Unbiased filmmaking is all about doing no matter you’ll be able to with no matter you’ve obtainable to you. Generally, that even means writing a movie which you could shoot completely in your personal condominium constructing.
That’s what first-time characteristic filmmakers Ben Jacobson and Mo Stark did, and it took all of them the way in which to the SXSW and Tribeca movie festivals. Jacobson’s debut characteristic “Bunny,” for which IndieWire can completely debut the primary trailer, is a New York-set comedy a couple of group of condominium neighbors working collectively throughout 5 flooring to cover a lifeless physique. The DIY movie was co-written by Jacobson and Stark (who performs the title character) together with good friend and collaborator Stefan Marolachakis, and shot within the East Village constructing the place Stark really lived.
An official synopsis for the movie reads: “Bunny is a streetwise hustler working a fast job when all the pieces goes sideways quick. Thrown right into a combat for his life, he turns to his finest good friend Dino for assist. What follows is one wild, sweltering summer season day and night time of their East Village tenement, as the 2 scheme with a crew of eccentric neighbors to cowl up a lifeless physique. With the NYPD circling, chaos reigns because the clock ticks and the warmth rises. Bunny’s solely objective is straightforward: survive the night time with out getting caught or killed.”
“Bunny” additionally stars Liza Colby, Tony Drazan, Liz Caribel Sierra, Ajay Naidu, and Henry Czerny. The movie is produced by Stark, Jacobson, Marolachakis, Sarah Sarandos, and Scott Dougan, with Brian Healy, Charles Miller, and Garret Levitz serving as government producers.
“Filmmaking is 100% a collaborative medium,” Jacobson mentioned in a filmmaker’s assertion shared with IndieWire. “It doesn’t occur with out everybody doing their job and that begins from the very starting. We needed to do a job. We needed to make one thing and we had been decided as a result of sure I noticed it occur and actually believed WE may pull it off too. We’re right here to say WE DID. Whether or not you want ‘Bunny’ or assume it’s bleh or possibly you downright detest BUT in case you love motion pictures no less than you must know that this is made by individuals who love motion pictures too. And we had been in a position to pull it off as a result of we mentioned we may.”
Vertical will launch “Bunny” in choose theaters and on VOD platforms on November 14. Watch the primary trailer, an IndieWire unique, under.