The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.

THE PASSENGER (TBA, Summer 2023)

Run Time: 22:10
Producer: Brian Awitan, Beth Miller, Michael Barnett, Jeff Elstone, Gentry Dayton
Director: Jeff Elstone
Writer: Jeff Elstone
Director of Photography: Keith J Leman
Key Cast: Gentry Dayton, Wil Thomas (see his feature on The Vintagent here), Stephanie Sasso

FILM MAKERS

Jeff’s journey as a director began in childhood creating no budget adventure films with neighborhood friends on his parents’ VHS camcorder. He attended Temple University’s Film and Media Arts program in Philadelphia and directed his first short, Mother Divine, at the age of 23. The film was shot at one of the city’s most enigmatic and iconic landmarks, and was scored by esteemed Israeli composer Ady Cohen. After graduating in 2003, Jeff relocated to NYC where he worked as an assistant for photographer/director Steven Klein and later developed a notable career of his own as an international fashion and portrait photographer. The Passenger represents a return to his primary passion for narrative storytelling that also integrates a refined and visceral style honed over years behind the camera.

SUMMARY

To say anything of 2020 would inevitably sound like an understatement.

In the midst of a worldwide shutdown with no end in sight, my longtime best friend Gentry Dayton and I, along with producer Brian Awitan, sought to make the most of this unprecedented pause, at a time when grief hung heavy in the ether. What began as a pandemic project rapidly expanded into a universal meditation on loss, despair, and transformation.

While many stories rooted in motorcycle culture have predictably tired macho themes, this film is a psycho-spiritual walkabout with a tour through haunted terrain into a cocoon leading to an unexpected rebirth. The Passenger invokes the foreign art house films of the 70s, while simultaneously celebrating the classic Americana of Easy Rider that highlights the raw, fragile texture of mental health with a marked gritty spirituality, where the essence of friendship is defined and nature is personified as both a merciless and healing force.

The film also features an original score by legendary underground artist Jarboe and her creative partner Kris Force, whose previous work on ‘The Path’ garnered a “Best Composition” Award at the Bilbao International Game Awards. Thor Harris, a member of Swans, also contributed his eminent talents to the soundtrack and, curiously, I have a Swans tattoo on my left arm – which makes for a truly synchronistic moment in time.

RELATED MEDIA

Read The Vintagent‘s interview with the filmmakers and producers.

Jeff Elstone website: behind the scenes footage


 

 

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