The film - REQUIEM LOST

REQUIEM LOST 

Our film REQUIEM LOST is a fictional story of an active duty soldier who has returned from deployment to Afghanistan and starts to show signs of severe PTSD. This affects his wife, his friends, his community, and we get to watch this normal military guy slowly drift down into the depths of PTSD where depression, fear, anger, alcohol abuse, leads to a showdown of sorts. What decision will he make? Seek help, commit suicide and become a statistic like so many others, or is there some other choice? To find out the answer to this, we need your help. We need your donations so we can finish this film and you can see the answer for yourself.

www.facebook.com/groups/RequiemLost/

OUR GOAL WITH THE FILM

This is a short film that is a stand alone. It does have the potential to be a feature film or a mini-series by allowing us to see what happens after the final decision is made in the short film. We hope that your contribution to this film will help us produce a short film that really addresses the issues of combat-related PTSD in a way that is respectful, but poignant.  

It is a story that needs to be told and discussed and thought about. Changes need to be made in our society to help those individuals that offered their all to protect those who choose not to serve. We must not forget the wound that cannot be seen is still a wound. It still needs to be treated, and awareness about what it is made public for all to see.

We want to show our respects to those who are active duty and those who have served, and we feel that this film will do that, and shed light on the issues of PTSD in a way that is both entertaining and educational. First and foremost, this is a film to entertain, but this deeper subject will leave people aware and we hope slightly disturbed enough that they will want to get involved and help out where they can.



STATISTICS

In the United States, combat-related PTSD is a huge issue that is largely undiscussed. There are 2,701,908 veterans who saw combat in Vietnam. There are over 650,000 veterans that were deployed for the Gulf War. As of September 2014, over 2.7 million military personnel have seen combat in Iraq and in Afghanistan, many having served multiple tours there. According to the Rand Corporation, at least, 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or Depression, but these are only the cases reported. It is estimated that approximately 60% of the cases go unreported. PTSD usually is accompanied by higher rates of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, violent outbreaks, and a significantly higher rate of suicide. It is reported that approximately 8000 active duty and Veterans commit suicide every year due to PTSD. These numbers don’t just affect the person suffering with it, but also affect the family, friends, work, and the community.

CAST AND CREW

We have an amazing Cast that is very talented. Some have been in award winning films. They are studying their parts diligently, and the military parts that have been cast, have been out researching the Army and the way they do things so they can act the part accurately. Our Crew is also outstanding. Some have films they have worked on, or in one instance directed and produced that have been accepted into many different film festivals. Others have garnished awards on stage for their designs. Please see our section of Cast Bios and of the Crew Bios of some of our more important crew members.

OUR CAST, the folks that you come to see.

BENJAMIN FELLOWS (Lead)

Benjamin Fellows is making his film acting debut. He has been a student of artistic creation in all of its forms, most notably in his musical pursuits. He leads the rock band The Lacuna Brotherhood as the lead songwriter, singer, and guitarist. He has also had minor roles in amateur musical theater productions over the last two decades. Benjamin's family and ancestry includes veterans of the American Civil War, World War II, The Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the First Persian Gulf War. He is passionate about the plight of American veterans who suffer from PTSD. He is excited to be a part of a project that brings awareness to this important issue.  

Benjamin will be playing our lead character, and providing some music off of their most recent album for this film.  Check his band out at: 
www.facebook.com/LacunaBrotherhood 


JULIA FOURNIER (Lead)

Julia Fournier is a native-born Spaniard, and received her education in Spain, graduating from the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Madrid with a degree in Acting. She also studied contemporary dance at the Estudio de Danza Carmen Senra, Acting for the Camera at Cinema Central, and Acrobatics at Escuela de Circo Carampa.

Her onstage performances include plays such as OLD by Cachaba, CIA working Commedia del Arte, Masques, where she played, Petunia, En Un Lindo Bazar and Silly Machine doing Theatre for babies and Puppets where she played, Toy Puppet and Old Woman respectively. Documentaries where she played Petunia and Fatum where she played as a Heroin in the tragedy chorus and as a Bouffon.

Her on screen performances have included different TV Series in Spain such as Tell Me How It Happened where she played La Patri, Aída where she played La Globos, El Comisario where she played Marisol, and The Boarding School where she played Susana (corpse bride).

