CNGM PICTURES, the cinematic collective that makes films with character-driven stories, holds its “Hats Off to Characters” fund-raiser Saturday, Nov. 12, where guests are invited to wear personality-expressive headgear or come as their favorite fictional character.
“Hats Off” will review films finished in 2011 and projects that need funding assistance in the year ahead. Guests can then decide which projects they wish to support.
One of those projects is writer/director Michael Noens’ feature, “Two Days in February” (see the trailer below), a 75-minute romance drama about a breakup but not without hope of finding love.
It stars Chicago actors Nick Cardiff (co-founder/ president of Nothing Special Productions), Katherine Cunningham (“Shameless”) and Courtney Rioux (“NightLights”).
Noens and producer Erica Lynn Schmeck completed the film, which they shot in Chicago, last year. “We need funds to cover festival submissions and to find a distributor,” says Noens, the “N” in CNGM Pictures.
The non-profit collective was founded in 2004 by Steve Colter, who works for NBC Universal in L.A., Jeff Greene, the artistic director and coordinator of Palatine’s Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, actor Nick Mikula of the improv comedy group Octavarius and filmmaker Noens.
To the founders’ knowledge, CNGM Pictures is the only such collective in the area. “Professionals are employed in the projects and we bring in novices and students and teach them the craft of film,” notes Greene, who considers himself “more of a guiding consultant on the side” to the company.
Since CNGM Pictures started, it has produced 13 features and numerous shorts. “All have been self-distributed with the hope of theatrical release, and many have been festival favorites,” says Noens.
The other two projects being pitched for funding are a trans-media web series, “I Made America,” being produced in conjunction with Octavarius improv, and CNGM’s annual Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival held in July.
Tickets to the event are $30 and include appetizers and drinks. The venue is Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, 150 E. Wood St., Palatine.
