Open CallOpen Call: Phase 2
1. Pitch | 2. Rate Pitches | 3. Production | 4. Rough Cuts | 5. Completed Productions
Phase 2 is Now Closed
Thank you for your help in choosing our six finalists. Move forward to Phase 3 to find out which of the fourteen pitches below made the cut.
- War Games, Heather Arment- Seattle,WA
- And All in War with Time,Thomas Davison- Arlington, MA
- The Art of War, Jason Decker- West Hollywood, CA
- Vietnam: My Film Diary, Nigel Ellis- Pleasant Hill, CA
- Agent Orange & Oxycontin, Eric Escobar- Oakland, CA
- Friday's Farm, Ryan Garrett- Brooklyn, NY
- Big Box Conflict, Gabriel Garza, Timothy Lillis, Daniel Mode,
Terrence Salmond, San Francisco, CA - En Route, Erik Gernand, Chicago, IL
- A Clearing in the Fog, Noah Harlan, New York, NY
- Oh Johnny, Ellen Lake, Oakland, CA
- Domino Falls, John Lucas, San Francisco, CA
- Sonny's Letters From the War, Alex Rapp- Cambridge, MA
- Carlos Arredondo, Janice Rogovin- Jamaica Plain, MA
- The Birth of War, Elizabeth Wood- New York, NY
War Games
Heather Arment - Seattle, WA
Several months ago I was sifting through some old family slides when I came across an image of me (age 3) sheepishly hiding behind my two older brothers. What stood out to me in an otherwise stereotypical family photo was that all three of us had play pistols strapped to our tiny prepubescent waists. "War" was as American to us a baseball and apple pie. This quirky, animated narrative explores my childhood's obsession with guns, heroes and villains and how one accident introduced the reality check that made my brothers and I retire our weapons.
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And All in War with Time
Thomas Davison - Arlington, MA
The roar of a north wind blows thru branches of thickset trees. Branches creak and moan. On the edge of a ravine stands a man, teetering on the rocks, alone, ragged and bloodied, a steely gaze in his eyes. We close in on him. He cries out to the ravine below, vengeance in his call
“Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever, now,
Now while the world is bent my deeds to cross.
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after-loss”
Set against a placid sea, the ramparts of a fortress rise towards an auburn sky. The last rays of a setting sun embrace a bank of clouds, running orange, then purple, then red. A woman, an infant in her arms, holds the child tight as she gazes towards the horizon, tears in her eyes, pain in her voice.
“When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory”
These are the words of William Shakespeare captured in his lyric and evocative sonnets.
Mariner Films in collaboration with the Actor’s Shakespeare Project (ASP) proposes a 3 minute video featuring selected sonnets that deal with the themes of war; of loss, of battle, of passion, of human frailty, of the perseverance of the human spirit and of the redemptive power of love.
ASP actors will be shot on mini DV format at visually interesting environmental and architectural locations in the Greater Boston area that resonate with the themes of the sonnets selected. Music and imagery will be used as transitions and to underscore the sonnets themselves.
Example locales include Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, Fort Warren on George’s Island of The Boston Harbor Islands, Mount Auburn Cemetery.
This project draws upon the gifted actors of ASP, Boston’s premier Shakespeare ensemble, which has garnered national attention for its powerful and cutting-edge realizations of Shakespeare’s words.
These outstanding actors, placed in surroundings that amplify the beauty and power of Shakespeare’s words, will bring relevance and insight to our understanding of the repercussions of war on the human spirit, a spirit so well evoked through these sonnets.
The Art of War
Jason Decker - West Hollywood, CA
The War of the Sexes. Since the murky darkness of prehistory, the battle has been waged. The outcome has always been the same. The man appears to come out the winner but, behind the scenes, the woman always ends up holding him by the... well, I'll let you finish the metaphor.
But what happens when a wrench is thrown in the works? What happens when the playing field is not only uneven, but isn't even for the right game? In "The Art of War", these epic questions are tested among the familiar bookshelves of a public library. Based on a one-minute project I shot as a student, the film explores the dynamics of sexuality as an instrument of battle. Is it ever truly possible to win in a conflict of emotions? Does Lao Tzu apply to conflicting passions? "The Art of War" has the answers.
Vietnam: My Film Diary
Nigel Ellis - Pleasant Hill, CA
During the Vietnam War soldiers often carried 8mm film cameras with them to record their experiences. Bob Whitworth was such a soldier and has much 8mm footage of his experiences from training to deployment on to combat. This project would show some of these experiences inter cut with an interview with Bob. Watch a “video blog” before there were video blogs from our soldiers in Iraq, this time from Iraq’s bloody predecessor - Vietnam.
