A documentary that follows three bands that refuse to give up on their dream of making it big over the course of one year that will change everything. Follow ‘Fight Friendly’, ‘Paul Nagi’ and, ‘The Muddy Reds’ as they balance their rock n’ roll aspirations with the hardships and realities of daily life in this documentary that dares you to follow your own dreams and shows the power of never giving up on what inspires you.
FOLLOWING THE FILM
STICK AROUND FOR LIVE MUSIC
BY
PAUL NAGI
Director Statement
Have you ever asked yourself, “ What would it have been like if I had followed my dreams?” This is a question many Americans ask themselves every day while working a job that they hate. In 2009 I graduated college in one of the worst financial meltdowns the country had ever seen. A job in the film business was already hard to come by out of college and with a crumbling economy it was next to impossible to get my foot in the door. I had two films with budgets lined up but I got tired of waiting for producers to give me the green light and after a year of the hurry up and wait game, I decided to try something different. A documentary could be made for cheap. I had never made a documentary, hell I really only had tried my hand at horror films, but I was determined. One day while sitting in cubicle hell, I decided I needed to tell the story of the underdog but the idea of making it about bands didn’t hit me until I was sitting around after a film screening with my friends Gino Devaney and Brandon Scullion. Brandon was my roommate and is a connoisseur of music. Gino went to school for radio and like me moved to California from New Hampshire to follow his dreams. That night the idea of “Unsigned” was born around a table at a Mexican restaurant.
I decided the film should focus around three bands and their everyday struggles. I put an add out on Craigslist and started looking for bands. In the first day I had over 40 responses. From that day I picked the Muddy Reds, a Southern, Blues style rock band that knows how jam in a retro funk kind of way. Throughout the week more responses came in slowly.. From there I picked two more bands, Paul Nagi, a dark new wave Indie solo act with heart felt lyrics and killer guitar rifts. After 2 more weeks I found Fight Friendly, an indie pop punk band with catchy choruses and an unmatched energy. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and filming began. The film evolved into something bigger than I ever thought it could be. The story of these bands went in a direction I could never have foreseen and we have all changed because of it.
Anthony Pedone and Josh Garrett sit down with O.C. Garza to discuss the festival schedule, films, events, and guests that will be in Victoria, TX March 22-25.
Have a listen or download the 13 minute podcast at Vtv15.org.
Films will screen outside next to the Jr League Building
This event is part of our film ExChange program with the Radar Hamburg International Independent Film Festival.
Over the course of the next year we will be holding several screenings featuring the best of several other festivals including The Art of Brooklyn Festival, Foburg Film Festival and RxSM.
Krystyn Lambert, through her national television work, international performance schedule, and critical acclaim within the community of magicians, has become one of the most recognized females in magic. She became enamored with the art at a young age, and her professional career began at age twelve and a half when she became the youngest member the junior society at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. She has been a sought-after performer and personality at this illustrious venue ever since.
After starring in the multi-award winning magic documentary, Make Believe, Krystyn has been invited by the United States State Department to travel to schools across Asia to perform and share experiences from her life in both magic and in the American university system. She serves as a positive role model to youth across the world, possessing a keen sense of how to successfully communicate her perspective to a diverse range of audiences.
Krystyn is a third year honors student at the University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in philosophy. She is twenty-one years old.
Derek McKee
Derek McKee received an unusual present for his 17th birthday. Then again, McKee isn’t your usual 17-year-old.
The Littleton high school junior got a call from the prestigious Society of American Magicians that he had been named as one of five magicians representing the future of magic. McKee was excited but the news also meant that the pressure to perform was on.”To be able to compete on an international level is stressful; but I don’t get nervous before a show, I get prepared,” said McKee, who will perform Friday and Saturday at the Masters of Magic show in Loveland alongside a lineup of renowned magicians, including mind- reader Asi Wind, comedy magician Chris Capehart, Las Vegas magician Luna Shimada and Dan Sperry of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
Eleven years ago, it was another birthday gift – a Lance Burton magic kit from his grandmother – that got the now nationally-known young magician on his way. For years, he almost never was without a deck of cards in his hands and practiced his art for up to five hours a day. At 13, his act got him into a Volkswagen commercial and chosen to be featured in the documentary “Make Believe.”
Before magic, McKee said he was shy and had trouble talking to new people.
“Now I can go in front of 3,000, 4,000 people and talk to them,” he said. “With magic I know what I’m doing, I’m confident; it’s the greatest feeling ever.”
McKee hopes to share that feeling with the launch of his Pure Imagination Project, named after the song from the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” which McKee uses in his act.
Traveling to schools, McKee plans to talk to students about how any dream can come true if they’re willing to work hard. “Two years ago, I was just a kid practicing magic in my room and nobody knew me, and now I’m the youngest in the cast of the Masters of Magic show,” he said.
“When I perform, I want to get the audience to be in sheer, utter amazement.”
Kevin Gant
The Guitar Poet
Kevin Gant is a renowned musical poet who first appeared in the early 90′s in Austin, Texas. In 1995 he released his first album, The Original Meditator, moved to LA and disappeared for 10 years. In 2005 Kevin resurfaced with a new album, The Capacitor. Now the subject of a hit documentary by Jay Duplass, Kevin is traveling the film festival circuit looking for new audiences while preparing for his new album due out next year, The Guitar Poet.
Alfred, a seven year-old boy who daily roams the house dressed in a self-made space man costume, attempts to emotionally connect with his mother, who seems, almost literally, a world apart from him. Alfred Thinks We’re Aliens was produced in the Denton, TX area by film students from the University of North Texas. The film is produced by Hugo Ramos and directed by Daniel McQueary. The film is written by Lea Kocurek. FESTIVAL ACCOLADES OFFICIAL SELECTION Reel Fun Film Festival 2012 Calgary, Alberta CANADA NOMINEE – BEST NARRATIVE SHORT Trail Dance Film Festival 2012 Duncan, OK USA OFFICIAL SELECTION Lone Star International Film Festival 2011 Fort Worth, TX USA WINNER – CHRIS CADDELL FILMMAKER AWARD Flatland Film Festival 2011 Lubbock, TX USA WINNER – 3RD PLACE SHORT FILM Bayou City Inspirational Film Festival 2011 Houston.
