Loren Cass

Loren Cass is a feature-length motion picture about adolescents coming to terms with their lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, after the riots that took place in 1996. It was directed by independent film-maker Chris Fuller and took ten years to complete.[1]

Loren Cass
Directed byChris Fuller
Written byChris Fuller
Produced by
  • Frank Craft
  • Chris Fuller
  • Kayla Tabish
Starring
CinematographyWilliam Garcia
Edited byChris Fuller
Music byJimmy Morey
Release date
  • August 25, 2006 (August 25, 2006)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The story follows Nicole, Jason and Cale and secondarily The Suicide Kid, The Punk Kid and The Fight Kid, among others through the aftermath of the '96 riots.[2] It features several notable St. Petersburg landmarks including the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the St. Petersburg Pier, St. Petersburg High School and the house where Jack Kerouac lived prior to his 1969 death.

Cast

It stars Kayla Tabish, Travis Maynard, Lewis Brogan, mixed martial artist/UFC veteran Din Thomas and Jacob Reynolds with narration by Keith Morris (of the band The Circle Jerks) and Blag Dahlia (of the band The Dwarves).[3] The film also includes a live performance by New York punk band Leftöver Crack, which was the first show that included drummer Brandon Kolling in the lineup. Kolling died shortly after shooting wrapped.

In February 2006, independent film-making consultant Robert Hawk joined the film's crew to oversee its release effort. Bob Hawk is best known for discovering Kevin Smith's 1994 comedy Clerks.

Public reception

In 2006 and 2007 the film was screened at Dennis Hopper's CineVegas Film Festival[4] and was selected as one of only 2 non-studio American independent films to screen at the 60th anniversary of the Locarno International Film Festival[5] where it was called "the discovery of the festival" by ARTE Television. Screenings were held at the Helsinki International Film Festival, the Viennale, the Ljubljana International Film Festival, the Gijon International Film Festival, and the Starz Denver International Film Festival.

The film was nominated for an IFP Gotham Award for "Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You"[6] and won the One+One Music Award for use of music in a feature film at Janine Bazin's EntreVues Film Festival.[7]

It was referred to in Variety as: "A starkly radical film debut of uncommon power and artistic principle, Chris Fuller's Loren Cass announces a genuinely original film-making talent who literally pulls no punches in his depiction of teen angst and racial warfare on the streets of 1996 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."[8] The film was noted for its sequence on top of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and footage of the Budd Dwyer suicide.[9][10] The New York Times was also very positive about it and called it "overtly, ingeniously experimental in form" and talked about "the bruised lyricism" of the film being "rooted in intense, even discomfiting, empathy."[11] "Remarkable stuff for a debut film, all the more impressive in that Mr. Fuller wrote the screenplay at 18 and shot the film at 21."

References
  1. V.A. Musetto (July 24, 2009). "MAKING A LOT OUT OF LITTLE". New York Post.
  2. Nathan Lee (July 23, 2009). "Down and Out (and Disaffected) in St. Petersburg". New York Times.
  3. "LOREN CASS Press Book" (PDF). Kino Lorber. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  4. Jason Guerrasio (July 29, 2009). "Director Chris Fuller on Loren Cass". Independent Filmmaker Project.
  5. Derek Elley (July 11, 2007). "Locarno Intl. Film Festival 2007 lineup". Variety.
  6. Brian Brooks (July 7, 2009). ""Loren Cass" Goes to Kino for Late July Release". Indiewire.
  7. "Awards and Jurys 2007". Entrevues Belfort.
  8. Robert Koehler (June 13, 2007). "Review: 'Loren Cass'". Variety.
  9. "Loren Cass". 14 June 2007.
  10. Aaron Hillis (July 22, 2009). "For All Its Fucking/Boozing/Fighting, Loren Cass Is a Radical Film". The Village Voice.
  11. Nathan Lee (July 23, 2009). "Down and Out (and Disaffected) in St. Petersburg". The New York Times.
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