For Clearer Skies

For Clearer Skies (2012); 14mins; Drama/Sci-Fi

BACK COVER
A man struggles to decide whether or not to pursue survival as his race nears extinction.

CONTENTS
Official Teaser Trailer
Visual Scrapbook
In Front of the Camera
Behind the Camera
Production Notes/Trivia (Contains Spoilers!)
Director's Statement

PERKS
Official For Clearer Skies IMDb Page
Official For Clearer Skies Facebook Fan Page

REVIEWS/ARTICLES
Rogue Cinema
Cinema Crazed
Film Bizarro
Indy Red
Press+1
Search My Trash
Film Army
Adam the Movie God

SCREENINGS
1. Filmstock Film Festival 2014
2. Little Chop of Horrors 2014
3. Eternal Con 2014
4. Elmont Film Festival 2014
5. Fantasy Faire 2014
6. Tri-Cities International Fantastic Film Festival 2014
7. DetCon 1 North American Science Fiction Convention 2014
8. Sci-Fi on the Rock International Film Festival 2014
9. RadCon 6B Science Fiction Fantasy Convention 2014
10. Unscripted 3 (February 2014)
11. Tottering Biped Film Festival 2014
12. Grindhouse Nights (November 2013)
13. Buried Alive Film Festival 2013
14. Lethbridge Comic Con 2013
15. Bloorcourt Screen Shot (October 2013)
16. Fraser Studios Showcase (October 2013)
17. Eerie Horror Film Festival 2013
18. Little Terrors Vol. 20 (September 2013)
19. Hamilton Music & Film Festival 2013
20. Night Risers Film Festival & Expo 2013
21. ScareFest 6 2013
22. ParaFest 2013
23. Mascara & Popcorn Film Festival 2013
24. Third Annual Calgary Horror Con 2013
25. Long Island International Film Expo 2013
26. CINEMADIC Film Festival 2013
27. 3rd Macabre Faire Film Festival (Summer 2013)
28. Vaughan Film Festival 2013
29. Shock Stock 2013
30. Canadian Film Fest 2013
31. 2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival (Winter 2013)
32. Monsters and Martians Science Fiction Film Festival 2012
33. SharpCuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival 2012
34. Hamilton Film Festival 2012
35. Flipside TV Film Festival 2012
36. International Film Festival of Cinematic Arts Los Angeles 2012
37. The River City Festival of Films 2012
38. Fright Nights Summer Showcase (August 2012)

AWARDS
1. Best Story (Long Island International Film Expo 2013)
2. Outstanding Award for Visual Effects (Vaughan Film Festival 2013)
3. Best Screenplay (Short Film) (2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2013])
4. Best Sci-Fi Award (SharpCuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival 2012)
5. Audience Choice Award (SharpCuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival 2012)

NOMINATIONS
1. Critical Impact Award (Runner-Up) (Sci-Fi on the Rock International Film Festival 2014)
2. Best Short Film of 2013 Macabreite Award (5th Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2014])
3. Best Short Film (Long Island International Film Expo 2013)
4. Best Actor (Charles Lo Manto) (Vaughan Film Festival 2013)
5. Best Sound (2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2013])
6. Best Actress (Kelly-Marie Murtha) (2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2013])
7. Best Screenplay (2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2013])
8. Best Director (2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2013])
9. Best Film (2nd Macabre Faire Film Festival [Winter 2013])

OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER

VISUAL SCRAPBOOK

2013 Vaughan Film Festival

2012 Hamilton Film Festival

Promoting For Clearer Skies and Canswer on the Rev and Go Radio Show

For Clearer Skies World Premiere at Fright Nights Summer Showcase (August 2012)

IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA

Charles Lo Manto - Man

Charles Lo Manto is a serious, project-seeking actor, first and foremost, who started in the entertainment field several years ago performing Shakespeare, including the lead role of Macbeth at the Hamilton Urban Theatre Association, and has since been chasing his true dream of acting in the television and film industry.

Having received positive feedback and much attention from credible independent filmmakers working in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and abroad, several of Charles' projects are currently in production, postproduction, and have gone on to receive distribution.

In addition to co-creating many pieces for film and television, Charles also co-founded and performed with the sketch comedy troupe knows as The Ugly Stiks, who performed at such venues as Toronto's Comedy Bar, The Saga Theatre in New York City, and The Hamilton Fringe Festival. And while acting remains his number one priority, Charles now finds himself involved in several other aspects of media such as Location Manager and Associate Producer.

