We caught something really weird on camera Monday night when we were shooting Ione’s Date. Only just found it reviewing the footage today. 

Some shots from scenes we were shooting last night for two separate shorts. The final Ione short, Ione’s Date, and Kitty Ostapowicz’s first screenplay: 600 Steps.  A great night with a lot of really fantastic people. In particular, our location, 1 Knickerbocker was so good to us. If you’re even near there, go and eat and drink and thrill at their awesome space and food and beverages. They are my favorite.

More coming soon.

Mucho más elaborado, pero igualmente hecho con bajo presupuesto, es el trabajo Abel and Cain de Sean Mannion (EUA, 2013), una obra destacada en los festivales de New Filmmakers New York y del Brooklyn Shorts Film Festival. Es la historia de un escritor de la vida moderna que, a falta de inspiración, acude a un viaje interior guiado por un archivo de informática, generando con ello un conflicto entre sus aspectos masculinos y femeninos; entre lo rural y lo urbano; entre las dos caras de su psique, la creativa-atrevida y la tímida-racional. Un observador atento se deja provocar por el contraste de dos imágenes recurrentes: una toma de un campo verde, fresco, y otra de un código digital QR. La primera como símbolo de lo natural, la segunda como analogía de la presencia abrumadora de lo digital. Y nos hacemos la pregunta: ¿Hay civilización o barbarie subyacente en la creciente dominancia de lo digital?, ¿será que habrá que buscar la fuente de la inspiración en la web, perdiéndose la conexión con el ser profundo humano y natural? ¿Estos códigos extraños, ininteligibles para nosotros, para cuya interpretación se requiere de lo digital, son, como pensarían los griegos al verlos, expresiones bárbaras o son evoluciones civilizadas?

Cortometrajes y conflictos. Caminos a descubrir | El Espectador Imaginario

Just found out that Abel and Cain was included in an article in an online Spanish academic journal for film criticism. Very excited to see it. Love seeing different perspectives on the film.

Have you watched Abel and Cain? (Watch it here, if not) Do you agree or disagree with their assessment? Let me know.

Google Translation:
“Much more elaborate, but also made ​​with low budget work is Cain and Abel of Sean Mannion (USA, 2013), an outstanding work at festivals in New Filmmakers New York and Brooklyn Shorts Film Festival . It is the story of a writer of modern life, for lack of inspiration, go to an inner journey guided by a file of information, thereby generating a conflict between their male and female aspects, between the rural and the urban, between two sides of his psyche, creative, bold and shy-rational. An attentive observer moves cause the contrast of two recurring images: a shot of a green field, fresh, and one from a digital QR code. The first symbol of the natural, the second as an analogy of the overwhelming presence of digital. And we ask the question: Is there civilization or barbarism underlying the growing dominance of the digital, is it you have to find the source of inspiration anywhere, lost the connection to the human and natural inner being? These codes? Strange, unintelligible to us, to whose interpretation requires digital, are, as would the Greeks saw them, are civilized or barbarous expressions developments?”

In this follow up to Ione’s Wedding Problem, Ione faces off with former bandmate Andi over whether or not Ione will rejoin their punk band despite her current efforts to get into law school. 

We start shooting the third and final Ione adventure Monday March 31st. We’ll be wrapping up the conflict between Ione’s lifestyle and her goals in that one. And then … well … Ione is a major character in one of my feature screeenplays, so if you want to see her again, you’ll have to hassle me to get on that one. 

Written & Directed by Sean Mannion.

Starring Kitty Ostapowicz as Ione, Alexandra Tebano as Andi, and Sarah Schoofs as Naomi.

Camera Operator: Julian Barbosa

Assistant Camera & Sound: Erin Clayton

Featuring “The Way to Romania” by She Said Destroy! (found on the Vimeo Music Store)

Ione’s Wedding Problem

Ione, a pre-law punk rocker, struggles with the first logic problem of her LSAT practice test until she gets the help of a group of animated monsters. 

Ione will be back March 24th in Ione’s Last Hand: one hand of late night poker will determine whether or not Ione rejoins the band she left to focus on school. 

Written & Directed by Sean Mannion

Starring Kitty Ostapowicz as Ione

Camera Operator: Julian Barbosa

Assistant Camera & Sound: Erin Clayton

Featuring “I Fell in Love” by She Said Destroy! (shesaiddestroy.bandcamp.com/) (found on the Vimeo Music Store)