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FREEDOM STATE
56 minutes Comedy / Drama / Romance / Sci-Fi & Fantasy / IndieFlix Official Selections
After the apocalypse, a group of mental health patients have inherited the Earth. Armed with a short bus and imagination, they must rebuild society and find the edge of the world.
Intended Audience: Family
A crackpot comedy about sanity, a quest, and crazy love. When eight mental health home patients wake up to discover that the Nurse is absent, the T.V. is out, and find a glass eye made in Rapture, Indiana. . .they come to the only possible conclusion: the apocalypse has happened. Each takes on a new role in society and finds a sense of purpose through imagination. Led by their president--a disenfranchised housewife who has decided normal is crazy--they commandeer a short bus and head out on a mission to save the world's survivors.
Describe your style for FREEDOM STATE:
Cullen Hoback (Director): I wanted the film to play with the idea of working within a frame. Film is two-dimensional. The Camera can move through three, but when you’re looking at a screen, it’s two. I wanted to play around with that flatness and the motion within that and make it a moving picture, quite literally. I wanted to put a frame around it. It was designed to look like a painting, very color-saturated and fantasylike.
In this one scene, they literally rip a painting out of the frame, and Krystal marches each of them and they establish a new world order. They each take a picture of each of them behind the frame. You get a literal frame, within the frame. And each of them takes pictures of themselves. Hopefully it’s a clear giveaway.
I blend improv into well-rehearsed scenes, and collect what I see while out on a set and find a place for it in the film. My DP calls them “happy accidents”. For me that’s life. I’m process based, and a collector. I’ll come in with a meticulous plan, and then build on that as I discover new things. These are my favorite moments in the film.
I also don’t like for things to be all that apparent. I’m trying to structure it in a way that keeps the audience asking questions. When I’m editing, I think to myself, what questions might the audience be asking now? Rather than just giving away the exposition, I believe in making them have to surmise it.
- Directed by: Cullen Hoback
- Written by: Cullen Hoback
- Produced by: Aaron Kirk Douglas
- Run Time: 56 minutes
- Release Date: 2006
-
Country:
United States of America
- Intended Audience: family
- Website FREEDOM STATE
Written by Cullen Hoback
Produced by Aaron Kirk Douglas
Cast
Megan Murphy:
Harry Lessinger:
Richard Garfield:
Jim Craig:
Nine DeJanvier:
Suzanne Duval:
Dax Jordan:
Payam Karamooz:
Matt Ludwick:
Ry Sherrell:
Hunter Rose Teal:
Agrippa Williams:
Katie Bailey:
N. Michael Acker:
Cullen Hoback:
Aaron Kirk Douglas:
David Morrison Douglas:
Cinematography:
Production Designer:
Art Direction:
Costume Design:
Original Music by:
Makeup Department:
Tim Scotten:
Martin Oliver Edward Wright:
Lynn Reynolds:
Shane Baker:
Aaron Gordon:
Jenelle Giordano:
Michael Lindberg:
Timothy Oakley:
Jon Putnam:
Matt Donaldson:
Greg Ives:
John Northcraft:
Erik Ring:
Creed Spencer:
Matt Barbee:
Joshua Burson:
Tyson Carpenter:
Kyril Cvetkov:
Jim Dunn:
Jeff Ettlin:
Brian Fleskes:
Brian Neubauer:
John Nichols:
Robert Platt:
Sean Strauss:
Steve Waters:
James Wilderhancock:
Alice Clemans:
Greg Day:
James Eubank:
Tim Scotten:
3 Leg Torso:
Joshua Burson:
Greg Fredette:
Rachel Lipsey:
Jeff Miholer:
Ben Oh:
Corinne Theodoru:
Rob Ottley:
Aaron Ward:
Moondance International Film Festival
Santa Fe Film Festival
Annapolis Film Festival
Rome International Film Festival
SONSCREEN Film & Video Festival
What are you trying to get across with FREEDOM STATE?
Cullen Hoback (Director): It’s largely about space, how we fit into it. The film restructures how we think about our roles in the world. Each of the characters in the film has their own view of reality and the whole film is removed from society. That’s one of the key elements. They create their own reality and get completely caught up in it. It’s a reality that’s equally valid to our daily lives. Through what we perceive is fantasy, they find life. They find meaning. There’s also some subtle political and social commentary. I like to structure films with layers, and context, down to the numbers of the bus, so even an 8-year-old can enjoy it.