Porterville Nerd » Tender as Hellfire

Tender As Hellfire: Film Festival Schedule

Barry Caplan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:52:18 +0000

This week sees the premier of the film festival circuit for Tender as Hellfire, the short film created here in Porterville this past year by director Jason Stone.

Follow here at PortervillNerd.com or TenderAsHellfire.com for updates and additions to this schedule and other Tender as Hellfire news.

VAIL FILM FESTIVAL (April 2-6)
Screening on April 4 at 4:00pm

PHOENIX FILM FESTIVAL (April 2-9)
Screening in the Live Action Shorts B Program
April 4 at 4:15pm and April 5 at 12:15pm
Director Jason Stone and Producer Jon Kondrath will be in attendance.

NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL (April 16-23)
Screening before “True Adolescents”
April 19 at 5:00pm and April 23 at 4:30pm
Director Jason Stone and Producer Jon Kondrath will be in attendance.

WORLDFEST-HOUSTON (Aporil 17-26)
Screening in the 35mm Shorts Program
April 18 at 3:00pm and April 25 at 1:00pm

IFF BOSTON (April 22-28)
Screenings TBA
Director Jason Stone will be in attendance.

Films in and not in Porterville, Tender as Hellfire

Tender as Hellfire – Poster and DVD Information

Barry Caplan — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:56:33 +0000

At Thursday’s opening, Director Jason Stone announced the availability of Posters at the Sheltered Workers Print Shop on Olive.

In the interest of keeping the cost of the posters down and getting everyone a wonderful souvenir of this special event as quickly as possible, I am negotiating a special deal

Details after the jump. (...)
Hit the link for more: Tender as Hellfire – Poster and DVD Information

Tender as Hellfire

Tender as Hellfire – The Grand Opening

Barry Caplan — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:37:16 +0000

Despite little more than a week’s word-of-mouth marketing, this past Thursday’s first public showing of Jason Stone’s short film “Tender as Hellfire” was a resounding success. Filmed in Porterville last summer, the film drew solid support for the last year from Porterville’s citizens. On this night, 500 of them turned out for the viewing, filling the parking lot, the lobby, and the largest theater.

Many in the crowd were friends and family of extras and crew, waiting to see their loved ones on the silver screen. The 12 people waiting for the midnight opening of Watchmen were left bewildered and wanting to join in the excitement.

The special event, organized by local producers Will Lloyd and Barry Caplan brought out local dignitaries including Chamber of Commerce leader Donette Silva-Carter and Mayor Cam Hamilton.

During celebratory speeches prior to the viewing, Mayor Hamilton presented Stone with the Key to the City. Hamilton said this was an absolutely unprecedented presentation in the history of Porterville. The Mayor took this step in appreciation for the way his film brought the town together and introduced it to the new opportunity of making films.

Stone, graciously accepting the unexpected honor, gave all the credit to the citizens of Porterville who gave their time and their efforts in every possible way to help make the film from the minute he first came to town.

The film, completed only 2 days before the viewing, tells the story of two teen brothers – the younger Sean and Chris (Sean Christian Day and Chris Aguilar, respectively, both locals making their acting debuts) living with their mother (Bellamy Young) and her boyfriend French (John Hawkes) in a dusty rural trailer park

Shown primarily from Sean’s point of view, the film explores the uneasy truce between French and the boys as he wrestles with how much he wants to get to the be involved with the family. Each decision French makes brings the boys one step closer to the end of innocence as the boys find themselves in an inappropriately violent situations while wrestling with the truth about French.

Despite the summer dry and dusty nature of the rural locations, the film is shot in cool blue hues, which only adds to the emotional distance between the characters in difficult times.

Audience members were heard to exclaim excitement at seeing Porterville on the silver screen, and that the establishing shots showed the nature of the town especially well. Many said the details, from dusty roads, deserted high school athletic fields, and spiders spinning webs were not only artistic but also helped the story along.

Stone also announced to the crowd that the film has already been accepted into 4 prestigious film festivals, beginning in April.

Tender as Hellfire

Introducing Producer Barry Caplan and Location Porterville/Tulare County, California

Barry Caplan — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:07:10 +0000

“Tender as Hellfire” a short thesis film by USC grad student Jason Stone, makes its silver screen debut in Porterville, CA on March 5 at 7PM at the Galaxy 9 Theater.