She has also appeared in made for TV Movies such as Masala, directed by Salvador Calvo where she played Bea, El Asesino Dentro Del Círculo, directed by Pedro Costa and Fernando Cámara where she played Vanessa, and La Ultima Guardia, directed by Manuel Estudillo where she played Yaiza.  

Appearing also in some short films that included her performance as Sara in The Light Thief , directed by Eva Daoud, that recently won Best Short Film, Best Director, and Best Editing at the Utah Film Awards. She also played Julia in Dual directed by Andrew Messer, and played The Girl in Épiphanie directed by Víctor Bárcena. 

She is now in Colorado ready to rock it!!! :)

Julia will be playing our lead female. 


DAVID ROSE (Supporting role)

David Rose began his acting carrer at the age of 24 by working on the set of U.S.A television network TV show Graceland.  He went on to work on the set of several commercials before being selected to work in the short film “Caught Dead”, Directed by Noelle Knopp as the supporting role of a Gang member. Since then, he's done theater work for the play “Two roads diverge”, Directed by Cara Cruickshank as well as several Showcases winning 1st place for best monologue performance in Los Angeles. As an entertainer he's worked more so as a model than an actor, and has booked various print ads, fashion shows, and will be walking at Colorado fashion week.


DASHA ZHURIN (Supporting role)

Dasha started her acting career as a little girl in Moscow, Russia, where she performed in her first plays before moving to the United States. She attended the Actors Studio Drama School and received her Master’s in Acting. She is a current finalist at the Actors Studio. She has been in and starred in several off-Broadway plays in NYC which included: Brainpeople, Detroit, Mozart and Salieri, the Stone Guest and Macbeth. Dasha was also accepted in the Upright Citizens Brigade Advanced Study Improv program and loves improv and sketch comedy. She performs and writes standup, was a semi-professional tennis player and a yoga competitor. She is very excited to be a part of Requiem Lost and is honored to be part of such a talented cast and crew.


CARMINE DEPAULO (Supporting role)

Carmine DePaulo began his acting career at the age of 50 by performing the salesman role of George Aranow in the David Mamet play “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Since then he has performed in 14 theatrical plays, 15 independent short films, and 1 feature film over the last 14 years.

He complements his acting with writing and specializes in Ten Minute plays. “Sacrifice” was performed in Bloomington, IN (October 2005) by the Bloomington Playwright Project and “Papa’s Christmas Tree” was performed in Milipitas, CA (January 2010) by the Calaveras Repertory Theatre. His one act play, “Spirits in the Night” was selected for a stage reading at the Coal Creek Theater in Louisville, CO (August 2014) for the annual Front Range Playwrights’ Showcase. Most recently, his 10 minute play, “Love is in the Air” was one of 5 short plays produced by Actasana Theatre for the Denver Day Plays (March 2015).

He has also written a feature film screenplay, a children’s short story, and 16 song lyrics for a concept album.



OUR CREW, you know those crazy artistic people.

Gino Alfonso (Producer)

Gino came from a background in theater graduating to assistant directing for stage in such shows as Neil Simon's Rumor's and Cabaret. Always interested in making films Gino would do short films as class assignments instead of papers. Since high school he's written and directed more than 15 short films and written several feature film scripts currently in different development stages. Including To Find a Monster and Thinking Straight based on the bestselling novel by Robin Reardon.

Shoes his short film has been accepted at several film Festivals and most recently at the Paonia Film Festival in Colorado in their Special Curated Program for Best of Colorado. 

Shoes, YouTube:  http://youtu.be/ldJ0i1QfsoQ 


Stephanie Mitchell (Exec. Producer, Director, Writer)

Stephanie is a former stage and SAG actress, and a current producer and director. She is also an accomplished writer with several published works and play. She has now turned her attention to writing screenplays and REQUIEM LOST is her most current short film script, pouring some of her own personal life experiences into this piece.

She is a well-rounded individual having received a degree in Architecture and designing buildings and owning a construction company in the Denver Metro Area for a number of years.

A survivor of an abusive relationship, she lived as a homeless person to get away from domestic abuse. While on the streets she experienced many homeless veterans that suffer from PTSD.

