A private screening for Cement Suitcase was held at Grand Cinemas Yakima Valley on May 11. (Photo courtesy of Elaina Bruhn Photography)

“The screening went beyond our expectations,” Castaneda said. “Originally, they were going to put us in the 125-seat theater, so we had to limit our invitations. However, they ended up moving us to the 180-seat theater, and our fans did a good job filling that one out too.”

The theater filled not only with local actors in the film, and local crew members who assisted in the two-week Washington filming, but with several other acquaintances and fans eager to see the movie after nearly two years from when it was shot. From local media members to Castaneda’s childhood teachers and friends, to new fans who discovered the movie via Facebook or this Website, attendees formed a line starting inside and extending well outside the theater.

More pictures after the jump!

Movie goer Kate Ibarra waits in line, popcorn in hand, ready to watch the movie. (Photo courtesy of Elaina Bruhn Photography)

“It was impressive to see the turnout on the day of the screening,” said Associate Producer Patrick Ibarra, who like Castaneda grew up 10 minutes from the theater. “I wasn’t surprised, though. The area we’re from is one of the most community-oriented and supportive places around. Everyone knows everyone, and we kept the screening private only because if we didn’t, we would have had 500 friends and family show up trying to get in.”

Bartholomew and producers Doug Spice and Stacey Wilson flew up from California for the screening, eager to see how a new crowd would embrace the project.

“It was an unforgettable experience,” Bartholomew said. “Seeing smiles like that from many people you barely know reminds you that all the hard work was worth it.”

After the movie was shown, and when the applause died down, cast and crew in attendance stood before the audience for a question and answer session. Many questions from the audience were about how the film was made, or what the director envisioned in a scene. Castaneda and crew happily shared their experience, and then invited everyone in attendance to an after party.

Cast and crew stand before the audience during a Q&A session after the movie. (Photo courtesy of Elaina Bruhn Photography)

“One thing that’s great about the area we shot in — everyone is so connected,” Castaneda said. “We were trying to figure out where to go after the screening and someone suggested Snipes Brewery (in Sunnyside), but that closes at 10 p.m. Well, our caterer Roger Hazzard called his friend over there, and they held it open especially for us. We were there past midnight. Not only that, but one of the managers told me the reason they kept it open so late was because her kids were in the movie! Sure enough, her children were both extras in one of the scenes at the winery.”

Castaneda gave much thanks to the theater’s owner, Ray Hallett.

“We couldn’t have had such an amazing screening if it wasn’t for Ray Hallett,” he said. “He really went to bat for our film this weekend.”

Before the after party, Castaneda and Bartholomew handed out movie posters and offered signatures for anyone interested. Expecting only a few friends to line up, the two were happily surprised when they stayed nearly an hour signing autographs, as nearly everyone in the theater got in line and waited their turn to meet them.

Director Rick Castaneda, right, and actor Dwayne Bartholomew autograph posters after the movie. (Photo courtesy of Elaina Bruhn Photography)

“It was a sight to see,” Ibarra said. “I kept thinking, ‘This is just like after a real movie!’ Then I realized the product we’d just put on screen for the audience was just that, and the response was definitely warranted for the quality of film we have put together.”

Director Rick Castaneda poses with  father Guillermo at the screening. (Photo courtesy of Elaina Bruhn Photography)

Castaneda shared a few inside stories with reporter Dori O’Neal, including the day on set an ambulance was called for lead actor Dwayne Bartholomew.

When the scene called for the actor to stumble to the ground, someone in a passing car thought he was having a heart attack and called 911.

“We had cops, and an ambulance arrive in minutes rushing to help,” he said. “It was actually kind of funny.”

The article’s focus though was on Castaneda’s attempt to get Cement Suitcase into film festivals.

“When we first got started on this film, I found myself wishing I had worked on a few big movies in L.A. first before starting my own film,” Castaneda said in the article. “But now I’m glad I didn’t.”

Director Rick Castaneda took a snapshot of DJ Stacy Lee during his visit to the station.

Interviewed by DJ Stacy Lee and DJ Big Jim, Castaneda spoke about why he chose the Yakima Valley as the main location for the shooting of Cement Suitcase, and how he came to directing in the first place.

“I’m from Granger and I grew up wanting to do movies,” Castaneda said during the interview. He decided to shoot in Washington because “it’s gorgeous here. When you shoot in LA, every movie that you see looks like it came from LA. Whenever anyone makes their first film, they usually make it in LA because that’s where they’re usually at at that time of their life. They all end up looking the same. So I wanted to make something that looked completely different, from a place that nobody has ever really seen before.”
DJ Stacy Lee, who landed a small role in the movie after auditioning, talked about her experience on set.

