THE HIT LIST - July 20, 2015

Well, I'm certainly proud after last night. I don't get to have too many adventures with stunt professionals, but when I do, they're all inarguably some of the most fun experiences I continue to have. I guess I can only hope to share those experiences with even more people I include in the weekly Hit List...for now though, distance and affordability are my disadvantages. But that doesn't stop me from bringing the action where it is, so...

...let's get this shindig started with a new playlist of stunt and action demo reels. The names here include Alfred Hsing, Bonnie Pisciotta, Janelle Beaudry, David Ausem, Michelle DeMond, Petra Sprecher, Alvin Hsing and Julien Briau.

I thought I'd advance things a bit with the inclusion of a couple of parkour videos this week since content is a bit low. Plus, sometimes I do include freerunning videos to spice things up seeing as how such a dynamic sport has much to do with how we view cinematic action. And this week, Ilya Semyonov, Will Sutton, and the freerunning talent in a new reel hosted by the Epic Metal Piece channel have it down packed!

It was back in March that Stunt 360's own Jacob Sebastian Malm shared a trailer to showcase the names of talented martial artists enlisted in this Summer's presentation of Giacmo Puccini's Turandot at Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria. This month, we have a new highlight video featuring all of our talent hard at work behind the scenes and rehearsing, and to be honest though, I've never seen Turandot myself, so I've never been familiar with it until as of late, although considering what we're seeing here, it looks like an exciting show we could all wrap our heads around.

Anyway, as you are about to see, one of the show's key performers includes filmmaker and Martial Club creator Andy Le who himself has another video on his team channel featuring some more behind-the-scenes work, and this time with indepenedent action performer and member of Zero Gravity, Unlucky Stars star Ken Quitugua. Not much is being said about this project other than its title, The Challenger (I'm already sold), so there isn't much to go by except for Le's own insight and some of the exclusive footage Le is introducing to all of us. Check it all out now!

Also offering some extra behind-the-scenes goodies are on-set highlights from the production of Lunar Stunts Action Cinema's Spring short film release, Tough Street. You can find it on their channel as of three months ago, while this week you can now observe just how director Eric Nguyen puts together action sequences and tells stories in the process. His channel is full of morsels and if you haven't heard of him now, hopefully this will clue you in.

The fight action now ensues in several new test fights and shorts from here on out. Kicking things off is a new little gem from action actors Anthony Pho and Alex Levand and Shift Media's latest action short -The Reveal with Craig Canning and Grant Steven.

The remaning three videos recapitulating this week's Hit List are now here - a few of which you may be familar. The first is a new addition to the blog courtesy of Glasgow-based martial arts studio Hybrid Fight Academy who have experimented with cinematic action before. They always do solid work and moviegoers may even find some of their touch applied to filmmaker Christian Sesma's forthcoming installment sequelizing the long-awaited release of one of his recent titles, Vigilante Diaries.

In the meantime, you can find their latest contribution to action cinema with their brand new short, Interrogation, principally featuring Hybrid fight instructor, actor, choreographer and director George Johnston.

INTERROGATION from Refract Visuals on Vimeo.

Consider these latter two as honorable mentions, with the first coming from independent filmmaker Frank Hernandez in the form of the new action drama short, Heart, and Fabien Garcia's newest hard-hitting epic piece of post-apocalyptic action fanlore, Drained World, which is now seeking funding from the public, as well as interested investors for a full webseries season. Click HERE and HERE for more info.

That about wraps things up on this end, but if you have time to spare and you missed last week's Hit List, please feel free to have at it. Otherwise, if you or someone you know is a content creator with QUALITY work that could use some publicity in a future Hit List article, send an awesome e-mail at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

Watch Z-Team Film's Hard-Hitting Webseries Pilot, DRAINED WORLD

It was last October on the cusp of finally releasing their debut feature film, Die Fighting, action and film production duo Fabien Garcia and Lohan Buson and the folks over at Z-Team Films began advancing their next cinematic venture into webseries territory. Their new action-packed pilot, Drained World, already an award-winning feat from its presence at the WideScreen Film And Music Festival from just this Spring, is now online with a call-to-action outro attached at the end to help ask fans for donations that not only guarantee the delivery of cool perks in exchange, but a series that no less continues the progressive state of martial arts action fandom by an award-winning team that knows how to deliver solid martial arts action within any subgenre of film.

