Movies You Made: “Blue Borsalino”
A short film by writer-director Mark Lobatto.
After a successful festival run, filmmaker Mark Lobatto, longtime GITS reader, reached out to me to make his short film Blue Borsalino available for viewing here on the blog. Background from Mark:
The production was only possible thanks to the support of over 300 people around the world through our crowdfunding campaign. Gratefully the film has been screened at over 25 international festivals film festivals including Oscar qualifiers Seattle and Rhode Island, picking up a few awards along the way.
We shot over four days in greater London and the Essex blackwater estuary. The production relied on resourcefulness from the whole crew and a long search for suitable locations / production design. The old pawnbroker’s shop location was based in a beautiful turn of the century merchant house just off of the Brick Lane. Due to production constraints of scheduling we ended up cheating the old detective’s office in the same school grounds where we shot the dream sequence. Finding an of the era childrens’ funfair by a body of water was a challenge, so the solution was hunting down a collector of old rides and we relocated several of them as a dressed set by the estuary, lit by a helium balloon light as moon-light.
As an indie filmmaker, my advice is perhaps obvious. The content you create becomes your main currency in taking the next step towards the following production, so stand by everything you produce and remain open to new opportunities at all times. Diversification can be the key to surviving whilst you develop projects more close to your heart creatively speaking.
I asked Mark: What about this particular story inspired you to make it as a movie? His response:
I’m not entirely sure how the idea came about, but I was drawn to an older reflective character whose identity had been moulded by one event many years ago. There was also a quote that stuck with me, from John Banville’s The Sea: “The past beats inside me like a second heart.” Thematically, the film deals with the passing of time, how we can be haunted by mistakes of the past, as well as the sense that hope and redemption is never out of reach even decades on.
Here is a list of film festivals in which the movie has played:
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
Winner — Best Short — Victoria TX Independent Film Festival (2016)
Winner — Founders Award for Best Drama Short Film — North Carolina Film Awards (2015)
Winner — Platinum REMI Award for Original Fiction Film — Worldfest Houston (2016)
Winner — Certificate of Excellence Award — Rincon International Film Festival (2016)
Winner — Jury Award — AVTAR Film Festival (2016)
Special Jury Mention — ‘Short of the Year’ contest — Promofest (2015)
Nominated — Crossroads Award — Victoria TX Independent Film Festival (2016)
Nominated — Best Short Film Score — Reel Music Awards (2015)
Nominated — Golden Trellick Award for Best Drama — at the Portobello Film Festival (2016)
‘Trailer of the Week’ — AWARDEO
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
Seattle International Film Festival — 2016
The Newport Beach Film Festival — 2016
Big Island Film Festival — 2016
Worldfest Houston — 2016
Omaha Film Festival — 2016
Victoria TX Independent Film Festival — 2016
Crossroads Film Festival — 2016
Taos Shortz Film Festival — 2016
AVTAR Film Festival -2016
North Carolina Film Awards — 2015
PROMOFEST’s ‘Short of the Year’ Contest — 2015
Reel Music Awards — 2015
Porto7 — Festival Internacional de Curtas-metragens do Porto — 2016
Woods Hole Film Festival — 2016
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival — 2016
FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival — 2016
HollyShorts Film Festival — 2016
CEBU International FILM Festival — 2016
El Dorado Film Festival — 2016
FESANCOR Film Festival (Festival Chileno Internacional del Cortometraje de Santiago) — 2016
Lone Star Film Festival, Texas — 2016
Portobello Film Festival (2016)
Red Rock Film Festival, Utah — 2016
Tirana Film Festival, Albania — 2016
‘In The Palace’ International Film Festival, Sofia — 2016
Et Cultura: Film — 2016
Here is the movie Blue Borsalino:
Cast:
David Warner — Ernie Child
Margot Leicester — Jean Delaware
Bart Edwards — Young Ernie
Laura Dale — Young Jean
Amanda Drew — Donna
Julia Watson — Annette Delaware
Roger Alborough — Frank Delaware
Drew Edwards — Father
Nicola Sian — Nurse Rosie
Caroline Partridge — Nurse Noomi
Louise Elliott — Child Jean
Crew:
Writer & Director — Mark Lobatto
Producer — Annabel Wigoder
Executive Producers — Christopher Smith, David Warner, Patric J. Arnold, Crystal Umphrey & Uzzi Khan
Associate Producers — Hamish McCartan, Charles and Elizabeth Wigoder & Sebastian Mortelmans
Cinematographer — Eben Bolter
Production Designer — Daniel Vincent
Editor — Dave Silver
Composer — David M. Saunders
Casting Director — Emma Gunnery
Costume Designer — Jeffrey Michael
Makeup & Hair Designer — Alexa Seabourne
1st Assistant Director — Simon Haveland
3rd Assistant Directors — Peter Moore, Robyn Johnson
Personal Assistant to the Director — Holly Davies
Production Coordinators — Craig Connolly & Onyinye Egenti
Fight/Stunt Choreographer — Roy Taylor
Gaffer — Aaron Walters
Steadicam Operator — Doug Walshe
1st Assistant Camera — AJ Golesworthy
2nd Assistant Camera — Russel Torode
3rd Assistant Camera — Ky Brasey
Grip — Rogan Brown
Best Boy — Neil Hawkins
Spark — Charlie Jenkins
Sound Recordist — Max Devere
Boom Operator — Adam Williams
Colourist — Lee Clappison
VFX Producer — Elliot Goodman
Sound Design & Mix — Sebastian Dale
Standby Art Director — Jenny Kathryn Hawes
Props Master — Adam McGee-Abe
Art Department Assistants — Basmah Jolley, Craig Gambell & George Ellsworth
Digital Imaging Technician — Aaron James
Concept Artist — Marco Caradonna
Pre Production Graphic Design — Kris Sheasby
Costume Assistants — Ping Ping Lu, Danya Gomez Douglass & Shanel Yildirimbora
MakeUp & Hair Assistants — Louise Goodson & Sofia Isabella
Production Assistants — Hugo Everard, Natasha Jones & Jenni Herzberg
Stills Photography — XLV Photography & Joe Sarah
Poster Design — Ben Parker
Trailer Editor — Malcolm Crowe
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/139322006
Website: blueborsalinofilm.com
Twitter: @blueborsalino
FB: facebook.com/blueborsalino
Movies You Made is an ongoing occasional series intended to spotlight the creative efforts of independent filmmakers. If you have a short or feature length film in which you were involved as a writer and/or director, and would like your movie presented here on Go Into The Story, email me with your request.