She was diagnosed with PTSD after her experience with abuse and by the VA after seeing what combat looks like face to face overseas up close and personal. Because of this, she is passionate about the veteran's programs and about reaching out and helping her fellow veterans get the help that they need, especially those who suffer from PTSD. Hence, this is the reason wrote REQUIEM LOST and choose to produce and direct it.

Last summer she started Tsalagi Films, LLC which is the production company producing Requiem Lost.

www.facebook.com/Tsalagifilms/
www.tsalagifilms.com 
www.facebook.com/groups/RequiemLost 


Peter Deak (Cinematographer)

Peter studied cinematography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has been a production assistant on feature films and commercials in New York and Denver, a lighting assistant to a commercial photographer, and a videographer for an educational institute. After receiving his MBA from Capella University, Peter launched his own company in 2012, Lightsky Videography, providing video production services for corporate videos, training videos, business promotional, event capture, and other digital cinema projects such as music videos and several episodes of a web-TV 30-minute talk show. Peter loves light and enjoys studying how light hits subjects and objects naturally.

Website: www.lightskyvideography.com


Billy Nicholson (Steadicam Op)

Billy graduated in 2011 for TV, Theater and Film production at the University of Colorado. Currently working at a local Colorado ad agency, he has worked on a plethora of national tv spots, youtube pre-roll ads and a smattering of shorts and features, filling the hats of camera department and fulfilling post production as well. His passion for camera operating and on set positions stem from his athletic background giving him the drive and energy to obtain the knowledge and experience with REDs, Arri, Canon, dSLRs and the list goes on. 

Website: www.billynsteadicam.com 


Mark D'Errico (Composer/Scoring)

Mark D'Errico was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1964. He started playing keyboards at age 16. He has performed in many rock and blues bands over the years.

Mark moved from Ottawa, Canada to Boulder, Colorado in 1998. He quickly built his own home studio ("Boulder Manhattan Studio") and started writing and recording electronic, ambient, rock, instrumental and orchestral music.

He released his first CD, "Out of Bounds" in 2001. His second CD, Faithless Masque", was released in 2002.

Being a multi-keyboardist since 1980, he knows how to evoke the deepest feelings from his music. Whether it's eerie and tense or soft and heartfelt, his music carries your imagination to places it's never been before.

In 2002, Mark starting scoring movies and animations. Since then, he has scored over 90 feature films and shorts.

He has scored films in many genres such as horror, suspense, drama, comedy and science-fiction. He specializes in thrillers and dramas - movies that require very emotional and powerful music. Or music that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.


Trevor Munson (Video/film editor)

Trevor Munson is a graduate of the 2011 class from The University of Colorado at Denver's film program. Since then, Trevor has worked on documentaries, shorts, PSAs, and commercials behind the camera. Now, Trevor works on creating video content for commercial clients through his company, JawDrop Films.

His editing credits include Granny, Shoes, and The Great Denver Grill-Off, in addition to his other productions.
In his free time, Trevor enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with his fiance Janna.


Others who we have signed on, but do not currently have their Bios or Photos to post:

Kelly Jo Krieschel (Wardrobe & Continuity)

Robin Morgan Stewart (Makeup & Hair)

Terese Hamilton (Storyboards)

~~We are still seeking to fill out the rest of our crew and your donations can help us attract the best quality crew we can.  Please keep watching this campaign as we will add the bios and photos of our crewmembers as we sign them.~~


HOW THE MONEY WILL BE USED


All of the money that we raise for this film will be used for the pre-production, production and post-production costs. What are these? In a film, there are many costs. We have effectively created two budgets. One is if we can persuade all are cast and crew to work for free, which is approximate $42,000. This covers only the cost of the basics like camera and lighting equipment, wardrobe, sound and grip equipment. Miscellaneous items such as insurance so that we cover the actors and crew from mishaps, legal and accounting fees because god forbid you don’t get a contract right or the government doesn’t get its fair share of your flesh!

Distribution cost and film festival costs are built into this as well, otherwise, how would anyone get a chance to see it? Of course, this also covers food. Why? Because, if we aren’t paying anyone money, it is a nice courtesy to make sure they are at least fed. Especially, since they like to eat just like you and me, and they will be working hard on the set making this film.