nowhereland

32 mins. 2000
Premiered September 13, 2000, Center Stage Theater, Santa Barbara, CA

SYNOPSIS: Three men are stranded on a planet, work in a bunker-like area, fiddling with equipment, and are dominated by a tyrannical overlord whose logo is Boston Terrier with a pipe. Into our hero’s drab gas masked existence a woman appears, luring him away from his duties and the social order.

INTRODUCTION: My first major film and one that took much longer to finish than I’d have thought. And it couldn’t be made now in Santa Barbara’s ailing film community: no rental houses, no lax rules at photography schools where you can just borrow people and equipment. Created thru pure force of will, really.

CAST: Kary Cawley, Masako Takagi, Brian Singer, Paul Gersowitz, Mac James, Daniel James, Matthew Lanford

AWARDS: Best Drama, Thunderbird IFF, Cedar City, Utah. Best Experimental (Runner-up), ZOIE Online Festival, Best Short (Bronze Medal), Dreamcatcher, Ukraine.

FILM FESTIVALS:
ZOIE Online Film Festival (03.01.2001)
Bare Bones Film Festival, Muskogee, OK (03.01.2001)
Myhelan Indie Film Festival, Hackettstown, NJ (03.09.2001) Program | Listing | Listing 2 | Poster | Notice of World Premiere
Durango Film Festival, Colorado (03.10.2001) Program | Listing | Certificate | Acceptance letter
Dallas Video Festival, Dallas TX (03.14.2001) Program | Listing | Certificate
Critical Mass Film Festival, Clinton NY (03.31.2001)
Dawson City International Short Film Festival, Dawson City, Yukon Territory (04.13.2001) Program | Listing | Thank you letter
Fayetteville Film Festival, Arkansas (04.27.2001) Program | Listing | Poster
Reykjavik International Short Film Festival, Iceland (05.22.2001) Sticker
Dreamcatcher International Video Art and Short Films Festival,Kiev, Ukraine (06.01.2001) Program | Award Letter
Cinevue Festival, Bostwick, Florida (06.01.2001)
Saguaro Film Festival, Scottsdale, AZ (06.07.2001) Certificate
Thunderbird International Film Festival, Cedar City, Utah (06.08.2001) Program | Award plaque | Thank you letter
Dahlonega IFF, Georgia (06.28.2001) Program
Crested Butte Reel Fest, Colorado (08.08.2001) Program | Listing
Weiterstadt Open Air Film Festival, Germany (08.16.2001) Program
Festival of Fantastic Film, Manchester, UK (08.24.2001)
Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne, FL (09.07.2001)
Antimatter Festival of Underground Short Film & Video, Victoria, BC Canada (09.14.2001) Program
Euroshorts 3, Warsaw, Poland (09.17.2001) Listing
Panorama of Independent Film and Video Makers, Thessaloniki, Greece (10.02.2001)
Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley CA (10.04.2001) Program | Listing | Flyer | Director photo
Alternative Film Festival, Picciano, Italy (10.05.2001)
Raindance Festival, London, UK (10.17.2001) Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 | Photo 4 | Photo 5 | Photo 6
Sometime in October Festival, Wilmington, NC (10.19.2001)
MicroCineFest, Baltimore, MD (10.31.2001)
Canyonlands Film and Video Fest, Moab, UT (11.04.2001)
Nihilist Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA (12.14.2001)

MEDIA:

RADIO:

PRESS:
Santa Barbara Independent – Preview by DJ Palladino
Santa Barbara Independent – Review by Gerald Carpenter
Los Angeles Times (about the film and Jeff Kaiser’s soundtrack) – by Josef Woodard
Goleta Valley Voice – preview by Gerald Carpenter

PRESS RELEASE:
Press release (pdf)

SOUNDTRACK:

Out of print!

THE DVD:

Out of print!

THE BOOK:
A book packed full of writing and photos sold at the 2000 premiere and at local screenings. Out of print. DOWNLOAD THE PDF.

POSTERS
Very early poster, c.1997
Another early poster
The pre-premiere teaser posters: Number One | Number Two | Number Three | Woman from Another Place

WHERE IT STARTED
The original casting notice from Backstage West

THE PREMIERE
Poster
Flyer
Program 1 | Program 2
Ticket

ISLA VISTA SCREENING
Poster
Flyer
Program 1 | Program 2
Jeff Kaiser Promo

PHOTO GALLERY
Promotional Stills

Behind the Scenes

Nowhereland Premiere at Center Stage Theater, Santa Barbara, CA, Wednesday, September 13, 2000. (Includes original captions from the stekki.com website)