Gerardo Korn & Martín Serra
1. Tell us something about yourself?
Gerardo Korn: I'm a German-Argentine art photographer and live in Buenos Aires. I'm fully dedicated to my art, but also worked as a cultural manager, exploring various art forms along the way. Having said that, I've always been passionate about cinema as well, so when the idea for this film came up, I didn't hesitate, and the collaboration with Martin Serra was perfect to make the project happen.
Martín Serra: I”m graduated from Universidad del Cine and live in Buenos Aires. I’m dedicated to making documentaries with some exception in fiction. Most of the works I’ve been made are related to Argentine painting.
2. What are working on at the moment?
GK: After exhibiting my last photography project in India, at the gallery that represents me in Mumbai, I'm working on new projects and also on a script for a movie.
MS: Permanently I’m projecting new works. At this time, I’m starting to produce a new feature documentary, the third one in my career, about Spanish-Argentine Philosopher Ismael Quiles. In parallel I”m also working on a fiction series about an important politician and military man in the Argentine
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
Our film will obviously be interesting for art lovers, but we see much more than that. It's a story of overcoming that can serve as an inspiration to anyone, which also shows a quite unique visual spectacle, through a location that would never be imagined suitable for a shooting like the one made.
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
The work on the Goddess began in January 2016. That year an important celebration was already planned at the painter's house, since his wife and mentor Franca, who also appears in the film, would turn 90 at the end of February. As the date drew nearer, the painter became increasingly nervous, since the idea was to have a big party with more than 60 guests seated in the garden, that is, next to the Goddess.
The energy it took for the painter to do this work, at his age, in a wheelchair, required that everything be focused on the Goddess, without distractions of any kind.
To make a long story short, tension mounted, the work on the Goddess and therefore filming was interrupted, and finally the big birthday party was cancelled and the guests uninvited. Tough. It's a blessing that the woman enjoyed good health and longevity, as the following year the party could finally take place, with the Goddess finished and in all her splendor...
Aaron Parpart
1. Tell us something about yourself?
My name is Aaron Parpart and I am the writer and director of Neon. I graduated from Nevada State College with my Bachelors of Applied Science in Film. I have been making movies since I was five with my brother and cousin. Every weekend when they'd babysit me, we would pull the video camera out and film something. From music videos, to short films, or to filming us playing sports. Filmmaking has been a major part of my life.
2. What are working on at the moment?
I am currently working on my third feature film titled California Dreamin'. A film that follows five interconnected stories on one fateful night in Las Vegas. It is like my love letter to the Vegas Valley.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
Neon follows the lives of young women as they try to make it in the adult entertainment industry. Through heartache, jealousy, and betrayal, they quickly realize how tumultuous things are behind the scenes. The industry is full of excess, but when does it become too much?
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
During the scene where I had to do cocaine, my character is supposed to get a bloody nose and have a bad reaction. We were using powdered lactose for the cocaine and it was easy to snort. Just as we were about to start filming, I realized that I had never snorted anything before. So I decide to just go for it and we call action. I act out the scene where I have the bad reaction to the cocaine, but the camera man cut because they all thought I really had a genuine bad reaction. I guess you can say my acting was that believable. All joking aside, that was a fun moment on set.
Dan Chen
1. Tell us something about yourself?
When I am not acting in or writing/directing/producing films, I work as an educator at New York City’s oldest private school for girls, as well as a college-level instructor for au pairs studying in the United States. Accordingly, I am a firm believer in, and strongly support, feminist ideas. I actively strive to reflect that in all areas of my work and life.
2. What are working on at the moment?
I have begun production on my next short film (which I also wrote), entitled ENTROPY, a sci-fi love story about Brian Au, a single scientist with a morbid fear of rejection who, during the 2020 pandemic, discovers a way to "remember" forward in time. For the female lead, I wrote a breakdown in my casting notice as follows: Mimi Frank (Lead): Female, 20-35; a young scientist who is seemingly full of contradictions: stubbornly open-minded, she’s a pious atheist; a Jewish-American Princess who went to Catholic school on a scholarship; a disinterested love interest; and a fast-talking, deep-thinker, who spends all her time trying to make time stop
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
FLIGHT is a love story wrapped up in a spy film. We get to be the proverbial “fly on the wall” as two unlikely spies decide between fight and flight while facing capture and betrayal.
