Paradise Broken is nominated for BEST NARRARTIVE FEATURE at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival!
For more information please go to: http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/paradise_broken_2012
Screenings at:
12:00 PM Saturday, May 12 Directors Guild of America 2 9:30 PM Friday, May 18 Art Theatre of Long BeachOn The Protector
Season 1, Episode 13, “Safe”
Gloria and Michelle investigate the murder of a bookstore owner whose hippie lifestyle masked dark secrets. Meanwhile, Rush considers telling Michelle how he feels about her, and Gloria invites Brennan over for a family dinner.
Aired: September 19, 2011. LifeTime
Nadine Nicole's Feature Film Debut will primiere at Hawaii International Film Festival
9:30 PM Friday, October 14 4:00 PM Friday, October 21Paradise Broken - A young local couple must learn to live, love and navigate the dark underbelly streets of Waikiki. This film takes a look at the dark side of Waikiki and focuses on the stories of Waikiki seldom revealed; the stories about the people who live there.
Starring Dante Basco (Hook, Take the Lead), Nadine Nicole (Dante's Cove) and Khalil Kain (For Colored Girls Only, Juice). Written by Hawaii writer Chris McKinney (The Tattoo) and directed by award winning Hawaii director James Sereno (Silent Years).
http://www.hiff.org/program/films/detail/paradise_broken_2011
Sunday, September 12 ยท 2:30pm – 4:30pm
Civic Center Theatre
100 W 1st Street (1st and Main)
Los Angeles, CA
To most of the world, Waikiki is a shiny tourist destination with combed white-sand beaches, gentle surf and room service.
Not so for filmmaker James Sereno and novelist Chris McKinney, who have teamed up to create “Broke,” a dark tale of failed dreams they are filming in and around Waikiki.
Their story of Ray and Misha will take audiences into an alley of local life rarely told on the big screen. Sereno views it as a universal story in which hopes crash like waves on a reef and the reality of Hawaii’s high cost of living tempts people to do things they know are wrong.
“It’s a very dark world,” Sereno said. “This is a young couple living in Waikiki trying to survive and make a life and they get caught up in drugs and prostitution and this spiraling-downward world that seizes their life and sends them out of control.”
Sereno is known around town primarily for his work in TV commercials and short productions he made through Kinetic Films. A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television, Sereno has created fictional narratives that explored Hawaii through the lens of culture.
“Paradise Broken,” which has been in the making for a year, is Sereno’s biggest project to date. He hopes to enter the $200,000 feature in film festivals. It stars Dante Basco as Ray and Nadine Heinmann as Misha.
“It’s part of my mission to try and tell authentic local stories,” he said.
McKinney was a natural choice to breathe life into Sereno’s vision. The author of “Tattoo,” “Bolohead Row” and other works has often explored the subterranean, gritty world of drugs, strip bars and gambling in Hawaii. An English instructor at Honolulu Community College, he’s also worked with prison inmates and homeless teenagers in Waikiki.
“My thing has always been realism,” McKinney said. “To get everything right and make sure everything is believable.”
That philosophy extended to the set recently when the cameras set up in a real massage parlor.
“It was important that it was set in Waikiki because that is the picture-postcard image of Hawaii,” he said. “I imagine this as looking at a well-furnished house and in the basement there is some crazy stuff going on. Waikiki has a basement that even people from here are not aware of.”
In the age where the majority of festivals are Hollywood marketing campaigns, and even “indie” and “underground” festivals screen financed films, we exist to offer something different. Each year Zero holds events in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, providing exposure for authentically independent filmmakers.
In 2009 ZFF added our 1st West Coast Tour – screening select films in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Hollywood and Orange County. 2010 saw this expand into our 1st North American Tour, with Toronto hosting Zero’s 1st international event. 2011 = Europe.
THE MISSION:
Zero Film Festival is the first and only festival EXCLUSIVE to self financed filmmakers and the authentically independent films they create.
ZFF is a New York and Los Angeles based independent not-for-profit organization firmly committed to supporting under-represented filmmakers and screening the world’s best self-financed films for cinema lovers everywhere. ZFF focuses on community, inclusivity and good times on planet Earth.
Check it out at: http://www.zerofilmfest.com
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