3-14-08
Four Chicago Indies Released in February
Two Chicago features, a documentary and a standup comedy film are out on DVD this month.
It’s a boon.
Didn’t get to see Paul Kampf’s film debut, Brothers Three, during its limited theatrical run? Now you can buy it (or rent it) to watch at home. Chicago-based Radio London Films released the film on DVD on Feb. 5.
Kampf, founder and artistic/executive director of the now-inactive Breadline Theatre Group, adapted Brothers Three from his own 2000 play American Gothic. Patrick Wilson, Neal McDonough and Scott Michael Campbell play the far-flung siblings, who reunite to settle the estate of their reclusive father (John Heard). Kampf shot the film on 35mm with a $1 million budget in Utah in 2005. Brothers Three premiered in January 2007 at the Beloit Film Festival.
Since then, Kampf has united with Brothers Three casting director Deborah Aquila and producer David Lewis to found MidCoast Development, dedicated to connecting Midwestern scripts with Hollywood production and financing. Their first acquisition is Tom Beach’s Dues, about a teenage girl searching for her estranged blues musician father. See americangothicfilm.com and midcoastdevelopment.com.
Also on Feb. 5, Scott Prestin’s 8 of Diamonds was released on DVD by Netflix. It is the story of a jewel heist gone wrong, starring Eric Roberts, Tim Kazurinsky, Donald Gibb, Dan Flannery, and Heather Prete. Prestin produced the $250,000 debut feature through his American Stonehenge Productions. He shot in Chicago and Las Vegas in 2005. American World Pictures is distributor and world sales agent. In 2006, Prestin shot his followup, The Devil’s Dominoes, starring Vincent Pastore and Daniel Baldwin, about four hunters involved in a fatal car crash with the son of a mob boss. Prestin produced with Chicago Overcoat producer John Bosher. AWP is once again handling world sales. See myspace.com/scottprestin.
Mark Harris shot his second standup comedy film Cut’N It Up: Chicago last year. Alex Thomas hosts. Featuring performances by Pierre Edwards, Sonja D, Rodney Perry, Marcus Combs, Shang Forbes, Lil Rell and Reggie Reg. Indican Pictures and Triumphant Pictures released Cut’N It Up on DVD on Feb. 5. Echelon Entertainment released Harris’ previous standup movie Barber Shop Jokes in 2006.
Alex LeMay’s NAACP Image Award-nominated documentary Desert Bayou follows 600 New Orleans residents who were airlifted by the military to Salt Lake City, Utah in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Met with initial discrimination and eventual generosity by locals, the New Orleanians were housed on an army barracks. Many chose to remain in Salt Lake, move into private housing and find work there. Cinema Libre, which released Desert Bayou theatrically in 15 cities last fall to qualify for the Academy Awards, puts out the DVD Feb. 19. The Image Awards were held Feb. 14 (results were unavailable at press time). See desertbayoumovie.com.