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Andrew Way, left, and Velizar Ionikov star as brothers in the new sci-fi thriller "Sleep, Wake, Forget." (Photo by Kim Berens)
Detroit's abandoned Packard plant, a go-to site for people with cameras, is among locations in a low-budget horror film written and directed by Ariel Vida, a 2013 Michigan State grad.
Ariel Vida is described as "extraordinary" by a film professor at MSU, where she graduated this year.
She shot "Sleep, Wake, Forget" in Ann Arbor, Lansing, the U.P., Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Berea, Ohio, Jerome Espy reports at the Detroit Regional News Hub's blog.
The film follows the story of two brothers, following the fall of civilization, who managed to stay alive because of a unique gift – the ability to look into the minds of others. Even with this gift, one of the brothers eventually gets bitten and turns to one of the undead.
Vida, who founded a Muskegon production company called Wondria Films, raised $8.752 last month via Kickstarter for post-production work. The next step is to promote her film at festivals in hopes of landing a distribution deal. She and assistant director Kim Berens started bthe circuit at ZombieCon in Troy last month.
In addition to all of the promotional work for "Sleep, Wake, Forget," Vida is already working on another film, a documentary, and plans to shoot another feature in early 2014 . . . here in Michigan, too.
Here's what film studies Professor Bill Vincent of MSU told The State News last fall about his star student:
“She is extraordinary. She’s certainly going to be a success in the business. She’s very focused. She knows what she wants and how to get it, and she’s very ambitious. I mean, a lot of students make short films, but very few make full-length films.”
