Experiencing Interruptions?

Pandemic Response

A group of filmmakers joined together in group therapy during the pandemic create six films from their personal experiences.

  • Angelique Midthunder
    Director
    Don’t, Silent Thunder, America’s First Horse
  • Brennan Foster
    Director
    Last Night at the Drive In, Beauty Bend
  • Brent Morris
    Director
    Flamenco School, Made in New Mexico
  • Molly McKinley
    Director
  • Otgadahe Whitman-Fox
    Director
  • Reinhard Lorenz
    Director
    Flamenco School, Beauty Bend
  • Angelique Midthunder
    Writer
  • Brennan Foster
    Writer
  • Brent Morris
    Writer
  • Lava Buckley
    Writer
    The Rewrite
  • Molly McKinley
    Writer
  • Angelique Midthunder
    Producer
  • Brennan Foster
    Producer
  • Brent Morris
    Producer
    American Gun, Love Happens
  • Lava Buckley
    Producer
    Conductor, Rescue
  • Molly McKinley
    Producer
  • Otgadahe Whitman-Fox
    Producer
  • Reinhard Lorenz
    Producer
  • J Keenan Wallace
    Producer
  • James Kwan
    Producer
  • Brent Morris
    Key Cast
    "Greg"
    LA Without a Map, Fowl Play
  • Lava Buckley
    Key Cast
    "Kay"
    Rescue, The Rewrite
  • Lorenne Gavish
    Key Cast
    "Maria"
  • Jen Stephenson
    Key Cast
    The Surrogate
  • Molly McKinley
    Key Cast
    "Molly, A. Hab"
  • Leila McKinley
    Key Cast
    "Leila, Quee Queg"
  • Eamon Callisto
    Key Cast
    "Eamon, Ish Mael"
  • Otgadahe Whitman-Fox
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Caitlin Padilla
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Jane Morris, PhD
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Documentary, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 17 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 15, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Black Magic, Iphone, Zoom
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Angelique Midthunder , Brennan Foster, Brent Morris, Molly McKinley, Otgadahe Whitman-Fox, Reinhard Lorenz

As a collaborative project, six directors created the individual pieces of Pandemic Response. (In order of their contributions)

Brent Morris (“A Different Sun”) has produced or production managed more than seventy feature film, television and documentary projects including Smoke Signals, Monster, American Gun and the upcoming BIOS, starring Tom Hanks. He co-directed two feature documentaries, Made in New Mexico, an inside story of the state’s film industry and Flamenco School, a chronicle of Eva Encinias’ teachings and influence.

Reinhard Lorenz (“Meals on Wheels”) works as a producer in the film industry and independently as a filmmaker. He co-directed Flamenco School and also teaches film as adjunct faculty with the University of New Mexico and holds an MFA from the University of Arts in Berlin, Germany.

Angelique Midthunder (“Zenophobia”) is an Emmy-nominated casting director with over one hundred films to her credit. With a background in documentary filmmaking for Disney, Animal Planet and PBS, Midthunder returns to direct Zenophobia, a docudrama inspired by true events involving attacks on Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Molly McKinley (“The Hungry Game”) is a seasoned film editor on a wide array of topics and genres. She’s also worked on unscripted series on house flipping and car restoration. Her work has aired theatrically and on PBS, History Channel, National Geographic, Discover, A&E and Travel Channel. Molly is a graduate of the University of Chicago. She studied editing under the wing of veteran doc editor Victor Kanefsky and is the mother to two amazing young adults, Leila and Eamon.

Otgadahe Whitman-Fox (“New Life”) works in front and behind the camera as an actress and producer and is a board member of NM Women in Film and works with many festivals, accompanying Women in Film & Television International to the Cannes Film Festival 2018 and 2019. Otgadahe is Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara from the Fort Berthold reservation and advocates for telling the real storylines of Natives in the film industry.

Brennan Foster (“A Toad at the Door”) has worked in various capacities on New Mexico film productions and made Last Night at the Drive-In, which documented the last North American drive-in movie theater using a carbon arc projection system. Also an actor, he is the Artistic Director of Albuquerque’s Mother Road Theatre Company.

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Director Statement

On March 11, 2020, beloved actor Tom Hanks was diagnosed with Covid-19 in Australia, an event that triggered a tsunami in the global film & media industry. Within days, the entire production community was out of work. Filmmaking, in the way we knew it, was impossible during quarantines and stay-at-home orders.

At home in New Mexico, Brent Morris put out a call to action to friends in the film industry. A core group of nine responded and banded together to create personal, professional short films with something to say about the human condition in this unparalleled time. A vow of safety was taken by all and the films were written, shot and edited with that as a paramount concern. Now, joined together by their group therapy zoom sessions, the collective project is offered up as a feature-length response to the pandemic.