A Beautifully Photographed Film That Feels Like a Dream an Epic Journey Into the Intimate

Press Kit page 1

“A beautifully photographed film that feels like a dream…an epic journey into the intimate.” –David Gordon Green director of George Washington and Undertow

find out more at www.straightlinemovie.com

80 mins, 35mm,16mm, DV, color/b&w

Jane Kelly Kosek, producer 12801 Moorpark St., #117, Studio City, CA 91604  [email protected]  310.871.8631 www.straightlinemovie.com Press Kit page 2

STRAIGHT LINE

Quotes

“A beautifully photographed film that feels like a dream…an epic journey into the intimate.” –David Gordon Green, director of George Washington and Undertow

“Sean Ackerman evidences undeniable promise as a compelling storyteller and visual stylist with ‘Straight Line,’ a small-budget indie that should grab attention.” –Joe Leydon, Variety, April 13, 2005

“… a gentle tapestry on love and life; those choices made and the decisions avoided…. ‘Straight Line’ is … rewarding in its simplicity and straightforward sense of purpose.” –Merle Bertrand, Film Threat, March 22, 2005

“[Ackerman] has set out to make a film that is by no means ordinary, in a way that is nothing short of extraordinary…. you have to respect the fact that he’s taken the road less traveled and kicked its ass.” –Chris Parry, eFilmCritic.com, March 22, 2005

“The profound scenes, vibrant colors, and black and white flashes through time bring the viewer closer to the main character.... This is a reflective yet artistic film that grasps the truest form of life; hardships and its most memorable moments.” –Angela Ambrosini-Haliski, The Flow Magazine, www.theflowmag.com, April 15, 2005

“... newcomer Shannon Shultz lights up the screen ... bringing to mind the likes of Mischa Barton with her natural charisma and beauty. Another beautiful aspect of the film was the way Ackerman captures nature. Sparkling rivers and fiery orange sunsets, not to mention the glorious shots of Central and Latin America, should prove Ackerman’s talent to Hollywood.” –Laura Zvonek, Skuawk.com, March 14, 2005

“Part Ingmar Bergman philosophical melodrama, part home-movie travelogue, and part Terrence Malick nature rumination…. Ackerman leaves the conventions of linear filmmaking to others less emotionally inclined.” –Josh Rosenblatt, Austin Chronicle, March 18, 2005

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Festivals

WORLD PREMIERE 2005 SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL, Austin, TX

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Three-Line Synopsis

Three stories intertwined: the day a mother dies, the week her son falls in love, and the month he journeys to get his love back. Using three different film formats, it’s an intensely visual patchwork that spans lifetimes and travels across five countries yet remains intimate in focus. Embracing the vast beauty of the world, STRAIGHT LINE is a movie about how lucky we are to be alive.

Short Synopsis

STRAIGHT LINE is the story of a young man, Bobby Line, who seeks refuge in the beauty of Montana following the death of his mother, Monika. There he meets a young woman named Sophie who slowly captures his heart. They begin a romance that abruptly ends when Sophie runs away to Panama—a place she has always dreamed of. Unable to lose another person in his life, Bobby goes on a journey to find Sophie.

The film interweaves three separate moments in time: Monika dying in her hospital bed and recalling the past, Bobby and Sophie’s first week together in Montana, and Bobby’s journey through five countries to find Sophie.

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Long Synopsis

STRAIGHT LINE is the story of a young man, Bobby Line, who seeks refuge in the beauty of Montana following the death of his mother, Monika. There he meets a young woman named Sophie who slowly captures his heart. They begin a romance that abruptly ends when Sophie runs away. Unable to lose another person in his life, Bobby goes on a journey to find Sophie.

The film interweaves three separate moments in time: Monika dying in her hospital bed and recalling the past, Bobby and Sophie’s first week together, and Bobby’s journey to find Sophie.

The story begins as Bobby Line comes home late on New Year’s Eve and finds Sophie has left him and run away to Panama—a place she has always dreamt of. Bobby decides to go on a road trip from Montana to Panama to find Sophie and hopefully bring her home. As he drives, many hours alone, we cut to the first week in which he meets Sophie and the moments they shared skipping rocks, fishing, playing wiffle ball, and learning about her dreams of Panama. The time he spends with her is special but not always easy. He still struggles with the pain of his mother’s death.

