''An Act of War'' (original title: ''The Projectionist'') is a 2015 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

written and directed by

Ryan M. Kennedy Ryan M. Kennedy is an American screenwriter and film director. His feature film debut '' An Act of War'' was released on March 31, 2015 in North America by Revolver Entertainment and is currently available on Netflix. Career ''An Act of War'' '' ...

and produced by Atit Shah. The film stars Russ Russo,

Natasha Alam Natasha Alam (Russian: Наталья Анатольевна Шиманчук; born Natalia Anatolievna Shimanchuk, born March 10, 1973) is an Uzbekistani–American actress and model. Alam has starred on ''True Blood'' and been a cover model for ...

, Doug E. Doug,

Joseph R. Gannascoli Joseph R. Gannascoli (born February 15, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Vito Spatafore on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''. Prior to acting, Gannascoli was a professional chef. Early life Gannascoli was born an ...

Robert Miano Robert Miano (born September 25, 1942) is an American actor. Early life Robert Miano was born in New York City and raised in the Southeast Bronx neighborhood. He is of Italian descent. At the age of fifteen Robert Miano was discovered by a tale ...

and

Kiowa Gordon Kiowa Joseph Gordon (born March 25, 1990) is an American actor of Hualapai descent. He is best known for his role as shapeshifter Embry Call in ''The Twilight Saga,'' as well as Junior in the TV series '' The Red Road''. Early life Gordon was ...

. The story follows a recently returned

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

who tries to put his life back together, but is drawn to deeds that may be more dangerous than his

tour of duty For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. ...

. February, 2014,

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

and

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...

reported that the project was the first film to ever release on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

prior to a

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

and

Video on Demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

run. The film was released in North American markets on VOD March 31, 2015 and on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

in July, 2015.

Cast

* Russ Russo as Jacob Nicks *

as Ivana * Doug E. Doug as Marlon *

as Frank *

as Sully * Chris LaPanta as Lt. Sullivan *

Dominik Tiefenthaler Dominik Tiefenthaler () (born 1971) is an Austrian-German actor, mainly working in American TV and films. His work includes ''Gossip Girl'',

as Det. Nicks *

Kevin Interdonato Kevin Interdonato (b. April 5, 1979) is an American actor. He began his career on the East Coast, an Actor known for his work on the rising Indie film scene in NYC, Philadelphia and NJ. From 2001, his Television roles on The Sopranos, Law And Order, ...

as The Stalker *

as Private. Locklear

Production

Development

Ryan M. Kennedy directed the film from a script he spent two years developing while working full-time as a waiter at a

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

restaurant. He showed the finished draft to a French

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the c ...

Nicolas Canton living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and the two began planning to produce the film with a small sum of their own money. After receiving a copy of the script in January 2011, a local producer, Atit Shah offered to partner with Kennedy and the two began to work on expanding the scope of the project.

Casting

Shortly after securing the rights to the script,

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

sent the screenplay over to actor Russ Russo, whom Shah had met several years prior at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

. The production signed Russo in February 2011.

Casting Director In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra for a particular role or part in a script, screenplay, ...

Rita Powers round out the remaining cast with

, Doug E. Doug,

, and

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

took place in March 2011, in

, predominantly in Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill and East Williamsburg neighborhoods. Kennedy had rented a production space in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

prior to meeting Shah, an expense Shah felt was unnecessary. Unable to break the lease,

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

Robert Dancy converted the raw space into two different key locations within the movie and the space proved to be a big win for production. The film was shot on the

Arri Alexa The Arri Alexa (stylised as ΛLEXΛ) is a digital motion picture camera system developed by Arri. First introduced in April 2010, the camera was Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography after previous efforts such as the Arr ...

over a period of 32 days. Additional filming took place in various locations around

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, and in upstate NY near Red Hook.

Release and reception

The film was released on

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

March 31, 2015 and on Netflix July 15, 2015. ''An Act of War'' received generally favorable

reviews A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indi ...

. Aaron Peterson of ''The Hollywood Outsider'' wrote, “a harrowing journey of a film that demands to be seen”. Henrick Vartanian of ''Brave New Hollywood'' praised the film's depiction of soldiers with

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

writing, “this film makes the complexity of the tormented soldier comprehensible to everyday public”. ''The Movie Waffler'' reported, "''An Act of War'' is skillfully scripted and sensitively acted. Prior to its release, the picture won four

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending up ...

awards including

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, Best Director and

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

at the New York-based Take Two Film Festival. The movie was hailed by

and

as the first film to ever have a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

using

prior to more mainstream

film distribution Film distribution (also known as Film exhibition or Film distribution and exhibition) is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the mark ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Act of War, An 2015 psychological thriller films 2010s war films 2015 films 2010s psychological drama films American independent films Films set in the United States Films shot in New York City American neo-noir films 2015 directorial debut films 2015 drama films 2015 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films