When not in front of or behind the camera, Charles also enjoys songwriting and percussion, and has performed in musical roles for such productions as The Who's Tommy, the cult hit Hedwig and the Angry Itch, and Leader of the Pack. Bilingual, Charles also hopes to star in an Italian film.

Last, but certainly not least, Charles is excited to be making his directorial debut with his gritty action short Merge, soon to be released.

"My favourite part about being an actor is taking on a challenging role." -Charles Lo Manto

Kelly-Marie Murtha - Woman

Kelly-Marie Murtha, born and raised in a small town in Eastern Ontario, got the acting bug while singing and dancing in her high school musicals. She continued on to university where she performed the role of Hermia in A Midsummers Night Dream with a local theatre group.

Since moving to Toronto, Kelly-Marie has performed and starred in numerous award-winning films including Eyes Beyond, which earned her a Best Actress Award at the 2010 Horrorfind Weekend Film Festival; The Little Guardian, which premiered at the 2008 Cannes Short Film Corner; and Rex vs. Singh, which took top honours at the 2008 Spinning Wheel (Sikh) Film Festival in Toronto. She also appeared in the CBC TV primetime documentary Air India 182 in which she portrayed Irish nurse Sheila Wall. Most recently her film Open Window made its world premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

Kelly-Marie also has numerous theatre credits, most recently as a cast member of Sex, Relationships and Sometimes ...Love, which ran at the Poor Alex Theatre in Toronto and where she was awarded Best Female Performer. She recently starred in the theatrical production A Little Happiness, which ran at the Alumnae Theatre in Toronto from August 9-14, 2011.

Kelly-Marie recently wrapped production on Season 2 of the web-series Out with Dad, directed by Jason Leaver, where she reprised her role of Angela. She has also been invited to be part of the core cast for the stage production The F-Word with 360 Productions. The show will run at Buddies in Bad Times, March 8-11, 2012, in Toronto.

Kelly-Marie has recently wrapped the feature film Vacilate directed by Heather Tobin. She will begin production on the web-series Flanagan's: Life on the Edge this winter and the film Silver Lining directed by James Harrison.

Kelly-Marie lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter.

www.kellymariemurtha.com
http://kelly-mariemurtha.workbooklive.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3289900/

BEHIND THE CAMERA

Nadeem Soumah - Director of Photography

Canadian cinematographer, Nadeem Soumah, completed his formal training in his native city of Toronto.

Working as a director, he started his career DPing the music videos that he directed. Seeing that music videos were strongly influenced by visuals, as a director he found shooting them himself was the best way to put his signature and personal style on the projects. This evolved into shooting over 200 music videos for other directors and production companies as well as his own.

Currently, Nadeem has DPed four feature films, his debut being Lost Journey, directed by longtime collaborator Ant Horasanli. The film went on to get a limited theatrical run and Nadeem earned the accolade "Beautiful Cinematography" from Telefilm Canada.

His next project was the feature film Searching for Angels, starring Vivica A Fox (Kill Bill); this also marked his feature directorial debut.

He soon followed up with which he followed up with Tensions for French director Vincent LeCroq, starring Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). His work on this film impressed actor/director Louis Mandylor enough that he flew Nadeem down to Los Angeles within months to shoot his television pilot Elwood, executive produced and starring Ron Perlman (Drive, Hellboy). On this project, Nadeem had the opportunity to work with a star-studded A-List cast, including Laura Harring (Mullholland Drive) and Oscar-nominated Bruce Davidson (X-Men).

Nadeem also recently completed the feature film Revolution for director Anoop Rangi. With two more feature film projects on the horizon, over 200 music videos and commercials under his belt, and being locked in as the cinematographer for Elwood, it's busy times ahead for this young director/cinematographer.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3279528/

Carlos Henriques - Special Makeup Effects

Carlos Henriques has been a successful Special Effects Make-up Artist for over 10 years. His award-winning photorealistic effects work can be seen in many of today’s Hollywood blockbusters, television series and haunted attractions.

His love for monsters began at a very early age. As a young boy, he was lucky enough to catch a midnight screening of George A. Romero’s Creepshow, and soon after, the premiere of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. He immediately became consumed with all things scary, scouring the earth for what little information there was available at the time. In a few years’ time, his bedroom became a museum of the macabre, crammed with posters, books, magazines, masks and props — not for the squeamish.