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
(Spoiler alert.) In the original script, when Charlotte realizes that she has been set up, she slaps the other agent (“The Seagull”) in the face. On the day of shooting, as we walked through the blocking, I decided that a slap was too cliche, and probably played on stereotypes in a decidedly unfeminist way. So I changed the action of that scene to a “super short” fight sequence (in order to, among other things, establish that she could kick his ass if she wanted to). As it turns out, one of the producers on this, Chris Cayden, is also a mixed martial arts expert, so I called him for a quick consult right before we shot that scene, and he choreographed it for us, remotely, by Zoom.
Carlos Pacheco
1. Tell us something about yourself?
I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in April 14,1980. I have produced content for journalistic and broadcasting use in a wide range of media including video, photography, motion graphics, graphic design and social media. My experience includes working as Master Control, Technical Director and Robotic Camera Operator for Adelphia Cable Vision Channel 10, Assistant Director (1st AD) for XCL-TV, Photojournalist for the Senate and The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico and Imaging Operations Coordinator for Disney’s Photo Imaging at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I am a single dad of two beautiful daughters.
2. What are working on at the moment?
At the moment I just finished my second short film, my first in the Avant-Garde genre and I am very excited about it. Is inspired by an introspective psychological practice and I use a mix of mediums and techniques such as digital art compositions, accidental painting, abstract painting, stop motion animation and slow-motion all filmed with a mobile device to produce a final video art piece. I can't wait to submitted into film festivals, I'm very confident it will do as good or better than I s o l a t i o n's festival run, 2021 is going to be a great year.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
I s o l a t i o n is a product of its own name. Is the result of a spark of inspiration while listening to the music that is now the soundtrack of the short film. Totally improvised and shot in one day. Isolation is a drama that takes you on an intimate look and experience Carlos's lonely isolation for one day (day 36 of quarantine).Carlos is a Puerto Rican living by himself in the State of Florida, furloughed because of Covid-19.
4. Share an anecdote from the making of the film?
There's this shot in the scene called "the photo" that is my favorite and also it was very challenging since I was shooting it through the reflection of the glass in the photo frame inside the bedroom and acting it outside the room through the balcony window. Focusing, framing and exposing for it to then go outside and act what was going to be seen through the glass reflection and then come back in and change the focus and exposition to reveal the photo in the frame in one take was my favorite challenge of the project.
Luca Machnich
1. Tell us something about yourself?
My full name is Luca Machnich Palmerini. I am a former editorialist who wrote an acclaimed encyclopaedia on Italian horror films entitled ''Spaghetti Nightmares", collecting the professional reminiscences of Italy’s leading actors, screenwriters, directors etc. in the genre. I look back with particular pleasure on my encounters with the director Romano Scavolini and the actress Daria Nicolodi, two wonderful, highly accomplished individuals whom I admire immensely, and who resemble me to a certain extent. Today’s cinema needs more people with their cultural sophistication and intelligence if it is to achieve a revival. I myself am I devotee of exquisitely composed camera shots, and also a visionary when it comes to my ideas, true to my family’s legacy in films, given that my mother was an actress, while my grandfather did experimental work with film for the Technicolor company. And my great grandfather opened Dublin’s first movie theatre, the ‘Cinema Volta’. In fact, one of his partners was the writer James Joyce. At the age of 13, I got my first taste of filmmaking with a super-8 camera, and today, without any false modesty, indeed, backed by the hard evidence of the 548 awards that my debut work has won to date, I take pride in being considered one of Europe’s most accomplished, up-and-coming directors of horror films.
