LFM’s Jason Apuzzo @ The Huffington Post: When Aliens Arrived On Oscar Weekend: UFO Diary Recreates the Battle of Los Angeles

[The post below was featured today at The Huffington Post.]

By Jason Apuzzo. For Los Angeles, there’ll never been an Oscar weekend like the one that took place in 1942 – the year a flying saucer nearly crashed the party.

This week marks the anniversary of The Battle of Los Angeles, also known as The Great LA Air Raid, one of the most mysterious incidents of World War II – and one of America’s biggest UFO sightings, taking place a full five years before Roswell.

It’s a story I couldn’t resist turning into a new sci-fi short film called UFO Diary, which debuted this week on Vimeo to mark today’s anniversary of The Battle of Los Angeles.

So what makes the Battle of LA so famous?

In the early morning hours of February 25th, 1942, wartime Los Angeles flew into a panic as an ominous, saucer-like object flew over the city, touching off a massive anti-aircraft barrage. Despite the intense barrage, however, no aircraft wreckage was ever recovered – sparking one of America’s first major UFO controversies.

Indeed, once the smoke had cleared, no one really knew what had been seen in the sky or on radar. Conflicting accounts of the incident from the War and Navy Departments didn’t help matters – leading to accusations of a cover-up.

As if to confirm public fears of extraterrestrial attack, a notorious LA Times photograph (see below) emerged from the incident showing a saucer-like object hovering over the city. It’s one of the eeriest images in UFO history.

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An LA Times photograph of the Great LA Air Raid.

Over 100,000 Angelenos witnessed the incident, yet reports on what people saw that night varied – from Japanese aircraft, to a blimp, to stray American fighter planes, to a “lighted kite.” One eyewitness even described seeing an enormous flying “lozenge,” while an LA Times reporter claimed to have seen slow-moving “objects in the sky … caught in the center of the lights like the hub of a bicycle wheel surrounded by gleaming spokes.”

We still don’t really know what people were seeing that night, because the government has never provided us with an adequate explanation for the incident. Probably because they themselves still don’t know.

Since making UFO Diary, I’ve been asked by UFO enthusiasts what I think was really hovering in LA’s skies that night. The answer is that I don’t know – although I doubt it was a lozenge. Nor do I suspect that Orson Welles or Howard Hughes were involved. There have been a variety of competing explanations of what happened – most centering around weather balloons and barrage balloons – but none of them makes complete sense. The truth is that we may never know.

That’s why, with the help of VFX veterans from ILM and Weta Digital, we decided in UFO Diary to depict the incident as an encounter with the unknown. Continue reading LFM’s Jason Apuzzo @ The Huffington Post: When Aliens Arrived On Oscar Weekend: UFO Diary Recreates the Battle of Los Angeles

LFM’s Govindini Murty @ The Huffington Post: Why Should Women Have a Voice in Sci-Fi? Introducing My Film UFO Diary

[The post below was featured today at The Huffington Post.]

By Govindini Murty. Women have been the stars of many of our biggest sci-fi films recently – from Star Wars: The Force Awakens to The Hunger Games and Gravity. This has been a very welcome development – but we need more women behind the camera as creators of sci-fi, as well. We need the female equivalents of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron. But how do we do this, given the many obstacles in the way of women filmmakers?

There is an entire online industry of VFX-driven sci-fi shorts that are launching male filmmakers’ careers right now. If women are to direct and produce blockbuster sci-fi films, then we must also enter this arena of online sci-fi shorts.

I’d like to introduce you to my epic, women-led sci-fi short film UFO Diary, debuting today on Vimeo. UFO Diary is a sci-fi action-comedy about two Women’s Army Corps officers in WWII who fight off an alien invasion of Los Angeles. The film recreates a famous WWII air raid, is edited by Emmy Award-winner Mitch Danton, and features stunning VFX by artists from ILM, Weta Digital, and Digital Domain. UFO Diary was recently featured in the January issue of American Cinematographer.

UFO Diary is inspired by one of the most famous UFO incidents in history – the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942. We’re releasing UFO Diary today to commemorate the upcoming anniversary of the Air Raid on February 25th.

