Featured Films:

1. Sweetener: Two strangers enter a restaurant that is devoid of life. A table game they play sparks changes in their mood.
2. Open Your Eyes: A private investigator is given a case that he doesn’t believe he can solve.
3. Forgiven: Is about a man named James who has an encounter with Jesus Christ during his walk with the cross to the crucifixion site This encounter gives James forgiveness, hope, and a second chance to live a better life than the one he was living previously.

A Little about the Artists

Hans Hernke (Forgiven)

Hans Hernke, director of “Forgiven”, has been in the film industry for nearly 12 years working as an actor, producer, director, casting director, and stand-in. Hans was accepted to The New York Film Academy at Universal Studios, Hollywood. With the help of his loving family, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2002 and started his schooling. He graduated from New York Film Academy in November 2002. His film,”Forgiven” was based on an actual vision that he had at a senior class retreat during his senior year of high school at The Master’s Academy in Oviedo, Florida. After receiving this vision, something deep down inside told him that he needed to make a short film about what he had saw. After graduating from The Master’s Academy in Oviedo, Florida, he decided to get to work on it with his co-producer Brian Shephard. They worked hard on a decent short script to film. They started searching for locations in Orlando to shoot the crucifixion scenes but that became an impossible search because most of the land in Orlando is flat/wet and not desert looking.  During this time, he showed the script to a gentleman named Craig Stamper who was a choir leader at Parkway Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida. Craig was very interested in their script and helped put some money into the production. However, on September 12th, 2001, Hans received word that Craig had passed away in a car accident. The last thing Craig said to Hans was “Hans, I can’t wait to see this when it is done!” Hans dedicated “Forgiven” in Craig’s memory. So the film was currently in limbo and not much was going on with it. Hans lost touch with Brian Shephard after a while, and he felt like the spirit for the project was fading. Hans decided it was time to move to Los Angeles and join The New York Film Academy and see if he could get it produced there. Everything worked out and it became his final short film for graduation. Hans admits “Forgiven” was tough to make, getting the right locations, finding a good actor to play Jesus Christ, and scheduling everyone’s availability to shoot. Hans spent endless hours at Universal in the editing bay piecing the story together. He was so glad it finally got made, but still, he felt it wasn’t finished and needed more to work done on it. “Forgiven” was half completed in November 2002. Post-production and re-shoots later resumed late October 2006 and was finally completed and ready to go on October 29th 2007. “Forgiven” first showing was in November 15th, 2008 at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival in Melbourne, Florida. Hans hopes, when people watch “Forgiven”, that they understand the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for their sin’s and through that loving sacrifice, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life is possible.

Mike Capozzi (Open Your Eyes)

Born in the Bronx, New York, Mike Capozzi grew up watching Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Chaplin, the list goes on.  Always the entertainer but never thought pursuing a career in film was a logical choice.  After completing his B.S. in Psychology from Liberty University, he started his MA in Counseling but soon ran into a top casting director that convinced him to move in a different direction. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 2005, Mike booked a TV pilot that was shot in London and Paris.  Since coming back to the States, he has worked on such TV shows as CSI, Strange Felony Files, and various independent films.  He also acted in a series of Improv performances directed by Gary Austin (founder of The Groundlings). Having a passion to be in more projects that have a great message, he starting directing.  Since 2007 he has been building a production company that has just completed their second short film in as many years.  Capozzi is currently working on a script that will be shot in the fall of 2009.

Paul Preston (Sweetener)

Paul has over seven years of professional production experience as a producer, director and editor. He has worked as a full-time editor at the E! Style Network and created the original, award-winning documentary short “Superheroes: We Work for Tips”.  He has worked as director and editor on numerous pilots, music videos, demo reels, TV promos and special event videos.  With Digital Mind, Paul wrote and directed another award-winning short, “The Importance of Being Oliver”, and he wrote, produced and directed a commercial for The Village at Sherman Oaks that airs on TimeWarner cable in L.A..  He has cut numerous demo reels for actors, TV hosts and stand-up comics.  Paul has also cut several promotional videos for Universal Studios, The Grove and other SoCal entertainment destinations. Paul’s also an actor, having performed all over the country, working with the likes of The Second City and Disney Cruise Line.  Paul and his wife Karen have worked together, performing original comedy for countless clubs, parties, schools and corporate & special events.  Their work also produced a live show entitled “Dial 10-10-Y2K” that ran in Chicago and New York City.  He is most proud of producing, and playing Alan in “Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner, a Sort of Romantic Comedy” alongside Karen, raising $2700 for Gilda’s Club. Paul has also appeared on stage as Laertes in “Hamlet”, and in hundreds of live shows at Universal Studios Hollywood, most notably as Elwood Blues in The Blues Brothers R&B Revue.  Paul has been the acting MC for Universal CityWalk special events for years, hosting events as diverse as national recording artists to movie premieres like “Cinderella Man” and “Serenity”. Paul has appeared on film and TV on “General Hospital” and “The Apprentice” as well as the Sci-Fi original movie “Project V.I.P.E.R.”.  He appeared with his wife Karen on Houston’s famous “The Debra Duncan Show” on ABC.  He is a SAG/AFTRA actor in L.A. with numerous commercial and voice-over credits.  Paul was trained in improvisation at The Second City in Toronto & Chicago, as well as Improv Olympic, and is a BFA graduate of the State University of NY College at Fredonia. In the early ’90s, Paul had a dinner with a magician who taught him a silly table game to pass the time.  Paul always thought the game would make a good short film, but it wasn’t until the ending was locked in that the game evolved beyond a gimmick into a real exploration of community from isolation. Then he got to work. The result is “Sweetener”. For more information about acting, cameras, editing and video production, please visit your local library.