SAN ANTONIO, TX, October 07, 2008
/24-7PressRelease/ -- For the team behind such award-winning short films as "Last Chance" and "Goodbye Digital or The 5 Stages of Grief in Digital Dating", "The End" is only the beginning, as Film Classics Productions celebrates new honors and upcoming screenings for its latest project and a return engagement for its first feature.
"Four Minutes Till The End", a science-fiction thriller written and directed by Bryan Ortiz and produced by Michael Druck, has been awarded the Jury Prize in the 2008 San Antonio Local (SAL) Film Festival, where it will be screened on Friday, October 10.
This latest honor comes after the film won five awards, including Best Film, in the 48 Hour Film Project. The film also won awards for Best Sound Design, Best Directing, and Best Acting, and received the Group B Audience Award as the favorite film of its screening block.
During his acceptance speech at the 48 Hour awards ceremony on August 16, Ortiz thanked his cast and crew for helping bring "Four Minutes Till The End" - the story of a young family threatened by a mysterious force - to life. "I've been so lucky to work with an amazing group of people," he said. "Without them, it would just be me standing in front of a camera describing the movie to you, and where's the fun in that?"
In addition to SAL, "Four Minutes Till The End" has been submitted to the Seguin Film & Arts Festival (www.seguinfestival.org) and will be screened at Filmapalooza, the 48 Hour Film Project's national screening and awards ceremony, to be held in early 2009. As San Antonio's winning 48 Hour entry, the film is also eligible for the project's International Grand Prize, which will award $5000 to the entry named "Best 48 Hour Film of 2008."
"Film Classics sets a high standard with its films," says Dar Miller, Managing Director of the San Antonio Local Film Festival, who screened "Goodbye Digital" and an earlier version of Ortiz's debut feature, "Doctor 'S': The Movie", to near-sellout audiences at last year's festival. "People can't wait to see what Bryan and Michael come up with next. And when I first saw 'Four Minutes Till The End', I knew they had come up with another winner."
The second annual San Antonio Local (SAL) Film Festival will take place on Friday, October 10, at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre (226 N. St. Mary's St., San Antonio, TX 78205). Doors open at 6:00 PM, and screenings will begin at 7:00 PM. Tickets are only $10 cash at the door.
Following SAL, Film Classics will be screening "Four Minutes Till The End" and "Doctor 'S': The Movie" at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Westlakes (1255 SW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78227) on October 29. The screenings will be part of "Dementia", a double feature also including "Echo", a thriller directed by filmmaker Mark Cantu, who appeared as an actor in Ortiz's short film "Last Chance".
For the cast and crew of both "Four Minutes Till The End and "Doctor 'S': The Movie", the fun of working on a Film Classics project is more than equal to the rigors of shooting it. "One thing I've learned from working with Bryan and Michael is to expect a serious workout," says actor Rick Carrillo, who stars in both films. "I think I did as much running in one day of shooting 'Four Minutes Till The End' as I did on all of 'Doctor "S"'." "Yes, it's hard work, but when you see all that effort up there on the big screen, it's all worth it," says Druck. "And I'm ... well, thrilled and thankful that audiences and film festivals have responded so well to our work."
The "Dementia" double feature of "Doctor 'S': The Movie" and "Echo" (which also includes a special screening of "Four Minutes Till The End") will take place on Wednesday, October 29. Doors open at 6:30 PM, and screenings will begin at 7:00 PM. Tickets for the "Dementia" event are only $10 at the door or online at http://www.alamodrafthouse-westlakes.com.
About Film Classics Productions
• Film Classics Productions was formed in 2006 by writer/director Bryan Ortiz, then a student at the University of the Incarnate Word, and producer Michael Druck, then a talent agent.
• In just two years, the company has produced a series of award-winning short films, including "Compose", "Spiral", "Goodbye Digital or The 5 Stages of Grief in Digital Dating" (winner of the NALIP-SA Spring 2007 Film Slam and the Student Film Competition at the 2007 Seguin Film & Arts Festival) and "Last Chance" (winner of two awards, including Best Directing, at the San Antonio 48 Hour Film Project in 2007).
• Ortiz was recently spotlighted on KABB's "Fox News at Nine", and in Conexion magazine, 210SA magazine, and the San Antonio Current; Druck was featured in the San Antonio College campus newspaper, The Ranger.
• For more information, please visit http://www.filmclassicsproductions.com or http://www.myspace.com/classicfilms.
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