In the early hours of February 25th, 1942, a mysterious, unidentified flying object appeared in the skies over Los Angeles. The Army fired a massive barrage of 1400 shells into the night sky – but nothing was shot down, and no wreckage was ever recovered. The incident was witnessed by over 100,000 Angelenos, but remains unexplained to this day.

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Govindini Murty as Captain Diana Ravello in “UFO Diary.”

Making a film about the Great LA Air Raid was a colorful adventure in itself. In addition to producing UFO Diary, I also played the lead role of Captain Diana Ravello, a tough WAC captain and former Caltech rocket engineer. Playing Captain Diana involved me climbing over tanks and half-tracks, firing anti-aircraft guns in the middle of simulated WWII combat, getting my hearing blasted by machine-gun fire, and being swallowed up in massive dust clouds from tanks as I ran around a WWII-era fort. It was a great experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

During all this, I also collaborated on every aspect of the film – from story concept to cinematography to editing – with my filmmaking partner, Jason Apuzzo, the writer-director of UFO Diary. Jason is my husband and one of the most supportive people I know of women in film. We were united in wanting to make a WWII movie with women in the lead roles because we both wanted to tell a WWII story from a fresh perspective.

Producing UFO Diary also meant wrangling a cast of over one hundred WWII actors – including some pretty salty military vets (who were my favorites) – and hiring and supervising everyone on the crew, VFX, and post-production teams.

I’m excited now to be sharing UFO Diary with you, in part to show that women filmmakers can make sci-fi shorts as spectacular and technically-challenging as any male filmmaker out there. Continue reading LFM’s Govindini Murty @ The Huffington Post: Why Should Women Have a Voice in Sci-Fi? Introducing My Film UFO Diary

UFO Diary Premieres Today on Vimeo

I’m delighted to announce the online premiere of UFO Diary today on Vimeo. Our official press release is below. I hope you enjoy the film!

UFO DIARY, EPIC SCI-FI SHORT FILM, DEBUTS ON VIMEO, BRINGS WWII LA AIR RAID TO LIFE

Los Angeles, CA (February 22, 2016) The epic WWII sci-fi short film UFO DIARY premieres on Vimeo today, Monday, Feb. 22nd, 2016, in advance of the anniversary of the Great Los Angeles Air Raid. Highly anticipated, UFO DIARY is the first sci-fi film depicting the Feb. 25th, 1942 air raid – one of the most famous UFO incidents in history. Featuring stunning VFX by artists from ILM and Weta Digital, UFO DIARY brings a historical controversy to life, and was recently featured in American Cinematographer.

LOGLINE: In UFO DIARY, two Women’s Army Corps officers in the early days of WWII fight off an alien invasion of Los Angeles, becoming the unlikely heroines of one of the most famous UFO incidents in history.

BACKGROUND: Directed by Folio Eddie Award-winner Jason Apuzzo and edited by Emmy Award-winner Mitch Danton, UFO DIARY recreates the Great LA Air Raid of WWII. In the early morning hours of Feb. 25th, 1942, wartime Los Angeles flew into a panic when an ominous, saucer-like object flew over the city – touching off a massive anti-aircraft barrage. Over 100,000 Angelenos witnessed the incident, and the Army fired over 1400 shells into the night sky. Despite the intense barrage, however, no aircraft wreckage was ever recovered – inspiring America’s first major UFO controversy, a full five years before Roswell.

Continue reading UFO Diary Premieres Today on Vimeo

LFM Reviews Under the Shadow @ Sundance 2016

By Joe BendelThe Iran-Iraq War is raging and evil Djinn spirits might just be real, but at least Iran’s Basij morality police is there to protect society from uppity women who aren’t wearing their chadors. The repressive and misogynistic nature of the Islamist state compounds and in some ways facilitates the supernatural horrors that plague a young mother and her daughter in Iranian-born screenwriter-director Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow, which screens during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

According to legend, Djinn are malevolent entities that travel on “the Winds.” Those would be the psychic residuals generated by humanity’s wrath, fear, and hatred—basically the dark side of the Force. With Tehran facing regular Iraqi bombings and missile attacks, the Winds are definitely swirling.

