2007 Third Annual Cross-Cultural Short Film Winner Duncan M. Rogers

Bio

Duncan M. Rogers Director/Writer
Freshwater Films, LLC

Duncan M. Rogers founded Freshwater Films, LLC in the summer of 2002. His first effort, a super 16mm short film called The Ables House is Green opened the Vermont International Film Festival in the fall of 2003 and then screened at the Dancing Goat Short Film Festival in NJ. Subsequently it was screened on MNN in New York City twice over the course of the summer, book ended by an interview with Mr. Rogers. The film contains “some of the most beautiful footage ever shot in the state of Vermont” as described by the Vermont Film Commission. This spring it appeared at the Garden State Film Festival. A festival that has accepted and screened all three shorts from Freshwater Films, LLC.

The second film from the company was another short film called The Reader, this time shot on 35mm and starring Tony Award winning actress Elizabeth Franz and newcomer Morgan Hallett. The Film has won 7 awards and appeared in over 35 festivals to date including The Gotham City Short Film Festival (Where it was invited to screen before a pre-release exhibition of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride at Tribeca Cinemas by the festival director and the people from Warner Brothers), The Williamstown Film Festival, The Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival, The Queens International Film Festival, the Anchorage International Film Festival, Golden Lion Film Festival in Africa, the DeReel Festival in Australia and several more. The Reader is currently enjoying internet distribution and is seeking distribution offers for other media.

Bust marks the third short narrative film that Mr. Rogers has directed and it stars Dan Lauria (best know as Fred Savage’s father on The Wonder Years), Dana Benningfield (author and producer of the piece) and Philip Lynch. It also marks the third time that director Rogers and cinematographer Chris Freilich have worked together. Bust made its world premier in October 2005 in the Short Film Division of the Vermont International Film Festival and screened this past November at the NYC Home Film Festival where The Reader took best short film last time out. Most recently it screened at the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park, then at the NJ International Film and Screenplay Festival and the Dakota or Bust Festival , the Vermont International Film Festival and most recently at the Big Island Film Festival in Hawaii.

Currently in post production is Mr. Rogers’ fourth short film, Bluff , shot on the Panasonic AG-DVX100B. After that a feature based on the acclaimed Naked by the River by Mike Folie. Mr. Folie and Mr. Rogers are in the process of final revisions to the shooting script after which fundraising will begin in earnest.

Mr. Rogers has appeared as a guest on MNN, NYC Channel 49 with James Chadlek, and SOMA TV in New Jersey, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, and Comedy Central. He has also appeared on the now defunct Lee Leonard show. Feature articles written in the New York Times, Hardwick Gazette, The Caledonia Record, The Asbury Park Press, The Wellesley Townsman, The News Record, The Newark Star Ledger, The Atlanticville, and The Cape Codder among many others.

Synopsis

The Reader

The Reader is about an older blind woman, Sissel, and the young Irish gal, Eilene that reads to her. When a letter arrives from Copenhagen for Sissel containing some important news, Eilene makes a monumental decision that begs the question.

Can an act of great love spring from a lie?