Revenge Action Short, HEART Releases Online With Director's Statement

Independent movies are no easy feat to achieve, especially ambitious ones with a striking vision that aims for potential greatness from exception to exection. Atom Phly Media's own Frank Hernandez, filmmaker and helmer of such projects as Dardrex Productions' Keep Going shortfilm and The Living webseries, is no stranger to the task of movie making and the stringent film climate we are currently in, having spent the last several years inspired to bring one other of his latest ideas to life on camera in the form of martial arts action drama, Heart, with co-star and producer Jennifer Faust.

Hernandez began crowdfunding for the project earlier last year, and as common as it is for projects of this nature, Heart fell short of its goals and like with a lot of independent filmmaking endeavors, to say this project had its share of ups and downs would be nothing short of an understatment. Well, for better or worse, the short film is finally complete and available online, and in ceremonious fashion as well with Hernandez presenting the film in a public very personal and heartfelt testimony chronicling the journey he, Faust, lead actress Inder Mundi and the remainder of the crew took in moving Heart forward.

While I’m excited to have a new project out, the long journey from the inception of this film to the release was one of the hardest personal journeys I’ve ever had to take. The lows that I had during the making of this film were some of the deepest lows I’ve ever had creatively, but if these last few years have taught me anything is that I can push through because there are brighter days ahead. 

-2012- 

In 2012, I was riding high off the release of “Keep Going”, a very personal film that I had made with my good friend Darren Holmquist, because the response for it was (and with 51k views on YouTube currently, still is) very positive as many people seemed to really connect with it. Not long after, I became involved with the “Glass Butterfly” project as a documentarian and met/quickly befriended dancer Jennifer Faust. I showed her “Keep Going” and she quickly said she wanted to make an action film with us, so the first seeds of “Heart” were planted. 

At the time, I was also co-producing a zombie series called “The Living” with the ever-talented Johnny Brilliantes so I told Jen that I would definitely like to make a film with her after “The Living” was done. 

-2013- 

A year passed and “The Living” wrapped giving me time to sit back and write “Heart”. With a couple of suggestions from Jen and some inspiration from our star Inder Mundi, I wrote a 30 page script. This script was re-written over twelve times and as time went on it became a very personal film about mental health and obsession. It was the story of an obsessed young girl who truly believes that she’s the hero of her story, but as the story progresses we realize that her biggest obstacle is not some person that she pegs as a villain, but her own inability to let go. 

I put a lot of myself into this script and after my amazing artist friend Jason Kim made the storyboards, I definitely believed it could be something special. We just needed the budget to make it… 

-2014- 

All the pieces were in place. Nothing was rushed, everything was picked with a fine tooth comb and we launched our Kickstarter. The combination of a lofty goal and lack of fan groundswell led to the kickstarter ultimately failing, so other plans needed to be made. We had enough money to shoot a less-grand version of the film so we started with that, but the damage had been done. We shot one scene and shortly after the rest of production fell apart. I told Jen it was probably best to stop trying to pick up the pieces of this and put our focus into something else, something even better than Heart. 

I kept strong but inside I was devastated. For the first time in a very long time, I set out to do something I was very passionate about and it didn’t happen. I couldn’t stand the idea that not only did I let myself down, I let Jen down, someone who I see as an older sister who put her trust in me and it didn’t happen. 

I was pretty much in a haze of self-loathing and doubt for the rest of the year. I’d make a few videos here and there, but none of them really showed me at the best of my abilities. Jen would later come to me with this idea of a dance film triptych, Dust, Blood, and Water, and wanted me to have a major part in making it happen. I, in my depression, declined stating that I did not want anything to do with the production of it, but I would like to be a dancer in it since I had taken up a bit of an interest in dance. 

It’s funny in hindsight to see how involved Jen’s become in film and how involved I’ve become in dance since 2012, but at the time I felt nothing. 

-2015- 

After spending the better part of a year feeling sorry for myself, I was in the middle of therapy that I began late the previous year, when one day I just had a revelation that if I wanted to feel better, I needed to pull myself out of this hole. I read a number of self-help books, I kicked a few bad habits and over time my anxiety and depression began to lift. I knew that once I was myself I needed to start attacking all those things that made me sad in the first place. 

Finishing ‘Heart’ was the first on that list. 

