Pumelo International Film Festival 2007 - Synopsis of Feature Films

Something that Sticks
Director = James Devereux
Production = Germany/2005
Duration = 70min.

Synopsis = Two eccentric, moral less "low budget" music producer brothers, Ron and Walter Krepps, have come to Germany to create a pop star for the sole reason of advertising an upcoming energy drink named "Speedy Boy". This is the brothers' one "last shot" in their fifteen year career in producing and promoting bands within their company MAXIMUM POTENTIAL. All their previous ventures in punk, new wave and metal bands have failed due to their cheap low budget methods, bad decision making and general lack of talent. We follow them, reality tv style, on their last ride as these old school promoters attempt to transform a young boy to a pop star in a small amount of time with their hand picked crew of misfit assistants including a permanently stoned music director, an overly flamboyant dance choreographer and a morose but symphathetic secretary. As we build up to the final "concert showcase", we finally understand the reason for Ron and Walter's constant failures.

Director Profile = James Devereux worked in different Art Departments for different films. He then traveled throughout the world for a long time working as an artist. He finally came to Munich, Germany to start working on his first feature film SOMETHING THAT STICKS.

Wait up Harriet
Director = Angus Benfield and Hanna Eichler
Production = New Zealand/2006
Duration = 86min

Synopsis = Jack has just lost his wife Harriet and is not copeing well. He has locked himself away and is slowly drinking away the memories of his life with Harriet. But when Marty, an old 'spiritual adviser' friend of Harriet's - shows up he slowly begins to come out of his shell. During this time he realises he must come face to face with his life, his estranged son from a previous marriage and a secret that Harriet had never had time to reveal to him...

Director Profile = Angus Benfield has had 20 years experiance as a director, writer, actor and producer. This is the first project to combine several of thoses skills. Hanna Eichler has had many years experiance as a theater director and playwrite, this is her first film experience.

The Fleapit Three
Director = Bryan Young & Elias PAte
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 84 minutes

Synopsis = Mike, John and Matt work at a discount movie theatre and hate it. Their boss hates them, they can't get girls and they don't have a car. After being harrased by customers, they decide that maybe the best way to get a car is to steal the money to pay for it. And the best place to rob from is the one place they know about, the fleapit of a theatre they work at. They set their plans in motion and all hell breaks loose.

Director Profile = Bryan Young and Elias Pate have been working in the film industry for close to a decade. They have co-directed two feature films (Missy (1999) and The Fleapit Three (2007)) and a feature length documentary (The Misbehavers (2004)). They have also produced and/or assistant directed numerous films, including the award-winning documentary This Divided State (2005). They've written more than a dozen screenplays, two of which are at the top two agencies in the world. They also co-writes (with artist Derek Hunter) the comic book Pirate Club, which is released quarterly from Slave Labor Graphics.

Shifted
Director = Michael Madison
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 88 minutes

Synopsis = SHIFTED is a character-driven crime story that takes place over the course of one year in David Anderson's life, detailing the rise, fall and redemption of a successful young businessman stranded in Los Angeles, when the SEC shuts down the company he works for. After losing his job and the beautiful, but expensive Rachel, his life is turned upside down and inside out. A chain of unfortunate losses leads David to a new "home", where he makes friends with two unusual men. One of these men, Marcos, an older black man unemployed by outsourcing and age, becomes his close friend and confidant. Through a series of events, David comes to the realization that someone is out to get him. While the audience knows this long before David, a sub-plot involving Primo Mortgage parallels the progression of David's shifting perspective on life. A brutal murder forces David to re-examine his life choices and he decides to take a low paying job at The Midnight Mission on Skid Row, where he starts rebuilding his self-esteem and eventually allowing himself to act on his attraction to Catherine. After a few near misses with Robert, right-hand man for Peter Novak, the founder of Primo, David figures out that he must have something they want. Marco helps him figure out the "why" and together they figure out the "what". Faced with a decision about what to do with the information hidden by Robert, David must choose between his old materialistic self and a new life of shifted values, as he and Marcos fantasize about the new lives they could have.