SYNOPSIS:

In a world circling the drain and filled with plague, a man finds brief solace in a bunker deep within a forest. He moves to continue his journey but scavengers will make a simple task seem much more difficult. 

Drained World is set in 2080, many years after the end of the Third World War which saw the near-eradication of the human population due to constant violence and conflict. Those who’ve survived live in continuous strife. Money holds no vice, not in this new world - clean water and edible food serve as the new barter, and people do not hesitate to end lives to survive.

A few unexpected delays hindered the project's initial airing on Sunday ahead of my Hit List piece the following evening, although I did have the opportunity to screen a press copy, and needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. An original series thriller with a dystopian setting, a macabre feel and other sci-fi and fantasy elements, a potentially larger cast with quality acting and stunt talent and one wholly validated by festival accolades as we speak, is definitely something I can see Z-Team Films building off of with the support of fans and investors alike.

Drained World currently has a ten episode agenda from here on out, and with the pilot now officially online, the production is looking to finance nine more installations that not only guarantee cool perks in exchange, but a full first season of thrilling martial arts action and visual spectacle that dares to entertain in ways only the Z-Team could. If you haven't already sampled their skillset with their debut feature, Die Fighting, you can find the movie right now wherever movies are digitally available for purchased streaming and downloading with a current theatrical run now underway in the Philippines.

You can learn more about Drained World at its official website where you may learn more about how you can help bring this powerful new webseries to life. Otherwise, watch the award-winning pilot episode below, with Garcia starring and joined by actress Christy St. John, action actor Antoine Piquet and many more with choreography by Garcia and stellar cinematography by French lensman Godefroy Ryckewaert.

THE HIT LIST - June 29, 2015

This week's Hit List is definitely running light, but there are definitely a few gems worth sharing here, including a Film Combat Syndicate Exclusive!

But, first things first as the Hit List kicks off with a thrilling new stunt reel playlist for the week. The highlights including feats from Jaime DiLeo, Miles Brew, Juan De la Cruz, Rachel Lynn David, Kawui Joa, Mounir Quazzani, Brett Praed, Taylor Hemmeter, Matt Kennedy and the latest team action reel from Michael Lehr, Katelyn Brooke, Narayana Cabral and others at Fight Factory Stunt Team. The awesome reel beneath the playlist comes directly from Vimeo via fight choreographer Jimmy Lui!

Jimmy Lui Fight Choreography Reel from Jimmy Lui on Vimeo.
The folks over at Washington D.C.-based Rising Tiger Films are currently readying to lend some festival eyes to their latest dramatic action crime short, Black Scar Blues. I had the pleasure of posting my own review of the project and I proudly stand by it...and apparently so does director, actor and fight coordinator Leroy Nguyen who included a quote from me on the poster he will be using to help present the project to various festivals until its public airing later this year; I rarely get quoted on posters, so this was a joy to come across. Peep it.

And now we get to the action, and to get things started is a brand new clip from the upcoming sci-fi action short, Blue Hope. Starring and directed by Marina Voruz with actor and martial artist Austin Jorgensen, the short tells the story of Jack and Lana, whose romantic fate will be determined in a brutal reunion long after Lana's sudden disappearance and inexplicable "transformation".

The shortfilm is currently undergoing a few festival entries by October with plans for a November airing while both Voruz and Jorgensen set the course for another upcoming action comedy project. In the meantime, here's a small montage-cut of the climatic fight from Blue Hope!

And then there was that one time actor, stuntman and YouTube creative Devin "@KidHaru" White challenged actor and filmmaker Joey Min on whether or not a dog could be elegantly used as a deadly kung fu weapon. That was fun!

As I usually say, its never too late or early for Halloween. As such, horror seems to be the running theme at the moment and a few of these next videos come with a twist.

