CineVegas Film Festival 2008

“Haven’t you ever known someone or something so beautiful that you just wanted to bite them? Consume them?” says Frank Polowski to his new boss. Returning home after a six-month absence, Frank expects his life to be the same way as he left it. Instead, his pregnant girlfriend Jane is missing. Driven but cocky, Frank searches his world for her. The trouble is, Frank’s world is mostly compiled of betting on horses, loans, and working dead-end jobs. Can he find the truth with his life so complicated by lies? Probing the oft-impractical expectations men have for women, and delving deeply into the age-old conflict of Man vs. Gambling, writer/director Ben Rodkin creates a realistic character study by focusing in on Frank and his many dilemmas. The characters never explain what they are feeling, but feel motivated. The muted tones of the world give way to the vibrant colors of the horse track and dreams of winning in races and life. Shawn Andrews is great as the charismatic but troubled Frank, testing your sympathy for anti-heroes, while Seymour Cassel adds a legendary touch as Frank’s boss and advisor. BIG HEART CITY is poetic realism with the street level grit of a revisionist noir. Public Contact Info: Ben Rodkin 510.499.7457 ben.rodkin@gmail.com Matthew Harrison 213.268.5180 Matthew@FilmCrash.com Peter Paul Basler 973.769.3661 peter.basler@gmail.com

It is 12 stories and 250 rooms. It is artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers. It is sex, drugs, suicides, and ghosts. The Chelsea Hotel was Manhattan’s first cooperative apartment building and became a bastion for creativity and excess. Dylan, Hendrix and Joplin made music there. William Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch there. Nancy Spungeon died there…and Sid Vicious basically died at the Chelsea Hotel as well. The Chelsea hotel’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy (even with its rent) is now in danger. A new management company has taken over and forced out stalwart manager Stanley Bard, showing disregard for his history and pointing to big changes to come. Before something happens, legendary filmmaker Abel Ferrara takes us through the hotel room by room, story by story, pulling open all the closet doors, profiling its past and admonishing its future. As a turbulent, trustworthy soul and then resident at the Hotel, people feel free to open up to him about everything. A few recreations and gritty archival footage build upon the legends. The Chelsea is more than a building; it is a reflection of our nation's greatest talents. To lose it would mean losing our inspiration.