It has been an eventful week, and things aren’t slowing down yet.
This past weekend, Billy, Isaac, And I were in Fort Worth for the 2019 Fort Worth Indie FIlm Showcase where “Cupid’s First Day” made its festival premiere.
We didn’t get nominated for any awards, but the short was well received and we had a great time.
While we were in TX, “Yellow Scare” and “Cabin of Errors” were playing at the Bergen International Film Festival in Bergenfield, NJ. Dan, Jayleen, Jenna, Maggie, the Platizky parents, and our youngest fan (Juliana Pinilla) represented NBF there.
Here, Jenna Kildosher was nominated for Best Actress in a Feature for “Cabin of Errors!”
Isaac was nominated for Best Actor in a Feature for “Cabin!”
And Isaac was nominated for and won Best Screenplay for “Cabin!”
A very eventful weekend… and this week is just as busy!
On Thursday, August 1st at 7pm, Narrow Bridge Films in association with Brazen Giant Ensemble will be having a reading of award winning screenwriter Isaac Platizky’s hilarious latest feature film “A Chanukah Story.”
The reading will be at the Players Theatre in New York, NY. Tickets are $15 for non-Brazen Giant members and can be purchased at the door. We are asking all people who wish to attend to RSVP so we have an accurate headcount. Seating is limited.
Then on Friday, Cupid’s First Day And Dream a Little Dream will be screening at the 2019 Gen Con Film Festival!
Then on Sunday, Lost and Found Episode 10 and Toilet Prayers will be making their festival debuts at the Summer 2019 Brightside Film Festival at the Brightside Tavern in Jersey City.
And that is it for festivals for the summer… But we will be shooting a new short in August. “Mirrors” Written and Directed by Jenna Kildosher, which will be a part of the NBF Horror Anthology.
Narrow Bridge shirts of all kinds, onesies, and hoodies have been available for awhile over at TeePublic now. They come in all sorts of styles and colors.
But recently, I decided to buy Narrow Bridge Films jackets for the primary production team, and we got a good reaction to them. People started asking me where they could buy one.
Now, here’s the deal. We need to sell a minimum of 6 within 3 weeks, or they won’t be made. Custom Ink takes 60% of what we bring in. The remaining 40% will go towards future Narrow Bridge Films’ projects… and we have tons of projects in the pipeline.
They are very comfortable… nice and light but warm for fall, early winter, and cool spring days.
Whether you’re a member of NBF or a fan, these NBF apparel options are really great, and we hope you get something to show your NBF love!
In 2012, we had just wrapped production on our SECOND FEATURE. That is pretty much unheard of for a production company as small as ours, but we did it. Next up, we had a season of a webseries planned, but between the 2nd feature and that we wanted a break. We didn’t want to stop making things, but we did want to do smaller things.
And so, Dan Gregory and I started writing shorts that we could film in 1-3 days with minimal casts and crews. (After these inaugural shorts, Isaac would lap us several times over in the amount of shorts he wrote and we produced, but in the beginning Dan & I were the first short writers.) I wrote a short existential comedy called “Toilet Prayers” and Dan wrote two shorts: a dark comedy called “Tell Me Something Good” and a (I don’t know how to classify it) short called “The Dare.”
We filmed “Toilet Prayers” and “Tell Me Something Good” in April of 2012. The plan was to just release these things to YouTube to help build our fanbase and show that we were still working. I don’t know why we never really planned to submit to festivals… Probably to save money.
Anyway, the director of “Tell Me Something Good” (Sean Feuer) had finished most of a cut of the short, but before he could finish, the hard-drive that the movie was on was stolen from his car! Months passed. We thought that we didn’t back it up… But we did. I had a backup, and told Sean whenever he wanted to start over, he could.
More time passed. We got heavily involved with our webseries “Lost and Found.” Then, in January of 2015, I set several goals for myself: FINISH ALL THE PROJECTS THAT WE HADN’T FINISHED. So, I finished “Lost & Found.” I finished “Devil You Know” (which we filmed the summer before. And I finished “Tell Me Something Good.” “Devil You Know” became the first short that we would send out to a bunch of festivals… L&F and TMSG were put up on YouTube. And that was that.
Until late 2018 or early 2019, when Dan decided that he wanted to start submitting TMSG to festivals. This short that we filmed in 2012 and finished in 2015 would now get a festival run.
