Busted City

Paul L. Carr is a Chicago film director, producer, writer and actor whose critically acclaimed film, Busted City, portrays the racial politics surrounding Harold Washington’s election as Chicago’s first black mayor. Busted City is an 82 minute feature that won numerous laurels on the festival circuit in London, Italy and France, as well as the US.
More recently, Mr. Carr wrote, produced and directed American Barbarian, a psychological horror/dark comedy whose main character is a young woman dealing with the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election. Shot on locations throughout Chicago and featuring a primarily female cast, American Barbarian portrays the tumultuous time period we live in. American Barbarian toured the film festival circuit with Zoe Pike winning Best Actress in France, Amsterdam, and the U.S. DOP Collin Rogers also won Best Cinematography in Amsterdam. The film screened at The Chicago Horror Festival and was accepted into the Chicago Art House BLOW-UP Festival, among others. In addition, Mr. Carr won Best Director at the Int'l Filmaker Festival of World Cinema, Milan and actress Karen O. Fort won Best Supporting Actress.
A 72 & 1/2 minute film entitled EMPIRE, a feature length horror/sci-fi/fantasy film dealing with ecological armaggedon, is the latest film from Busted City Productions and has recently entered the festival circuit. EMPIRE just received nominations at the 2020 Nice Int'l Film Fest for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Two highly regarded Chicago actors star in this intense drama. Don Schroeder is the captain of the ill-fated ship and Nick Leininger is his passenger. The South Europe Int'l Film Festival at Valencia also accepted the film and awarded nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Director & Best Original Screenplay. Originally scheduled for May of 2020, the festival has moved to an October date due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Empire will also screen at the Central Florida Film Festival in January, 2021.
Busted City Productions also wrapped production on a feature length comedy in September of 2019. Currently in post production, the film should be completed sometime in 2020.