Podtalk: Filmmaker Rus Blemker on New Short ‘Book of Faces”

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CHICAGO – Chicago writer/director Rus Blemker has created a short film that resides within an emerging cinematic form. The “screen life” genre presents a story through the viewpoint of a computer screen, phone or pad – like 2018’s independent success ”Searching.” Rus Blemker’s contribution is entitled “Book of Faces.”

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Audrey Elizabeth Panyard Behind the Scenes on “Book of Faces”
Photo credit: Cathartic Entertainment

The short is currently on the film festival circuit, and was scheduled for two screenings in March of 2020, both canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Chicago Independent Film (+TV) Festival is postponed with no new event date, but the Oregon Screen Week Horror Film Festival is rescheduled for May 16th, 2020.

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Writer/Director Rus Blemker
Photo credit: Cathartic Entertainment

The film features Rebecca (Audrey Elizabeth Panyard), the driving force behind a seance in an online chat room that is focused on Satanic cultism. Emily (Magdelena Conway) is the cautious one, referring to a ‘Book of Faces” that contains the incantations that the rest of the digital gang (Dionte Hackler, Gabriella Dilone, Phillip Soulides and Amelia Pauly) must read. When her over-cautiousness gets her kicked off the chat, Emily must get to Rebecca on time to stop the gathering dark forces. The whole film takes place “on screen.”

Writer/director Rus Blemker is headquartered in Chicago, and is also an architect … which contributed to the design of his unique film, and the strategies in rendering the “screen life” authentically. Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago interviewed Rus in the following Podtalk, where he commented on tech, superstition and working with a group of young actors to give his production the right kind of truth.

“Book of Faces” will screen at the Oregon Scream Week Horror Film Festival in May of 2020. Featuring Audrey Elizabeth Panyard, Magdelena Conway, Dionte Hackler, Gabriella Dilone, Phillip Soulides and Amelia Pauly. Written and directed by Rus Blemker. For the “Book of Faces” website, click here, for Facebook click here, and @BookofFacesMov on Instagram and Twitter.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Editor and Film Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2020 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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