Director Profile = Michael Madison grew up in Duncanville Texas, a suburb of Dallas. After graduating from Duncanville High School and Texas Tech University, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting and filmmaking. Soon after moving to Los Angeles, Michael started working with Linda Nelson and formed Nelson Madison Films. They put together a package of films and began pursuing partners and financing. Financing for new projects never materialized. Eventually, they had to find jobs, any job to keep their filmmaking dream alive. Michael got a job at a juice bar in an Armenian gym and Linda got a job at Target. About this time, Michael enrolled at Playhouse West to work on his acting. He paid for classes on credit cards. A student at Playhouse West told him that some storage facilities have on-site managers. The next day, Linda and Michael went and applied to work as on-site property managers. Working at the storage facility was an eye-opener to the homeless problem in Los Angeles. Seeing people trying to live in storage units inspired Linda and Michael to write the screenplay, SHIFTED. SHIFTED closely parallels their experience of losing their production company and having to slowly work their way back to filmmaking. Their film influences are broad, but much of their inspiration comes from indie filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, and Quentin Tarantino. Writing, producing, directing, acting and editing on SHIFTED has been an incredible artistic and educational experience. Learning how to do everything from scratch was a monumental challenge. Michael could see the film in his mind and spent countless hours drawing storyboards. Linda would scour through manuals learning all the technical ins and outs of their recently charged camera and editing equipment. They spent a year learning what all the buttons and switches did, while they worked on the script and started casting the film and scouting locations. They managed to shoot the film in twenty-eight saved up vacation days starting in June of 2004. The whole next year was spent assembling and editing the footage after finishing their day jobs. The cast was incredibly committed, always showing up as scheduled, even though all pay has been deferred until the film is sold. Thankfully SAG had an Experimental Contract that allowed the film to be made on a very limited budget. Now that SHIFTED is finished, work has already begun on the next film.

The Gutter Diaries
Director = Josh Whittall
Production = Canada/2006
Duration = 101 minutes

Synopsis = A vital, vibrant tale with no solutions, only victims dealing with the complex relationships that our world faces. Following four lost souls that battle their addictions, we discover how directly and indirectly they affect each other.

Director Profile = Canadian born Josh Whittall is 27, and has been an Assistant Director for six years. In that time he's managed to write 7 feature length scripts. "The Gutter Diaries" is his feature film directorial debut. In Nov 2006 "The Gutter Diaries" went to the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival where Josh was awarded Best Director for a Feature Film.

Wasted Sunshine
Director = Casey Safron
Production = USA
Duration = 32 minutes

Synopsis = Wasted Sunshine explores the destructive power of alcohol on lives and love ones. Victor Moore (Carson Grant), successful lawyer, enjoying his Florida retirement with his beautiful second wife, Melody (Sarah Ford Smith)are swimming happily in his glass bottom bottle of alcohol. Visited by his estranged son, Danny (David Brownstein), a now successful NYC photographer and a six month AA member, the two men need to separate their addictions from their true feelings. When hospitalized for a fatal bleeding ulcer, Victor confronts his worst fear, betrayal by the two people he loves the most. Caught between his sorrow, his past additions and his overwhelming attraction to Melody, Danny searches for resolution with his dying father. Wasted Sunshine examines the destructive power of alcohol on lives and love ones nestled in the retirement community of Islamorada, Florida.

Director Profile = Born in White Plains, New York, Charles (Casey) Safron began making movies and drawing short cartoons to stave the boredom of his teenage years. This hobby continued through college with the creation of over 20 short films and culminated with the feature film, Greenmind, a look at the underbelly of college radio. In 1998, Casey created his first animated short, Sonny Wong: Kung-Fu Waiter, which subsequently aired on many popular websites. Safron's second feature, Blake Poopler, a dark and surreal tale of addiction, premiered in March of 2002 at the Boston Underground Film Festival. Check out www.ridgewood13.com or www.feedphil.com for more examples of his live-action work. On September 9th, 2004, Animation Block Party, a NYC festival curated by Casey premiered in Brooklyn NY. In 2005, Casey directed Giambos and Side FX for Comedy Central. He is currently producing a handful of cartoons for MTV and the Sundance Channel. Casey is also developing a children's television series for Big Wave NV. And yes, Casey is still running the SVA Animation department; please do not ask for help with After Effects after 7pm. Safron and his college roommate, Jonathan Lang had collaborated on films for almost a decade when they first began discussing the possibly of working together on a Florida project. Lang wrote the first draft of "Wasted Sunshine" with their third college roommate, David Brownstein, in mind for the lead. Safron, meanwhile, began casting and storyboarding the film. Please check this website for updates. http://ridgewood13.com/film_wasted_pn.html