“I had a tiny little speaking part, like two lines,” DJ Stacy Lee said. “My real husband came to the shoot, who ended up being an extra. And then I had my fake movie husband … we didn’t have to kiss or anything.”

“What I found amazing was that filming that one scene … we had to film over and over and over,” she added. “It took literally hours to do that. That just puts it into perspective what actors actually put in.”

To listen to the full interview, which is broken into two audio clips, visit DJ Stacy Lee’s blog post at keyw.com/stacy-lee-in-cement-suitcase-trailer. Click on the blue play icons below the trailer.

For more about the movie, including information on how to win four tickets to tomorrow’s private screening, visit facebook.com/cementsuitcase.

We are very excited to be having our Cast & Crew screening of Cement Suitcase this Saturday!  Like an angel, Hallett Cinemas has swooped in to sponsor our screening, so we’ll be showing it in a real movie theater with 5.1 surrround sound and everything. Thank you Hallett Cinemas!

If you donated above the $500 level on our Kickstarter campaign, you should have gotten an invitation, and we’re hope that you’re coming. Unfortunately, as seating is limited and because of the rules of film festivals, we will not be able to invite the general public, but if you worked on the film and haven’t gotten an invitation, please let us know.

ALSO, Rick will be on the radio at 8am on Friday morning on 98.3 The Key in Tri-Cities to talk about the film, so if you’re in the area tune in!

We’ve got a lot of exciting announcements coming up soon for Cement Suitcase, so stay tuned. It’s all happening.

Many thanks to Brian Retchless for putting it together. He did a great job editing.

Make sure to share it on Facebook!

We’ve got a very fun new video for you to watch from the production of the film. Two great locations on Day 14 – the top of a grain silo, out past Sunnyside, and a wheat field in the Horse Heaven Hills. We also did some shooting outside the Airfield Winery, because hey, when did we ever want to shoot at only two locations?

Many thanks to Scott Christen and Mike Miller for letting us shoot on their property.

Lead Actor Dwayne Bartholomew was a super trooper for climbing up to the top of a rickety old grain silo, and also for running through a field of wheat, which always sounds romantic but is actually quite hurtful. The wheat scratched up his legs pretty bad, and he almost twisted his ankles running across the uneven ground.

This Behind the Scenes video was filmed by Scottie Minshall and edited by Kayla Hoover.

Hello all!

First of all, if you didn’t know yet, Cement Suitcase was not selected for Sundance this year. They received over 4,000 features this year, and only the top 1.4% made it in. However, we have been submitting CS to many more film festivals and will let you know as soon as we have a screening lined up.

That’s the bad news. But we also have some tremendously GOOD NEWS. Remember back in August when I told you that because of your donations, we were able to hire Austin Wintory and Nick Jaina to craft all the music for this film?

Well, Austin’s just been nominated for a GRAMMY!

He’s up against John Williams! (Mayhaps you’ve heard of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or Schindler’s List?)  Also, this is the second time that a principal of Cement Suitcase has been nominated for a major award against The Artist (Jeff Waldron for a Spirit Award in Cinematography).

On the musical side of things, I would like to take the time to announce that all the music for Cement Suitcase is 100% complete! It sounds terrific, and I can’t wait to let you all hear it. The film should be finished soon, and as soon as it is we’ll be sending out rewards. The film has taken a bit longer to finish than we initially thought it would, and we thank you all for bearing with us.

Many congratulations to Austin, and stay tuned for a new video update about Cement Suitcase in the coming weeks!

Rick

writer/director/friend of man

We finally have a recap of Day 13 of our production schedule! Fun was had! Film was shot! Lives were forever changed!

By Day 13, the film production was winding down, but that didn’t mean we could relax. We had 8 1/2 pages to shoot that day!

Many thanks to Dean Laurvick for letting us shoot on his glorious course in the Yakima Valley.

Dwayne Bartholomew religiously prepared for the role of Franklin for 28 years by refusing to ever learn the game of golf, so that on this day he could truly look like he did not know how to play.

This video also describes the incredible technique of “John Rossing.”

Many thanks to Scottie Minshall for shooting this Behind the Scenes video, and many thanks to  Aron Fernandez for editing it.

Hopefully we’ll have a few more of these coming out in the next month or so.

I’m writing to tell you the exciting news that last week we packed up our Cement Suitcase and submitted it to the Sundance Film Festival!

Wish us luck! For the full update, check out our KickStarter page.

Unfortunately, the timelapse I took of starfish did not turn out so well. Although I filmed them for about four hours, they just didn’t move much. Better luck next time.