ABOUT
Focused on characters played by myself (Rod Webber), and Greta Gerwig, Northern Comfort is the second of my experimental films shot primarily in three days, and is based upon a 10-point list of guidelines which I conceived as an artistic challenge for myself, and friends who were brave enough to come along.
Those people were Greta Gerwig, Joseph James Bellamy, Matthew D. Ferrel, Irina Peligrad, Marcus Nechay, David T. Grophear, Timothy Brenner, Mike Kovalko and Ramona Pettygrave. The film is filled with imperfections and irregularities, but they are ours, and we love them.
Aaron Bellamy of Last Monday Band was kind enough to let us use their music to score the film– And we feel the understated jazz rhythms and chords are the perfect soundtrack to this piece.
Greta and I corresponded for a number of years, and are glad we found a way to collaborate with this film, of which we couldn’t be more proud. You couldn’t find a more down-to-earth, hard-working trooper. Her long hours of trudging through the snow and suffering in the cold paid off in a most satisfying way!
NUTS AND BOLTS
Guided only by a set of books-on-tape by Greek philosopher Socrates, Horace and Cassandra are a mismatched duo who must learn to work together or meander aimlessly throughout the frozen wilderness. The two strike up a friendship, but after a night of drinking and spitting-up blood in a hotel bathroom, Cassandra has second thoughts about the pairing, and leaves the next morning.
Horace and Cassandra cross paths again, but after her car breaks down, they are forced to find shelter in the woods. They come across a cabin inhabited by an eccentric hermit (Markus Nechay) who let’s them get out from the cold. They spend the night telling stories and playing along with the hermit who is fond of fiddle and beat poetry.
When Cassandra is confronted with the reality that her sickness is worsening, she must decide whether to stick it out with Horace, or find her own way, knowing that her time is running out.
SHOT BY
Tim Brenner, David T. Grophear, Matthew D. Ferrel and Rod Webber
SOUND
Mike Kovalko
PERFORMERS
Rod Webber, Greta Gerwig, Joseph James Bellamy, Irina Peligrad, Marcus Nechay, David T. Grophear, Tim Brenner.
MUSIC
Last Monday Band
The Cups
Rod Webber
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
Somewhere between home and where the heart is, is the place that we’re all going. When confronted with our humanity and our mortality we are forced to answer the questions: Who do I want to be, and where do I want to go?
Rod Webber 