2. What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on two projects, one in collaboration with a child psychologist and the other together with a police official. One is a typically American horror story, while the other is of a northern European interpretation of the genre, though both address controversial subjects on which I hold very firm opinions that I intend to express with absolute sincerity. I am a fan of horror films with substantive content and messages, a direction that has seldom been taken in the genre, so I only hope I can find producers courageous enough to support me. For now, that is all I can say on the subject.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
If you want to see a film that mixes and matches other genres, that reinvents the classic horror film, putting you through emotions so strong that, forever after, you’ll find all the other genres too tame and boring, then go see The Eve!
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
At the time, The Eve was only the world’s third short film to be based on a theory developed by Max Luscher, a Swiss psychotherapist, who had determined that every shade of colour selected by a given individual when he or she paints, or chooses clothes, or makes some other chromatic decision, actually expresses the state of their soul, a theory that advertisers make much use of, matching the colours of positive moods to the products they are selling, whereas I used Luscher’s chromatic scale to chose the colours of the dreams, hallucinations and drawings of my main characters. In fact, colours might be the real stars of my film, as in the case of Nicolas Roeg’s masterpiece Don’t look Now, in which the colour red, in what amounts to the lead role, only appears in moments of desperation or aggression.
Daniel Światły
1. Tell us something about yourself?
I am a filmmaker and academic lecturer from Poland.
I hold a M.F.A. degree from the Faculty of Directing of the Łódź Film School and a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Graphic Arts and Media Art of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.
My professional work includes writing screenplays and directing programs for the biggest Polish TV stations and directing short documentaries selected or awarded at major film festivals.
I am interested in arthouse and exploring boundaries between various cinema areas.
In 2018, my film Infinity is 50 meters away was nominated at the Jihlava Documentary Film Festival for the prestigious Silver Eye award for the best documentary film from Central and Eastern Europe.
2. What are you working on at the moment?
I have just started jotting down ideas but since I have decided to stay for a while within independent and off cinema, I mean very off cinema, and I am in no hurry, these notes need some time to grow.
3. Pitch your film to those who have not watched it?
I would not pitch this film to anybody because I do not think pitching a film that has already been made is a good idea. I would just say if you felt that slow cinema might be your thing, and you do not feel uncomfortable with something very quiet and with a few spoken words – just go and see it. Maybe it will resonate with you. If not – it is just not your cup of tea and there is nothing wrong with it.
I believe what eye can see cannot be clearly translated into words. Since film is deep and reach but visual medium, the imagery relates closely to imagination and intuition. This works both ways, naturally, words do not translate easily into imagery. That is why we have poetry and visual poetry as well. My project fits in somewhere in these lands.
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
No anecdote comes to my head now, but what I remember the most is that we had a lot of fun with one of our main movie characters – pink piggy balloon that is. There was a time when the whole family of piggy balloons had been keeping us company during shooting and so in our daily life. Once while filming in a park, we almost lost them all and could not easily complete our shooting plan because every kid around wanted to fetch them and tried to sneak into our frame to grab one.
https://lowlightfilm.pl/produkcja-filmowa/powrot-do-domu
Photo Gallery
Alex Kinter
1. Tell us something about yourself?
My long-standing affinity for the art of moving pictures and defining imagery dates back to my school days. I have an extensive photography and cinematography background that was honed from my years in working with commercial video production clients. My efforts forced me to I pay to composition, lighting and vibrant cinematography in order to make effective pieces.
2. What are working on at the moment?
I’m currently doing everything within my power to encourage as many viewers as possible to watch “Poolside,” especially given the subject matter in relation to Women’s History Month. While managing the promotion of my film project, I still maintain ongoing relationships with my commercial advertising and video marketing clients for Kinter Media, my multimedia production company based in Dallas, TX.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
The movie delves into the character study of a privileged 1950’s housewife who appears to have it all on the surface-- apparent wealth, a beautiful home, and upscale surroundings. Beneath the surface lies a lonely, troubled woman struggling to maintain her sanity while plagued by the distressing voices she hears underwater at her indoor pool. Will the voices torment her to the point of no return, forcing her to plunge into a dark emotional state? Only viewers will know.
