THE MISDEMEANOR PERSPECTIVE: CHAPTER 2

THE MISDEMEANOR PERSPECTIVE: CHAPTER 2

SYNOPSIS When two young men are stopped by a police officer, a simple misdemeanor spirals out of control. A gripping drama shot live-action in 360 degrees and alternating between four distinct points-of-view, The Misdemeanor highlights the subjectivity of memory and personal experience with an ambitious approach to narrative storytelling in virtual reality. TRT 17 min / USA / 2016 World Premiere: Sundance Film Festival New York Premiere: Tribeca Film Festival

SELECT PRESS for The Misdemeanor, Perspective Chapter 2 A viscerally haunting experience...contains multitudes. Something that's really never been done with VR before." WIRED "What the 'Perspective' series does is create a world in which seeing things from both sides isn t just possible, it s encouraged. It dissects the emotionally charged situation through the eyes of different characters, and puts the viewer right on the front lines. A powerful tool to help enact real change. Gripping." MTV News It s poignant, chaotic, and puts you right into the middle of unfolding events. PASTE magazine The underlying concept remains tantalizing can VR, thanks to its 360-cinema qualities, help us understand a hot news topic in a way that CNN can t? The Los Angeles Times The Misdemeanor is as powerful as anything experienced in VR.The future of entertainment and film. USA TODAY "Disturbing and relevant, nothing quite like it...for those who reject the notion that there's a systematic problem plaguing the country's law enforcement, there's now a tool to help them see it with their own eyes." Thrillist One of the most arresting VR shorts to screen at this year s Sundance. HUCK Magazine Lives up to the series intention of pushing viewers outside their comfort zone and forcing a raw emotional response. VR Scout

DIRECTOR S STATEMENT It seems we ve reached an impasse in discussions around race particularly around racism as it relates to and collides with authority. We are a nation deeply polarized. The brotherhood of police officers has gone from respected to suspected, from heroes to bullies with badges and people of color, particularly young black men, are seen as enemy number one. Everyone is forced to pick a side. The Misdemeanor is an attempt to push an understanding of how we have come to this place, this impasse. It is a film that does not shy away from the strong emotions of those who have already aligned themselves with either the victim or the victimizer the cop vs. the young man, or the young man vs. the cop. As a person of color, I am saddened we cannot seem to progress the conversation toward positive solutions. My uncle, brother and cousins are Chicago police officers, and I understand the danger they feel. I also understand the danger young people of color feel. It s a standoff that often ends in lives changed forever. Rose Troche

CO-CREATOR BIO: MORRIS MAY Morris May has been a special effects expert in the motion picture industry for more than 25 years. He has worked on 30+ Hollywood films, including two Academy Award winners: Spiderman (Best Visual Effects) and Happy Feet (Best Animated Feature Film.) May served as the CG Supervisor for a number of films, such as The Fast and the Furious and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. May founded Specular Theory in 2013 to break new ground in the realm of virtual reality content. Constantly at the forefront of this rapidly changing field, the studio s developers customize immersive technologies to uniquely amplify the storytelling for each individual project. As CEO of Specular Theory, May researches, selects and develops cutting-edge technology to create VR experiences and the tools to make storytelling possible in the new unexplored world of virtual reality. Morris May's compelling work and status as a VR thought leader has garnered him coverage in Time, Variety, Buzzfeed, PC World, Cool Hunting, Forbes, The Verge, TechCrunch, MTV News, The Wall Street Journal and many others.

CO-CREATOR BIO: ROSE TROCHE Writer/director/producer Rose Troche s debut feature Go Fish was a landmark in independent cinema, and the first film ever to secure a distribution deal at the Sundance Film Festival. After premiering in competition and sparking an intense bidding war, Go Fish was a breakout hit nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, winner of the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin Film Festival, the Audience Award at Deauville Film Festival, and the Open Palm Award at the Gotham Awards. Her second feature, the British comedy Bedrooms and Hallways, starring Kevin McKidd, James Purefoy and Hugo Weaving, premiered at the Edinburgh and Toronto Film Festivals, and received the Audience Award at the London Film Festival prior to its distribution by First Run Features. Troche also wrote and directed The Safety of Objects, starring Glenn Close, Dermot Mulroney, Patricia Clarkson, and Kristen Stewart in her first film role. The Safety of Objects premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, opened the San Sebastian International Film Festival, and won the Critics Award and Best Actress Award at Deauville before its theatrical release by IFC. Troche was also sole producer of Stacie Passon's Concussion, a 2013 Sundance competition film acquired by The Weinstein Company, nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, winner of a Gotham Award and Teddy Jury Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Troche's TV work includes Showtime's hit series The L Word, HBO's Six Feet Under, and ABC's Ugly Betty. She is also an Executive Producer, along with Cary Fukunaga, on Little Boxes, premiering at Tribeca 2016. Troche s career began in experimental film, and she is pleased to come full circle with the Perspective virtual reality series and with Sugar, a multi-part narrative experiment to be released in 2016 by PBS. She is currently in pre-production on an upcoming feature, This Is Not Me. IMDB

TEAM BIOS AMY LO (Producer) has produced major motion pictures as well as micro-budget independents, with projects acquired and distributed by Sony, Universal, MTV, IFC and PBS. She s served on the Selection Advisory Committee for the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, and review panels for the Tribeca Film Institute, the Gucci Tribeca film grants, the Global Film Initiative, and the International Emmy Awards. Amy's global production experience spans four continents, with projects filmed in the UK, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. JOEY AUZENNE (Cast: Officer Arroyo) holds numerous film and TV credits including Pariah, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, King Kelly, Nurse Jackie, Flight of the Conchords, Person of Interest, and Blue Bloods. SHEMAR JONAS (Cast: Damon) was born in Newark and grew up between Guyana, Brooklyn, and West Virginia. Cast as Damon while waiting for a friend at an audition, The Misdemeanor is his first on-camera appearance. JAVON JONES (Cast: Shaun) was born in Guyana and currently lives in Brooklyn. At his first-ever audition, he secured the lead role in the short film Little Man directed by Princeton Holt, and other projects soon followed, including Michael Marantz's The Cycle; and Teresa Lu's BOO. JOHNATHAN TCHAIKOVSKY (Cast: Officer Bell) had his first major role on FX s hit series Rescue Me. Notable film work includes James Ponsoldt's Off the Black, Descent starring Rosario Dawson, Concussion directed by Stacie Passon, and Martin Scorsese s The Wolf of Wall Street.

PRODUCTION NOTES Filmed entirely on location on the streets of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, NYC, Perspective Chapter 2: The Misdemeanor is a powerful drama captured in a true real-world environment. As in the previous Perspective Chapter 1: The Party, our new film The Misdemeanor explores the same sequence of events from differing points of view this time expanding to four distinct perspectives instead of two. Using a custom-built camera designed and built by Specular Theory, we also filmed in a full 360- degrees. With nowhere to hide gear, lights, or rigging, we employed natural light only and limited our shooting to daytime hours. Post-production also presented significant challenges, both technical and creative. Building the narrative in a virtual reality context, the creative team dramatically adapted traditional editing conventions to progress the story in a natural way. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Amy Lo Producer Mental Pictures 646.875.8115 amy@mentalpictures.net