Best Micro-Budget Feature – 2011 Toronto Film Festival
Hoboken, NJ, May 18, 2012 – Hoboken International Film Festival will premiere “Blue Collar Boys,” the first feature from Mark Nistico’s Silent Sea Productions, on June 2 at 4 p.m. at Hudson Cinemas, Hudson Mall, 701 Route 440, Jersey City, New Jersey. Tickets are $11.00 and can be purchased online or at the door.
Shot entirely in New Jersey in 2009, Blue Collar Boys “eerily predicts the Occupy Movement,” according to BraveNewHollywood. The story is based on Nistico’s own experiences and those of his friends, growing up in Old Bridge, New Jersey. These friends and their families contributed locations, food, and other support to help Nistico bring in the film for a meager $75K. When it debuted at the Toronto Independent Film Festival last fall, Blue Collar Boys fans plastered downtown Toronto with posters and handed out flyers to passersby. The result was a house packed with moviegoers who responded to the film’s gritty realism and virtuoso performances, earning it the festival’s Best Micro-budget Feature award.
Starring Gabe Fazio (The Place Beyond the Pines), Bruce Kirkpatrick (NBC’s “Do No Harm” and USA’s “Royal Pains”), Ed Setrakian (Zodiac), Blue Collar Boys features an ensemble cast of more than 30 New York actors. Fazio’s character, Charlie “Red” Redkin is a 27-year-old construction worker whose dreams of self improvement are thwarted when his father’s construction business starts to crumble in the hands of an unscrupulous developer. Faced with foreclosure on the family home, Red must step up to help run his father’s business, turning to his lifelong friends for help. But “the boys,” frustrated by corporate corruption and dead-end jobs, resort to drug-dealing and petty scams. With money finally coming in, after the failure of years of hard work to yield it, the boys see nothing wrong with their actions, but Red is still unhappy. He struggles to hold onto his integrity, yet begins to wonder what integrity is worth in a world where the rich and corrupt always win.
“The Hoboken International Film Festival is the perfect venue for Blue Collar Boys,” says Nistico, who will be at the June 2 screening along with stars Gabe Fazio and Bruce Kirkpatrick. “My dad had a construction business. These characters are my dad’s friends, my friends, our relatives. Most of them are still struggling, and their story never gets told. Now they can see it on the big screen. And maybe, for once, the 99% can feel like winners.”
Blue Collar Boys is available for worldwide distribution through Leomark Studios, LLC. For licensing information contact Erik Lundmark 818-645-8922. View the trailer at bcbthemovie.com.
The 2012 Hoboken International Film Festival (“HIFF”) runs from June 1 to June 7, 2012. Hosted by Gilbert Gottfried, HIFF will showcase numerous film and TV stars, and the world’s most cutting edge films. For information, visit HobokenInternationalFilmFestival.com.
For more about Mark Nistico and Silent Sea Productions, visit silentseaproductions.com.
Media Contact: Alexandra Fournier
Sales/Licensing Contact: Erik Lundmark
Leomark Studios, LLC