Agent Orange & Oxycontin
Eric Escobar - Oakland, CA
My dad is slowly dying from his exposure to Agent Orange while serving his country in Vietnam. In January of 2001, his conditioned worsened, and we didn't know how long he had left to live. I asked him what was the one thing he wanted to do before he checked out. He said he 'had to see ground zero before they covered it over.' So we loaded him up on Oxycontin, flew from SFO to JFK, checked into a hotel and went looking for ground zero. I brought my camcorder.
Friday's Farm
Ryan Garrett - Brooklyn, NY
On June 7th, 2007 I made the twenty hour trip from New York City to Friday's Farm in Jackson, MS. As I entered the gates to the farm the calendar flipped back to June 1970. Men in Soldier's Uniforms guided me into a Firebase and informed me that I was in Cu CHi, Vietnam and that VC forces were mounting attacks on the perimeter. I grabbed my 16mm camera, outfitted for battle, and began to cover their story. I had instantly become a war correspondent of a war which had ended more that 30 years prior.
Over the course of four days I accumulated a wealth of footage and audio cassette interviews of the 25th Infantry Division as they reenacted the Vietnam War. I slept in their tents, ate the same meals, and went out into battle with them. Now as I pour through this footage and listen to their voices and the sounds of a reenacted war I see the enormous potential for a poetic essay on war reenactment. It seems gravely important to continue this research into the nature of War reenactment. What does it mean to reenact a war with as unstable and as unpopular a history as Vietnam as simultaneously a war rages in Iraq? The conflict between the reality of war and the material of reenactment comes through in this footage without the need for voice-over or commentary. Drawing on influences such as actual newsreel footage and Hollywood War Films, the aim of "Friday's Farm" is to create a picture of war as seen by a reenactor, and to reveal the various screens through which we witness our history.
Big Box Conflict
Gabriel Garza, Timothy Lillis, Daniel Mode, Terrence Salmond - San Francisco, CA
Big Box Conflict (Sample Reel) (7:19)
Gabriel Garza, Tim Lillis, Dan Mode + Terrence Salmond | San Francisco, CA
In any given war, people are often caught between two separate ideologies. The "with us or against us" mentality is imposed not only on those fighting the battle, but on the civilians standing by on the sidelines. They are the hearts and minds that each side is trying to win over. Everyday, Americans are faced with the choice of what to purchase and where. Do they remain loyal to the family owned and operated specialty store, or do they choose the cheaper and faster one-stop shopping conglomerate? When a superstore moves into a community, the residents are faced with an ever growing socio-economic conflict. It is a culture war dividing those who support the camaraderie and individuality of local small business, and those who prefer the convenience and uniformity of the large retail chains. Can they truly ever coexist?
Our three-minute film will follow one individual who is caught in the crossfire of this culture war. With few options after graduating from high school in his small Midwestern town, his life has come to a crossroads as he enters adulthood. Does he opt for a lower paying, but more flexible job with a local business? Or, will he take an entry level job at the nearby retail chain with a better chance for advancement in the company, at the risk of being seen as a traitor to his community? These issues will all be addressed as our young protagonist struggles to come to a decision that is right for his future.
En Route
Erik Gernand - Chicago, IL
During the first Gulf War I was 18 years old and studying in Germany on scholarship. I boarded an overnight train to Frankfurt where there weren’t any available seats and found myself standing alone in the hallway with an American soldier my same age. We discovered we were from roughly the same part of the country, but were otherwise worlds apart. I was adamantly against the war and having recently signed up with Selective Service couldn’t fathom participating in it. He’d enlisted in high school and had gone deaf in one ear from an explosion while serving in Iraq. I was traveling through Europe on school holiday. He was returning to his Army base in Germany after being injured. We rode together all night - he propped up on his Army duffel bag, me leaning against my backpack my parents bought me - and swapped stories about our year since high school.
My goal is to re-create the essence of that moment highlighting the cultural division of war. The digital film will be based on a short narrative script I recently wrote juxtaposing my experience more than 15 years ago to the current war. It will be shot in an experimental style on a stage intermixing sound and visuals to engage the viewer.
A Clearing in the Fog
Noah Harlan - New York, NY
My grandfather, Irving Sarot, was an Army surgeon in Europe during WWII. He directed a front line hospital for three years and in that time oversaw the treatment of tens of thousands of soldiers (allied and axis) and even had his hospital captured by the Nazis twice. He was chief surgeon at the fall of the Remagen bridge and the freeing of Buchnewald and the following experience happened around the time of the Battle of the Bulge in the Black Forest in Germany.
