THE GREEN MILL: A REAL CHICAGO JOINT is the first documentary produced by Busted City Productions. This nearly one hour doc is a behind the scenes look at Chicago's world famous jazz club, The Green Mill, & features outstanding music from The Chicago Cellar Boys, trumpeter Brad Goode & the late great Von Freeman on sax. The film won Best Indie Feature, Best Soundtrack & Best Trailer at the Costa Brava FF in Spain, Honorable Mention at Madonie Film Festval of Sicily & was accepted by the Central Florida IFF & agreed to screen next year due to a travel snafu. The Lake County FF & Beloit IFF accepted the film & Chicago Film Frenzy bestowed Best Chicago Film award.The Labyrinth Arts & Performance Collective screened the film at The Davis in Chicago. The Blow-Up Chicago Int'l ArtHouse Film Awards awarded a Finalist honor. HITCHHIKING TO MARS was filmed in the deserts of New Mexico & this 15-minute Silent Film tells the tale of two sisters attempting to flee Earth for their home in outer space. The film won Best Sci-Fi Short at the Queen City Film Festival in Cincinnati, screened in Chicago at The Labyrinth FF at The Davis Theater, Atomacon of Charleston, SC & The Pueblo Film Festival in Colorado. The Indie Gathering of Cleveland accepted Hitchhiking to Mars for their 2024 festival as did The Mosaic World Film Festival of Rockford, Il & We Make Movies IFF of Hollywood. The film screened in Norway at The Bergen Unstable FF, the Astrophobia Fiction & Horror FF in British Columbia, Canada, was awarded Best Silent Film at The Route 66 FF of Springfiled, Il, named a Semi-Finalist at the Blow-Up Int'l Arthouse FF of Chicago, won Best Sci-Fi at The Asian talent FF of India, won Best Sci-Fi Fantasy at the Gallup FF of New Mexico & was accepted by the City Lights FF of Aurora, Il. INTERLUDE is 7-minute short considered an experimental or art film by some, a music video by others. The film is interspersed with archival clips of opera sung by Katherine Terrell & screened in Hollywood at the We Make Movies IFF & in Illinois at The Mosaic World FF. The film premiered in January 2023 at The Central Florida FF. Also awarded at Bharatha Desam Int'l FF winning Best Concept, Best Experimental Short Film & Best Actress. The Frankly Film Fest in Cincinnati awarded Honorable Mention for Best Music Video. Finalist in Turkey at Fotofilm IFF. Accepted by The Indie Gathering (Cleveland), Paleochora Lost World Short FF (Crete), 2023 ARFF Amsterdam, Honorable Mention awards from LA Underground FF & Experimental Forum (LA), Finalist at The Goldstar IFF, Bizzarya Short Film Fest (Portugal).
CASUAL CRIMINALS is a feature length slapstick comedy (in the tradition of Mel Brooks) that toured in 2022 as a Finalist at CENFLO for Best Comedy Feature, won Best Feature Film at FFI London, World Cinema Edinburgh named Brian Walsh Best Actor, garnered 11 noms from Nice IFF & World Independent Cinema Paris, winning Best English Language Film in Paris & Best Actress for Arin Mulvaney in Nice, Reel Comedy of suburban Chicago awarded 2 noms, North Europe IFF awarded Best Editor to Collin Rogers, Lit Laughs (UK) named the film Semi-Finalist for Best Comedy, The Indie Gathering awarded 3rd Best Romantic Comedy, accepted by The Chicago Int'l Indie FF, The Great Canadian Comedy Festival in Toronto, Antwerp FFI and Rome FFI, with Arin Mulvaney winning Best Actress. WSE IFF named Zoe Pike Best Supporting Actress, Brian Walsh Best Supporting Actor & Hannah Dobratz Winner for Hair & Makeup. The Blow Up Art House FF in Chicago named the film a Semi-Finalist & WICA Edinburgh awarded Paul L Carr as Best Director.
EMPIRE is a feature length Sci-fi/Fantasy set in The Pacific Trash Vortex. Winners include Best Actor for Nick Leininger (South Europe IFF, World Cinema Antwerp & Broadstairs IFF), Best Supporting Actor for Don Schroeder (West Europe IFF, East Europe IFF (Nick Schultz Best Editor at Broadstairs IFF) The Colorado Int'l Sci-Fi & Fantasy FF awarded "The Most Shockingly Artistic Feature Film" & "Be The Change" award.
AMERICAN BARBARIAN is a feature film dealing with the aftermath of Donald Trump's election. This dark comedy & political satire won Best Actress Awards for Zoe Pike at Nice IFF, World Cinema Amsterdam and Mindfield (New Mexico) Collin Rogers/ Best Cinematography in Amsterdam, Karen O. Fort Best Supporting Actress & Paul L. Carr Best Director at IFF World Cinema, Milan, screened at The Chicago Horror FF and accepted by The Chicago Blow-Up Arthouse FF. BUSTED CITY portrays the intense racial politics surrounding the election of Harold Washington as Chicago's first Black Mayor. This critically acclaimed 82 minute feature won laurels in London (Arch Harmon, Best Supporting Actor) & screened in France, Italy & the U.S. Paul L Carr is the writer, producer & director of all the films from Busted City Productions.