The Black Balloon

In Select Theaters October 2008

Australia 2008 Run time: 97 min.
Director: Elissa Down

When Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) has to take things easy, his father Simon (Erik Thomson) puts him in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford).
Thomas, with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward), faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie's unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out - in a story that is funny, confronting, and ultimately heart-warming.

The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love and accepting your family.

Cast & Crew
Director: Elissa Down
Writers: Elissa Down, Jimmy Jack
Cast: Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward
Producers: Tristram Miall (producer of "Strictly Ballroom")
Composer: Michael Yezerski
Director of Photography: Denson Baker Acs
Editor: Veronica Jenet Ase
Casting Director: Nikki Barrett

Surviving Crooked Lake

In Select Theaters September 2008

Canada 2007 Run time: 87 min.
Director: Matthew Miller, Ezra Krybus, Sascha Drews

In this sensual, intense, indie feature drama, a quartet of teenage girls embark on a canoe-and-camping trip with a slightly older male guide in the endless wilderness of the Canadian Shield. His younger sister Steph – who is desperately afraid of the water – is one of the campers. Once the group is underway, romantic tensions erupt and disaster strikes, forcing the girls to face a gruelling and desperate trip back to civilization.

Shot in tight close-ups with a fluid camera that sees the landscape first as an embodiment of desire and second as a distortion of reality, Surviving Crooked Lake crackles with suspense and intrigue. It will leave you wondering about the mysteries of the adolescent heart and mind, the bonds of family, and to the looming influence of nature and landscape. Surviving Crooked Lake makes for an elemental example of the cinematic survival story, in the tradition of Deliverance and Open Water.

Cast & Crew
Directors: Matthew Miller, Ezra Krybus, Sascha Drews
Writers: Matthew Miller, Ezra Krybus, Sascha Drews
Cast: Alysha Aubin, Candice Mausner, Morgan McCunn, Stephannie Richardson & Guy Yarkoni
Producers: Jaty Tam, Matthew Miller, Nicholas D. Tabarrok
Composer: Original Score by Sascha Drews featuring "Red Canoe" licensed by Kat Goldman
Director of Photography: Sascha Drews & Ezra Krybus
Editor: Kathy Weinkauf