About Me
THE FILM
Adolescents come to terms with their lives after the rebellions of 1996 St. Petersburg.
"Loren Cass" is an independent feature film shot in Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA, fight-town home to boxer Winky Wright and deathplace of Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The film was written and directed by Chris Fuller at the age of 21 and was produced over the course of 8 years. The movie is currently showing in select theatres worldwide garnering strong reactions and a growing fanbase.
In February of 2006 independent filmmaking consultant Robert Hawk joined the "Loren Cass" team to oversee its release effort. Bob is best known for
discovering Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy Clerks and is credited with nurturing the careers of such filmmakers
as Kevin Smith, Edward Burns, Rob Epstein, and others for the last twenty years. He served on the Advisory Selection Committee (1987-1998) of the Sundance Film Festival and is currently on its National Advisory Board. He's also produced films such as "Chasing Amy" and "The Slaughter Rule".
The official US Premiere was held at Dennis Hopper's CineVegas Film Festival in June of 2007 in the Jackpot Premieres competition at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas where it was met with a rave review in Variety. The International Premiere took place in August of 2007 in the prestigious Filmmakers of the Present Competition at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland as one of only two non-studio American films to play for the festival's 60th anniversary. In October of 2007 "Loren Cass" solidified its position as one of the top independent films of the year with an IFP Gotham Award nomination for "Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You". The film has also screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Starz Denver Film Festival, and the Vienna International Film Festival, along with festivals in Helsinki, Gijon, and Belfort in France where "Loren Cass" was awarded the One + One Music Award for its use of music in a feature film.
International sales will begin in February of 2008 at the European Film Market as part of the Berlin International Film Festival. News on the North American distribution of the film should also be available around that time.
The film stars Kayla Tabish ( The Girl Next Door ), newcomers Travis Maynard and Lewis Brogan,
Jacob Reynolds ( Gummo , The Road to Wellville), Florida street poet Mike Glausier, and is narrated by Blag
Dahlia ( The Dwarves ) and Keith Morris (Black Flag, The Circle
Jerks , Repo Man ). Special appearance by New York punk band Leftover Crack .
Behind the scenes the project was orchestrated by director Chris Fuller, who also wrote and produced the film, along with Frank Craft and Kayla Tabish. Cinematography was handled by Miami-based Director of Photography William Garcia, the original trumpet score by Jimmy Morey, and the sound mix by Gary Boggess.
The film also features: Ultimate Fighters Din Thomas , Aaron Riley, and Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett, Punk Magazine founder John Holmstrom, St. Petersburg boxing legend Winky Wright , and Pink Lincolns frontman Chris Barrows.
The soundtrack includes music by Stiff Little Fingers , Leftover
Crack , Hayden , Husker Du , Don Caballero , DJ Shadow , Billy Bragg and Propagandhi .
Official Movie Web Site:
http://www.LorenCass.com
"Loren Cass" at the Locarno International Film Festival:
http://www.pardo.ch
"Loren Cass" at the CineVegas Film Festival:
http://www.CineVegas.com
"Loren Cass" Internet Movie Database Entry:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464098
REVIEWS
"A starkly radical film debut of uncommon power and artistic principle, Chris Fuller's Loren Cass announces a genuinely original filmmaking talent who literally pulls no punches in his depiction of teen angst and racial warfare on the streets of 1997 St. Petersburg, Fla. Suffused with pessimism and an overarching sense of the loneliness of modern American life, the pic affirms a vital alternative to the usual adolescent drama, making even Larry Clark look
tame by comparison. Sure to be deemed commercially toxic, the pic deserves a brave distrib that knows how to work the angles. Major fest berths are a lock."
--Robert Koehler, Variety
"Loren Cass is one of the most radical, most courageous and most impressive films of the year." --FM4 (Austria)
"Quite an achievement for a first-timer behind the camera, self-taught about cinema through public library collections and the kind of self-made-man
confidence only raw talent can exude." --Steve Persall, The St. Petersburg Times
“Chris Fuller’s debut film, Loren Cass, is a dark portrait of St. Pete youth set in one of the city’s bleakest times, the period following the ’96riots. The film chronicles the coming of age of three St. Petersburg adolescents, their lives tied to the cycle of violence, suicide and destruction thatsurround the city post-rebellions. Cale (Lewis Brogan) and Jason (Travis Maynard) drive the streets while Nicole (Kayla Tabish) keeps falling for the wrongmen. On a chance encounter, Cale meets Nicole at his job, starting a fruitless relationship, while Jason spirals more out of control. Although Fuller hasno formal training in filmmaking, Loren Cass is hardly sophomoric; it has the persuasive acting, stellar soundtrack and quality look of a studioproduction.†--Alex Pickett, The Weekly Planet
"Aggressively rough-edged and in-your-face chronicle of disaffected youth in St Petersburg, a coastal Florida city perhaps best known for being the placewhere Jack Kerouac died in 1969. Just under three decades later, the area was the site of race riots which made national headlines; Loren Cass is set in theimmediate aftermath of these events, pungently evoking a volatile environment where violence is seldom far away. Amid this downbeat moodiness, writer-director Fuller (who also pseudonymously stars) inserts a lightly-sketched, laconic, nocturnal romance which is all the more convincing for being so casualand unforced. Dialogue is sparse and terse, while the "plot" is a jagged, fragmentary, episodic affair which "samples" various "found" audio and visualmaterial (including a spectacularly messy real-life suicide, captured on live TV). Fuller's stylish technique occasionally gets out of hand, resulting insome moments of affectation here and there - but this is an impressively surly and uncompromised debut from a confident, promising young filmmaker." --Neil Young, UK film critic (rating 7/10)
“A moody portrait of St. Petersburg during a defining era in the city’s history. Call it ‘sunshine noir’, perhaps. A mature film, very interesting.†--Jon Wilson, The St. Petersburg Times
“Totally fresh and original. Reminded me of the first time I saw Nina Menkes’ film The Bloody Child. Awesome work.†--Julian Goldberger,director of Trans and The Hawk is Dying
“A strong sense of place, a dreamlike pace and feel. Really captures the dark side of Florida. It almost seems as though the viewer is visiting the livesof the characters in a dream rather than following a plot in the traditional sense. We are examining them in their own stillness and subconsciousentrapment. This movie is different. Different is very good.†--Jesse Michaels, front-man for punk rock legends Operation Ivy
“Very raw and very real…disturbing.†--Mike Vallely, professional skateboarder
"Brilliant!" --Ronna B. Wallace, executive producer of Reservoir Dogs and Bad Lieutenant
"The most nihilistic movie I've ever seen." --Robert Hawk, film consultant/producer of Chasing Amy and The Slaughter Rule
