Redland - Into the Unknown

REDLAND TRAILER - Into the Unknown

"Adden is his daughter Mary Ann, a blonde mite of a thing in her teens who has developed a mighty carnal crush on strapping neighbour Charlie (played by Toben Seymour, Redland second-unit camera director, and Norton’s best friend). Ross Riege is the second unit DP.

Pa is not at all pleased, for reasons that aren’t strictly paternal.

“My character doesn’t know much about the outside world,” says Adden of the girl Norton calls a “woodland sprite, a Holy Fool".

‘‘In Russian literature, fools bring about profound change.” Got that one right.
Redland is shot in non-linear fashion on film that is 20 years past its due date in places and with a lens swaddled in never less than seven filters, and often more.It’s literally intoxicating to watch so much beauty through what – again in places – looks like a chink in the wooden siding of the family shack. In others, where gifted cameraman Zoran Popovic gets in close to film nature in microcosm, it’s a cinematic equivalent of magic mushroom vision. The universe comes clear. It’s just fuzzy around the edges.
“The film came to me in images”, Norton recalls. “The first image I had is of a man in a hat firing a rifle. ‘Who is this man? He’s a father and he’s trying to feed his family.’

“When I was writing the script, my father was dying of cancer. It made me ask the large existential questions: ‘Why am I here? What’s the point?’ ”Redland is ultimately about the mystery of life. Norton shot the film in seven weeks with a small cast and crew in the old-growth forests of Humboldt.

“The locations were great. We were all staying together in a hotel in a small town, and we bonded". Source: www.montrealgazette.com

"There's no doubt that when times are hardest is when people turn to art for both reprieve and answers. This is most obviously seen in religion and mythology. Whether or not one is a believer, it's fairly apparent that people find courage, strength, and release through the epic mythic poems, and the vast artwork they inspire, and therefore it is no surprise that the poorest populations are by far the most religious. Art and myth are inseparable, as art is the means by which myth is created and communicated. Now in terms of our own time and place, film is the modern world's most powerful art form. Cinema is the tool by which today's most famous modern artists (directors, actors, composers, etc.) choose to tell new myths. And in times of economic or other hardships, cinema has always flourished. As proof of this, I would point to film history". -written by Redland's director Asiel Norton Source: www.huffingtonpost.com


"Redland" video - commentary by director Asiel Norton.
Toben Seymour, director Asiel Norton and Magdalena Zyzak (writer and producer of "Redland").
Redland has been nominated for Independent Spirit Award - Acura Someone to Watch Award

Some more of Spirit Awards 2010 nominees:
Mo'Nique in "Precious", nominated to Best Feature.Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart", nominated for Best First Feature.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer", nominated for Best Lead Male.Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg in "Adventureland", nominated to Best Screenplay by Greg Mottola.Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in "An Education", directed by Lone Scherfig, nominated to Best Foreign Film. Source: www.ifc.com

More info, reviews, etc. in www.liveredland.com