Also intercut with Bobby’s drive and his romance with Sophie are images of his mother, Monika, dying in a hospital bed. Over the course of a day, Monika sifts through photographs of her life as a young girl immigrating to the United States from Germany and then those as she married, had children, and grew old. She recalls in her native German language the joy and pain of coming to a new country and starting a new life. Her memories are a reflection of what Bobby is experiencing in his own life and provide a glimpse of what his future may hold.

Along the way to Panama Bobby picks up a friend, Sam, in Texas. They continue the journey together through Mexico and Belize, enjoying the wonders of those countries including their people, nature, and ancient landmarks. Bobby is inspired by what he sees, and begins to feel okay despite the fact that Sophie has left him. Bobby begins to think that perhaps other things in the world could make him happy besides Sophie.

After Bobby’s car is stolen, Sam departs and returns home while Bobby takes a plane to Panama. Bobby follows clues to Sophie’s whereabouts at a photography institute where he believes Sophie has run into the arms of another man. This other man, Joaquin, is actually a photography teacher who had offered Sophie the chance to work in Panama. Also, it turns out Joaquin happens to be gay so there is no chance of a romance between him and Sophie.

Sitting down with Joaquin, Bobby learns that Sophie had arrived at the institute but regretted her decision rather quickly. In fact, during the time Bobby has been driving to Panama, Sophie has already come and gone. She left to return to the place she feels she truly belongs: in Montana with Bobby.

Bobby leaves the institute and heads home to Montana. There, he sees Sophie again but they do not embrace right away. He has changed on his journey. As his mother saw when she immigrated to America, Bobby has come to understand through his travels that the world is an amazing place. He has come to understand that Sophie is not everything. As Bobby sits next to her on a rock by a snowy river, he is as much moved by the beauty of the river as he is by his reunion with Sophie.

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Sean Ackerman, Director/Writer/Producer/Editor

Born in Illinois, Sean Ackerman graduated from the film school at New York University in May of 2001. After graduation, Sean moved out to rural Montana and lived in a town with a population of only 800. There he wrote STRAIGHT LINE, his first feature film.

Jane Kelly Kosek, Producer

Native to Michigan, Jane has worked and lived in New York and Los Angeles for the past decade. She is an independent producer and has recently formed a production company named Wonder Entertainment. STRAIGHT LINE is her debut feature. She wrapped production on her second feature FIERCE FRIEND in January 2005. Currently, she is developing Sean Ackerman’s follow up film as well as a number of new projects.

Credits

Cast Bobby Line Sean Ackerman Sophie Shannon Shultz Mother Monika Franzen Sam Sam Baker Chuck Chuck Sperry Joaquin Joaquin Lizano

Crew Writer, Director, Editor Sean Ackerman Director of Photography Michael Akman Producers Jane Kelly Kosek Sean Ackerman Original Score Angeles Drake With Additional Music from Their Album Original Composition Amy Marie Beauchamp Theme by Dear Nora 1st Assistant Camera (35mm) Craig Pressgrove 1st Assistant Camera (16mm) Linda Slater 2nd Assistant Camera (35mm) Linda Slater Production Sound Sam Baker and Michael Akman Production Assistant and Grip Zac Osgood Music Supervisor Cassie Wickham Motion Graphics David Ahuja

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Director’s Note

I remember the moment I thought of the film—it was September of 2002 and I was reading a physics book in the living room. I love physics, I think it’s a beautiful subject, but I can’t say the idea for the film came from any place in the book. Nor did it come from anywhere specifically at all. It just hit me. The idea just bubbled up and I immediately loved it.

At the time I was looking to do a movie that could really showcase who I was as a director. This was hugely problematic though because I tend to write material that demands an intense aesthetic, which in turn means having an intense budget. But I was a first-time director with no contacts in Hollywood...how could I get the funds to make a movie that looked as beautiful as the visions in my head?

That’s why I loved STRAIGHT LINE. Here was a story which on the surface seemed to demand a huge budget—it takes place in five different countries, requires three different shooting formats, takes eighteen months to produce—yet done the right way it could be made for next to nothing. It was a movie where I could really show that I was an artist, make zero creative compromises, and not have to worry about raising too much money.

