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Hello everyone! We are back from our summer break with a look at a fantastic indie drama, Six Years Gone, by writer/director Warren Dudley. Dudley previously directed the indie sports comedy Prankz, and horror flicks Cage and The Cutting Room.

Who?
I am a filmmaker and screenwriter from Brighton in the UK. Six Years Gone is the fourth low budget movie I have written and directed. Another project, The Bromley Boys (with a more sensible budget!), I was very proud to have written the screenplay for. I have produced this movie with my wonderful executive producer David Fearn.

The cast and crew, led by the amazing Veronica Jean Trickettt, were largely found within a few miles of my home town. Six Years Gone has a truly low budget ethos. It’s been amazing to see the film, and Vee in particular, garnering some very kind reviews and continued festival success. The cast and crew worked so hard and I hope seeing all the love makes it feel worth it.

The film is being distributed by Indie Rights.

What?
Six Years Gone follows single mum Carrie Dawson who is living a very comfortable life with her eleven-year-old daughter Lolly… until the worst happens and Lolly does not return from school.

We then join Carrie six years later to find that her life has fallen apart. She has been left to look after her mum and now works as a cleaner at a local social club – her past life a distant memory. However as some clues come to light about the abduction, a desperate search for answers, and eventually her daughter, begins.

We aimed for Six Years Gone to be a gritty and powerful look at tragedy, love, and desperation, that will touch a nerve with all parents. Now it’s up to audiences to decide if we succeeded!

Where?
We made the film in and around Brighton, on the UK’s south coast. The film is set in the same area. We were very fortunate to find four or five amazing (and importantly, free!) locations.

We shot the movie in eleven days – not something I would recommend! This was largely made possible by the fact we used long single takes on many scenes. This means we only had to do one camera, sound and lighting set up on location for what could often end up being 4 minutes of screen time.

Saying all that, my amazing DOP Richard Osborne would, I’m sure, have liked a few more days.

When?
The film was written, produced, cast, crewed, shot and edited during 2021. I started with a blank word doc on January 1st and we’d finished by Christmas.

We then set about submitting the film to festivals, and have done better than we could have imagined. We have had wins in London (where we World Premiered), New York, Paris and many more. It’s been an incredible ride. After the festival run ended we released the film in May 2022.

Why?
I’ve spent the last ten years flitting between football-based comedy and the horror/thriller genres. It’s been a privilege to work on these projects with some brilliant, talented people. However, it’s been gnawing away at me that I have yet to make anything ‘real’. Something gritty and heartfelt that packs an emotional punch.

The idea for Six Years Gone had been floating around my head for a while. As the parent of a now thirteen-year-old daughter, news reports about missing children have always left me with chills, and I felt those feelings could be mined for a script. About two years ago I saw a Belgian film called The Unknown Girl, and it immediately made me think that a similar way of shooting could bring my new idea to life. I loved the ultra-real performances and greyness of the film. I aimed to get close to this with Six Years Gone.

How?
Six Years Gone can be seen on the streaming platforms Tubi TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube Movies and Google Play.

Watch Online for Free:

Purchase Online:

Stay up to date with all of the ways to watch on the official website.

Fathom podcast is back with their third season! The podcast is an anthology of short audio dramas that is a cross between The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Official podcast description: “An anthology series of short adventures that explore the fantastical, the mundane and everything in between. Humans are complicated creatures. In these episodes we explore what makes them tick. Morality tales that become something else. Supernatural thrillers that are more realistic than they first appear. This is a strange time in a strange world. What can you fathom?

The series is back with a new episode titled “Honesty is the Best Policy”, written and directed by our very own Ritchie Filippi, edited by Adrian Carey, and featuring the voice talents of Kirk Gostkowski, Adam Hamway, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Aimee Keates.

“Honesty is the Best Policy”
Episode Description: A brutal ode to a 90s slasher film, this Fathom tale concerns “Stu Who Knew,” a conflicted husband looking for advice. And maybe a bit more…

You can listen by clicking the below preview for Spotify or click here to listen on Apple Podcasts. New episodes of Fathom are released monthly.
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What are your favorite Podcasts? Let us know in the comments!