Ten years later, Carlos attended one of the world’s most prestigious special effects make-up schools and perfected skills in life-casting, prosthetics, creating molds and running product (silicones, foam latex, urethanes, resins, etc.).

With many years in the film industry, Carlos has worked on over 40 projects featuring creature suits (Bottom Feeder starring Tom Sizemore); casualty make-up (Left for Dead starring Danielle Harris and Shawn Roberts); gore (Silent but Deadly starring Jason Mewes and William Sadler) prop-building (Death Race starring Jason Statham); and puppet-building (Celebrity Deathmatch / A Miser Brothers’ Christmas featuring Mickey Rooney). His most recent film projects include Red: Werewolf Hunter starring Felicia Day and Gretl starring Shannon Doherty, in which he served as the special effects make-up designer and supervisor.

Every fall, you will find Carlos busy working on his own haunted attraction The Horrorshow, which has gained the title of Hamilton, Ontario’s scariest haunted house.

Carlos is presently working for Cuppa Coffee studios, the largest stop-motion studio in North America. He continues working in film, as well as running The Butcher Shop.

http://www.thebutchershop.ca/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1746092/

Steven Ejbick - Sound Recordist

After graduating from Trebas Institute for audio engineering in early 2008, Steven started working for Rogers Television on many of their live call-in shows. Starting off as a camera operator Steven moved on to mixing and eventually directing some of Rogers’ most popular live call-in shows including Goldhawk Live and Sex@11.

Having worked as a director and mixer on set, Steven is highly familiar with the various roles in production. He continues to focus on audio on many broadcast television shows, such as CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie, HBO's The Right Hand and the Gemini Award winning Call Me Fitz, as well as many independent short films and feature films.

Steven is currently a freelance production sound recordist and post production audio engineer at Post City Sound.

For more information, visit www.edgeofsound.ca

Craig Saltz - Composer

Toronto composer Craig Saltz is well-versed in both classical and contemporary genres of music.

He draws upon diverse influences to create unique and memorable scores.

Craig graduated York University’s acclaimed music department, but relies equally on his travels and life experiences to inform and inspire his work.

He has worked extensively on both film and commercial projects, and is devoted to progressing his art and producing exceptional work.

http://www.craigsaltz.com/

Philip Sportel - Digital Visual FX/Matte Painter

Philip Sportel is a director based in Toronto, Canada. Coming from a visual arts background, his work incorporates stop-motion, sculpture, photography and digital compositing. He is influenced by conceptual art, surrealist photography, science fiction and the works of Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick and David Lynch.

Philip's debut music video for Colin Munroe's World of Pain was nominated for a Yahoo Video Award. The follow-up video Colin Munroe's (I Want Those) Flashing Lights was the second most popular video on the internet (viralvideochart.com). His stop-motion video for Johnny Polygon's Riot Song reached #8 on MTV's countdown. His videos have more than 2 million views on YouTube, have played on MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic, MTV2, MTVu, MTV Jams, and BET, and features on PerezHilton.com and KayneUniverseCity.com.

Post City Sound Inc. - Audio Postproduction

DIALOGUE & ADR EDITOR
Pino Halili

SOUND EFFECTS EDITORS
Alexis Eskandari
Josh Brown

ADR ASSISTANT
Nidhi Sachdeva

STUDIO ASSISTANT
Katie Williams

FOLEY ARTIST
Alexis Eskandri

RE-RECORDING MIXER
Steven Ejbick

RE-RECORDING SUPERVISOR
Allen Ormerod

PRODUCTION NOTES / TRIVIA

Making For Clearer Skies (Contains Spoilers!)

Working titles included: Subject 527-617, God's Side Project, Bluer Skies, For Bluer Skies, To Bluer Skies, Greener Skies, For Greener Skies, To Greener Skies, Clearer Skies, and To Clearer Skies.

Marks the second consecutive Arcilesi Films production in which Charles Lo Manto and Kelly-Marie Murtha co-star. Coincidentally, they both play strained couples whose story unfolds in an auto body shop.

Principal photography lasted for approximately 15 hours.

The entire film is made up of only 6 shots (2 lengthy tracking shots; 2 medium length shots; 2 insert shots).

Composer Craig Saltz describes the finale's composition as "a leviathan of organic beings swimming in the ocean of space."

