It Was a Dark and Stormy Night... Article by Molly Moore August 15, 2004 dailyherald.com At night, when wraithlike mist curls across wooded and dimly lit Cuba Road, it's easy to see why the area has become a backdrop for local ghost stories. And in December, decades of folklore about the road that winds through Cuba Township near Barrington will come to life when the film "The Legends of Cuba Road" debuts on DVD. The movie is the latest feature film from CNGM Pictures, a Palatine-based, student-run film studio. Much to the delight of the film's young producers, the film was greeted with a standing ovation when it debuted before a sold-out crowd this summer at Palatine's Cutting Hall. The thriller is based on local legends swirling around Cuba Road's aged White Cemetery and a foreboding, abandoned lot on nearby Rainbow Road that supposedly houses the remains of an insane asylum with a dark past. Psychologists studying the paranormal have examined the area. Authors such as Ursula Bielski, whose "Chicago Haunts" series was referenced during the making of the film, have documented the tales and rumors of otherworldly activity circulated in area newspapers as early as the 1970s. Michael Noens, a Palatine resident and co-director of the new film, has been familiar with these myths since childhood. In fact, inspiration for this movie came as he listened to ghost stories around a friend's campfire. "We took legends that we heard and tried to piece them together," said Noens. "I don't know if the stories are actually real; it depends on what you believe." "The Legends of Cuba Road" focuses on three curious teens who visit the eerie area and become caught in a real-life haunted nightmare. The film is co-directed by Noens, 19, a sophomore at Harper College; and Jeff Negus, 20, a junior at Northern Illinois University. The amateur cast consists heavily of 2004 Fremd graduates and current Fremd students. It stars Nick Harden, Angela Wascher, Charlie Franklin, Karl Pichotta, Lisa Ridarelli and J. Spencer Greene. CNGM Pictures was founded in July 1997 by four 12-year-old Palatine boys. The boys and their studio have grown up together over the past seven years and 13 films. "When we first started, we thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if we could make movies with real people instead of whatever Playmobil characters we used? Movies that were longer than three minutes?'æ" joked Noens, one of the studio's founders. This July, CNGM Pictures won Best Horror Short with "Sleep to Dream" at Microcinema Fest, an independent film festival held in Rapid City, S.D. Nick Harden, the lead actor in "The Legends of Cuba Road," won Best Supporting Actor for last May's "Please Wait to be Seated." "We keep aiming a little bit higher," said Noens. CNGM Pictures describes itself as "a nonprofit organization focused on gaining practical film experience," and with a shooting schedule running from November through June, the aspiring filmmakers certainly did gain experience. Their movie will now be submitted to independent film festivals, including Coney Island Film Fest in New York and Microcinema Fest in South Dakota. Although they may not be spending any more long nights and early mornings on "The Legends of Cuba Road," the pace shows no sign of slowing for this ambitious team. "I've been boggling around the idea in my head for a sequel to 'Legends,' picking up right where (the first film) left off," Noens said. The DVD of "Legends of Cuba Road" will be distributed through the studio's Web site, www.cngmpictures.com. The studio is still working out deals to distribute the DVD through retail stores. The studio is booking another screening in October at Cutting Hall, but the date is not yet set. << Go Back to Press