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.
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