Summer Hill Films released the full-length feature film The Luring this summer on Amazon, Youtube Movies, Google Play, iTunes and other streaming platforms. Writer, director and producer Christopher Wells, a Long Island native and New York City based filmmaker, raised money by enticing private investors with the first scene. “They were impressed I had invested my own money to jumpstart the project,” Wells recalls. Winning “Best Thriller Feature” from the Motor City Nightmares International Film Festival in 2019 helped secure a distribution deal.
A Pandemic Release
Then all of a sudden, the unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic brought film festivals and live screenings to halt, a huge piece of the puzzle when releasing a movie for the first time. Instead, Wells decided to get creative. He shot and produced a short film in his New York apartment called ‘Quarantine Suncreen.’ “Producing my short film during the pandemic was to keep my sanity, I was going crazy and wanted to make people laugh,” he recalls. The story offers humor and delight to the situation we all face being trapped at home, with only our minds and our work to keep us busy.
It provided a perfect segue to get more eyes on his work, and to prove you don’t need a huge team or budget to create something worth watching. He believes one way to be a successful low budget filmmaker is to first have an understanding of your financial limitations, then produce a film that has a greater production value. Therefore those restrictions become an asset because “A good story can be told no matter the budget,” he says.
Feeling the Effects of COVID
As COVID took hold of the world and his release date crept closer and closer, Wells felt the effects of the pandemic. “Having my first feature film The Luring released during COVID-19 is a bit surreal, because I’m experiencing an extreme high during the most extreme low point of the United States history.” Yet he remains steadfast in his role as a director and producer, “I know there are more important things happening than my film, yet my job is to entertain.” The Long Island native looks at his work as a way to “take people’s minds off things for a bit.”
The Story of The Luring
The film features the main character, Garret, who tries to recover a lost memory that took place during his tenth birthday at his family’s vacation home in Vermont. Unbeknownst to him, something unspeakable happened; as a result Garrett was found in a non-responsive state by his parents. Psychiatrists call it dissociative amnesia — a loss of memory due to a traumatic event — but Garrett will soon learn some memories reveal things he wished weren’t true.
About Christopher Wells
Christopher Wells is a NYC based director and Long Island native who started his own full service video and production company, Kaleidoscope Pictures. Watch the full length movie here, and check out more of Christopher’s work at Kpictures.com.
