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Local Rockers Appear In Award Winning Indie Film
Posted on Thursday, August 09, 2007 @ 06:33:34 MDT by chief editor
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faith148 writes:
Musicians David Gries, Aziza Poggi (Dendura) and Steve Hopton (Ex-Riot in Progress) star in "Broken", the $985 award-winning feature film directed by Derek Justice and David DeLeon for Top 250 Productions. "Broken" hit big at two film festivals in Michigan and Ohio this weekend. The film garnered four nominations and three wins at two festivals in the same weekend.
In Detroit, "Broken" was nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Drama and the Audience Award at the Trinity Film Festival in Detroit. The film walked away with the Audience Award and top honors in the Best Drama category.
"Broken" competed against 24 films to win the Audience Award. Justice and Steve Hopton, a star of the film, accepted the awards on behalf of the cast and crew.
Meanwhile, co-director David DeLeon was in Cleveland this weekend for The Indie Gathering where "Broken" took first place in the Best Crime Drama category. This year, The Indie Gathering screened approximately 60 films from eight countries. Click "read more" below.
"Broken" has been riding high on the buzz bandwagon. First, the screenplay advanced to the top 250 finalists of about 7,000 entries in season one of "Project Greenlight", the Bravo TV series sponsored by Miramax, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Then, "Broken" premiered to packed houses in Detroit and Cleveland and received standing ovations in both cities. In Detroit, they nearly sold out as fans, filmmakers and media guests celebrated a night of indie filmmaking in Detroit. In Cleveland, the enthusiastic audience included film producers, media guests and a member of The Cleveland International Film Festival.
"Broken" is the story of Christian, played by David Gries (of Zeeland), whose life was shattered as an eight-year-old after he watched his father brutally murder his mother. Now, twenty years later, he wrestles with his demons through art and heroin. Aziza Amy Poggi co-stars as Beth, an abused magazine editor sent to retrieve Christian’s artwork for the next issue. Steve Hopton is Beth’s abusive boyfriend. This is the beginning of a dark descent into hell for The Boyfriend, The Junkie, The Girl and three lives full of secrets.
LeeAlan Weddel (Novi), Chuck Diamond (Warren), Jayk Hanna (Canton Twp.), Matt Lang (Grand Rapids), Altonio Seahorn, Jr. (Detroit) and Adam Hill (Garden City) complete the cast. Several bands contributed music including Dendura, Riot in Progress, Unfinished Thought and David Gries. Susan Stanek created the art that would later become Christian’s work in the film.
Justice and DeLeon based the screenplay on a short story that DeLeon wrote years ago.
At the time, DeLeon was about 20 and going through the customary artistic, Bohemian phase - all dark and broody. The idea of a barefoot hippy chick came to him, complete with a loose flower-print dress and long, dark hair. The character shared his artistic outlook on life - somewhat cynical, yet with the firm belief that if his art couldn’t change the world, then maybe it could change a mind or two. From there came the love interest, Christian and the abusive ex-boyfriend.
After several revisions, the story eventually morphed into the finished script that the pair entered into numerous contests including "Project Greenlight". The contest generated approximately 7,000 entries. "Broken" was shortlisted and became one of the top 250 finalists.
After "Project Greenlight", Justice and DeLeon swore off contests. The script sat on a shelf for a while. In the meantime, DeLeon wrote a horror script that was optioned by a producer and re-wrote a script for another independent filmmaker. Justice worked on two features, "Generation Xtinct" and "Above Ground".
However, they returned to "Project Greenlight" for the third season. This time, Justice and DeLeon threw their hat into the directing category with a short film called "Sequence 1". They competed against nearly 5,000 entries and advanced to the top 250 finalists.
Justice and DeLeon finally realized that the best way to bring the project to the screen was to do it themselves. They surrounded themselves with a team of people who put their talent, faith and sweat equity into the project. They shot in Michigan and Ohio.
In the end, Justice and DeLeon made "Broken" for $985. They spent $285 on production supplies and $700 on catering for the cast and crew.
For more information, and to see the trailer, visit:
www.broken-movie.com
www.myspace.com/brokenmovie
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