Dear Bloggers,
We are very happy to announce that for the third year in the row, the Michigan Creative Film Alliance (MiCFA) has a new production team comprised of 30 students or recent graduates from Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Wayne State University.
The MiCFA's main goal is to allow students to work in a real-world feature-film style production atmosphere, filling all key production department roles from development and production through post-production and distribution.
Downriver is the third project of the MiCFA. In this 30-minute comedy, Downriver will meet Upriver. This film will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you wonder how different we really are from one another.
In the wake of his father’s sudden death, 15 year old Alex is forced from his posh, suburban lifestyle into a “downriver” life with his estranged half-sister Crystal and her family. The socially awkward Alex doesn’t like the family, can’t stomach the food, gets into scrapes with their friends, and is drawn into a backyard brawl that turns him into an accidental tough guy. In spite of the cultural divide, Alex and Crystal eventually connect in an unexpected way, realizing that whether you are downriver or upriver, family is family.
The screenplay was written by Brandon M. Verdi, a recipient of the 2012 Hopwood Award in Screenwriting from the University of Michigan. Our team is led by producer Tinisha Brugnone, a senior Media Arts and Studies production major at WSU. Tinisha is a MiCFA veteran who worked as co-producer and unit production manager on the 2011 Beauty Queen team. Downriver is directed by Billy Jackson, a senior Screen Arts and Culture film/screenwriting major at UofM. He’s also a returning MiCFA member of the art department of Beauty Queen. Downriver co-director of photography Ryan Sundberg (MSU) and sound recordist Josh Rickert (MSU) are also returning MiCFA team members.