And so it has. It has been an Official Selection at the Brightside Film Festival (Spring 2019) where Dan won a “Rising Star Award” for it, the Point Lookout Film Festival where it won “Best Concept,” and will soon play at the Northern Horror Fest in Bergenfield and the Cutting Room International Short Film Festival in NYC.
Last night it played at the Grove Film Festival (its second screening at the Brightside Tavern), and we came out to support and represent!
And, as luck would have it, we were there as Dan won Best Actor!
Started in 2012. Finished in 2015. Finally getting its due in 2019. Just goes to show you that persistence is key. Never give up.
Congratulations to the cast & crew for getting this film made and for all the success it has enjoyed so far. And congratulations to its writer Dan Gregory on his first-ever BEST ACTOR award. Well deserved. And thank you for remaining a part of the Narrow Bridge Family since Day 1, through all its ups and downs.
Well, looks like our last two features are coming back to NJ! Bergenfield, NJ to be exact. The site of our first ever film festival. (BGR had its first festival screening at the Bergenfield Film Festival in the same theatre.)
“Cabin of Errors” (the movie formerly known as “Summer Cabin”) will be playing at 6pm on Saturday, July 27th. The film is still listed as “Summer Cabin” on the festival schedule, so don’t get confused.
“Yellow Scare” will be playing on Friday, July 26th at 2:30pm.
The full schedule is below:
All movies will have an AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD, which basically means the movie with the biggest crowd will win. So, the bigger our crowds, the better our chances. Come out to support NBF!
Tickets are $12 for each showing and are available HERE.
Well, the Narrow Bridge boys were at it again. This time, the world of film festivals took us to Georgia. Dillard, Georgia to be exact for the first annual NORTHEAST MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL.
For a first-time festival, Northeast Mountain more than surpassed our expectations. Everything ran smoothly, the festival people were great, and we had an amazing time. We even got to spend some time with our friends and BEST SHORT FILM WINNERS (for Shyft) Brooke & Harry!
Not only was the festival really great, but the area itself was beautiful too. We managed to not only eat a ton of great food, but we also got to explore some nature while we were there.
Dillard was great, and then for our last day with time to kill in Atlanta, we had to continue our traditional film festival zoo visit.
Finally, with a little extra time, we decided to drink too much soda in honor of our missing brother, Joey Mosca, at the WORLD OF COCA COLA!
And that was our trip to the Northeast Mountain Film Festival. Filmmakers, I recommend that you submit to this one!
Next up, we have TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD playing at the Grove Film Festival at the Brightside Tavern in Jersey City on Wednesday, June 26th in Block 3B at 8:30pm.
After that, we have a small break before the Film Festival premiere of CUPID’S FIRST DAY at the Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase on Friday, July 26th in Theatre C in the 4:50pm block.
After that, we have another screening of CUPID’S FIRST DAY (Friday, August 2nd at 7:30pm in the Short Comedy Block) and a special advanced, premiere screening of one of the horror shorts from our anthology DREAM A LITTLE DREAM (Friday, August 2nd at 10:30pm in the horror short block) at the Gen Con Film Festival in Indiana.
Beyond that, we may have a few more screenings in the summer months. So, stay tuned!
For those who have been following us for awhile, you may know that we’ve been planning a horror anthology for a number of years now.
We grew up with classic horror anthology movies like The Twilight Zone movie, Tales from the Dark Side, Creep Show, Amazing Stories (more sci -fi than horror). So, as we worked on horror shorts more, we wanted to collect them into a feature… And we are finally ready to announce….
TALES FROM THE NARROW BRIDGE: The Wyrmwood Devil.
We have already filmed two of the shorts, and will be filming more this summer and fall.
GIRL IN THE BASEMENT: Written & Directed by Isaac Platizky; Starring- Esther “Ayo” Akinsaya, Dan Gregory, Megan Bussiere, Eva Visco, Cassandra King, And Ariana Pinilla- FILMED.
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM: Written by Isaac Platizky and Directed by Joey Mosca; Starring- Isaac Platizky, Esther “Ayo” Akinsaya, Dan Gregory, Jenna Kildosher, Andrew Wallace, William R. Farley, Eric Parkin, Andrew Platizky, Charlene Platizky, Ariana Pinilla, & Juliana Pinilla- FILMED.
