A
group hoping to make a big splash on the entertainment world is
bringing their talent to Normal. On Wednesday, Dec. 6, CNGM
Pictures will be showing their new film "Fate Twisted
Simply" at the Normal Theater.
"We're
very excited to be here," Brian Wohl, a senior theatre major
and an actor in the film, said.
Wohl
is one of numerous ISU students involved in CNGM Pictures.
This group is a not-for-profit organization that is meant to help
its members gain experience.
"We
use CNGM Pictures to grow as film maers. The idea is that we
will eventually go from our not-for-profit status as an
educational film company, to move up to professional film
makers," Wohl said.
"We've
kind of created our own independent film school experience over
here," Steve Coulter, director of "Fate Twisted
Simply," said.
Coulter
is one of the few members that is not connected to ISU. He
is a business management major at the University of Iowa.
The
group is based out of Palatine and has been making movies for a
while now. The films have been entered in international film
festivals and are now out on DVD. They also have a
television series in the works that is being shopped around to
networks.
"We'll
hopefully be making a living with this," Wohl said about the
future of the company.
Everyone
involved in "Fate Twisted Simply" is very excited about
the event.
"I
think it's one of the best ones we've had yet. The technical
aspects have improved and the entire look of the film is coming
together," Nick Mikula, a senior theatre major and lead actor
in the film, said.
"It's
a story about the friends and family of a U.S. Army Ranger who's
been serving overseas and is separated from his unit, missing in
action. While that's happening, basically we follow his
father back home and the reason s why he hasn't contacted him in a
while. Also, his sister coming back from college and an old
friend is trying to get in contact with the family," Coulter
said. "It's kind of a mix of a family drama and a
romantic comedy."
"It
is a story about how fate affects this one family in life and
death and love. They have a son away at war and it's about
how they cope with him being away and broken relationships and
moving on," Wohl said.
This
will be the first time they will have a showing of one of their
films in Normal. "We've talked a bunch to our friends
and to people we work with in theater and pretty much everyone,
but we've never really shown them anything. We really wanted
to do that at some point so they realize that we're not completely
full of it. This is one that we're really proud of so we
picked this one that would be a good first showing in a totally
new marketing area," Marc Muszynski, a senior acting major
and assistant director of the film, said.
The
group chose the Normal Theater as the venue for the screening
after considering many other options.
"When
I was a freshman, the Castle was really cool, but I don't think
they do screening things like this anymore. Then we looked
at rooms on-campus, but none of them ever had what we wanted.
We wanted a theater feel so that we could have people with popcorn
and it could be an event that everyone could enjoy,"
Muszynski said.
The
Normal Theater has been very helpful throughout the entire
process.
"They
were really nice about everything," Muszynski said.
"They are really excited about it, which makes us really
comfortable and happy to work there."
The
film actually premiered in Palatine on August 10 at the 6th Annual
Microcinema Film Festival. They were very happy with the possitive
feedback and look forward to hearing the reviews after the Normal
showing.
After
leaving Normal, the film will continue to be shown throughout the
nation.
"We'll
be in a few film festivals coming up in the spring," Wohl
said.
This
will not be the last time they present a film in Normal, however.
In May, they will be showing a project that was actually filmed in
Normal. This movie, which is based around a group of college
students, will be titled "Normal Life."
"Part
of the plan for ['Fate Twisted Simply'] was to show something else
here, so we could test the audience and see if people would show
up for something like this here in Normal," Muszynski said.
They
also decided to show this movie in Normal before "Normal
Life" because it can be accepted by a larger audience.
"The
nice thing about 'Fate' is it's a much broader audience range than
a movie about juniors in college, which appeals to college kids
and people who recently graduated college. This one is about
a family with a son at war. It can really be accepted by a
much larger audience. There's also a lot of comedy,"
Muszynski said.
"Fate
Twisted Simply" will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 6.
There will be a suggested $5 donation. Copies of the movie
will be available for purchase at the screening. They can
also be purchased at the CNGM Pictures Web site at
cngmpictures.com. More information about the movie can be
found at fate-movie.com.
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