Filmed last summer in Porterville ((trailer is www.tenderashellfire.com ), and based on the novel by Joe Meno, TaH tells the story of a 2 brothers finding their way in a world of complex relationships that starts right at home.

Starring:

French: John Hawkes http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370035/
Cheryl: Bellamy Young http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0949292/
Chris: Chris Aguilar of Exeter in his movie premiere
Sean: Sean Christian Day of Porterville in his movie premiere

And a cast of stunt dogs, with many local extras, locations, and above the line and below the line local credits.

All are welcome to the show!

More importantly for this list, as one of the local Producers on the film, I would like to say that the town is interested in drawing more productions as part of an economic development plan.

Porterville is located 200 miles north of LA in Tulare County and offers locations ranging from rural to agricultural to some of America’s most spectacular mountains.

Because we are within an easy day’s drive from LA and the Bay Area, Porterville can be a cost-effective stand-in location for more distant places. In the case of Tender as Hellfire, the script is set in Oklahoma, but the filming was all done in California.

I am interested to network with Directors, Producers, Executive Producers, etc. to introduce you to Porterville and to learn about your interest in such scenery and general pre-production needs. I am very interested in acting as a clearinghouse for projects on one hand and film investors on the other hand.

Just as an idea of services, I can scout out locations, conduct casting, and so forth. There is more about me on my linked in page, and also here at portervillenerd.com and digimediafinance.com . All contacts treated with strict confidence.

Films in and not in Porterville, Tender as Hellfire

10 / 40 / 70 Movie Review – How does Porterville Stack Up?

Barry Caplan — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:26:23 +0000

Just in time for Porterville’s silver screen debut next week comes this new and clever movie reviewing technique. Take 3 still frames at arbitrary times, 10 minutes in, then 40 and 70 minutes in exactly, and review the film based on those three framse.

See how it goes with 10 / 40 / 70 Ocean’s Twelve.

I might be a while until we can see Tender as Hellfire in a format where we can view it fram by frame, but at 20 minutes long, let’s modify 10/40/70 based on assyuming a typical filml is 100 minutes long. So what would we see and learn of the film of we grabbed a frame at 2,/8/14 minutes in?

As Associate Producer, I predict you will see a promising career for Director Jason Stone and a hardscrabble life for Porterville’s residents. Luckily, Porterville is standing in for Oklahoma in the script, which was standing in for Minnesota in the original novel, so we will see amazing acting chops by Porterville locations.

Just as well known for its foothills and vistas of distant Sierra peaks as its rustic midwestern style farming scenes, this screen rookie is worth looking into by directors everywhere. Sometime in the future, Porterville, as the King of California Citrus, will be discovered for a role as early Orange County, maybe in a bio-pic of one of the Disneys that will be sure to pop up from time to time.

Contact me and I will show you around, online or off, for the locations you are looking for. Let The PortervilleNerd show you what Porterville can do for you.

Films in and not in Porterville, Nerd Tasks, Tender as Hellfire

Tender as Hellfire First-Ever Public “Friends and Family” Viewing March 5th

Barry Caplan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:00:57 +0000

As many of you may know, this past summer I worked as an Associate Producer on a film called Tender as Hellfire, filmed right here in Porterville. The short film is about 20 minutes long, made by USC Film School graduate student Jason Stone as his thesis film to complete his Master’s Degree.

The film is completed at last (trailer is here), and scheduled for its first ever public showing, a “Friends and Family” viewing, at the Galaxy 9 Theater on Henderson, March 5, at 7PM.

It is the story of a boy coming to grips with complex relationships in his family, especially with his mother’s boyfriend.

Starring:

All of the extras and vehicles are local folks and belong to local folks, so you might see your friends and neighbors on the big screen. Various locations in and around Porterville star in their own right.

All are welcome, and there is no charge, but be aware that this unrated film would probably be a strong pg13 and may not be appropriate for younger children. There is some sexuality (clothed) in the opening – you can see a taste of that in the trailer – and a simulated dog fight (no dogs were harmed, honest, I was there and so was the ASPCA that watches over these sorts of things).

Feel free to forward this, the more the merrier – if the theater can’t hold everyone, there will be multiple showings until everyone who wants to has seen it.

Tender as Hellfire