Tuesday, November 23, 2010

"Second Star" short film

Watch the film HERE. The press release for this project is HERE. Director's notes about the project are HERE.

"Second Star" was first screened at Chicago's Space 2941 in December 2010.  It has been featured on The Critic's Word, Queeramblings, Buzz Magazine, Tube Tide, Big Gay Horror Fan, and Fangs, Wands, and Fairy Dust.

"Darkly enticing, 'Second Star' brings urban fantasy to the Peter Pan story. In the seedy, forgotten depths of Chicago, youths commingle for a mysterious party. Derek Quint's film spookily meanders through reality and fantasy, leaving the viewer with a chill and hunger for more."
--K. Kriesel, Queeramblings

"....the director, Derek Quint, follows a guerilla film style for a very realistic opening. For someone living in Chicago, it’s something you witness nearly every day, but are rarely a part of the way it is shown to us here. Once the party begins I liked how drastically the tone and atmosphere changed. This noticeable difference takes us in to a surreal cycle of events--we can’t be completely sure what’s real and what’s not, much like our protagonist, who is scared and lost in the world she finds herself in.

The bending of fiction and reality is among my favorite themes that can be explored through film. It’s the perfect medium to do so.....'Second Star' takes advantage of this exploration and experiments with the characters' psyches.

The director writes that he isn’t completely sure what happens, how it ends, or what is reality and what is fiction, which emphasizes the importance of the experience relating to 'Second Star'; it really doesn’t matter what happens because the story since it's about something much larger. It’s up to you to decide what that is."


--Kelsey Zukowski, The Critic's Word

"Intriguing, Ambitious"

--Zach Zimmerman, Buzz Magazine

"How many times has Big Gay Horror Fan hoped to stumble upon a forbidden warehouse on New Year’s Eve and find some cutely smooth stud, waiting within, to seduce me? Well, honestly, never. But the thought did cross my mind after watching Derek Quint’s beguiling short, Second Star.

In Second Star, two transient youths, fighting their way to warmer climes, run into a mysterious benefactress of sorts on a subway tunnel. Accepting an invitation to spend the evening with her, they soon find themselves locked into a willowy game of seduction and intrigue.

Writer-director Quint creates a moody dreamscape, here, with seemingly no budget. Images of fairy tales, elusive realities and those creepy party scenes from Rosemary’s Baby and Midnight Cowboy enter one’s mind upon viewing. Most importantly, Quint makes you wonder what really goes on in the dream world of those forced onto the streets for survival, making Second Star a sociological statement as well as an artistic one.

Featuring a solid cast, with BGHF favorite Heather Dorff (What They Say, Afraid of Sunrise, Mother’s Blood) and the truly delicious Andrew Bochniak making indelible appearances as a pair of glittery masked wraiths, Second Star also features some story driven boy on boy action – a true holiday gift to the guys like me and the girls who love them, everywhere!"

--Brian Kirst, Big Gay Horror Fan

"Inspired by J. M. Barrie’s 'Peter Pan', this dark tale definitely has a weird, confusing, ominous vibe and I honestly had no idea what was going on the entire time but I knew (from experience) that my reactions were normal and it was supposed to be unusual for a reason. It's not for everybody but what film is really?"

--Julie Harber, Tube Tide
.....................

"Second Star" created itself very quickly. I just organized the project so that it happened. It won't be everyone's favorite film of mine but I feel that most adults will be able to relate, in some capacity, to the themes within the film.

The story takes place on New Year's Eve in which a troubled young woman is unable to distinguish between reality, dream, and hallucination. J. M. Barrie's book, "Peter Pan", informed and inspired the project along with an old English ghost story and modern, urban myth and nonfiction.

I'm not really sure what happens in the film--I've never had that occur with any other project that I've done before. I have no idea what actions take place in it or how it actually, truly ends. If you're not able to tell what is reality and dream within it, that's fine because I don't know either.

I feel that this is the darkest film that I've ever made and I leave it up to the viewers to decide for themselves how they feel about it and what actually happens within the story.

It was (understandably) a relatively strange project to shoot. Thanks to the actors for doing such a beautiful job and thanks, especially, to the "party guests" who kept the mood upbeat and the shoot easy.
"Second Star", a short film by Derek Quint

Stephanie Sylvester as The Girl

Troy Zitzelsberger as The Boy

Brittany Collins as Bell

Andrew Bochniak as Peter

Heather Dorff as The Siren

Talia Borgia, Jamie Dounou, Emily Gajek, Maura Hearrin, Valerie Lyvers, Monica Okoniewski, and Adam Roker as Bell's Guests

Special Thanks to: Ben, James, Matt, Sarah, and Johann Sebastian

"Second Star" was first screened for Dark Room no. 1 at Space 2939 in Chicago on December 17th, 2010.

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