Shideh was studying to be a doctor like her husband Iraj, but she was expelled for political reasons. Of course, just being a woman did not help much either. While Iraj serves his annual medical duty at the front, their daughter Dorsa consoles herself with Kimia, the beloved doll he gave her. Unfortunately, when Kimia mysteriously disappears, Dorsa becomes very difficult to handle.

Simultaneously, Shideh starts having disturbingly realistic nightmares and even sees strange shadows out of the corner of her eye. According to the creepy orphaned kid staying with his aunt and uncle on the floor below, Djinn mark their victims forever by stealing their most prized possessions. Shideh does not believe in superstition, but eventually she has to face the uncanny facts.

Under the Shadow is the sort of horror film that really raises the bar and throws down the gauntlet for the genre. It is indeed massively creepy, so it more than fulfills its immediate requirements. However, Anvari also bakes in a considerable amount of social commentary, but he does so in a way that reinforces and amplifies the mounting dread rather than detracting from it. Between the nefarious Djinn, the suspicious Islamists Shideh must keep at bay, and the shells literally falling on her building, Anvari has no end of means to make us jumpy.

From "Under the Shadow."
From “Under the Shadow.”

The Iranian-German Narges Rashidi might just give the best portrayal of a horror movie mom, maybe ever. Shideh is not just trying to save her daughter. She is brimming with pent-up anger and resentment for the injustice of her situation as well as the general narrowing of opportunities for women in Islamist Iran. Avin Manshadi also shows unusual range for a young thesp as Dorsa. Their difficult relationship brings to mind Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, but it is considerably more complex and believable.

As if that were not enough, Anvari and production designer Nasser Zoubi’s team vividly recreate the look and feel of 1980s Iran, down to Shideh’s bootleg Jane Fonda workout tape and the forbidden top-loading VCR. Kit Fraser’s cinematography is eerie and evocative, perfectly matching Anvari’s instinctive sense of how much (and how little) the film should show to maintain its sense of dark mystery. Very highly recommended, Under the Shadow screens again this Thursday (1/28) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A+

Posted on January 27th, 2016 at 6:00am.

LFM Reviews Synchronicity

By Joe BendelKlaus Meisner has an unusual business plan. His company supplies delicate designer flowers, the rare radioactive energy source MRD, and possibly time travel. Presumably, the mark-up on the first two is extremely profitable. The latter is under-development. Unfortunately, the socially awkward scientist who devised the wormhole opening technology is getting a little erratic. That sort of happens when your future self comes back in time. Complications arise in Jacob Gentry’s Synchronicity, which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Meisner has a stranglehold on the world’s MRD supply, but it is the only thing powerful enough to drive Jim Beale’s Frankenstein-looking apparatus—thus, his overtures to the stone cold venture capitalist. Initially, his command test drive looks like a disaster, but when the smoke clears, Beale discovers the duly transmitted sample dahlia—or something. Don’t get hung up on any technical details. Gentry knows they make no sense so he blasts them by the audience at warp speed. Just accept some serious time traveling is about to happen—unless its actually a wormhole to a parallel dimension.

Just don’t get hung up period. The important thing is Beale figures out Meisner and his femme fatale kept woman Abby have been playing him—unless Meisner has been playing them both. Maybe she seduced him or maybe they just fell for each other. Beale will try to determine which is true and also save his breakthrough technology from Meisner’s grubby clutches by jumping through the wormhole. Of course, he can’t meet himself in the same time period, so his Mutt & Jeff assistants, Chuck and Matt, will contrive ways to keep them apart. That will get increasingly difficult.

SynchronicityThe world of Synchronicity is rather pleasantly neo-retro-futuristic, looking like half Bladerunner and half New York Marriott Marquis, which is pretty cool. There are a lot of concrete stairs for Beale and Beale Prime to scamper up and down. This is a wonderfully choreographed time travel film, much like Timecrimes and The Infinite Man, but it lacks a similarly airtight internal system of logic. Rational causality goes out the window pretty early, but Gentry replaces that pedantic hobgoblin with a healthy dose of hardboiled noir. He even throw in a dash of the unreliable narrator down the stretch.