I took the scene we shot and re-edited it to what you can see today. I spent way too long doubting myself and giving minimal effort to the thing I’m so passionate about that I tattooed it to my chest. I’m currently working on finalizing Dust for Triptych: Dust, Blood, and Water by Jennifer Faust which Jen brought me in for and I’m thankful that she’s taking a chance on me again. I’m not going to let her down and more importantly, I’m not going to let MYSELF down again. 

“Heart” is not just a short film, it's a declaration that I’m not going to be my own worst enemy anymore. As I said in the Kickstarter pitch video, “If you find something you love in this world, and you truly love it, you do it.” “Heart” is finding the strength in yourself when you don't think you have any left. 

Thank you so much everyone that has supported me and made this short possible. The release of this film is not the end, it’s only the beginning and you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Watch this would have been much more convenient as a Hit List edit for next Monday, it felt necessary to run this shortfilm today, and considering what Fernandez went through during this process, I fully commend him for his efforts, and the inspiring tone he speaks on and promotes here.

Watch Heart in the player below.

THE HIT LIST - December 29, 2014

It's been another amazing year of presenting independent action to help their respective creators attain bigger audiences. There were a few that were supposed to come out by now, but unfortunately some of those (as usual) tend to take longer, whether or not they have to do with post-production or other plans for allocation. Maybe 2015 will bring better, much deserved prospects. Action films need to get better, and the folks included in this week's Hit List are just a handful of people worthy to help in this cause.

What better way to celebrate post-holiday cheer than to watch two Santas duke it out to see which one is more badass?! It's Good Santa vs. Evil Santa performed by Italian stuntfighting team D-Unit's own Mirco Cazzol and Loris Ripamonti in Mission: Impossible - Christmas Protocol!

Here is another new gem from Canadian stunt team, Eclipse Stunts with a newly released trailer for Jingle Bell Rocked. The project never got finished, as always with a lot of independent shorts that fall ill to lack of time and busy scheduling of its performers, but it still presents a nice little glimpse of what could have been. Maybe one day we will get to see a full fight scene from it, although I'm not sure. At any rate, the trailer is up for viewing.

Seven years after mixing it up on YouTube, stuntmen and brothers Alfred Hsing and Alvin Hsing are following up on their holiday tradition with another installment of Holiday Hsing Fight. It's got a nice little set up and both of these guys have have sharpened greatly over the years within their repsective careers. It shows and hopefully you've already taken notice. If not, then it's not too late to do so now.

Independent filmmaker and martial arts enthusiast, Eric Nguyen re-launched his official website for his film platform over at Lunar Stunts Action Cinema. As such, he's accompanied his latest update with fresh new content in the form of some cool behin-the-scenes footage showcasing Nguyen with performers Irvin Nguyen and Mickey Arce on the set of his own recent short, El Guerrero. It's not often shorts like these get their own making-of featurettes, so its great to have these little windows that allow us to look at these up-and-coming professionals from a genuine perspective; In my own humble opinion, one thing I've noticed is that Irvin smiles a lot. He can literally kick your ass with a smile on his face and not even know it... I guess some of us have yet to reach that level of "cool".

Take a look below and feel free to visit the website and check out Nguyen's entry along with a couple of set pictures for good measure.

Up next is another little bit of back and forth from Wolf Stunts' own David Conk behind the lens, collaborating with screenfighters Anthony Anderson, Blake Roach and Neil Bogucki. It's shorter than a minute but still cool to check out as a pre-requisite for what will hopefully come next this year. Check it out, in addition to two more reels featuring Conk, and fellow collaborator, action actor Ben Aycrigg.

French stuntman and filmmaker Godefroy Ryckewaert first came on my radar about a year ago. He's got a great eye for the lens and he's back to highlight that fact once again with the new comedic action short, Tatapis Tami, which I can only summarize as gang warfare at its most prepubescent! I thought this was funny, charming and well executed, and I'm hyped to see what Ryckewaert comes up with next after this.

Filmmaker Fernando Jay Huerto's year has proven quite fruitful, with a feature film in development with an official cast announcement pending, and a flurry of online action collaborations with a number of young and inspired performers at home and abroad. You can check out a glimpse of those in his newest 2014 martial arts action reel, featuring clips of previous and upcoming shorts to come!