Posted on January 31st, 2022 by MHD | Leave a Comment (5)
Filed Under Entertainment, Featured

YouTube has increasingly become an awesome go to spot to watch independent films for free (AVOD, so the filmmakers get paid!). There are a lot of different channels to choose from that offer a variety of content. One channel is from Indie Rights movies, a film distributor and production company that has a vast library of films of all genres. Today we are going to focus on three indie dramas that they have on YouTube to watch tonight!

First Love
Director: Michael Masarof
Starring: Annie Heise, Aaron Costa Ganis, Arye Gross, Adam Huber, Mia Barron, Amin El Gamal and Malin Barr.
Description: When a notorious Hollywood actress suffers a nervous breakdown and hides in a seaside hotel, her slacker twin brother must make a choice: save his troubled sister from herself, or sell his explosive tell-all book and sacrifice their twin bond for good. (Source: YouTube Page)
Click here to watch on YouTube

Four Walls
Director: Darcy Touhey
Starring: Maddie Phillips, Debs Howard, Reece Thompson, Ryan Beil, Glynis Davies, Brenda Matthews, Caitlin Howden, Doralynn Mui, and Naika Toussaint.
Description: A glimpse into various people’s ever-changing relationships over the course of a day. (Source: YouTube)
Click here to watch on YouTube

3:13
Director: David Jaure Rosenbaum
Starring: Paul Alexandro, Marina Vidal, Julio Lourido, Giselle Torres, Bob Cady, Sheryl Carbonell, and Tatum Freeman.
Description: From living a normal life to surviving homelessness in the city of Miami, Peter is a victim of the turbulent US recession during late 2000’s. (Source: YouTube)
Click here to watch on YouTube

We would love to hear what you are watching online! Leave a comment on this post or send us a DM on Twitter @MyHWoodDream!

Ring in the new year by binge watching the indie romantic drama Loving Till It Hurts.
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Loving Till It Hurts is a six-part digital series that was directed by Luner Eugene, and stars Shawntaria Franklin, Wil J Jackson, Mary Farah, Tamara C Moore-White, and Delpha Clarke. In the series, a “lonely, sad, yet beautiful wife of a neglectful husband, bumps into an old flame and opens a Pandora’s box of emotions.” You can watch the whole series right now for free on Tubi TV.

What will you be watching on New Year’s Eve?

Posted on December 29th, 2021 by ThePit | Leave a Comment
Filed Under Entertainment

Writer/director Steven Tsapelas, the creator of We Need Girlfriends, just wrapped production on his new independent feature film UFO Club. The movie is being made by In the Garage Productions and produced by Shawna Brandle, Michael Cannetti, and Kenneth R Frank, who is also the movie’s cinematographer, and executive produced by David Rheingold.

The rom com is set in the 90s, Tsapelas told us that it follows “a nerdy high school senior” who has to “strike up a friendship with an intimidating classmate because he believes she has a video that will prove the existence of aliens.” That nerdy high school senior William is portrayed by Spencer Gonzalez, while his intimidating classmate Alex is portrayed by Eloise Gordon. Rounding out the cast is Josiah Schneider as Chris, Paolo Kossi as Johnny, Emma Magnus as Vicki, Meghan Palmer as Jacquelyn DeNatale, and Frank Failla as the Fanny Pack Man.

The Official Plot Description: Nerdy high school senior WILLIAM discovers his hero, a local UFO hunter, has been arrested for a serious crime. Convinced of his innocence, William sets out to find a VHS tape of a ‘flying saucer crash’ that was raffled off during a meeting of his high school’s UFO Club. However, the tape went to a girl named ALEX, an intimidatingly confident Ska music fan. Worried that she might be a part of the conspiracy, William strikes up a friendship with her in order to find out if he can trust her. But, his search for “the truth” is complicated when he falls in love. A quirky romantic comedy set in 1998.

Check out these images from UFO Club and we will follow the progress as it gets closer to release!

We had the pleasure of connecting with Peter Kondra and Mikael Schallock, the producers and co-directors of the indie drama/dark comedy Good Old Friends. Learn more about their dark comedy/drama that took more than 4 years to make.

