Filmmaking Incubator Opens in Hamptons with Award-winning Talent

NEW YORK, May 19, 2007 – Filmmakers Christine Giorgio and Erika Yeomans yesterday announced the launch of their creative studio-arena in the Hamptons village of Sag Harbor.

The filmmaking venture, known as the Sag Harbor Lab (SHLAB) will host a June 30 summer fundraising party with art exhibitions and screenings of films by SHLAB award-winning artists including Yeomans (“Chubby Buddy”; “Paging Dr. Freud”), Berlin Film Festival honoree, Daniel Stedman (“Celebration”) and Marlene Rhein (“Let Me Tell You A Story”)

The establishment of SHLAB was made possible by the generosity of a Long Island businessman who donated the former club space to Ms. Giorgio and Ms. Yeomans for their artistic use and cinematographic experimentation. Financial support was provided by sponsor, Fractured Atlas. Ms. Giorgio and Ms. Yeomans will serve jointly as directors of the studio and act as coordinating producers for various projects being developed by the growing roster of visiting directors and producers.

Headlining the slate are Ms. Rhein’s HD feature “The Big Shot-Caller”, Ms. Giorgio’s featurette “The Bitter End” and Ms. Yeomans episodic foreign feature, “Adolescence.”

Christine Giorgio’s “The Bitter End”, is set almost entirely on water. It will be shot on Super 16 at locations in Sag Harbor and Manhattan. The film tells the story of four friends who disappear mysteriously from their rented boat off the coast of Long Island. The film delves into themes of fear, isolation, trust and the evolution of friendships during times of peril.

Marlene Rhein’s feature directorial debut with “The Big Shot-Caller” follows her stellar career directing over 40 internationally acclaimed music videos, including Tupac Shakur’s last composition, “All About You.” Rhein also wrote, directed and starred in the award-winning short film, “Let Me Tell You A Story.”

“The Big Shot-Caller” is the story of Jamie — a self-sufficient loner who meets a girl that breaks his heart but, in doing so, liberates his life. Despite being afflicted by a rare congenital visual impairment and profound depression, he finds salvation in his childhood dream of salsa dancing.

In “Adolescence” — Erika Yeomans’ second feature — she uses gothic texture to examine the strains on familial bonds when an American child goes missing during a vacation in Holland. The film uses non-linear narrative to explore the various meanings of adolescence and to celebrate the inherent resilience of the human spirit. Filmed episodically, the first will be shot at SHLAB in August 2007 with the participation of Brian Slaten (“Pose Down”; “Law and Order: SVU”; “Criminal Intent”; “The Tourist”)