[NEohioPAL] Screen Actors Guild/Ultra Low-Budget Sci-Fi Film Is Now On The Festival Circuit

[Michael A. Miller]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 
CONTACT:
Michael A. Miller
216.389.6784
mamiller107 at earthlink.net
 
What has two wings and a tail but isn't found in The Bible?
 
Cleveland OH – November 2, 2007 – The Rapture LLC announces the release of The Rapture.  With the help of a sales agent, a final trailer is currently being promoted at the Eurasia Film Market and the American Film Market. Additional preparations have been made for film-festival submissions and for by-invitation-only screenings in Ohio.
The final trailer can be viewed at www.rapturethemovie.com/trailer.htm.
Shot in high definition with some mixes of film and digital video, The Rapture is a science-fiction/Anime styled feature film taken directly from script to screen and directed by Johnny Wu.
Driven by the themes of trust and betrayal, The Rapture tells the story of a scientist who, with humanitarian motives, experiments with biomedically engineered enhancements.  Immediately, though, her own well-being is threatened as she finds herself at the center of a vast and furious grab for the commodities she created.  Former bosses, self-appointed overlords and some unexpected adversaries battle the doctor on a knotty field of self-serving deceit.
          “I hope that even people who never read comic books and are not big fans of science fiction will be drawn in by the characters and intrigued by the story long enough to forget that they're ‘not supposed to’ like this stuff,” said James Geier, co-writer with Johnny Wu and co-executive Producer with Wu, Raymond Elkin, Todd Metzendorf, and Kyle Znamenak.
Further, Geier points out, everybody who worked on The Rapture approached the process as a labor of love (with enthusiastic hopes of realizing profit).
"After I graduated from film school, I was about to move out to LA, but then I heard Johnny Wu was doing some really interesting work right here in Cleveland,” adds producer Jeff Yanik.   “I saw A Joker's Card, was very impressed, met Johnny, heard about The Rapture, and decided I needed to stay in Cleveland and be a part of this project.  The Rapture is the kind of movie that you only dream about making when in film school.  It sounded like such an exciting project, I knew I had to be a part of it.” 
          (A Joker’s Card began its award-winning streak in 2005 with a Silver Telly Award in the Best Entertainment category.)
          “The Rapture is my most ambitious film to date.  With over 500 visual effects and our signature wire-stunt work, I believe the viewer will enjoy the feel and look of The Rapture.  Our 12-day shoot was possible because of our talented cast and crew and the immense team work that brought this to life,” said Wu.
That team includes a squad of veteran filmmakers working with a number of high-profile actors who are members of the Screen Actors Guild.
          “I would like to think that the cast and crew are at least half as proud of the result as we, the producers, are proud of the work each of them did on it,” added Geier.
          An earlier trailer from The Rapture has won a 2007 Bronze Telly Award. The same trailer, released during postproduction, encouraged interest in international markets thanks to the diligence of sales agent Phil Gorn of WonderPhil Productions.  Wu believes that the universal themes put forth in The Rapture could promote worldwide acceptance of the film.
          "We're very happy to have Phil Gorn of WonderPhil Productions officially representing The Rapture,” said Wu.  “Some months ago, The Rapture LLC were approached by a number of firms interested in representing our film.  We opted to go with Phil partly because he offered a great deal, and partly because I've worked with him in the past [on A Joker’s Card] and I know the quality he brings to the job.” 
          Gorn characterizes The Rapture as "demonstrating the fierce spirit of indie filmmaking: fun, inventive and effects-driven with real-deal martial arts on a shoestring budget.”  
"The Rapture is outstanding,” said Dr. Thomas M. Brown, mayor of Ohio’s Port Clinton, where part of the film was shot (in addition to being partially shot in Cleveland).  Brown feels that the Port Clinton’s historical element is clearly displayed in the film.  “We would like to thank [The Rapture LLC] for using our City as its location and urge everyone to see The Rapture.  It is one of the best action-filled movies of its kind.  It is certain to be an award-winning film.”
          The Rapture has also won support from prominent members of the business and arts communities who are not direct staff of The Rapture LLC or MDI companies.
          “Johnny is my friend, and I believe in him,” said Margaret Wong, an accomplished immigration attorney and also a leader in Ohio’s Asian community.  “He has proven to be an excellent person with great artistic vision. I saw A Joker’s Card and I loved it. I can’t wait for the premiere [of The Rapture].
Cult novelist Kreig Vens stated, “The Rapture raises the bar to a new height for sci-fi films.  Mr. Wu's vivid production of an experiment gone wrong begs the question [of whether] we are, societally speaking, willing to commit resources to create the ultimate fighting machine, absent conscience.”  Vens’ novel, Prosecuted Innocence, is a winner of the Publisher's Choice and Reader's Choice awards.  His second novel, Trail of Bodies, which will be the basis for Wu’s next feature-length project slated for 2008, is the tale of a Robin Hood-style serial killer who uses the Internet to hunt, then liquidate, pedophiles.          
Wu has two other projects in preproduction.  Incarnate is a suspenseful horror thriller.  Jean Claude the Gumming Zombie is a comedy short.
 
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