CLEAN-UP: Written by Isaac Platizky, Director & Cast-TBD
DON’T LOOK BACK: Written by Isaac Platizky and Directed by Sam Platizky; Starring- Dan Gregory, Isaac Platizky, And more TBF- FILMING THIS FALL
HITCHHIKER: Written by Sam Platizky and Directed by Sami Saad; Starring – William R. Farley & Alannah McCord- FILMING THIS SUMMER
MIRRORS: Written & Directed by Jenna Kildosher; Starring- Eva Visco, Mike Mumola, And Megan Bussiere – FILMING THIS SUMMER
THE WYRMWOOD DEVIL: the wraparound story Written by Sam Platizky and Directed by Joey Mosca; Starring- Isaac Platizky, Megan Bussiere, Sam Platizky, Dan Gregory, Jenna Kildosher, Esther “Ayo” Akinsaya, Alannah McCord, And Cassandra King
It seems that I have neglected to update the Website with information regarding our recent festival acceptances, so here we go.
Back in 2012, we had just wrapped our 2nd feature, Red Scare, and while we didn’t want to stop making movies, we also wanted to slow down. So, we decided to start making short films. Our 2nd short film, Tell Me Something Good, was written by Dan Gregory & Directed by Sean Feuer and filmed in April of 2012. During the edit, the hard drive that the footage was on was stolen from Sean’s car, and we thought that it may be lost… until I found that I had backed it up. It took awhile, but we finally were able to complete the film in 2015. It had been so long, we just wanted to get it into the world, so we uploaded it to YouTube and never sent it to festivals… Until this year when writer Dan Gregory wanted to give it a whirl. Since then, it has been an Official Selection at the Brightside Film Festival (where actor Dan Gregory was nominated for best actor & won Rising Star Award) and the Point Lookout Film Festival (where Dan was again nominated for Best Actor and won “Best Concept”).
“Click Send” (which is available to stream on Amazon Prime) recently got into the Die Laughing Film Festival in Los Angeles, and screens on Friday, May 10th. This extra laurel makes “Click Send” our most accepted short film so far.
Both “Cupid’s First Day” (available on Amazon Prime) and “Dream a Little Dream” are making their film festival debuts later this year at the Gen Con Film Festival in Indianapolis. This will be the only place you will be able to see “Dream a Little Dream” for the time being as it is a short that is intended for our feature length horror anthology.
Finally, we have “Yellow Scare,” our 4th Feature and our most accepted and award winning film to date. “Yellow Scare” has just been accepted to the Minicon Sci-Fi convention in Minnesota (April 2020) where, for the first time, it will play alongside “Red Scare.” It was also accepted to the Northeast Mountain Film Festival in Georgia this June.
That is it for now. Hopefully, we have many more exciting film festival announcements to make before too long.
3 years ago this week, we started production on “Yellow Scare.” Of course, I started writing it from 2012-2016, and had it mostly cast in 2015, but we started production on it in April of 2016.
We wrapped in May of 2016, and had a finished copy in October of 2017. We made the festival circuit in 2018 and even won some awards!
So, where is Yellow Scare? Why can you not view it the way you can all of our other features & most of our shorts?
We are currently seeking distribution. It’s not easy for movies without name recognition, especially comedies or for black and white movies. So you can imagine our black and white comedy with no name recognition isn’t the easiest sell.
But we’ve been in touch with distribution companies and will continue to do so. We will also be going back to the American FIlm Market in November of this year.
We could self distribute and likely get on Amazon & Amazon Prime, but we want a wider distribution, and so we continue looking. Stay tuned!
Next up we have Mariette Marino, the choreographer & Soo King of Yellow Scare.
Tell the readers a little about yourself.
I am a dancer, choreographer, actor, & business woman living in Bayonne, NJ.
Originally from Jersey City, I credit my all around dance style and personally to my upbringing with diverse influences. I am an entertainer at heart with a degree in Music Business with a concentration in Classical Voice from NJCU. I love cookies, animals, good people, and honest connection. When and how did you get into dance?
