Anecdota wins at Sin Film Fest

This fall my team and I had the pleasure of taking a business trip down to Miami to support our film "Anecdota" at Sinister Nights Film Festival. Bella Grace was nominated along side some very talented actresses for her role in the film. We watched a ton of movies, got some quality time at the beach and ate amazing meals that I will be back for again soon. When the awards ceremony began Bella was anxious and excited and possibly to her surprise they announced her the winner. It only got better when a few awards later our film won the audience choice award. It was a great weekend and I look forward to a return trip with another film soon. Next time, for a feature. 

My necessaries

L-R Mark Reed (actor), Bella Grace, Don Capria, Paul Travers (producer) 

in the convention after the awards ceremony

Bella Grace and her father

pic w/ my neice on the Miami River

My Niece at the beach 

Mob Movie Con - Colombo Book & Omerta Clothing

This month I took a bunch of Colombo books down to Atlantic city joining thousands of crime aficionados for Mob Movie Con. I set up a signing booth with the help of OMERTA clothing in the convention center at Harrah’s Resort. The room was home to hundreds of booths filled with food, writers, actors and activities. I got to hear the announcement for a Gotti (1996) sequel film starring Armand Assante and eat dinner with some actor friends to discuss everones up and coming projects. 

w/ Federico Castelluccio

The booth at Harrah's Resort

Don Capria X Concrete Dream in the woods of PA

This month I took a road trip out to mining country Pennsylvania to shoot a music video for Concrete Dream. The location was an old abandoned school that the town allows artists and creatives to use. I was in awe of the dilapidated building and all of the natural light the rooms received. I immediately started plotting a larger production to shoot there. Pretty sure it will be a horror.  🎬🔪

Concrete Dream rocking the stage

Thinking of a master plan

Always having fun on set

the auditorium

things left behind

The Pandemic Special - Anecdota

I worked on a script during the quarantine and made it all about the stresses one goes through when facing isolation. People would reveal their true colors, argue over nothing and argue over everything and as the months unfolded last year we saw it was more about society than the pandemic.  I stayed home and worked on something from the perspective of the youth, what would they do i this situation or worse. The result was ANECDOTA. It stars 11 year old Bella Grace, who I was very grateful to work with during Abaddon.  Here are some Behind the scene photos shot by Jammi York. More on this project to come!

Bella Grace taking some echincea 

Bella Grace about to test the mace

Poster image by Jammi York

we both had chuck taylors on

Christiano Covino doing the Cinematography 

West Kill New York - hunting for stories

Starting off 2021 I took a well needed road trip to the snowy mountains of West kill - Hunter in the Catskills. My writing partner, Peter Conti came with me to get a good feel for the landscape that Abaddon plays out in. We checked out the houses tucked behind Stony Kill Creek and even stopped off to see the frozen, Fawns Leap area. Greene County holds miles and miles of beautiful land and plenty of rough terrain to keep a murder suspense going for 10 episodes. More on Abaddon to come. 

Peter Conti - Don Capria

Some houses on the way up the mountain

Diner Coffee for the win

Snapping some proper photos 

Cute Air Bnb.. 

church

Lost Angeles

I double masked up and jumped on a plane to Los Angeles to do some photo and video work with Omerta. We did a few shoots for their Black Friday drop which included some amazing new additions including a really dope gear bag. The trip was unlike any other LA trip of mine as my visitation was very limited to work and city itself was under strict lockdown restrictions since the pandemic began. I did get to see my cousin Danny for a socially distant coffee and catch up. He is a set designer currently working on Young Sheldon and his credits go all the way back to Star Trek. The shoots were all a succes and allowed me to link up with long time homie Skinhead Rob of the Transplants over at Brooklyn Projects for a shoot. I also went to the valley and shot Tati Mcquay's little brothers and dad, Stan the man McQuay. I also pais a visit to my brother Risk who was hosting a podcast that afternoon. The gun range shoot was the highlight of the trip and we took a batch of really great photos there. But the energy of the city itself was very hard for me to enjoy as Los Angeles was a sad vision of what once was an energetic, colorful place, where with peoples dreams. I hope the politics change soon and Los Angeles returns to its original lively character rest in peace to Swingers and many of the other places that are permanently close their doors forward to the ones that open in 2021.

Omerta snapback

Big Chris at the range

shooters at the gun range

gentlemans bag from Omerta

with Risk in LA

with Skinhead Rob and Dirty Mick

Stan the Man McQuay and sons

The Contagion before and after

Back out to PA this month to Ricky Armelino's to record a new Concrete Dream record. That means good food, good energy and good output. These trips are always successful on every spoke of the wheel. We worked on a brand new track called "Contagion" which ws inspired by the current pandemic. The song is raw and maybe one of their hardest tracks. We moved right away on shooting a music video. I wanted to create a video that was as destructive as the virus and included the fear that was attached to it through mass media. I think we hit the mark. Video will drop in Oct. 

Jeremiah Mayhem & producer Ricky Armelino

Mangiamo with the boys

drummer Juan Bang doing set design

John Kennedy breathing between shots

Bassist Mena getting down

my ace AC Christiano Covino w/ Jeremiah Mayhem

with Jeremiah Mayhem and Mena

directing the talented Chi Flo for her feature in the video