When Samantha, a Midwest stage manager, falls in love with August, a New York City actor, it's the start of... something. August makes it clear early on that he is not interested, yet a relationship of sorts develops between them anyway as they move through rehearsals, social engagements outside the play, and the performances on stage. When the final curtain falls, Samantha and August have a relationship in some sense of the word, but they're feeling in the dark for a way to define it.
I wrote, produced, directed, and edited this long short done entirely in improvised acting.
Starring
MICHAEL LOPETRONE
MARY ROSE NAOUM
Project Details
Shot in Detroit in June 2014 with Three Lyons Creative, the film was funded with incredible donations, sweat equity, and generous support through an Indiegogo campaign (funded to 126%).
Thick Air uses an experimental technique based on improvisational acting. The script had no dialogue at all, and actors relied on a few paragraphs for each scene to describe what their character was thinking and feeling. Those thoughts and feelings were labeled "withholds", and all dialogue had to come from around them. So the script essentially operated as a large list of things the actors weren't allowed to say.
Working on Thick Air was a very close-knit and collaborative process for every step. The project saw enormous benefit from having the Director of Photography, Tony Eggert, contribute during development of the script, and from our composer, Daniel Eggert, also play our audio recordist and mixer. Pre-production flowed smoothly into production, which slid gracefully into post because of the intimacy each team member had with the project.
The film was premiered in Detroit at a small event on March 29th, 2015 and was submitted to festivals both nationally and internationally. See below for our nominations and wins.
Watch the full film here.
Thick Air won Best Short Under $5K at the Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards in August 2017! We won!
The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards is an awards body dedicated to independent film. With competitions every two months and a changing judge panel of film critics, actors and filmmakers working within the industry, we dedicate ourselves to awarding films based on their originality and creativity, whilst considering their budget restrictions.
Read the full review of Thick Air.
We won in THREE categories! Best Short Under $5K, Best Editing, and Best Actress for Mary Rose Naoum.
I was nominated! Thick Air screened at the I See You Awards in Michigan August 24, 2017.
The mission of the I See You Awards is to recognize and honor low budget independent filmmakers. The I See You Awards fill a niche and create a platform for recognizing independent filmmakers that is currently missing in mainstream Hollywood.
I was honored to be nominated in the following categories:
Mary Rose Naoum won for her role as Samantha Mayfair.
Our team was also nominated in the following categories:
Best Cast, Best Soundtrack, Best Lead Actress (Mary Rose Naoum) Best Lead Actor (Michael Lopetrone), and Best Supporting Actress (Tina Gloss-Finnell). The full list of nominees can be found here.
Happy to announce MARY ROSE NAOUM won Best Actress!
Thick Air screened at the NYC Indie Film Festival Oct. 15, 2015.
The NYC Indie Film Festival provides a showcase for the best in independent cinema, including short films, feature films, music videos, and animated works. With panels, parties and a week-long gathering of fellow indie filmmakers, the 6th Annual New York City Independent Film Festival took place October 12 - 18, 2015. The festival strives to promote an open and nurturing environment for artists, writers, actors, filmmakers and fans.
Check out the photos from our local premiere and talkback.
March 29th, 2015
