Paul L. Carr is a Chicago film director, producer, writer and actor whose critically acclaimed film, Busted City, portrays the intense 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 U.S. Mr. Carr later 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 vividly portrays the tumultuous time period we live in. American Barbarian toured the festival circuit with Zoe Pike winning Best Lead Actress in France, Amsterdam and the U.S .DOP Collin K. Rogers also won Best Cinematography in Amsterdam. The film screened at The Chicago Horror Film Festival and was accepted into the Chicago Art House BLOW-UP Festival. In addition, Mr. Carr won Best Director at The Int'l Film Maker Festival of World Cinema, Milan and actress Karen O. Fort won Best Supporting Actress. Just recently, The Colorado International Activism Film Festival accepted American Barbarian and named it an award nominee. A 72 & 1/2 minute film entitled Empire, a feature-length horror/sci-fi/fantasy film dealing with ecological Armageddon, is the latest film from Busted City Productions. Mr. Carr wrote, directed, produced and designed the set for Empire. The film received 5 nominations at the 2020 Nice International Film Festival, including Best Director in a Feature Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. The South Europe Int'l Film Festival at Valencia also accepted the film and awarded 6 nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay. Nick Leininger won Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film and also won Best Actor at World Cinema/Antwerp Belgium and again at FFI Broadstairs. Editor Nick Schultz also won for Best Visual Effects at Broadstairs. The East Europe IFF in Warsaw, Poland also accepted Empire and granted 6 nominations, and Don Schroeder won Best Supporting Actor in a Feature, and also won that award at The West Europe Int'l Film Festival. Other acceptances came from Cenflo in Orlando, Festival Angaelica in California and the Colorado Int'l SciFi & Fantasy Film Festival. Empire won two awards there for the most "Shockingly Artistic" feature film and the "Be the Change" feature as well.
A feature length comedy, Casual Criminals, is the latest film from Busted City Productions and premiered at the 2022 Central Florida Film Festival (Cenflo) where it was named a Finalist for Best Comedy Feature. FFI London awarded Casual Criminals the Best Feature Film and World Cinema Edinburgh named Brian Walsh the Best Actor. The film was also accepted by The Nice Int'l Film Festival & World Independent Cinema, Paris and awarded 11 nominations between the two festivals. The film won Best English Language Feature in the Paris IFF and Arin Mulvaney won Outstanding Leading Actress in the Nice IFF.The Reel Comedy Festival in suburban Chicago also accepted the film and the North Europe IFF of London honored Collin K. Rogers with The Best Editing award. The Lit Laughs Int'l Comedy Fest from northern England also named the film a Semi-Finalist for Best Comedy and The Indie Gathering Festival in Cleveland awarded Casual Criminals 3rd Best Romantic Comedy. The Great Canadien Comedy Festival in Toronto also accepted Casual Criminals into their December festival, as did Rome FFI and Antwerp FFI, awarding a dozen nominations between the two festivals in November of 2022.