Though the language spoken is reminiscent of Egyptian and other Aztec dialects, the nameless language was entirely created for this film by Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi. The language is consistent in that repetitive words and phrases always translate to the same word or phrase. Also, as in all languages, any words that do not have an alien equivalent are simply spoken in English/human tongue.

The keys and key chain that the Woman presents are those of director Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi.

Screened alongside the 2013 Oscar award-winning short film Curfew at the 2013 Vaughan Film Festival.

Holds the distinction of being the first film ever to be awarded (Outstanding Award for Visual Effects) at the 2013 Vaughan Film Festival.

In June 2012, director Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi was taken out to a dinner and movie by his then-girlfriend. During the dinner, she had pointed out how Yellow Brick Road, which was only days into the writing process, and Alfredo's other works were much too dark. While at the movie theatre, the Colossus Theatre in Vaughan, Ontario - a major commercial theatre - she further told him that his films would never play a theatre such as the Colossus Theatre. On Thursday, April 18, 2013, almost exactly 10 months later, For Clearer Skies screened alongside the Oscar award-winning short film Curfew at the Colossus Theatre as part of the 2013 Vaughan Film Festival.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Heading For Clearer Skies

Having grown up watching and being inspired by upbeat and action films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Hook, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, it always amazed me that I had traveled a completely different cinematic path having written, produced, and directed seven dark and raw films centering on heavily flawed characters in socially strained circumstances. I took a step back and began to reflect, to revaluate myself, and the next step I wanted to take.

My younger brother, our younger cousin, and I always love talking about zombies and aliens, and what we’d do in those situations, even analyzing scenarios from other films such as Cloverfield and 28 Days Later. And it occurred to me that I took great joy in having these boyish conversations because the possibilities in the genres of science fiction and horror were endless; they weren’t necessarily restricted by the parameters of reality. Above all else, they're fun!

Most, if not all, of my previous dramas dealt with themes of identity loss, reclamation, and so on. As much as I was striving to do something totally different in a genre I had never pursued, these themes felt like a suitable, comfortable foundation for the film, which, very early on, was titled God’s Side Project.

Writing lasted for a couple of weeks in July/August 2011 which included creating a brand new language. Once the script was ready, I made my first major move by hiring special effects makeup artist, Carlos Henriques of The Butcher Shop. His patience and sheer enthusiasm for everything sci-fi and horror – or just plain gore – instantly put me at ease and made everything I thought was “impossible” possible.

Coming from a DIY (do-it-yourself) background, I realized that my camera could not give justice to Carlos’ work. I decided to call up friend, Nadeem Soumah, a fellow DIY cinematographer/filmmaker. He and I had twice tried to team up for our previous respective projects; Nadeem’s Searching for Angels and my Lavender Fields, however, our passion for the medium and the genre eclipsed (as well as our schedules!), and we were set to go to camera just five days before Halloween 2011, a perfect time to shoot a science fiction piece.

Breathing life into the simply named characters “Man” and “Woman,” were actor Charles Lo Manto and actress Kelly-Marie Murtha. I had cast the pair for my first feature film in March 2011, Snow Angel, and felt that they were the best humans to play our… well, I can't say! After a month’s worth of rehearsals, which involved learning verbatim the language I had invented, we were set to film from Tuesday, October 25, 2012 overnight to Wednesday, October 26, 2012.

Principal photography lasted for fifteen hours, however, postproduction lasted for nearly six months as the process was mired in severe delays caused by the unreliability of effects personnel who, ultimately, were let go from the production.

But for every dark day – and there were many – there were rays of light, and one of them was digital visual effects artist and matte painter, Philip Sportel. Another Trebas Institute alumni, Jerome Kruin, had introduced me to Philip when the situation for VFX became dire. Like Carlos, Philip was patient and enthusiastic about creating our new world, allowing me to simultaneously learn, explore, and create.

In March 2012, the visuals were all in place, but one key ingredient was missing: sound. Composer Craig Saltz created a climactic yet beautiful score, which, to be honest, personally tugs at the heartstrings. To inject more life by way of sound was Pino Halili, Steven Ejbick, and Josh Brown of Toronto’s Post City Sound. I was very fortunate to have collaborated with the trio in a facility that had seen the likes of several Canadian and Hollywood productions. As I say to those who ask about the audio, I was definitely in good company.

Feeling like I was heading into a new direction, just like the Man and Woman, I felt that the title should reflect this feeling.

Thus, I felt like I was heading For Clearer Skies.