The Votive Pit
Director = Mike McShane
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 88 minutes

Synopsis = Expect a highly disturbing inside look at public education, one that carries an R-rating (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for its mature treatment of school violence, high stakes testing, academic freedom, and prayer in school. It’s Friday and there are just thirteen days of school to go before summer vacation at Odyssey Middle School. But just making it to the weekend will be hard enough. There will be more parent conferences, team meetings, class disruptions, violent acts, obscenities and epiphanies before lunch than the mythical children left behind would experience in a lifetime. Then it’s on to fifth period. What happens after the all-important testing is over? School doesn’t wind down at the end of the year; it winds up. Is it your worst nightmare? You’re in a room with thirty-six eighth graders in a public school and somebody expects you to teach them. If you survive the next fifty minutes, you may make it through the day, if you’re lucky. THE VOTIVE PIT comes from the front lines of the conflict within the human heart that threatens to blow us up. Here is the American dream of public education turned nightmare. School has become a votive pit, a trench we have dug and into which we now pour the blood of our kids, so that the spirits of the dead can speak truths to us. Are we going to listen or not?

Director Profile = Mike McShane is the director of The Votive Pit. He is a student at the University of Florida. He is a senior majoring in Film Studies in the English Department. This is his first feature film. He has a documentary being re-edited called "It’s All Good - The America’s New War Strikes Back!" Movie. Also, he is in pre-production for a musical film called "You Are Not Sinatra" written by Shamrock McShane. He is the in-house lighting and sound designer for the Acrosstown Repertory Theater where. He will be designing the lights for William Shakespeare’s "The Taming of the Shrew" as well as playing several roles including Baptista, the father of Kate and Bianca.

You look better still...
Director = Hanna Hellsten and Alexis Hall
Production = France 2001
Duration = 90 minutes

Synopsis = Two American women, former classmates Alexis Hall and Hanna Hellsten, meet again after five years for an artist residency at Le Fresnoy in France. They decide to collaborate during their eight-month stay with this test in mind: they will become each other's double for the entire time creating a lab test, a real psycho game with no end in sight. The result is a mental scramble, lying in ambiguous territory between performance and low-budget drama. Elaborate variations and games upon identity and sexuality take place in a series of individual acts exploring their competitiveness as well as the relationship between the spectator and their on-screen presence, their often provocative and sensual behaviour.

Director Profile = Feelings of tension and rivalry are triggered between Alexis Hall and Hanna Hellsten during their Master of Fine Arts studies at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. Cause for stress derives from these two young American artist/filmmakers' work being so similar using the medium of video, photography and writing questioning conventional approaches of identity construction within film history, literature and image-making. They both use themselves as main characters while playing with alternating identities, issues of schizophrenia and private/public intimacy. Each of their work is considered narcissistic and eccentric.

Life Goes On
Director = Brian Lawrence
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 94 minutes

Synopsis = Vince and Amy. Homecoming King and Queen. Captain of the football team. Captain of the cheerleading squad. Life at home in their working class neighborhood wasn't always perfect; but they were making the best of it. Or so it seemed. Flash forward eight years. Amy is graduating law school and moving forward. Vince is an addicted dope dealer on a downward spiral to oblivion. Amy finally has to take a stand -- "me or the drugs". Blinded by foolish pride and the local celebrity status he's attained by being Detroit's underground party supplier, Vince chooses the drugs. To his superficial entourage of customers and cronies, Vince boasts he's better off without her. But she's gone. For real this time. And Vince is feeling it. Racked with self-loathing and loneliness, Vince has to consume near fatal amounts of the drugs he supplies to shut out the pain of life without her. Will this downward spiral continue" Or will Vince kick the drugs and ask Amy to take him back" The next forty-eight hours will tell. Life Goes On is their story.