Chad McKnight is solid enough as the theory-smart, life-dumb Beale and Briane Davis generates plenty of sparks as Abby. However, the real genre glee comes from Michael Ironside doing his villainous thing as Meisner and A.J. Bowen’s Chuck, serving as the slightly smart-alecky audience surrogate and increasingly exasperated voice of reason. Good things happen when those two are on the screen.

There are some nicely rendered effects in Synchronicity, but it is the look, vibe, and locations that you will remember. Gentry keeps the chaos churning and the pace at a breakneck gallop. Frankly, the way he throws caution to the wind and keeps going all-in will wear down the objections of any regular genre film patron. Recommended for time travel and noir fans, Synchronicity opens this Friday (1/22) in LA at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas, and also releases on VOD platforms.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 19th, 2016 at 8:36pm.

LFM Reviews JeruZalem

By Joe BendelThere is an evil horde of mindless killers bearing down on the Old City of Jerusalem, hell-bent on destruction. That could be any old Tuesday, except in this case, the rage-fueled monsters are supernatural. It turns out everyone who succumbed to Jerusalem Syndrome was right all along. The city has a connection to an ancient malevolent force that will manifest itself in apocalyptic fashion during the course of the Paz Brothers’ JeruZalem, which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Sarah and her rather less reserved bestie Rachel have come to Tel Aviv for some clubbing and a bit of fun in the sun. Sarah could use the break. She and her sad-eyed father are still mourning the death of her older brother. Before leaving, he gives her a set of internet connected eyeglasses that we should not automatically assume to be Google Glass. Inconveniently, her purse with her regular specs is swiped shortly after their arrival, thereby forcing her to wear her geek lens (credibly explaining why so much of the film will be duly recorded).

Instead of immediately hitting the beach, Kevin, the young hipster archaeologist on their flight convinces the women to take a detour to Jerusalem with him. At first, everything seems cool at their impossibly Bohemian hostile. Most conveniently, the Arab Israeli owner’s hard partying son knows where to score the best dope and hear the best music. Yet, there are signs here and there of something sinister stirring.

Suddenly, Kevin seems to contract a particular potent case of Jerusalem Syndrome. However, shortly after he is trundled off to the nearby asylum, throngs of winged demons attack the Old City. They are the spitting image of the creature seen in the exorcism prologue (a tape supposedly recovered from the Vatican archive). To make matters worse, their bite is apparently contagious, just like that of zombies.

There have been a lot of found footage horror films, but what really distinguishes JeruZalem is its heavy backstory and the eerily evocative use of Old City backdrops (shot guerilla-style by the Pazes). We are told in the opening preamble there are three doors to Hell, one in the ocean, one in the desert, and one in Jerusalem, which sounds unsettlingly plausible. The ostensive Vatican footage is also wickedly creepy.

Frankly, the first ten minutes are so scary, the Pazes really slow down for the rest of the first act to fully establish their three main characters. It is a strategy that ultimately pays off. Despite their conspicuous flaws, the audience actually emotionally invests in Kevin, Rachel, Sarah, and her skyping father far more than usual when it comes to the found footage sub-genre.

From "JeruZalem."
From “JeruZalem.”

While the rarely seen Danielle Jadelyn and the American accent-challenged Yon Tumarkin are hit-and-miss as Sarah and Kevin, Yael Grobglas (also memorable in Rabies) absolutely shines as Rachel. Flirty and funny without descending into shtick, she demonstrates real megawatt star power.

The Brothers Paz prove the mere sight of some Old City back alleyways at night is plenty creepy, even without monsters. Together with cinematographer Rotem Yaron, they really capture the city’s ominous nocturnal atmosphere. Highly recommended for fans of found footage and demonic horror, JeruZalem opens this Friday (1/22) in LA at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts and next Friday (1/29) in New York at Cinema Village.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 19th, 2016 at 8:34pm.