Who?
The independent film Good Old Friends was produced and directed by Mikael Schallock and Peter Kondra. It marks their directorial debut and first feature length film as producers. Kondra created the story and penned the script. Schallock tended to camera and editing. Andrej Vickers was cast for the third leading role playing Marc. Given our limited resources, we were constantly jumping back and forth from acting to directing. It was a minimalist approach that was at times overwhelming but also felt liberating.  Our cast was rounded out by the wonderfully talented actors Ronja Klatt, Marie Céline Yildirim, Haydar Türkoglu, Anna Rosa Braun and Martin Herden. The legendary actor/filmmaker Ulli Lommel, famous for The Boogeyman and his many collaborations with Andy Warhol and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, makes an unexpected voice cameo at the beginning of the film. Ultimately, after winning six awards at four international film festivals, we were delighted to find worldwide distribution with Indie Rights Movies based in Los Angeles, CA.

What?
Here’s the short synopsis: Mike (Mikael Schallock) is an actor from Los Angeles and visits his old college friends, the drug dealer Pete (Peter Kondra) and the office worker Marc (Andrej Vickers), in Berlin after five years. It quickly becomes clear how their lives have changed so much that they all can’t quite find their way back to each other. During the drug and booze fueled festivities at Marc’s apartment, a harmless prank devolves into the tragic death of one the friends. The remaining two have to figure out how to dispose of the body in order to avoid jailtime. They set out on a roadtrip driving a VW Beatle, with their friend’s body in the trunk, and scour the Berlin nightscape in hopes of putting their huge problem to rest. During their odyssey, what’s left of their friendship is put to the test.

Where?
Most of the film was made in Berlin. The intention from the beginning was to show as much of Berlin as possible. The film was shot mainly in two locations. The first half takes place in Marc’s apartment, which is really Peter Kondra’s place. The second half essentially takes place in Marc’s VW Beatle, which was actually Mikael Schallock’s mother’s car. The finale of the film takes place at a lake outside Berlin, but we actually shot this scene in Poland for practical reasons. The quiet location of the lake was extremely important to us and we found the perfect motif in the region of Borne Sulinowo in Poland.

When?
The first take was shot in Poland in the summer of 2016, where we shot the finale of the film first. Due to unforeseen interruptions, the shoot dragged on until the middle of 2019. For the most part, we were only able to start shooting in the evenings after our other commitments. In exchange, we started editing immediately afterwards and were able to complete it in early 2020. The film was immediately submitted to international film festivals. It first won an award in Prague in October 2020, followed by further nominations and awards in the USA, Cannes, Sweden, Japan and Slovakia. The VoD release for American audiences was in September 2021 on Amazon Prime, followed by Tubi TV, Google Play and Youtube. Additional releases on Amazon Prime have already appeared in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Why?
Mikael and Peter worked together as actors and assistant directors for the controversial filmmaker Ulli Lommel (The Boogeyman, films with Andy Warhol and Rainer Werner Fassbinder) until his unfortunate passing in Dec. 2017. Lommel encouraged us to make our own feature film. The idea for Good Old Friends was Peter’s brain child. He recalled from his mid-thirties how friendships at the time were falling apart. The film was supposed to portray the disintegration of friendships and the viewer is encouraged to think about their own friendships. The three main characters were meant to be as different as possible. Mike, the actor from L.A., is generally looked up to. Marc has a regular 9-5 office job like millions of others. And Pete portrays the drug dealer who manuevers on the fringes of society. Emotions like envy and jealousy play against the goodwill and joy you see in friends. In addition, it was important to incorporate the city of Berlin and its landmarks into the film. That’s why you see the Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz and so much more of Berlin in Good Old Friends.

How?
Our film Good Old Friends can be found on the video on demand platforms Tubi TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play and Youtube. A DVD/Blu-ray release is currently not planned.

Watch Online (for free!):

Purchase/Rent:

Family Obligations is an independent film from In the Garage Productions and writer/director/cinematographer Kenneth R. Frank. The movie “tells the story of an isolated person who is finally drawn out of himself and into meaningful relationships for the first time in his life. It’s about the power and the pitfalls of involving yourself in other people’s lives.” You can check out our in-depth interview with Kenneth here and you can watch the movie online for free on Tubi TV.

Family Obligations stars Chris Mollica, Frank Failla, Chandler Rosenthal, Jerry Colpitts, Brian Silliman, and Eleanor Brandle-Frank. It was produced by Shawna Brandle, Brett Brandle, Kenneth R. Frank, and Chris Mollica.