Synopsis
On
the brink of their departure to a new home, an eight-year old boy named
Charlie must watch his mother confront his estranged father one last time.
Using his imagination to escape the scene that unfolds, Charlie realizes
that he must face his violent foundations in order to rise above them.
Director's Statement
The film centers on one, continuous moment in time. Its focus is on how someone deals with a violent reality at a young age, the way a person, even a child, can face hostility with strategic detachment. Charlie tries to distract himself from his circumstance in a number of different ways. He uses his imagination and ingenuity, but his methods are only marginally effective. His growing incapacity to escape the situation pushes him further into his own head. The things he finds there as a result are more evocative and significant than anything he had previously imagined. Only at the height of his fear and alienation does he discover that his ideas have come to life. We see that buried in the center of this treacherous youth experience is the seed of artistic clarity.”
For more information contact Phillip
Van.
888 8th Ave. #7V
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (646)831-0680
Email: proverb124@yahoo.com
Tony P. /Mars Productions Presents
Flight
A short film by
Phillip Van
david
helen
producer
co-producer
co-producer
associate producer
director of photography
1st assistant director
2nd assistant director
1st assistant camera
2nd assistant camera
key grip
best boy
gaffer
grip
sound mixer
boom operator
production designer
make-up artist
costume designer
actor's assistant
production assistant
casting director
storyboards b
colorist
processing & color by
equipment by
film from
animal services by
catering by
shot on location
Creighton James
Emily Strang
Anthony Alcalde
Lisa Zlotnick
Phillip Van
Jimmy Nicholls
George Gibson
Frank Ruy
Adam Apirian
Andy Hulse
Marcos Sanchez
Michael Godder
Jarrod Valliere
Derrick Gomez
Ryan Walsh
Dvora Golden
Jon Daniel
Marcos Sanchez
Maggie Horkey
Genelle Brooks
Jessica Laulhere
Diedre Diakite
Lisa Zlotnick
Marcos Sanchez
Phillip Van
John J. Dowdell
Technicolor
Paris Productions
Kodak
Birds and Animals Unlimited
Merchants of Venice
Linden, New Jersey
Written and Directed by
Phillip Van
A Very Special Thanks To:
Nguyen Van
Mars Van
Eleni Mott
Dennis Mott
Dr. William Weaver
Suzanne Weaver
Patrick Weaver
John J. Dowdell
Rick Paris
Andy Brown
Milcho Manchevski
Jay Anania
Sam Pollard
Ronald Gray
Bob Nickson
Joe Warfield
Pennie Dupont
Casey Heagarty
Jon Tracy
Will Tracy
The City of Linden
Produced
2004
Tony P. / Mars Productions
New York University
Tisch School of the Arts
Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television
Graduate Film
production photos
Charlie's toy bird.
crew and cast bios
EMILY STRANG (Helen)
Emily Strang earned her MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College in May 2003 where she performed in such productions as The Laramie Project, The Stronger and Escape From Happiness. Since than she has performed with various improv groups in NYC including The Sunday Night Improv Jam hosted by Tom Soter and Twelve: An Improvised Play. She has also studied with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. In December she starred in the off-Broadway comedy Dalliance in Vienna by Douglas Braverman, presented by The Genesius Theater Guild.
Creighton James is an MFA student in the Graduate Acting Program at the
Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Selected acting credits
include,
Regional: The Crucible (John Proctor), for which he was named Best Actor
2002 by Columbus Alive, True West (Austin/Lee), Closer (Dan), The House
of Yes (Anthony) The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Grapes of Wrath; New
York: The House of Yes (Marty), Last Period, No Place Like Home, Remind
Me, Hold That Thought, Arboretum, Valentines Day, October; Film and Television:
Flight, The Cushion of Desire, As The World Turns. Creighton is the author
of six full-length plays and several shorts, five of which have been produced
in Columbus, Ohio and New York. He is the co-founder and former Co-artistic
Director of Ensemble Actors Theatre (Columbus, Ohio). Creighton is a
Teaching Artist, specializing in acting, for Lift Every Voice, Artistic
Director of New York Theatre Experiment and co-founder of their parent
organization, Theatre Artists Collective.