Dance wasn’t something I got into it’s just a part of me. My parents have a million stories but one of my favorites is that when I was 2, my parents would frequent a local restaurant on Friday nights. I would get my quarters from my dad and I’d set my playlist at the jukebox & perform in the middle of the floor for everyone. Funny enough, when my parents put me into dance school officially around the age of 3 or 4 I didn’t like it. When I was 5 however, I remember the moment clearly when I asked my mom if she still had the pink card for the studio because I wanted to go back. Needless to say dance has been a major component of my life ever since. You’re also an actress. (A) How do you compare acting to dance? (B) When can we get you to act in another of our projects?
I very proudly say I am an actress! Acting came to me later in life. As a performer (singer, dancer) you are acting all the time but I never thought of myself as an actress until it smacked me in the gut. After my last audition at NJCU there was silence. I was going out for the last musical production I’d be eligible for before graduation, well knowing that there wasn’t really a part for me in it. I just wanted to go through the audition process at school one last time. Living in the silence for what felt like a hour, I said to myself “Oh God, I did awful.” When I got the courage to look up at the directors in the room they were just staring at me. “Why have you never auditioned for the straight plays here??” the director asked. I, dumbfounded by the question answered, “I never thought I could.” Shaking his head “We missed out” he said.
Welp, I graduated and began taking acting classes in the city and have had the privilege of working with Trudy Steibl at HB Studios and Kelly Kimball at Kimball Studios both have changed my life in more ways than I can tell you. That’s a whole other interview!
(A) How do I compare acting to dance? That’s an interesting question; I’d say they’re very similar. I always tell my students that dancers are the best actors. If you’re doing your job right, the audience will feel everything you want them to. Both art forms are about completely giving yourself up to a higher connection. Sorry, I may get a little too deep but I’m a true believer that art is the greatest unifier and there is nothing more enchanting or soul connecting than when an audience is moved to tears or up out of their seat singing because of connection to a piece.
There is no hiding in dance or acting and that is both terrifying and incredibly liberating and invigorating. Sink or swim, your perceived success or failure is perfect. The honest attempt will only bring you to another opportunity where you can have another chance at growing.
(B) Anytime.
Mariette & Casey Okamoto in Yellow Scare
You were wonderful as the choreographer of Yellow Scare… especially considering you had a very truncated rehearsal schedule and actors who very much were not dancers… Besides that, how was your experience on set and in pre-production? What would you have done different, if anything?
First, I have to thank you Sam for giving me that opportunity. I am truly grateful for opening a new door for me. I had at that time, 17 years of dance teaching / choreography experience under my belt but I had never choreographed a movie. To be totally honest, I was terrified! I had so many questions, so many questions, concerns and insecurities. I really just didn’t want to disappoint you or Joe, our director. I had always wanted to choreograph films and I guess meeting the opportunity gave me more nerves than the typical job.
All initial nerves aside, the experience was amazing! From pre-production to set days we ran pretty much like a well-oiled machine thanks to you, Joe, Alan and the whole Narrow Bridge crew. I loved it. It’s that simple. Besides having more trust in myself in the beginning, I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently. I think my relationship with the cast and crew was amazing, and that is what was most important to me. Everyone on a set is putting their best foot forward for the greater good and I only hope that I was a positive spark plug for our engine that could!
What are your goals as an artist? How do you view success?
Oh man, I’d say the sky’s the limit but I don’t want to put a limit on my life as an artist. For my part in helping others, I’m all in. I love seeing the light bulb go on for people. There is magic that happens when everyone is connected to a song and moving in unison. You can actually feel the elevation in the room. For myself, I just want it all. Hahah. Acting, choreo, business… I have so many ideas and dreams. A dear friend calls me a “creative monster”. Hahah I’m not sure about that but just want to share some positivity and create art that speaks to people.
Success is whatever you say it is. I consider success as continuing to put one foot in front of the other. Life ebbs and flows & knowing that life is meant to have highs and lows is part of the battle. Accepting that it’s all relative and we are all on a journey is everything. No one thing in life gives you everything. The most important thing one can do is answer that question honestly, for themselves.
What is next for Mariette Marino?
Well, at the moment I am currently working on many projects. (Thank God) I am doing choreography for parties, events, benefit concerts, high school competitions… I am also guest-teaching in local dance studios while working full time as an Office Manager in Bayonne.
It’s a lot of fun at the moment.
I am very excited for the rest of 2019 and beyond. I’m ready for a banner year. I want to get back into acting, possibly do more film choreo, grow in my business career and continue to carve out my own path to continued success.