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
Before and during the shooting of the film, the production team realized that we wanted to explore dualities throughout the plot and weave the theme throughout the entire film, which becomes more apparent as viewers watch the premise unfold. There were also definitely some trying times during the making of the film such as the film equipment being around the water, the temperature of the water, the sound reverberation in the large pool room, and filming in a couple of tight spaces.
Lynn El Safah
1. Tell us something about yourself?
I’m a hopeless romantic, I want to unite all the hopeless romantics in the world to create a little reality of hopeful-hopeless romantics; on film of course.
2. What are working on at the moment?
I’m working on some experimental editing, constantly trying to discover new ways to convey meaning. I strongly disagree with the claims that everything has already been discovered in the film world; maybe it’s just time for a renaissance.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
“Oh Moon, what about bread?” was made to simulate a meditative experience. It’s a film that justifies the beauty of simple introspection, the intimacy of a solo walk through the park while helplessly contemplating everything.
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
Believe it or not, my cinematographer has Ornithophobia (fear of birds). If you watched the film, you’d understand how hilarious that is; so watch the film.
Mukesh Asopa
1. Tell us something about yourself?
Mukesh Asopa is an Awards Winning Film Director and Actor known for his films which defy cliché and genre, to provide compelling stories which focus on character and interpersonal conflict. He has produced a wide range of films from Aisha and Rahul (2009), The Taste of Relation (2009), Zombie Beach (2010), Chambers Gate (2014), Depth of Pyaar (2019), Bloody Romeo (2021).
Mukesh is a filmmaker with a focus on telling stories to entertain, educate and motivate audience and to inspire them.
He says "Movies now is a great medium to communicate with people and their mind, creating a thoughtful moving image can bring a big addition to persons life or mind or both.
With over 10 years of experience in the film Industry in the North America Mukesh Asopa is working on his niche in unique story teling through his movies. His films are well recognized in film festivals Globally and are available on various OTT Platforms to stream and watch.
2. What are working on at the moment?
His upcoming Feature Film "Bloody Romeo" just got finished its post productions and is headed to over 20 Oscars submissions qualifying film festivals followed by another 30 film festivals with great reputation in the industry. The film is ready for its release in 2021 in North America followed by OTT platforms later this year.
Currently working on a development of a Zombie Movie and two other Feature Flm Projects named Postal Code and Universal Greed, mukesh is busy for his planning for 2022-2023 filming schedules.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
Depth of Pyaar :
A film about two brothers - Yash is a charismatic young lawyer frustrated in his pursuit of justice, while Ansh is a social recluse due to his medical limitations - and how their lives are overturned when a sociopathic criminal targets them and their loved ones. Both are forced to make decisions about how far they will go for the people whom they love.
Currently Streaming on Amazon Prime USA Here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LYBWTQG
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
During the Scenes where Parvati slaps Ansh across the face the actress of the film playing the character of Parvati in the film was encouraged by Mukesh Asopa playing the character of Ansh in the film to Slap for real for the scene to look real.
During the Scenes where Munshiji slaps Ansh across the face Mukesh Asopa encouraged the Actor playing the character for various takes to slap across the face to make it look real and turned out amazing for the scene.
Mukesh as a film director considers the shots as real as possible but at the same time as safe as possible to make a successfull movie which is believable for the audience.
Anthony Carey
1. Tell us something about yourself?
Coming from a creative culture like Ireland, I believe that the arts can influence society and change people’s lives. An emotional connection to people, time and place, fuel my work and lead me to work in various creative mediums to convey the narrative. I think that this personal connection allows me to create and share my work. Perhaps giving people a small glimpse into my mind is a coping mechanism.