Director Profile = Brian Lawrence was born in Flint, Michigan. Growing up in the countryside between Flint and Detroit, Lawrence picked up a Super 8 camera and began shooting films while still in middle school. His love of film and skill as a writer led him to study film at Michigan State University. While still a student there, he made several well-received short films. After graduating, Lawrence produced and directed The Sad History of Duncan MacDugan. During this time he also owned and operated the William-Lynn Agency -- a commercial advertising company where he produced, wrote and directed numerous TV commercials and industrial films. In 1984, Lawrence founded The Actor's Workshop " a studio where he has run a successful program of dramatic instruction that trains actors for both film and stage. The Actor's Workshop has grown into the Detroit area's premiere acting studio where Brian continues to teach and serve as artistic director. Lawrence wrote, produced and directed Hardin County in 1989. This landmark stage play was the first of more than 20 stage productions Lawrence has directed during the course of his career. Other theater productions Lawrence has directed include Edmond (David Mamet), Lone Star (James McLure), Beautiful Dreamer: The Plays of Tennessee Williams, I Stand Before You Naked (Joyce Carol Oates), Baby Doll (Tennessee Williams), Fool for Love (Sam Shepard), Sexual Perversity In Chicago (David Mamet), Vieux Carre (Tennessee Williams) and The Heidi Chronicles (Wendy Wasserstein). Plays written and directed by Lawrence include B Movies I " IV, Dreams, The New Millennium Celebration and Medicine Show, Hardin County and Shakespeare In Las Vegas. Brian's short films include The Reeve's Tale (from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales), The Ice Fisherman, The Sad History Of Duncan MacDugan, Deux Poetes and The Crystal Billingsly Story. His first feature, Corrupted Minds, will be released January 9, 2007 through Barnholtz Entertainment.

Filmography
· Corrupted Minds 2006 98 minutes Drama
· Ice Fisherman 1998 18 minutes Drama
· The Sad History of Duncan MacDugan 1983 18 minutes Comedy
· The Reeve's Tale 1979 30 minutes Comedy
· Deux Poetes 1976 16 minutes Comedy
. The Crystal Billingsly Story 1973 15 minutes Fantasy

This Is A Door
Director = Billy Sharff
Production = USA/2005
Duration = 90 mins

Synopsis = Three brothers are living together in a house during the final few days of their mother's life. As she is dying, off screen, each brother is forced to grapple with the past and the future in his own unique way. The worst in each slowly takes over as the story reaches its climax. The location is rural New Hampshire in the present day. The central conflict surrounds a childhood friend of the family who is moving to Poland to be married. This is a shock to the brothers.

Director Profile = Billy Sharff was born in the small town of Cornish, New Hampshire. He began working in photography when he was 12, developing black and white photographs in a darkroom in his basement. He started making experimental films when he was 14 and has been developing his style ever since. One of his films was shown at the Brattleboro Film Festival in 2003, and two of his films were shown at the Fall Mountain Film Festival, in 2004. In 2005, one of his films was shown in the FILMSTOCK Film Festival in Luton in the U.K. and another in the Rome International Film Festival. His first feature was shown at the White River Film Festival in 2005. He has recently finished his second feature film, This is a Door, in Cornish, New Hampshire. In December 2005 he began work for the company Inman (www.turnhere.com) making short documentaries about people and places.

Fairy Tale Romance
Director = Jack Gunthridge
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 75 mins

Synopsis = A modern day re-telling of 'Beauty and the Beast' with 'Cinderella', 'Snow White', and 'Little Red Riding Hood' intercut into the main narrative. It examines the true nature of love to see if the ideals of fairy tales are still possible in this day and age.

Director Profile = Jack Gunthridge is a writer, director, producer, and star. He models himself after Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and has worked to maintain his artistic independence. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Motion Pictures and Television at the Academy of Art University. "Fairy Tale Romance" is his second feature.

Beat the Air
Director = Steve Saylor
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 92:24

Synopsis = A woman on the run finds shelter in a rooming house whose boyish caretaker shows her unexpected kindness as he struggles to contain feelings she stirs in him. When two cops arrive with the news that her husband has vanished, she becomes a murder suspect, but one of the cops, apparently smitten, offers her a way out. To accept his help, she'll have to buy his claim that the sweet, young caretaker is not what he seems.

Director Profile = Steve Saylor earned a masters in film from Temple University, where he wrote and directed a feature-length movie, "The Pope of Utah," with filmmaker and fellow student Chaim Bianco. The film played in festivals around the world and was distributed on British home video. "Beat the Air" is Saylor"s second feature. Saylor is a professor of screenwriting and film at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Winter's End
Director = Patrick Kenny
Production = Ireland/2005
Duration = 98min

Synopsis = Winter's End is a contemporary thriller set in the heart of rural Ireland and tells the story of Amy Rose who lives a solitary life with her older and younger brothers Henry and Sean. Henry, an embittered 40yr old farmer teeters on the edge of sanity. Things come to a head when he kidnaps a young man who parked in his field to attend an outdoor music event in his locality. Amy has gotten used to evading Henry's violent outbursts and tends to the needs of the chained up Jack and tries to convince herself that Henry will release Jack unharmed. The time comes when Amy realised that Jack will die if she does not take action. But at what cost to the Rose family.