There isn't much I can say about this particular video. It intially released online back in July as a concept for a new series titled Interface, which aims to introduce a story that crosses between the visionary strengths and urban, gritty tone of films and TV shows like The Raid, Inception, Blade Runner and The Wire. Blood And Bone helmer Ben Ramsey and actor, martial artist and writer Arnold Chon are behind this ambitious project, and not more has been built on it except what has been left with a Facebook page to further champion the concept with news articles devoted to innovative science and technology relative to the subject matter. If this all suits you, feel free to take a look and subscribe to the page, and hopefully it will mean this concept will be done some cinematic justice. For now though, the video is below. Oh, and for good measure, there's some more Interface footage in stunt performer Christopher Balualua's summer reel from earlier this year just beneath!

For this segment, we have some previz footage featuring UK stuntmen Jean-Paul Ly and Law Jhon for the new martial arts action short, Deep Pan Fury from filmmaker Charlie Dennis. Both are attached to the project with Ly (Lucy, Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist) directing the action in a spiritual thriller about a Japanese fighter in search of redemption with no choice but to reclench his fists once more when local Yakuza underlings threaten his grandfather's pizzeria.

I'm a pizza lover so I'm proudly partial. I can't wait to see the ass-kicking that awaits, and I hope it gets funded as it deserves to be. Check out the video and head over to Kickstarter to watch even more solid concept footage within the campaign video!

French action director Cedric Tellier delivered an impressive action short earlier this year in the form of Elit Unit prior to puttng up a small teaser for another upcoming fast-paced short titled La Casse back in October. This month, he's offered another small teaser, now with an additional kick in the eardrums courtesy of Metallica, and you can now check that out as well.

It's been quite a while since I last wrote about Danny Vega's upcoming directorial debut, A Dance With The Devil. Mainly, the production has hit a few snags between now and last year, so the project is now undergoing some reconstruction and it may be a while before we learn what that means. Nevertheless, Vega has taken to the interwebs to share one of the project's pivotal fight sequences. Hopefully we see more of this, because it really looks worthy of something larger in scale. Check it out!

Dardrex Productions's latest piece of work showcases what happens when a teacher becomes weary of his student's suspicious absenses. Missing Student is the name of the project with Darren Holmquist and Frank Hernandez working the lens with performances by Martin Chan and Eddie Ramos.

Swedish stuntfighter, up-and-comer Betim Alimi's latest showreel is online, and it's worth a look. Alimi has been aspiring for this particular field for close to ten years now, having been a martial arts purveyor since he was five. Endulging on a staple diet of the Hong Kong classics of yesteryear was what led him to start cutting his teeth in 2005. 2009 saw the worst of it when he broke his leg, and his screenfighting recovery has largely been a slow and steady one as more projects have followed, and I've had the good fortune of sharing a few of them on this site this year.

The stunts, the takes and the injury are among all you will see summarized in the following reel, highlighting Alimi's driven spirit to keep going.

Epic Bully Fight is a bit of a throwback. It's a little over a year old and features performances by YouTube personalities Dominick Sandoval and Jerel Mascarinas, and to be honest, I don't remember if I shared this on my blog or not, and I don't really care, because it's worth sharing as its one of the most fluid and slick videos I've seen in my time as a blogger. It's got action, goofball comedy and some spectacle to boot, and even though these two aren't known for making these kinds of videos, I certainly wouldn't complain if they made more.

If you watch enough online tutorials on martial arts, you probably know who Wing Chun expert Master Wong is. He talks a lot of shit, but backs it up pretty awesomely, and it's all very informative and entertaining as well. Moreover, I've been curious as to whether or not he would accomodate doing an action film someday, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that opinion. Well, to those it may concern, our curiosity here gets somewhat rewarded in his latest video pitting Wing Chun against boxing.

It's the stuff of all sorts of martial arts fanboy chatter when compairing styles, so take a look and feel free to decide who wins in the end. This should be interesting!

With this year's induction of vampire slasher comic book pitch, Heartbreaker, and sword-wielding samurai short, Bladed Minds, former adult entertainer-turned-screenfighting temptress, actress Celine Tran has already set herself up for potentially greater prospects in the action genre, provided that her efforts remain continued. The responses from online netizens have been nothing short of positive, and action fans can only hope we see much more sooner. And if you're one of those fans as of late, then you'll be delighted to take a look at Tran's newest action short, Burst, with director Vincent Gatinaud back behind the lens and Mathieu Lardot directing the truly cutthroat action!

And lastly, freerunner Ryan Doyle has something he wants you to know. And you know what? I believe him!

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