Experiencing Interruptions?

Neverland

Emma drifts between reality and fantasy as she fights to survive the pain of the life she cannot escape from, while relentlessly struggling to have the life she always dreamed of.

  • Erik Wegner
    Director
  • Erik Wegner
    Writer
    The Runner of Pamplona, Snitches, Devil Within
  • Erik Wegner
    Producer
    The Runner of Pamplona, Snitches, Devil Within
  • Chris VIctor
    Producer
    Breaking Point, The Neighborhood, Snitches
  • Kyle McCuiston
    Producer
    Sheppard
  • Lauren Alexandria Kittrell
    Key Cast
    "Emma Weiss"
    The Perfect Murder, Gravedigger, Gwen, The Runner of Pamplona
  • John Varina
    Key Cast
    "Karl Jensen"
  • Daniel O'Shea
    Key Cast
    "Henry"
    Hamburger Hill, State of Grace, The Rocketeer, Boardwalk Empire
  • Melanie Mahanna
    Key Cast
    "Hailey Hart"
    The Get Down, American Grit, Silent Morning
  • Joe Gawalis
    Key Cast
    "Jacob Prinz"
    American Brawler, Breaking Point, Blue Lives Matter, Momsters
  • Kyle McCuiston
    Composer
    The Runner of Pamplona, Snitches, Devil Within, Lost and Found
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 22 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Erik Wegner

Born and raised on Long Island, NY, Erik found himself to be in an imaginary world of his own from a very young age. As he found himself an outsider from his peers and the world, often ridiculed for being ‘different’ from the rest, he discovered a world of imagination, a world of his own creation from the imagination in his mind. In his early teens, he would spend countless hours on the beaches of Sag Harbor, listening to film scores and creating these imaginary worlds, films that only existed in his mind. When he wasn’t getting in trouble in middle school for writing these stories rather than doing his homework, he started studying and learning the art of writing, acting, and directing from acclaimed Bay Street Theater, John Drew Theater in East Hampton, and many other schools. This was the inception of his passion for acting and writing for stage and screen. Though in his twenties, he moved to the Northwest, where he expanded his focus to filmmaking and film theory to understand, not only narrative, but also the effect and perception of the audience in viewing a film. After working on numerous projects in the Northwest, he returned to New York to combine all of the knowledge he has already gained, as well as skills and abilities, to create moving and emotional works. Works which resinate on a deeper level to viewers, encouraging challenging thought and feeling in understanding the characters as well as themselves, who they are in the world, and what that means. Erik has formed EWfilm and has begun this journey of creating these works by first writing and producing The Runner of Pamplona, and the second film in the EWfilm slate Neverland, which Erik wrote, directed, and produced.

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Director Statement

Love is but a dream...

...a dream that means everything, yet seems impossible to achieve. In Neverland that dream for Emma is the chance for a life where she can be happy, where she can find love, and be in the place that brings her everything she ever wanted. But...what if that dream isn’t what will truly make you happy or give you want you want. What if that dream is a nightmare, and what you really want, what you need to make you happy, you have yet to discover....

“You see the world through rainbow colored glasses.”...

My mother was told this by her father when she was young, traveling, searching for happiness as she struggled through life, fighting to find what she dreamed of. My mother, along with my sister and grandmother, were my strongest influences in life, role models, who always seemed so confident, fearless, independent, and strong, finding good and joy in even the darkest of times, yet I never thought of how they became the amazing women I always knew them to be. That is, not until I began my journey through very similar struggles that seemed almost impossible to get through, in endless years of trying to reach my dreams in film while also surviving. I discovered it wasn’t as effortless as my mother, sister, or grandmother made it seem. I thought back to what my mother was told about how she saw the world, finding myself in difficult times, seeing the world through glasses as she did to see past the bad around me to focus on the good. Then it made me think. Did looking through these glasses, seeing a world the way I wanted to, was this the very thing that is keeping me from getting to where I need to be? Or...was this what I needed to get through what seems impossible, and get to the place I want to be and that makes me happy?

The journey begins...

So I began my journey in telling this story of Emma, surrounded by a world of chaos and the impossible. Through the struggle of fighting for love, a happy life, and the dreams she always wanted, I would try and find how the role models I knew and admired so much in my life, became the strong, fearless, and positive women I always knew them to be. How their journey is one was very similar to my own, as it is to many, regardless of sex, race, nationality, or status. I set out on a journey to tell Emma’s story, not only as a woman, but a person, with the same hopes and dreams, struggles and triumphs that we all face in life.

“She made a new dream....a dream that one day she would be....happy.”

- Erik Wegner