Meg, an amateur harpist and professional teacher's pet, wants to commemorate the shooting that happened at her school a decade ago by staging a full musical reenactment of the event. She enlists cheerleader Penny to help “pitch” the idea to Principal Linda and Mr. Shelby. But the adults aren’t ready to face the music.
Are you worried about making a dark comedy that deals with the aftermath of a school shooting? Me too. But I’m more worried about not making this film. About there not being a film that cuts through the thoughts and prayers. I clearly remember the day my kid came back home from school in his first month of kindergarten and reported that they’d had a lockdown drill. Oh, I asked, What’s that? Well, he said, We hid in the bathroom and had to be quiet so that dangerous animals wouldn’t get us. I still think about this when I send him to school. And when I go into a grocery store. Or a movie theater. I look for exits, make a plan of escape. We, as a society, have normalized this. We've normalized the American-ness of gun culture. In making this film, I hope to jolt the audience into an urgent, if uncomfortable realization: This is not normal. And it's time to change the culture.
TAKE ACTION
While RUN AMOK is a work of fiction, it speaks to a very real issue we face in the United States: an unconscionable amount of gun violence and gun-related deaths. Part of the driving force in making this film is to draw attention to this issue-- and, we hope, spark discussion that can help contribute to a change in our gun culture. This film is meant to spark discussion, so we're glad to partner with Project Unloaded to provide a few questions for folks to consider after they watch the film.
THINGS TO PONDER
• What was your earliest awareness of the threat of school shootings? What conscious or unconscious changes have you made in response to that threat?
• Meg is proposing a theatrical reenactment of a shooting that took place at her school. What role does art play in addressing traumatic events?
• Do you think the Mr. Shelby and Principal Linda responded reasonably to Meg? If you were in their shoes, what would you have done differently?
• The characters have different connections to the shooting that took place at the school. Who should get to decide how a mass shooting is remembered?
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY
NITZAN MAGER
A FILMATICS PRODUCTION
IN ASSOCIATION WITH MAMAFILM
PRODUCED BY
LELA MEADOW-CONNER
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
ELIA PETRIDIS
CAST
ALYSSA EMILY MARVIN • MEG
GENEVA CARR • PRINCIPAL LINDA
ZOE WILSON • PENNY
BRANDON J. DIRDEN • MR. SHELBY
ROWAN MEYER • MR. FLINT (VOICE)
CREW
SHACHAR LANGLEV • DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
KATE RANCE • PRODUCTION & COSTUME DESIGNER
TOM DOMINGUES • EDITOR
NATALIA IYUDIN • EDITOR & CO-PRODUCER
KRISTINA JAMES • COMPOSER
ERICA A. HART • CASTING DIRECTOR
JUDITH KENNY • ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
DEVIN BERKO • LINE PRODUCER
CHRISTOPHER JAMES LOPEZ • UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER
ASHLEY GEORGE • FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
KATE BURDUZHAN • SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR & SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
SUSAN MEI • 1ST ASSISTANT CAMERA
WARUT SNIDVONGS • GAFFER
NELLI TOTH • KEY GRIP
PRABHAT GURUNG • GRIP
JAKARI LISTER • GRIP
RACHEL VILLEGAS • SOUND MIXER
COLETTE SWEENEY • HAIR & MAKEUP
TAMAR ROGOFF • CHOREOGRAPHER
SOPHIA SHEDD • HARPIST
OFER WOLBERGER • SET PHOTOGRAPHER
OTHER NYC • VISUAL EFFECTS
YIBIN ‘AB’ SU • COLORIST
QUENTIN CHIAPPETTA • SOUND DESIGN & EDITING
TYLER EMERSON • LEGAL COUNSEL
VINCE RAVINE • LEGAL COUNSEL
KYLIE BROWN • LIVEFREELAB.COM
© 2023 RUN AMOK. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
