Selections for Megacon Indie Film Expo 2012 Announced

A number of cutting-edge award-winning independent films have been selected for presentation at this year’s Megacon on February 17-18th. Each year the Megacon Indie Film Expo showcases cutting-edge short independent films in the important genres of action, animation, anime, comedy, horror, super-hero, science fiction, suspense, and zombie. These fantastic films have been chosen by 3 Boys Productions, the founders of the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival and creators of the horror adventure comic book series Students of the Unusual, for their Friday night program at Megacon on February 17th at 6:30-8:00 pm in Room 222 at the Orange County Convention Center. Donations will be accepted for the Hero Initiative.

Selected Films include:

Blinky™ directed by Ruari Robinson

Meet Blinky™. All this robot wants is a friend. The only problem is, he’s not very good at making friends.

http://www.ruairirobinson.com/

Stitched, written and directed by Garth Ennis. Produced and edited by Brian Pulido.

Somewhere in the Mountains of Afghanistan, three little figures stagger across the desolate landscape. Their Blackhawk burning in the rocks and the rest of the crew gone with it, the trio must survive both the terrible conditions and the hostile attentions of the locals. But there are worse foes than Taliban fighters in this ancient land, as an old and terrible force arises to serve a twenty-first century evil.

http://www.fearthestitched.com/

Paths of Hate directed by Damian Nenow

Metaphorical fight of two fighter pilots illustrates the universal truth about hate. “Paths of Hate” is a short animated tale about the demons that slumber deep in the human soul and have the power to push people into the abyss of blind hate, fury and rage.

http://www.pathsofhate.com/

The Breakdown directed by Robby Sparks

Stress relief never felt so good!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3137238/

The Bloody Jug Band – “Chained To The Bottom” Music Video directed by Steven Shea

Synopsis: Come with us on a trip to Hell and join the Devil’s Chain Gang, along with The Bloody Jug Band, in this visualization of their song “Chained To The Bottom”.

http://www.bloodyjugband.com/

Special Preview of The Space Coast directed by Lear Bunda

A NASA-themed Teen Comedy Concept starring Dana Snyder(Aqua Teen Hunger Force), Amber Freeman, Pat Martin, & Dustin Harbin

http://thespacecoastmovie.com/

Special Preview of Zellwood directed by Jason Sutton

Two young couples take one last relaxing trip to the country before moving to different cities. One final weekend getaway with good friends. Secrets revealed around the campfire bring out vengeful jealousies as the weekend takes a deadly turn and unexpected twist. Starring Playboy Playmate Sara Jean Underwood.

http://www.zellwoodthemovie.com/

Last Seen on Dolores Street directed by Devi Snively

In a hard-boiled town, a heartbroken woman says goodbye to an old pet and hello to a new nightmare. Sometimes, life’s a real bitch.

http://deviantpictures.com/

TS-101 directed by Anthony Dones

Set in the not too distant future where humanity is being primed for historic scientific change, courtesy of the dark and clandestine organization called LUMASOFT. Of their many Test Subjects, David Atchinson, emerges as an anomalous specimen. He soon discovers that the future of science and humanity itself lies deep within him. Written by John Ulloa and Julio Alvarez

http://www.creatureentertainment.com/

Death of Spider-Man directed by Andrew S. Bates

A bunch of my very talented friends thought it would be fun to bring to life the recent “Death of Spider-Man” storyline from Marvel’s Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man as a digital motion comic!

http://www.arrivalpointproductions.com

Zombie Years directed by Julio Alvarez and Juan Navarro

A short film that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Miami, Florida overrun by the living dead. When all that exists is death, it takes more than survival to understand life, and we see Delilah “Del” Esquinosa go about this in her own way, from finding a new companion… to keeping old ones. What is family, friends, or even life itself when faced with the dead who won’t DIE?

http://www.creatureentertainment.com/

As part of Megacon’s “Indie Film Expo” program, a panel discussion on filmmaking will be hosted by “Students of the Unusual” publisher Terry Cronin on Saturday March 26th. This will feature guest filmmakers and actors including Andrew Allan, Julio Alvarez, Lear Bunda, Anthony Dones, Andy Lalino, Katharine Leis, Pat Martin, Juan Navarro, Brian Pulido, Steven Shea, Robby Sparks, Todd Thompson, John Ulloa, and Bill Williams(Florida Independent Filmmakers). Special guests include Michael Bailey Smith and Brennan Elliott supporting their new feature film Blood Shot. The spectacular Blood Shot directed by Dietrich Johnston will have it’s Florida Premiere at Megacon on Saturday night at 7:30pm in Room 222.

Film Expo program chairman Terry Cronin states that “this is a unique opportunity to meet, network, and discuss independent filmmaking with the filmmakers themselves.”

For more info on MEGACON go to http://www.megaconvention.com

Michael Bailey Smith Appears on The American Perspective with Judyth Piazza…

Want to see anime fans dressed in pink wigs and outrageous cosplay outfits become even more animated and hysterically energetic than they already are? Just add a live-gunman-on-the-run to their anime/ horror convention. This was ZonaCon 2009.

Alright, maybe I should back up a bit. When we arrived at the convention center, a gunfight broke out – a Nerf gunfight. My photographer, Sally Evans, was a casualty as she was shot in the face in a drive-by Nerfing.

Inside the main room of the convention center at the Holiday Inn on International Drive in Orlando, only about 25-30 booths – artists and vendors alike – lined the walls. I have never seen a convention so tiny. As I strolled around the room, I took the opportunity to chat with a few of the illustrators present. I first came across Ted Techlin whose comic-board displays included inked drawings of recognizable characters like Wolverine, Master Chief from the HALO video games, Thanos, and Batman.

Alfonso

After the not-so-surprisingly awkward conversation with Alfonso, I came to a booth in which a certain cover of a comic caught my eye. It was a cover illustration I have seen in numerous comic book stores and plays to the popular theme of super humans living normal lives. The cover itself contains an image of a man standing on his front lawn in the morning holding a newspaper clothed in a blue bathrobe, pink bunny slippers and an ominous chrome helmet. “This guy’s actually not in the comic at all,” the cover’s illustrator, Greg Kirkpatrick, told me. Living in Infamy takes place in a sleepy town called Infamy where super villains go to gain protection from other super villains. Think of it

Greg Kirkpatrick

like a witness protection program for people with superpowers. Kirkpatrick penciled all four issues of the miniseries. He told me that the concept was first created as a pitch for a movie. The creators are still waiting on the word whether that will become a reality or not.

When Sally and I step outside for some fresh air, a barrage of costumed teenagers ran passed us, and I could hear excited shouts – something about there being a guy with a gun around. It wasn’t until I noticed the police helicopter and the numerous bike cops that I realized they weren’t talking about the drive-by Nerfers. Apparently, there was some dude running around I-Drive with a loaded gun. Of course this made all the cosplayers run – loudly, I might add – in fear of being shot by something besides Nerf darts. When we walk back into the convention center, just before the screening of Repo! The Genetic Opera, one of the head organizers of the convention is on stage telling all the scared kids that there is a shooter in the convention, adding more confusion to the situation. It took Terrance Zdunich, creator of Repo!, to tell the lady to back off and calm the crowd down.

Obviously, no one was shot at ZonaCon 2009 (except for Sally, that Nerf dart to the face really shook her up). And I got to snag an interview with Zdunich, but that’s next time.

Coming Soon: An interview with Terrance Zdunich – creator of Repo! The Genetic Opera.

All photos by Sally Evans.

Terrance Zdunich and a cosplayer