Kickstarter.com Funds Talented Chinese American Filmmaker's 'Folklore'

"Crowd funding" from Kickstarter.com (the newest trend in indie film financing) has launched Chinese American filmmaker Justin Calen Chenn's, newest sci-fi comedy feature. End Quote

Forbes magazine recently said Kickstarter, which crowd funded Justin Calen Chenn's Forklore, "Is enormously important in this economy."

Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA (1888PressRelease) January 12, 2012 - Thanks to "crowd funding," the newest trend in indie film financing, budding young filmmaker, Justin Calen Chenn, brings mythical beings, urban legends and laughter to life in the sci-fi comedy, Folklore. The feature is now ready to hit the festival circuit, seeking distribution with a 2012 release date in mind.

Chenn, a 29-year-old First Generation Chinese American, says he wouldn't have been able to make Folklore without his supporters through crowd funding at the popular site Kickstarter.com. In one month, Chenn had raised the money necessary to start production on his micro-budget film. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/justincalenchenn/folklore-a-sci-fi-mockumentary

Forbes magazine recently said Kickstarter, "Is enormously important in this economy, perhaps in any economy, because it is the enabler of an idea that myself and many others have hoped for."

Funding isn't the only thing the young writer/director has had to overcome in his life. Chenn battled a childhood of homelessness, self-mutilation, and criminal behavior, before turning his life around and focusing on film at the age of 24.

He used his own past to fuel the emotional themes in his first two films, The Way of Snow, a semi-autobiographical story of Justin's battle with self mutilation, received awards for Best Editing and Best Production Design at the prestigious 2010 Los Angeles International Film Festival, and sci-fi anthology Embers of the Sky, which was nominated for Best Picture/Best Actress at the 2011 Action on Film International Film Festival.

Folklore, his third feature film, tells a tale of quirky time travelers, aliens, vampires, androids, and a water nymph who are interviewed and asked to update a fictional government agency on their lives.

"I've done a broody supernatural drama and a heady sci-fi drama, so for my third feature, I wanted to buckle down and make a film that everyone would laugh and enjoy. I also wanted to combine my inspirations, from British directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach to Tim Burton," Chenn says.

The cast, which stars a mix of rising stars and industry veterans, include Laura Waddell (Torchwood: Miracle Day, William & Kate), Paulie Rojas (The Witches of Oz, starring Christopher Lloyd, Billy Boyd & Lance Henriksen), Rachel Rath, Paris Benjamin, Napoleon Ryan (Disney's The Suite Life on Deck), Ruth Connell, and Maria Olsen (Percy Jackson, Paranormal Activity 3), came from countries around the world such as England, France, Mexico, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, China, Puerto Rico, Norway, and the USA.

"Justin [Calen Chenn] is a filmmaker gifted with humor, depth, imagination, ingenuity, charm and relevance. My favorite thing about Justin, is his own personal story and how he's made his life a work of art." - Paulie Rojas on working with Chenn on Folklore.

Folklore is a Sevittarius Entertainment production in association with Monsterworks66 and The Kitchen Productions. Writer/Director Chenn is currently in various stages of development on a sci-fi drama, described as a politically charged action film set in a parallel dimension, and an intimate sci-fi gangster drama centered around aliens on Earth.

Website: http://www.folklore-film.com

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