Last Statement Now on Cinema Zero for Limited Time by Todd Felderstein
Last Statement. a CollabFeature short film, is now available to watch on Cinema Zero for a limited time! July 24-30.
Watch Film: http://www.cinema-zero.com/p/current-film.html
In a conversation on Cinema Zero, Tom Wilton sat down via cyberspace to discuss the creation of an international collaborative short film now streaming online. Deviating from the traditional stage play adaptation, Last Statement delivers the factual chilling final thoughts once uttered by convicted felons moments before their court ordered demises. In a thirty minute filmed collaborative narrative directed by eleven different filmmakers scattered across the globe, this international production combines fictitious scenarios with the actual prose in a powerful narrative while attempting to remain objective.
Watch the conversation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNzm4f79hnY
As an independent film, each segment was financed independently by the production team assigned to their specific statement. Once produced and edited, the sequences were then sent to Juliane Block in Berlin, Germany where she assembled each scene into a cohesive story. The one deviation from Orla Wolfe’s original stage play was the addition of what is now known as the “Barbecue Sequence”, which I wrote. As an ongoing storyline that takes place during a Fourth of July backyard party with seemingly innocuous guests, each is challenged with a scenario that takes them out of their comfort zone. The underlying question remains: is there a tipping point where everyday frustrations have the power to push the everyman over the edge?
Two years transpired from inspiration until delivery of this production. Writing the screenplay, amassing collaborators, assigning sequences, coordinating production and, of course, managing the editorial process was no easy task. Juliane oversaw the entire process.
One of Last Statement's directors, Marty Shea, the co-founder of CollabFeature, an international team of filmmakers that today creates global collaborative productions, instituted this filmmaking process by recognizing the changing landscape of independent productions. Looking to resource talent across the globe, by tasking multiple filmmakers with separate scenes in one cohesive story, offers an assortment of benefits from production value to a variation on the storytelling paradigm. This process has also granted another of CollabFeature's productions a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most directors on a single feature film.
While the most productive distribution model of a short film these days seems to be the internet, Last Statement continues to amass an audience through its growing popularity. With a expanding festival interest, the objective is for this very unique production to reach the widest audience possible while creating conversations around a topic that is as important as life itself.
Contributing filmmakers on the Google Hangout:
Juliane Block & Orla Wolfe, Marty Shea, Rebecca Hu, Ernest Worthing, Todd Felderstein