Cuba Road Sequel Rolls Out Article by Eileen O'Daday October 22, 2005 pioneerlocal.com A group of local filmmakers who created a buzz with their first independent film, “The Legends of Cuba Road,” now are busy finishing up its sequel. “Return to Cuba Road” is expected to premiere in March. “People still ask about it,” says Jeff Greene, Palatine Park District theater coordinator, of the first Cuba Road film, “and there’s a lot of interest in its sequel.” The original thriller is based on local legends surrounding Cuba Road, which winds through Cuba Township near Barrington, and its aging White Cemetery. In the sequel, the villain is revealed while the cast members try to decipher what it is they saw on Cuba Road. “There’s more action in the sequel,” says Pat Pantelis, 19, of Palatine, director. “It’s a lot more fun.” Both films are projects of CNGM Pictures, a Palatine-based, student-run film studio. The young producers all were Fremd High School students when they filmed the first movie, and now are college underclassmen majoring in theater and film. They are Nick Hardin, 19, of Palatine; Angela Wascher, 19, of Inverness; Charlie Franklin, 17, of Inverness; Lindsay Brown, 19, of Inverness; and Pantelis. “I think the sequel is better than the first one,” says Mike Noens, 20, of Palatine, who serves as writer, executive producer and cinematographer on the sequel. “We try to take the legends — and there are tons of them — and record as closely as possible what happened.” That differs from the first one, he adds, in which they took popular legends whispered about for years about the dimly lit country road, and used creative license to fill in the blanks. The legends are numerous, including the story of a school bus filled with children that was hit while crossing railroad tracks. Another explores the story about the “mob house” that vanished from an empty lot along the road. Greene agrees that “chapter two” of the series shows more depth and skill by the young filmmakers. “You can see a whole different level of filmmaking,” says Greene, who taught most of the CNBM members when they were in theater classes at Fremd. “They’ve improved every aspect, from the writing and directing to the filming.” The sequel was one of three movies the group shot last summer, Greene adds. He describes them as “prolific,” and notes that two of their films have been entered in the Sundance and Sedona film festivals. Meantime, “The Legends of Cuba Road” has been submitted to the Horror Channel, Noens says, and he expects to do the same with the sequel. “We keep trying to improve,” Noens says. “We’re using better cameras now, and technically our movies are tighter. “Our goal is to get into more film festivals and get better play.” << Go Back to Press