Of course, the whole project took a little bit of insanity. After all, normal film crews don’t consist of three skinny Americans driving through dangerous areas of Central America with a bunch of expensive video equipment in the back of an old Buick. Normal film crews don’t hike up into the Rocky Mountains with hundreds of pounds of film equipment while working for free. Normal films crews couldn’t shoot a feature on 35mm, 16mm, and DV with only seven crew people total. But we weren’t normal. We made a different kind of movie and we did it because we loved doing it. We made a great feature because we wanted to. It didn’t matter that we had limited resources. We found a way to do exactly what we wanted to do. We found a way to make an excellent film.

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Producer’s Note by Jane Kelly Kosek

Sean and I met on a small, New York indie film. We both lived in Brooklyn and together we would commute an hour north to Yonkers, where we worked in a production office set up at an old Perdue chicken factory. I don’t know if it was the strange setting in which we worked or the two hours a day in a car that bonded us, but something gelled and we have worked together since.

We had achieved a certain level of success trying to set up his film THE DIARY OF PRESTON PLUMMER, but we knew making a smaller film first might help. So one day, I got a call from Sean. He said, I am going to go make a movie for $20,000. I leave soon and I will be driving from Montana to Panama with Mike Akman (our DP) and Sam Baker (an actor and friend). I said, I think you may be crazy but go do it!

So off they went. I got a postcard from Belize so I knew things must be alright, especially when the card had the most beautiful beach scene on it. Upon their return, I heard all the stories of the wonderful people they met and the glorious sites they had seen. I was very excited to see footage.

Sean put together a trailer for me and sent me a rough script of what they had shot. At this point, Sean asked me to come on board the project and help him with the rest of the shoot. He wanted to film portions on 35mm and 16mm black & white in Montana in the coming months. After reading the script, I knew the story needed work before we could plan the shoot. He and I discussed new story elements and soon Sean presented me with the perfect script.

A shoot was planned for later that summer but Montana was experiencing a large number of fires that filled the sky with clouds of smoke. These weren’t the right conditions in which to film the rest of the movie. Sean planned for a winter shoot to capture the end of the movie, and we settled on the following spring for the 35mm and 16mm portions.

When springtime came, we were ready. I had cut as many deals as I could and we were on budget. The cameras and film were coming from Hollywood, and the cast and crew were coming from New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Sean flew us into Missoula, MT, and we stayed at his family home nearby.

We were off to a great start. All seven arrived safely and we were staying in a home surrounded by beautiful mountains. Very inspirational. The cameras arrived on time, and we successfully made the five- hour trek to Bozeman for the grip and electric equipment. The only thing that didn’t cooperate was the weather. It was freezing and raining. We knew we had no choice but to film in these conditions. It wasn’t easy but everyone was so committed to the project that we bore whatever conditions were thrown at us.

Sean’s mother, who plays Bobby’s mother in the film, drove in from Chicago toward the end of the shoot. We wrapped the 35mm and began the preparations to shoot in a hospital in Missoula on 16mm. Thinking it would be impossible to shoot down the hall of a working hospital, we made plans to shoot at a different facility for the hallway scenes. This ended up not being necessary. The hospital was so accommodating that they let us stay extra time and even shoot the hallway portion as their staff worked around us.

In the end, we got all the shots we needed, which wouldn’t have been possible without the wonderful people and companies who donated their time and resources. Sean headed into the editing phase with beautiful footage. He worked doggedly to complete a rough cut in time to apply to 2005 film festivals. At Christmastime, I received a call from the South by Southwest Film Festival. They wanted to host our World Premiere of the film. For all of us, we couldn’t ask for a better gift.

Jane Kelly Kosek, producer 12801 Moorpark St., #117, Studio City, CA 91604  [email protected]  310.871.8631 www.straightlinemovie.com Press Kit page 9 STRAIGHT LINE

Photos (all images included on Photo CD)

Bobby Sophie & Bobby Woods

Monica in hospital Blurry Drive

Sophie Bobby in Tree

Sam in Keye Caulker Map

Chuck Belize Dock

Eye A Table in the Field

Sam & Bobby The Kiss

Sophie & Bobby Mtns. Sophie & Bobby

Sophie & Bobby River Wiffleball

Jane Kelly Kosek, producer 12801 Moorpark St., #117, Studio City, CA 91604  [email protected]  310.871.8631 www.straightlinemovie.com Press Kit page 10 STRAIGHT LINE

Montana

Palenque Ruins

Belize Island

Sophie’s Truck

Postcard

Jane Kelly Kosek, producer 12801 Moorpark St., #117, Studio City, CA 91604  [email protected]  310.871.8631 www.straightlinemovie.com