful, however, as you may die laughing! Starring local talent, casting includes several a-listers from Rhode Island. Think Ed Wood meets Tim Burton, directed by Mel Brooks. This spoof features a brand new storyline, silly props, crazy situations, great acting and a rockin’ soundtrack! Transsexual troublemakers from Transmotivia are crossing the galaxy being pushy, pugnacious and prissy while pissing off nearly everyone they meet. When they reach Earth, they get more than they bargained for from the dwellers of the water-covered planet. As this film breaks new ground, the premiere will be extra special. Please stay tuned for details of a late spring debut.

Mike Murphy, a local actor out of Cranston, is appearing in an upcoming film to be released May/June called Eternal and filmed in Providence. Here is the link to the trailer in Kickstarter:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1115211600/eternal-1. He also appeared in a film called Here, which shot April 13 at  Kingston Station in Kingston, Rhode Island and Providence’s Prospect Park in the evening. Here’s the link for the latter film:

http://hereproduction.tumblr.com/cast

Last fall, when I first started acting again, I worked with a couple of very young talented dudes who were very hard working  and totally determined to get the word out about their films. One is Brian Bouyea of Root Beer Studios. For the past couple of years, his focus has been horror. His last feature film, The Network, which premiered at the Avon Cinema in Providence, RI, is currently the movie of the month on http://www.twistflix.com/!  The other is Shawn Manchester of SM Entertainment who is another very talented guy and a fantastic FX makeup artist. They both invite you to join them  for their big  back-to-back premiere on July  18 of  Famous ( Root Beer Studios) and The Next Step, by Shawn’s company, SM Entertainment. Follow the links below for more info or to get involved!

RBS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootbeerstudios

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/RBSOfficial?feature=mhee

Double Feature Premiere: https://www.facebook.com/doublefeature1

RBS Site: http://www.rootbeer-studios.com/

Director Julian Marshall, fresh out of RISD,  had his film debut online  April 15. His narrative film titled Obey the Giant is an interesting look at the life of the artist Shepard Fairey. Marshall said, “We moved heaven and earth to make this film,” as he talked about the ambitious project, for which he raised $65,000 through Kickstarter last spring. “Pre-production was about six weeks. We had to build an army of people, elaborate sets, a 27,000-pound billboard, and pull together an insane amount of props from the 1990s. It was an amazing time though. My crew and I truly became a family.” The Washington, D.C., native, is now based in NYC and at the helm of his own film production company. Check out the film here at http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/shepard-faireys-obey-origins-made-into-a-movie-meet-the-22-year-old-director_b28119

We are extremely excited for the debut of  the Gathr Preview Series:  Tomorrow’s Indie Film Hits In Your Local Theater Today.  Gathr Films has partnered with the leading Independent film distributors to build this unique and innovative film program.  Initially opening in 20 markets, Gathr Previews will allow film fans the opportunity to view the best of independent cinema before its theatrical release anywhere in the country. Consider it a year-round film festival that takes place right in your local theater. Gathr Films has curated a film series that covers a variety of genres, both foreign and domestic, including hand-selected first-run feature films representing the best in documentary and narrative film making. Beginning on April 29, the Cable Car Cinema & Cafe will be featuring the first film of the series.  Tickets for our first feature will be free with RSVP, and registration for the series will open on April 22 at Gathr.Us. We invite you to share this exclusive invitation with members of your organization and all the film lovers in your community. The goal is to allow amazing films the broader audiences they deserve and they hope you will partner with them in their vision.

Our first two features of the series are listed:

4/29/2013
THE ICEMAN
Starring: Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta, Winona Ryder, Chris Evans and James Franco
http://theiceman-movie.com/

5/6/2013
THE DEEP
Starring: Olafur Darri Olafsson, Johann G. Johannsson
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764275/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

Calling all filmmakers! Here’s a link to the open film submissions for the CyberHum: Spring Into Summer Film Festival that’s taking place on Friday and Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend @ AS200 Black Box Theater in Providence. Invite your fellow filmies to join and submit! Film submissions are now open for CyberHum: Spring Into Summer Film Festival taking place May 24 and 25 and celebrating sci-fi, animation, documentaries and music video works from local and international filmmakers and artists. The submissions deadline is May 7.

https://cyberhum.com/film_submissions.html

Announcing Difficult Tales, by Frank Difficult, which is an anthology of short films of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, all told in a bold experimental style. The show will span psychedelic gothic horror, pop-art space action and Lovecraftian terrors. I saw this trailer, folks, and I can’t wait to see the finished product. Hell, I even asked him if I could be in one of these tales! Difficult wound up in Providence, Rhode Island, the birthplace of cosmic horror as the hometown of H. P. Lovecraft, from whose work Frank has drawn much inspiration. He owned and managed an underground video store for a time, and has worked in nearly every aspect of film, video, theatrical and music production. He also has recorded and performed with many musical groups, including V.Majestic, Barnacled, Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores. The project is currently being funded on Kickstarter. View this mind-bending, awesome trailer here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/144586706/difficult-tales

Chris Esper ‘s next film will be a short comedy, Please Punish Me. It’s based on a story by local actor Tom Paolino, with the screenplay written by Rich Camp. It tells the story of Scottie, a businessman, whose life is too good. Every time good things happen to him, people around him get the negative effects  of his positive. Feeling as though he doesn’t deserve any of it, he seeks to be punished for his curse. The film is being produced by Macremi Productions along with founder/producer Creusa Michelazzo. They will be announcing a date for a casting call soon and hope to be begin shooting this summer. Bravo, Chris, for moving right into your next film and with the success of Still Life, which is now available to stream for $1.99 or download for $3.99. Just go to twistflix.com.
Ten-year-old Alex Dhima won best actor last weekend for Wishbone at the Campus Movie Fest and will be part of the LA Campus Movie Fest competition. Yay, Alex! Alex was cast in this film by our friend and long-time casting director Jodi Purdy, and he is a very active member of the group I run with Natasha Colonero, The NE Kids’ Actors Group. Here is the link to Wishbone for viewing:
http://www.campusmoviefest.com/movies/19147-wishbone. Alex also is in Red Circles, the cop drama with a supernatural spin by Seth Chitwood. I hope I get to film at least one of 14 episodes with him this summer! Rock on, Alex!

Two of our kids from the NE Kids’ Actors Group,  identical twins Uatchet Jin Juch and Nekhebet Kum Juch, have been theater and film goers all of their lives, but a chance encounter with a leading lady at an installation about human rights in Burma changed their early years.  They went to that young lady’s show during Harvard Arts First 2010 festival and got inspired. Since then, the twins have been very busy in local theater in Massachusetts and also have started to venture into film. They played  sisters Lee & Sara in an independent feature film, Wander My Friends by Raz Cunningham of small GIANT media (see info here: http://www.wandermyfriends.com/p/whos-crew.html), and now they will again play sisters Ali & Kim on the big screen as principal roles in a Hollywood movie — Infinitely Polar Bear written and directed  by Maya Forbes and starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana, which will be released in 2014. Way to go, girls!

Look for Nick Iandolo and moi, in a film review once a month called “Take Two” on MOTiV, our new on-camera news clips feature. We’ll face off on current films and try to be nice to each other in the process. Just kidding, this will be fun and informative, as well. Nick usually hates everything I like, based on our experience as members of the RIFC committee who chose this year’s short film script to be produced.  Look for us on MoTiV, and don’t change that channel!