Kris Krainrock, the organizer of the weekly Cinemonday event at the Sci-Fi Center, has released a trailer for his upcoming film, God of the Machine. Krainock has made four short films with his producing partner Christian Flynn. An avid supporter of film and literature Krainock writes a nationally syndicated World Cinema column for The Examiner.
We attended Cinemonday a few weeks back, when they screened one of my favorite French new wave films, The 400 Blows. I caught up with the promoter and filmmaker for a few questions. Preview the trailer after the jump.
1. What was the inspiration for making this film?
The inspiration for the film came from a few various avenues. I was working on a feature-length script that would require outside funding in order to make properly, something we simply didn’t have access to. So it was the thought between my filmmaking team Chris Meister-Gronau, who is the second half to God of the Machine, and my long-time producing partner Christian Flynn that we make a film that was completely in our control. We aimed to create something very polished and professional using our resources, that way we could begin to build our reputation and start on the long road toward making our feature.
I then pulled out a script for a short film that I was calling Games at the time. It wasn’t complete, but it dealt with many of the larger themes that would eventually be dealt with in God of the Machine. Games was lacking something, a certain excitement we felt this film needed if it were to attract the attention we were looking for. So Chris and I re-envisioned the Games script and went to work on God of the Machine. I was very pleased because the renovations kept in tact the thematic scope I originally intended while also improving on the minute-to-minute plot, exponentially pushing us out of our comfort zones as filmmakers.
2. Can you give us a brief synopsis?
A brief synopsis without ruining the film would be: A dark, absurdist story about a man who must evade death as he becomes a pawn in a seemingly supernatural game.
3. How did you go about the process of searching for cast members?
Casting is very tricky at this level of film making when budget is limited. We knew early on we’d have to stick to the principles set down by the master Charles Chaplin and construct a story that didn’t rely totally on verbal performance, though that is not to discredit the phenomenal job executed by our cast. Simply, casting was more about appearance than anything else. The film uses limited dialogue so we really needed people to look the part. We brainstormed about people we knew, friends and actors in the community that we felt could fit into the atmosphere we were trying to create for the picture, and we got incredibly lucky in finding such talented and willing participants.
4. What are your release plans? Any festivals on your radar?
For the release of the film we’re planning on really pushing it as far as we can. We want to do several premieres in Las Vegas to help spread the word within our own community. We have an enormous number of festivals planned both at home and abroad. Any festival we’re qualified for, we’ll be entering. As of right now we’re going to submit the film to what’s left of the festivals still open in 2012, and we aim to hit the 2013 season in America and Europe. The film is also available on DVD and Blu-ray currently, and we’re accepting pre-orders on our merchandise page.
ArtsVegas: Covering Las Vegas Art and culture since 2009.
Written by David Hardy
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