Loren Cass

Loren Cass
Directed by Chris Fuller
Produced by Frank Craft
Chris Fuller
Kayla Tabish
Written by Chris Fuller
Starring Kayla Tabish
Travis Maynard
Lewis Brogan
Jacob Reynolds
Mike Glausier
Din Thomas
Blag Dahlia
Keith Morris
Cinematography William Garcia
Edited by Chris Fuller
Release dates
 2006
Running time
 83 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Loren Cass is a feature-length motion picture, directed by 21-year-old independent film-maker Chris Fuller, about adolescents coming to terms with their lives in St. Petersburg, Florida after the 1996 riots there. The film took ten years to complete.[1]

Storyline

The story follows Nicole, Jason and Cale and secondarily The Suicide Kid, The Punk Kid and The Fight Kid, among others through the aftermath of the '96 riots.[2] It features several notable St. Petersburg landmarks including the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the St. Petersburg Pier, St. Petersburg High School and the house where Jack Kerouac lived prior to his 1969 death.

Cast

It stars Kayla Tabish, Travis Maynard, Lewis Brogan, mixed martial artist/UFC veteran Din Thomas and Jacob Reynolds with narration by Keith Morris (of the band The Circle Jerks) and Blag Dahlia (of the band The Dwarves).[3] The film also includes a live performance by New York punk band Leftöver Crack, which was the first show that included drummer Brandon Kolling in the lineup. Kolling died shortly after shooting wrapped.

In February 2006, independent film-making consultant Robert Hawk joined the film's crew to oversee its release effort. Bob Hawk is best known for discovering Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy Clerks.

Public Reception

In 2006 and 2007 the film was screened at Dennis Hopper's CineVegas Film Festival[4] and was selected as one of only 2 non-studio American independent films to screen at the 60th anniversary of the Locarno International Film Festival[5] where it was called "the discovery of the festival" by ARTE Television. Screenings were held at the Helsinki International Film Festival, the Viennale, the Ljubljana International Film Festival, the Gijon International Film Festival, and the Starz Denver International Film Festival.

The film was nominated for an IFP Gotham Award for "Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You"[6] and won the One+One Music Award for use of music in a feature film at Janine Bazin's EntreVues Film Festival.[7]

It was referred to in Variety as: "A starkly radical film debut of uncommon power and artistic principle, Chris Fuller's Loren Cass announces a genuinely original film-making talent who literally pulls no punches in his depiction of teen angst and racial warfare on the streets of 1996 St. Petersburg, Fla. Suffused with pessimism and an overarching sense of the loneliness of modern American life, the pic affirms a vital alternative to the usual adolescent drama, making even Larry Clark look tame by comparison." [8] The film was noted for its sequence on top of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and footage of the Budd Dwyer suicide.[9]

References

  1. ↑ V.A. Musetto (July 24, 2009). "MAKING A LOT OUT OF LITTLE". New York Post.
  2. ↑ Nathan Lee (July 23, 2009). "Down and Out (and Disaffected) in St. Petersburg". New York Times.
  3. ↑ "LOREN CASS Press Book". Kino Lorber.
  4. ↑ Jason Guerrasio (July 29, 2009). "Director Chris Fuller on Loren Cass". Independent Filmmaker Project.
  5. ↑ Derek Elley (July 11, 2007). "Locarno Intl. Film Festival 2007 lineup". Variety.
  6. ↑ Brian Brooks (July 7, 2009). ""Loren Cass" Goes to Kino for Late July Release". Indiewire.
  7. ↑ "Awards and Jurys 2007". Entrevues Belfort.
  8. ↑ Robert Koehler (June 13, 2007). "Review: ‘Loren Cass’". Variety.
  9. ↑ Aaron Hillis (July 22, 2009). "For All Its Fucking/Boozing/Fighting, Loren Cass Is a Radical Film". The Village Voice.

External links