2. What are you working on at the moment?
I am continuing work on a project called ‘Invisible Reflections’, that looks at wider societal attitudes and feelings. I am really excited by this project as it examines themes of homelessness, vulnerability, isolation, explored through film, installation, photography, painting and sculptural pieces, using ready-made and found objects (these will be heads contained in clear acrylic pieces). ‘Story’ was one of the key elements in this process and I’m really happy with how it is being received by film festivals and a wider audience.
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it?
As an experimental art film Story can appear somewhat strange, you will be drawn to watch this repeatedly. It is an exploration through a blend of creative mediums that will give you give me a short insight into the mind of this director. Y The film asks the question “How will you feel in one minute?”
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
More a tip. never cover your hands in glue and brown paper 15 minutes before you have to prepare dinner…
Follow @acareycreate
Stanley A. Papulkas
1. Tell us something about yourself?
He has been called “An Architect of Creativity”, Stanley A. Papulkas has always been a storyteller – first with words, then with pictures. Inducted into the Canada’s Western Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2017 and after multiple award-winning projects, Stan’s goal has remained the same: to make a difference within the broadcast industry by allowing people to tell their stories.
Born and raised in Toronto from parents who immigrated from Florina, Greece, Stanley’s success came early. At the age of 18, and still in high school, he produced a 30-minute program titled “Mime ‘79” about Monarch Park’s Pantomime Club. The program was so well received, that Scarborough Cable distributed it to different cable networks across Canada.
As a student of the Radio and Television program at Centennial College, his organizational and leadership skills did not go unrecognized. Stan was hired to take full control of the campus radio station which had been devastated by poor management. Within two weeks, CKCC was fully staffed and operational offering campus news, information, and entertainment for the 4 campuses of Centennial College across the City of Toronto.
Stan was also quick to realize that every Canadian, no matter where they came from or what language they spoke, had a story to tell, and he wanted to be the one that would help them tell it. He joined CFMT Multilingual Television in 1981 and made an immediate impact to their language programming. For the next 30 years, Stan would be the creator of all magazine language programs not under the news umbrella. He created more than one hundred programs,
Today, Stan has turned his focus to Canadian independent productions and the creation of Hydra Films Inc, a Film and Television production company. Stan is now able to use his entire imagination as a storyteller in developing feature films, documentaries, television comedy series, and a 13-part television series promoting Independent Film Makers and their work!
2. What are working on at the moment?
Never one to sit still, Stanley has multiple projects on the go. He has completed three feature film scripts:
1. The Calling: A supernatural thriller about a woman who is receiving transmissions from her dead mother, beckoning to go back to the house she once lived as a child.
2. True Regret: Inspired by a true story. A child abduction and the torment the parents go through to find their child.
3. The Dedication: A romantic comedy about two people who loved each other, but didn’t know it until twenty years later. The man then goes on a journey to find his true and only love.
The most recent completed project is Highway 13. It is a supernatural thriller about a highway in Alberta Canada. It’s the summer of 1962, Alex and Glenda have been travelling a long time, totally unaware of the road they are on is referred to as “The Bermuda Triangle of the North“. Over the last 100 years, people have been disappearing along Highway 13 in Alberta. What awaits them may not necessarily be from this dimension. The Trailer can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgId_0X7Qs4&t=2s
3. Pitch your film to those who haven’t watched it
Denes I Utre(Today & Tomorrow) is a documentary that pays homage to the very first immigrants who came to Canada from Macedonia to begin a new life. Communities and associations were created to give those immigrants a comfort zone. Is today any different. Today and Tomorrow profiles the Macedonian people living in Northern Alberta, trying to organize a community organization like those that did over 100 years ago.
(Note: This documentary was ten years in the making. When this project was initiated in 2011, there was only a handful of Macedonians living in Alberta, but since then, more and more immigrants are arriving and settling in Edmonton and Calgary).
4. Share an anecdote from the shooting of the film?
Unfortunately, very few people in Alberta even know what a Macedonian is. The hope is that this documentary not only honors the first immigrants, but also showcases the rich culture and history Macedonians have to the rest of the world.