Paul began his career as a model (Product Model Mgmt, NYC) at the age of 5. His first experience with film came while he was still modeling, when he worked with the well-known NY photographer, Ross Whitaker, on a TV Demo. They worked together again a year later when Ross called him back to work on another project.
Eventually, Paul's modeling led to an opportunity to pursue acting (Marilyn Zitner Mgmt, NYC). He booked his first commercial at age 6, after going on only two auditions. Just a few months later, shortly after his seventh birthday, he became a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
He has appeared as an on-camera principal in over a dozen commercials, including Comcast, MasterCard, Dominos Pizza, Macy's, DuPont, AAA, and most recently, Pizza Hut. In addition to Flight, Paul will also be appearing in a Columbia University Graduate Thesis Film scheduled to begin production in August 2004.
Paul lives in Marine Park, Brooklyn with his Mom and Dad, younger sister, Amanda (who is currently pursuing her own acting career) as well as 3 parakeets and a very noisy bird named Oscar.
director's biography
While attending Cornell University’s English and Film undergraduate programs as a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Phillip Van, at age 20, was the youngest to work as a freelance writer and editor in film journalism for ABC Networks, New York under senior critic and correspondent, Bill Diehl. During his two-and-a-half-year period at ABC, he interviewed acclaimed directors and actors Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Cameron Crowe, Tim Burton, Stephen Frears, Frank Oz, Gary Winick, M. Night Shyamalan, Alejandro Amenábar, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, and approximately one hundred others in one-on-one and junkets forums. His reviews have been cited in over a dozen publications including The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times. He has also worked under directors Bob Giraldi (Dinner Rush, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”) and Tony Kaye (American History X), assisted in research at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and recently produced a music video for the Jay-Z backed group M.O.P. in association with Koch Entertainment and Rockafella Records.
Phil now attends NYU’s Graduate Directing MFA Program, where he is a recipient of the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film Scholarship, the Tisch School of the Arts Scholarship and the latest recipient of the WorldStudio Foundation Scholarship.
He recently completed directing his NYU Graduate debut film, “Flight,” for festival distribution this fall. About the rigors of growing up through violence, the film was inspired by his personal experiences and the related works of French new-wave directors François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, and the cinematography of Sven Nykvist and Tonino Delli Colli.
This past year Phil served as cinematographer on two documentaries currently in post-production, the first entitled “Playground,” by Singaporean director Jit Oon Fong, about 14-17 year-old explorers in the five boroughs of New York that risk their lives traversing and photographing condemned and deteriorating factories, hospitals, subway tunnels and urban spaces. The second documentary, by Chilean director Marcos Dominguez Sanchez, is about the offbeat lives of the middle-aged male members of the “Empire Valley Model Railroad Club” in Queens, New York.
Phil is Vietnamese and Greek. He was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and Portland, Oregon.
He is an advisor to Voice Films Institute, assisting in producing and working with young directors on the development of their latest scripts and the logistics of pre-production.
filmography
Director:
PEOPLE - USA, 2001, 16mm, B&W, Narrative,
2 min.
FOR HYDE - USA, 2001, 16mm, Color, Narrative, 8 min.
HALLWAY - USA, 2002, DV, Color, Narrative, 22 min.
LOVE IN VAIN - USA, 2003, DV, Color, Narrative, 18 min.
FLIGHT - USA, 2004, 16mm, Color, Narrative, 4 min.
CULTURE - USA, 2004, DV, Color, Documentary, 15 min.
Director of Photography:
DIZZY GIRL - USA, 2001, 16mm, Color, Narrative,
24 min.
KILLING OUR DOG - USA, 2002, 16mm, Color, Narrative, 21 min.
EL HOMBRIENTO – USA, 2003, DV, Color, Narrative, 18 min.
ROTATIONS – USA, 2003, 16mm, Color, Narrative, 4 min.
PLAYGROUND – USA, 2004, DV, Color, Documentary, 14 min.
EMPIRE VALLEY MODEL RAILROAD CLUB – USA, 2004, DV, Color, Documentary,
15 min.
Voice Films Institute © 2003-2004 All Rights Reserved