PUT AN IMAGE AT THE TOP OF YOUR PAGE
What would you do with a thousand dollars? You could make a car payment or two. Go out to dinner a few times at a nice restaurant. Maybe even pay your rent for amonth. We decided to make a movie. And the result is broken, a feature length drama that explores the lives of four people who are in more ways than one, broken. Is there one moment in your life that you can say defines you? One moment that made you the person you are today? For Christian Lee that moment happened when he was just eight years old. Imagine yourself in his shoes - you're eight years old, sitting at the kitchen table. Your mom, busy at the stove, glances your way from time to time. The side door opens and your dad walks in early from work. He looks your way briefly, then turns to your mother. Hidden behind his back is a rose with which he surprises her. Smiling, she takes the rose, and they embrace. All while you look on. What happens next is IT. That moment. From his jacket pocket, your dad slowly pulls out a .357. He takes the gun and places it next to your moms head. With one shot, one gentle squeeze of the trigger, your life is forever changed. That sets the stage for broken. The film looks at Christian Lee twenty years after that event. His dependency on drugs, his increasingly slippery grip on reality, his self imposed solitary life, and his art. We see what happens when a young man who feels he has nothing to lose suddenly finds himself with everything to lose. How a small circle of people, seemingly unconnected, set into motion a series of events that affect each and every one of their lives in ways they never thought possible. How love and hate, tenderness and abuse, acknowledgment and indifference can mean the difference between life and death. How everyone's life is broken up into moments - moments that define you, moments that label you, moments that make you who you are. Filmmakers Derek Justice and David DeLeon take you on this journey, this exploration of the dark side of human nature, and give you a glimpse into a life that most never experience first hand, but one in which almost everyone can relate. With a budget of less than a thousand dollars, Derek and David bring to the screen a film filled with character and depth, an understanding of human nature, and they do this with a look and feel that belies the unheard of budgetary constraints placed upon them. They bring the dream of independent cinema to the masses with their first feature length film. broken opens the door to all aspiring filmmakers by showing that truly independent cinema is about talent, desire, and the drive to become a filmmaker, not about money. Armed with a strong script and borrowed equipment, David and Derek set out to fulfill their dream of filmmaking. By spending only $285 on production materials and $700 on catering, David and Derek surrounded themselves with a talented cast of actors with the same drive to make the best possible film they could.