Life at 70
Director = Savio DSilva
Production = India/2007
Duration = 55min

Synopsis = This Savio DSilva film uses the narrative form using the diary of a 70 year old woman. The film shows how the death of her son in a road accident can cause much pain to the loved ones left behind. Her son died while driving under the influence of alcohol.

The film also potrays the various stages of the old lady's life using pictures and stories. The memories, the pain, the joys, the boredom, the love, the sacrifice, the will to survive, the desire to let go, the joy of living, the sadness that death brings - life at 70.

A ground breaking feature film with simple lessons and a tremendous acting stint by a really old woman.

It Happened to Me
Director = Savio DSilva
Production = India/2007
Duration = 58min

Synopsis = This Savio DSilva film potrays various stories that happens in the lives of the characters. The first scene shows a young school boy walking back home who is kidnapped & later sexually molested. Russel plays the role of thr sexually molested boy who grows up to have nightmares of his abused childhood. Russel's mother is an old woman who is struggling to make ends meet & to keep her son and her 2 paying guests happy. Sahil is the male paying guest & Neha the female paying guests. The film potrays the harmful effects of taking drugs through the character Roshan. Also, the film teaches us to go out of our way to help another human being.

At the very outset of the film, Young Russel is kidnapped & sexually molested by a stranger who woos him with chocolate bars. The stranger belts him & warns him not to tell anyone about what happened that day. The film then moves on to the present day where Russel has grown up & lives with his mother, paying guests Sahil & teenage girl Neha. Russel was out on an office trip & comes back home for a few days. His childhood experiences have made him a person who does not enjoy life, has no friends at all, is closed emotionally to the outside world & a completely silent, reclusive character. His mother is very old and suffers from an illness that makes her tired very easily. She loves her son & the paying guests she houses & goes out of her way to ensure that they are well taken care off. She makes breakfast for her son but he eats it coldly or leaves to work without eating it. She tries hard to talk to him over breakfast but he does not reply. Sahil is a student who helps the old lady with her chores whenever he can. He has a girlfriend Natasha and a rich best friend Roshan.

Sahil goes to meet Roshan one day & is shocked to discover that Roshan happens to be deeply into drugs. He tries to tell him to get off it but to no avail. While they are chilling out with beers and playing the guitar Sahil gets a call on his mobile phone from the old lady saying that she is very sick & wants him to come home to take her to the doctor. The old lady had called up Russel first but her son said that he was busy in a meeting & to take her medicines and go to sleep. It happens to be Natasha's birthday the same day & Sahil had plans of meeting her that evening to celebrate it as a couple. However, he quickly cancels all his plans & rushes back home to take the old lady to the doctor. Roshan is instructed by Sahil to tell Natasha to meet up at Roshan's beautiful villa. Natasha hesitates at first when Roshan calls but then she says Yes as Sahil is guranteed to come later after he has taken the old lady to the doctor.

However, the film takes a few twists & turns and things start happening for each of the characters. The old lady is diagnosed with a serious blood cancer & has few days to live. Her treatment costs a lot of money which she does not have & neither does she want to try getting the money as she has already lived a long life. She wants badly to see Russel married and have grandchildren but he does not seem to care. She makes her will & instructs the lawyer to give Sahil a share in her property too. Sahil decides that he will somehow try to get the money needed to treat the old lady & give her few more weeks to live. So, he enters a personality contest that has a cash prize of the needed money. He borrows the money from his girlfriend to pay for a course in personality development as well as the entry fees for the contest. She gives him the money without a fuss.

Neha's love life seems to be her main priority. She is always thinking of her boyfriend Rohit. She is shown messaging him & getting expensive gifts from him. She really loves him but her boyfriend's identity is not revealed in the earlier half of the movie.

The film gathers momentum with the old lady praying to god to forgive her for all her sins & justifying to god that this happened to her for a reason. The movie has a surprising ending which the audience must watch to understand & enjoy the story. So, we leave the happenings at this.

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