The first of the batch comes straight fron the folks over at Genesis Action Stunts who are usually more geared toward stylish choreography bits. This time they're a little less graceful but even moreso brutal in their latest array of exchanges between iconic horror mainstays, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers; You can pretty much guess who lives and dies at the end of that one.

The latter two come from the gang over at WTFLOL who are no strangers to cult fandom in the past few years of their existence. They managed to succeed in their adherence to filmlore with their 2014 fan short, Marvel Zombies vs. The Evil Dead which initially aired at the bottom of 2013 prior to being briefly censored at the behest of Marvel. Legal stuff occurred, things happened, hands were shaken and the project finally went back up early last year, and to much approval from fans.

You can watch it for yourself here if you're just now seeing it. I've only just discovered it for myself and a project like this comes just in time with Starz packaging a brand new Ash serial TV reboot. But apart from that, WTFLOL is in post production with their sequel short, Ash VS. The DC Dead, featuring fellow character faves Green Arrow and Lobo in its latest trailer.

Watch all three videos below!

This one isn't a scripted drama or other, but a trailer for an upcominng three-part serial documentary from online womens' periodical, Cleo. Writer Lizza Gebilagin is at the center of this latest experiment in the form of Fight Like A Girl, showcasing what happens when a writer journeys into the world of MMA training in a seven-month regimen that will before ultimately determining her skillset in a competitive arena. The series launches on July 7, so you would be wise to subscribe.

The folks over at Z-Team Films have already made headway with the most recent online digital release of their cult action feature hit, Die Fighting. This time they are taking their efforts to a new dimension - a dystopian future with Earth's natural resources near depletion and mankind leaning on virtual extinction...

Essentially, enter Drained World and watch Fabien Garcia kick and bash the shit out of some zombies, basically.

It's awesome to follow various martial artists and performers alike who not only show off their prowess, but also share their amazing adventures, and actor and tutorialist Aaron "Gingerninja" Gassor has definitely has his share so far. From the gym to comic-cons, catch all his videos right now on his channel, and if you're new to his craft, here's a cool trailer to help warm you up!

And lastly, comic book creator and leading Marvel mainstay Stan Lee broke the internet back in May for filmmakers on the web when he annonced World Of Heroes, an intricate new program for creatives in conjunction with Lee's POW! Entertainment and YouTube Spaces at select global locations. Now, the time has come for the rollout and director John Wynn's latest, Call To Heroes takes the lead with a story centered on The Forge Academy, whose young and gifted pupils, brought together by devastation and tragedy become mankind's last defense against superhuman evil. Watch and enjoy!

Click here to catch last week's Hit List and be sure to subscribe to these channels. And, if you or someone you know has QUALITY content they would like shared in a Hit List piece, send an email at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com

DIE FIGHTING With Three Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes

Late last year was a stellar period for the folks over at Z-Team Films in lieu of their award-winning directorial debut, Die Fighting. The film is still as fresh as anything despite being four years in the making with nary a decent budget at best and a long and arduous post-production period to boot, while ultimately delivering a quality feature film that unites some of the best of the best in martial arts action entertainment.

The film even made a splash earning its accolades last year at the Action On Film Festival prior to its multiplatform digital release courtesy of Gravitas Ventures, and the team has been rolling out a small batch of behind-the-scenes footage to showcase a little bit of what it took to make this film a reality after bringing great action shorts to their online audience. As such, they've just released their third featurette to accomodate their current promotional campaign leading up to a hopeful DVD/BD release in the not too distant future, which I will imagine would garner some more cool nuggets to accomodate all the on-set action in front and behind the camera.

Die Fighting stars debut director and martial artist Fabien Garcia in the company of his titular team of original members, brothers Lohan and Didier Buson, in addition to actors Jess Allen and Dave Vescio. I had the opportunity to interview Garcia and Buson last year, so feel free to check those out if you missed them. In the meantime, you can now watch all three videos below for some immediate insight, and if it suits you, the official website for the film has all you need to learn where and how you can snag a digital copy.