(l-r): DP Carolina Costa, Writer/Director Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer on set filming "Contrapelo."In less than two months, American Film Institute (AFI) fellow Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer and his team behind the crime thriller Contrapelo, successfully raised over $8,000 on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. The finishing funds helped get this short film ready for its potential close-up at a theater near you.
“In the middle of a drug war that has taken the lives of more than 150,000 and ravaged a nation, we seek to ask questions about involvement and responsibility while telling a compelling and entertaining story,” mentioned Alcocer whose movie tells the story of a proud Mexican barber who is forced to shave the leader of a drug cartel. As he faces the man who is destroying his country, he is confronted by a difficult decision: to become a killer, or to let this man continue to kill.
By the end of the shave, the Barber will realize he and the crime boss are not so different. 2015 has been a good year so far for Contrapelo, which is making its way around the film festival circuit. I recently caught up with Carolina Costa, a Director of Photography who shot this movie in six days with an international crew and cast including Mexican actors Art Bonilla (Coneheads, Salvador), Eduardo Roman (21 Days, The Mask of Zorro) and Chilean actor Hugo Medina (Orange is the New Black, Sons of Anarchy). Costa shared her favorite shots from Contrapelo with me, including one where she describes how the composition and lighting are very important to understanding the drug lord character, played by Roman, whose performance is “spotless.”
Listen to the video below to find out more about the way they created certain distinctions about this character, during production.
Want to know more about how Contrapelo was filmed? Come see the movie this weekend at the shnit International Short Film Festival screening in Philly and get access to an exclusive clip with details from the production of one of the most powerful scenes from this movie!
The short film Contrapelo is playing during shnit CINEMAS Worldwide
3:00pm - Saturday, October 17, 2015
Roberto Hernandez Theater at Taller Puertorriqeño
2557 N. 5th Street (5th & Huntingdon, near Lehigh Avenue)
Philadelphia, PA 19133
Movie Tickets to this show are On Sale Now at http://gum.co/shnitPhilly
Skip the box office line and save on general admission when you pick up advance tickets from these satellite box office locations:
Galan’s Mini Market
2701 N. Fairhill St.
(on the corner of Fairhill & Lehigh Ave.)
Philadelphia, PA 19133
Gail’s Caribbean Cuisine
5555 N. 5th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19120
Thank God Grocery Store
420 W. Olney Avenue
(between 5th & Olney and 4th & Olney)
Philadelphia, PA 19120