3-3-06
BY Ed M. Koziarski
James Fotopoulos
It's the story of a sleepwalking Chicago detective investigating a string of murders whose victims are found at a politically connected construction site. Production is slated for this spring. Michael Oblowitz (The Foreigner) was previously attached to direct.
Bonansinga adapted the script with Kimberly Shane O'Hara, who is producing with Eric M. Klein through their Santa Monica-based O'Hara/Klein Productions (Happy Hour).
Fotopoulos, who has produced more than 100 short films, has screened his work in the Rotterdam, New York Underground, and Chicago Underground film festivals, the Whitney Biennial and the Anthology Film Archives.
LOL
Joe Swanberg will have his second South by Southwest feature film premiere in as many years when his new cyber-romance LOL debuts March 13 at the Austin festival.
LOL is the story of three friends who "struggle to balance their online fantasies and addictions with the demands of real life," Swanberg said.
The film stars Kevin Bewersdorf, Swanberg, C. Mason Wells, Tipper Newton, Brigid Reagan, Greta Gerwig, Kate Winterich, Mike Hagan, Laura Lippert and Anne Wells.
Swanberg wrote the story (the dialogue was improvised) with Wells, and with Bewersdorf, who also composed the music.
LOL screens March 13 at 4:15p.m., March 15 at 1:30p.m., and March 18 at 9:45p.m. at the Austin Convention Center. It's also screening at the Philadelphia Film Festival March 30-April 12, and the Independent Film Festival of Boston April 19-24.
Swanberg, 24, premiered his first feature, the viscerally intimate post-collegiate relationship drama Kissing on the Mouth, at SXSW last year, followed by screenings at the Chicago, Montreal and Northampton film festivals.
See www.LOLthemovie.com.
Matthew Scott Harris is nearing completion of post-production on his debut feature Dimension, the story of the residents of a Chicago neighborhood "who are given the opportunity to change their lives in one small way: by the dimension of three inches," Harris said.
Starring Mary Kay Cook, Sandra Delgado, Deanna Dunagan, Elizabeth Gabel, Harlan Hogan, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Ricky Rodriguez, Paul Turner and Cedric Young. Harris produced with Cook and Christopher W. Marty.
Dimension, the first film on the ambitious production slate of Harris and Cook's Rusted Rhino Production Company, shot in Chicago and in Vail, Colorado last summer.
See www.rustedrhino.com.
Chicago 360
Split Pillow, the production collective behind the annual Memorial Day Challenge speed filmmaking contest, screens its first documentary, Chicago 360, in a three-night engagement at Chicago Filmmakers, 5423 N. Clark, 2nd Floor, March 3-5 at 8p.m.
Five documentarians created 12-minute stories, each focusing on the people of a different Chicago neighborhood: Erik Gernand's "A Spirit Within" explores the lingering resonance of historic Lakeview sites; Jim Vendiola's "Our Fallen Spaceman" profiles el train poster artist ARD; Casey Clark's "Circuit Bending: A Toy Story" highlights Wicker Park artists who turn old toys into working musical instruments; Nick Martin's "The Air Over Pilsen" explores the impact of industrial pollution on an otherwise thriving immigrant community; and CJ Dugan's "Logan Square in Fast Forward" showcases the community from sunrise to moonrise using time-lapse photography
Patterning its films after the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, Split Pillow incorporated the improv mantra of "yes, and..." to create the narrative features The Cliffhanger, Brushfires, Common Senses, and the forthcoming Realization.
See www.splitpillow.com.
Marc Selz is scouting Illinois locations for his third horror feature, the HD Satanic Panic, inspired by the '80s and early-90s scare over ritual killings and human sacrifice.
Selz wrote the script with Karl Sundstrom, who composed the score for Selz' second film The Rockville Slayer.
Slayer, the serial-killer-escapes-from-the-asylum chiller, was released on DVD Nov. 1 by Freestyle Entertainment and Universal Music's Visual Entertainment division, and shipped 75,000 units as of Jan. 29. Paragon Film Group (Winter Solstice) is foreign sales agent.
The Rockville Slayer stars Joe Estevez (I Got the Hook Up), Robert Z'Dar (Maniac Cop), Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead), Ellie Weingardt (Bad Meat) and Circus·Szalewski (Cup of My Blood).
Selz' first film Short Cut Road was released in 2004 by Sub Rosa.
See www.satanicpanicthemovie.com.
Pete Schwaba, the former Chicago standup comedian who co-wrote the 2003 Jason Lee/Julia Stiles/Selma Blair comedy A Guy Thing with Greg Glienna, premieres his own debut feature The Godfather of Green Bay, on 16 screens in Wisconsin March 24, with plans to expand into Chicago soon thereafter.
Triple-threat Schwaba wrote, directed, and starred in Godfather, which Brian and Josh Etting produced.
Schwaba and Lance Barber (The Comeback) play LA comedians slumming at a Wisconsin comedy night to catch the eye of a "Tonight Show" scout. While there, Schwaba learns the charm of Midwestern life, and competes for the affections of his high school English teacher (Lauren Holly), against the eponymous Godfather (Tony Goldwyn). With Thomas Lennon.
See www.godfatherofgreenbay.com.
Matt Brookens of Zabba Zabba Productions is in pre-production on the HD dark comedy Art Sucks, about a painter who "learns that good art comes from pain" as his girlfriend is seduced and his best friend assassinated by a marauding ninja, Brookens said.
Brookens, who made the comedy shorts "Skunk Ape?!" and "Roni vs. Lincoln," is shooting through June and July, mostly on nights and weekends.
He's holding auditions March 11-12 and April 1-2, 10a.m.-4p.m. at 1286 N. Milwaukee #204.
See www.zabbazabba.com.
Ed M. Koziarski is a Chicago filmmaker and journalist. He is developing the feature film Okinawa Project. edk@homesickblues.com.