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specialTopic: Movie about Iraq
Lance Henriksen donated his time for making this film and gave a lifetime remarkable performance. This artist is so true to form that I have tears dropping down my face while adding this information.
Magical
Lance Henriksen displayed a powerful performance receiving enormous praise for his work in "A Message from Fallujah" portraying Daniel Crane. Daniel Crane is an American employee working to rebuild Iraq and is kidnapped and held hostage on his last day in Fallujah while sitting in an outdoor cafee making friends with a local kid when armed men rush him, bundle him in a van and take him hostage. Daniel Crane re-appears on a video with a knife to his throat and his captors demanding the release of prisoners of war. Daniel Crane is abused by his captives and suffers from heat, thirst, torture, desperation and brutality. Daniel Crane is alone and his only wish is to tell his wife he loves her. That is Daniel Cranes' message brilliantly portrayed by muti-talented Actor/Artist Lance Henriksen. The film stops short of revealing to the audience whether Daniel Crane escapes or meets some other fate. The 15 minute short "A Message from Fallujah" won the 2005 Los Angeles Short Film Fest winner of the, " Best of the Fest" for a 15 minute short (film.) Director Richard Gibson's received prizes valued at approximately $31,784 that included (1) Panavision Camera Package Valued at $30,000, (2) Final Draft Screenwriting Software value of $289.00 (3) Writers Boot Camp - Basic Training Certificate worth $895.00 and (4) Net TV Web Hosting - $600.00 1 year. The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival is the largest short film festival in the world and one of the few recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. If you are interested in more information go to Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.
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Comments From Opinion Journal About Fallujah
"The making of A Message from Fallujah"
"A Message From Fallujah . . . Richard Gibson's Iraq
A Message From Fallujah stars Lance Henriksen as Daniel Crane, an American civil engineer who is kidnapped on the last day of his three-month stint trying to help rebuild war torn Iraq. Beaten and alone, a hostage in the drama of war, Crane has one last wish, to tell his wife how much he loves her.
On the set of A Message From Fallujah
The internationally acclaimed, A Message From Fallujah is the 
second short film by Director, Richard Gibson from Australia. Having won a number of international and local awards, including the Best of the Fest Award at the 9th Annual Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, the short film has earned a prestigious endorsement from Amnesty International.
Produced by Andrew Morris and Alan Robinson from Sydney-based Luscious International Pictures, Fallujah is testament to what can be achieved on a limited budget using SFX and creative ingenuity.
Executive Producer, Andrew Morris from Luscious International and Gibson invited cinematographer, Philip Rang to shoot the production. Working with Gibson provided Rang with a chance to learn about the benefits achieved through a hybrid mix of film technology and digital effects. "Richard's intense manner and experience in post production effects taught me about what can be created from very little real elements in frame", recalls Rang. "The opening sequence of the film was shot in the morning of the last day. We shot against a derelict storage shed artfully dressed into an Iraqi street cafe by Art Director Oleh Sokolovsky. The middle of the frame was the cafe, and because we had a roof with straight lines we didn't need blue screen. Richard knew through the use of simple matte paintings, he would be able to extend the cafe and give the impression that we were really in an Iraqi street."
With screenplay written by Shane Briant and Richard Gibson, A Message From Fallujah posed several challenges for Producers Alan and Andrew, with the production settling on the Serenity Cove Studios' back lot to double for Fallujah.
On the set of A Message From Fallujah
Rang worked with Gibson to embrace the full gamut of imaging technology. "Film technology and its chemical process will always be present for the best shooting results", says Rang. "But it's the tools we use in tandem with film that can generate a desired visual effect and give us the best of both worlds". Rang chose KODAK EXR 50D 5245 for exteriors sequences and KODAK VISION2 500T 5218 for night and interior scenes. "We supplemented our stock with KODAK VISION 250D 5246 for the dusk sequences. The flashback home movies of the family were shot on a hand cranked 16mm Bolex with KODAK Ektachrome 400, developed in a standard negative bath which gave us a lovely grainy old world home movies feeling."
"Richard likes to operate hand-held quite a lot and we made full use of an Aaton 35mm which also doubled as our second camera," explains Rang. "We also used an Arri 535 and worked with several different lenses including a series of Zeiss Ultra Primes 10-135mm, an Angenieux HR 10:1 and a Canon 300/600mm Telephoto lens. We shot with only straight N.D.s and a 2 stop Polarizer."
Prior to the shoot, Gibson and Rang discussed the use of various filters such as ND grads and also considered a bleach by-pass for the development of the negative but, decided to shoot the film 'clean' to allow for the images to be augmented with digitally created environments.
With principle shooting completed in December 2004, the film wrapped post production in June 2005 with Emerald City Design, VFX headed by Grant Everett, taking the lead in managing the post production. Emerald City was charged with creating digital environments to give the film an authentic look of War torn Iraq. Additional effects, such as the matte paintings created by Richard Gibson and the 3D images of the Black Hawk helicopters done by Paul Butterworth at Fuel Post Production, were left to the 2K transfer process which was shared between Warren Lynch at Inter Color and Andrew Clarkson at Cutting Edge."
"Artist Interviews Magazine covered The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival which took place at the beautiful and popular ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood. The Festival introduced the creations of filmmakers from all over the world in more than 600 short films in one of the year's most intense film festivals. The LA Shorts Fest began to screen movies in the morning and continued past midnight."
"The Festival started with the screening of four films, among them, the brilliant and moving short A Message from Fallujah. Lance Henriksen, an accomplished actor who needs no introduction, starred in the movie. Henriksen has been in more than a 100 popular films and has four new upcoming films: Bone Dry (2006), The Chosen One (2005), The Garden (2005), House at the End of the Drive (2005). Henriksen got up to speak about the film and about the Director, Richard Gibson. We caught up with Lance and talked with him about our admiration for his work as an actor and the many movies that he has been in, for a forthcoming and exclusive interview with our publication."
