Dendy opens its doors to local Independent Film Makers.

(Dendy Cinemas, Canberra, ACT) – On Saturday May 19, 2007, a local independent film, A Touch of Courage, is to be premiered at the prestigious Dendy Cinemas. The Premiere event will be the first locally produced feature film to be released at Dendy Canberra since opening in North Quarters, Canberra Centre last December.

Written, Directed and Produced by Daniel Sanguineti and Christopher Maher, A Touch of Courage has taken them three years to complete. Filmed in and around Canberra and the Bungendore region, A Touch of Courage follows Susie Franklin as she takes a journey into her mind to discover what true courage really is.

Christopher Maher is a media teacher at a local Catholic college and he established Goldfish Productions to encourage young filmmakers and assist them to bring their vision to the screen. Menofthehour Productions is a local film and video production company which was founded by Daniel Sanguineti as means to establish lines of communication for independent production in the ACT. He frequently collaborates with other local production companies in all sorts of projects including short films, commercials, documentaries and corporate videos.

“This premiere will be first locally produced film to come out of Dendy, and that to me is a great honor to be bestowed with.” said Mr. Sanguineti. “With the event being held in Cinema 1, possibly the largest cinema in Canberra, it will make this premiere – our premiere – the largest to be held.”

The premiere and after party event is proudly supported by Aquilinas Hair Salon and The National Indoor Cricket Centre. Aquilinas Hair Salon is located in Latham and has provided the make up and hair on other films produced by Menofthehour Productions. The National Indoor Cricket Centre located in Lyneham has previously been a film set for the Menofthehour short film ‘Screwball!’ in 2004. They also, in 2005, hosted ‘The Who Wants to Direct Film Festival’ which was coordinated by Goldfish Productions and Menofthehour Productions. Both Aquilinas Hair Salon and National Indoor Cricket Centre are proud to support their newest venture.

“Unquestionably, A Touch of Courage attempts to blur the line between our real experiences and our imagined ones and I can’t help but think this is what going to the movies is all about. Imagination is an expression of our unconscious, a way to reflect areas in our lives we suppress, largely our fears, and so for Susie, the protagonist of the film, confronting her fears leads you the audience on a very journey into the world of dreams and worst nightmares… and not unlike our very own journey, A Touch of Courage can never be undervalued,” said Mr. Maher.

“I am so proud of what A Touch of Courage is.” Mr. Sanguineti stated. “I feel there is something really special about this film. The experience has defined for me exactly what I would like to continue doing for the rest of my life. I feel we have grown as filmmakers from the experience and I would be very disappointed if we had not. I hope that this will be a start of a long and successful career and I hope A Touch of Courage will one day stand as the film that started it all.”

Mr. Maher adds, “I guess the premise of the film has always been a story about a university student, one with a wild imagination, one who had a strange fetish for lamps. It was an idea floating around inside me for some time, so to witness the wonderful world of lamps being conceived and then to watch it mature into an 84min feature film has been a journey most satisfying.”

A Touch of Courage has already defined the careers for many of the cast and crew. “There were over 50 people who worked on the film, from cast to crew, to the one-off runner and while all have inspirations to be filmmakers or involved in the filmmaking process, this has been their first feature film experience. Many have even gone on to further their careers, since working on the film, some working now for local TV networks; some even now are even working as runners on multi-million dollar Australian films,” said Mr. Sanguineti.

“The experience was not always an easy one,” Mr. Maher comments. “The weather was often overcast and wet, hours were long and fatiguing and the coffee, well the coffee was not always as strong as it could have been. Yet despite it all, the film grew and grew and grew…and I am sad now because we are more or less at the end of what has been an enthralling and rewarding journey.”

Tickets for the film cost $15 at the Dendy Cinemas Box Office and are available for purchase from 12th May 2007. You can reserve your tickets up to the 11th May through the website, www.menofthehour.com

email:
film@menofthehour.com

official filmsites:
http://touch.menofthehour.com
http://www.dendy.com.au/promotion_list.asp

A Touch of Courage Trailer