Next up, we have the actress who’s worked on more things with us than any other actress. Jenna Kildosher!
Thanks for doing this. Tell the readers a little about yourself.
Sure! I love/hate talking about myself so it’s the perfect amount of self-indulgence and self-punishment. I’ve been with NBF for a while now. During that time I’ve acted, wrote, and even produced. Outside of NBF I run a Youtube channel and Instagram called Alchemss where my friend Lisa and I geek out over our favorite comics, films and pop culture. Previously, I was an editor of a literature and art magazine, Instagatorzine. I’m also a pageant competitor. I won two state titles but haven’t done that in some time.
You have been acting with us since Red Scare, and have been in all of our features since, a majority of our shorts, and our webseries. What is your favorite NBF project? What is your favorite role?
My favorite project was Last Rehearsal of the Dangerous Kitten. Each role was specifically written for the performer, which made it a lot easier for Dan and I as the writers. Which also made it exciting to see everyone thrive on stage. Most of us have theater backgrounds so the performance clicked right away. It was really satisfying how seamless the project went from page to film.
My favorite role to play was Susie from Cabin of Errors. For one, getting into character wasn’t hard, her nonsense and humor (okay maybe the accent too) were really relatable to my own. I empathized a lot with her, not so much the utter need to get married, but wanting something so badly you blind yourself from the apparent truth of your situation. I would definitely reprise her (not like I haven’t, for no reason, on or off cameras, to no one’s request).
Not everyone knows this, but you are also a writer. You have written plenty of things in your own time, and also co-wrote Last Rehearsal of the Dangerous Kitten (coming soon!) and a short called Mirrors that is in pre-production. What is it about writing that you enjoy?
Yes! I enjoy getting lost in the world I created. I can tune out everything and everyone and just exist in this gray space. I can think, feel, see, smell and hear what my character’s are experiencing. I think I might sound weird but the escapism is really what I enjoy most. LRDK is a comedy about the tribulations of community theater. Mirrors is a thriller/horror. We developed Mirrors with the Brazen Giant Ensemble. It’s currently in pre-production.
Tell everyone a little bit about your video podcast/social media page Alchemss. What’s up with that, and why should people follow you?
Alchemss is a geek social media outlet, mostly focusing on the comics industry. Lisa and I just really wanted to create something for ourselves. Originally we wanted to start more of a lifestyle Youtube page. However, we came to find we had similar interests in comics, film, TV, etc and that we liked Instagram and live streaming a lot more. So we ran with that, and now we have a nice following and place in the geek/comic community. People should follow us if they have similar interests and we love engaging with our audience!
Actress, model, writer. Are there any more aspects of filmmaking you’d like to dive into?
I’d like to direct for film next. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was like 12 but never really had the guts to take on. Now that I think of it, I told my guidance counselor in the the 8th I wanted to be a director. Her advice to me was that there aren’t many women in the field so I should find role models elsewhere. Not ironically, her name was Ms. Meanie. Maybe I took that to heart unknowingly. However, I’ve AD’d on some shorts and live performances but nothing with just my vision.
What are your goals as an artist?
Specifically, I’m working on producing a book of poetry. As I’m writing that, I realize how fluffy that sounds. I’m pretty quiet about my poetry, which might seem odd from a former poetry editor. It was the first medium I wrote in. Performance wise, I’m tweaking a play for NBF and hope to have that on its feet within the next year or so. Long term, I’d just like to take Alchemss to new heights such as a show on SyFy, panels at NYCC or SDCC, and all of that geeky stuff. Overall, I’d just love to collaborate with all types of artists and keep creating new projects.
We live at an interesting time for women in film. The landscape is changing. How do you feel about it? What are your hopes for the world of film in the coming years?
I believe there will be positive change for populations left out of the loop by gatekeepers and glass ceilings. It will still be a tough road, there’s still a ways to go. Transparency is definitely the next wave in our industry and culture. From this, I’d really love to see more creator owned projects and easier access to funding and the community itself. It seems to be going that way but us smaller people need to keep fighting for it.
What is next for Jenna Kildosher?
The throne of Earth…just kidding? More performing and more writing. Dare I demand to always have the ability to keep creating with such brilliant individuals and be able to show it to the world. As that goes, give Alchemss a follow on Instagram or Youtube, watch Narrow Bridge on Prime, and send me kitten pics on twitter.
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