His hospital had been receiving wounded steadily for days and were treating both allied troops and some locals injured in shelling. A German officer showed up at the hospital, surrendering, with an injured young girl in his arms. He asked to see the head of the hospital and when my Grandfather appeared he explained that this was his daughter, he was a surrendering German officer - also a surgeon, she was injured and would the hospital please treat her. My grandfather, who maintained a strict policy of treating the most injured first, evaluated her and agreed to take her in for surgery right away. The German thanked him profusely and as he went to introduce himself my grandfather interrupted and said: "No, I know who you are. I was a medical student in Germany ten years ago and you were the doctor that supervised my rounds." After surgery, while the daughter recovered, my grandfather and this German officer sat outside during a lull and talked about what had happened in each of their lives during the past 10 years that led to them being on opposite sides of such a brutal war.
I would like to tell the story using the enormous number of original photographs my grandfather has of his hospital during the war, digitally manipulated to create a sense of motion and lyricism. This piece should be like a poem.
Oh Johnny
Ellen Lake - Oakland, CA
Combining 16mm films from the 30s and 40s with digital video from today, Elizabeth Patterson tells the story of the loss of her husband Johnny, killed when the Ticonderoga was bombed at the end of WW II. Using home movies from Elizabeth Patterson's closet (I recently discovered two ammunition boxes filled with 16 mm reels) as source material, this short will examine ideas about war, romance, place, memory, time, and technology.
Domino Falls
John Lucas - San Francisco, CA
David, a young soldier just returned from Iraq, struggles to readjust to his quiet life in the California suburbs. Simple daily routines trigger horrific hallucinations, visions of one terrifying night in combat in which he and his friends searched an Iraqi house and gunned down a teenager suspected of being a terrorist. My 3-minute short will follow David as he deals with a redeployment notice while trying to shut out vivid memories of that fateful night in Iraq. The flashbacks will be shot in Night-Vision, which is exactly how the soldiers experience night raids. I've already performed some system tests and have prepared a teaser (see "Domino Falls") but the final piece will be shot in HD with my new rig, which includes a true HD camera, cinema lens adapter, prime lenses, follow focus, camera stabilizer, light kits, dolly and track. And I have an experienced and dedicated crew to help ensure high production value.
Sonny's Letters From the War
Alex Rapp - Cambridge, MA
Pvt. Walter “Sonny” Pyrih, as remembered through his sincere and touching letters to family. Born in 1923 in Ansonia CT, son of Ukrainian immigrants, Sonny was just turning 20 when he was drafted into the army. As s devoted family man, he wrote home as often as possible, sending a wonderful collection of letters filled with anecdotes, and personal reflections about family, friends, and of course, the war. Consistently upbeat, he was more concerned with reassuring his worried mother than with his own plight. Sadly, this outlook proved overly optimistic. He died in action on October, 1944 in northern Italy, leaving just his letters behind.
Carlos Arredondo
Janice Rogovin - Jamaica Plain, MA
When three Marines came to tell Carlos Arredondo that his son had been killed in Iraq, he set their military van on fire. It was August 24, 2004. His action made headlines throughout the world. CNN showed footage of the van in flames, and Mr. Arredondo lying on the grass with burns over 26% of his body. While there have been follow-up stories in regard to Mr. Arredondo’s activities during the past several years, no one has delved behind the scenes of this unique event. For all of his supporters, there are many who wonder if he is crazy. Why would a man, even one stricken with grief, almost kill himself inside a government van with gasoline and a propane torch?
From the time the news on the radio first grabbed me until now, I have thought about and pursued Mr. Arredondo’s story.
The film I am working on is a detailed, intimate retelling in Mr. Arredondo’s words of what happened when the three Marines came to his house. For visuals, it will draw from broadcast news footage; newspapers; and Mr. Arredondo’s own archive. The film is not about right or left, red or blue, right or wrong, but stays on the human level. For those of us who are not directly involved in the war, how can we comprehend what it is like to lose a child to the war? How can we pay tribute to the families who are directly involved? The film is really an exploration of our humanity.
David Finkel, staff writer for the Washington Post, called the incident one of the iconic images of the Iraq War (January 16, 2005, front page). I am asking you to grant me the funds and resources to finish a short film about a personal, intense experience that forces us into the world of those directly affected by the war in Iraq now.
The Birth of War
Elizabeth Wood - New York, NY
The idea of war is so essential to the history mankind, yet is so foreign to the innocence we experience as children, or is it? I propose to create a three minute film from serious interviews with children, exploring their concept of what war is, and why we go to war. This will be intercut with scenes of the children playing, fighting, learning. This three minute film will provoke the viewer to question their own ideas of war, and how that may or may have not been influenced in the process of growing up.