Love Stalk, a Social Media Microfilm Turns Full-Length Feature
After the successful premiere of the microfilm Love Stalk in the film festivals in Hong Kong, Singapore and the U.S., independent filmmakers Angie Palmer and Joe Fiorello have gathered support to develop this social media thriller into a full-length feature in 2014.
The teaser trailer (http://youtu.be/dFG6EtfJLLA) for the feature was just launched today.
The opportunity to enter the One2Free Microfilm Contest 2012 brought Angie and Joe together, two seemingly different artistes but are tightly connected by the same vision and passion for independent films, a small niche and difficult market in Hong Kong. Their Fast Love entry got them the title of Grand Prize Winner in June.
This inspired them to continuously look for opportunities to manifest their creativity and love for storytelling through the camera.
"There was great chemistry on set and I knew we would work together again very soon," says Joe, a New Yorker in Hong Kong who is experienced in directing corporate videos and shorts. True enough, the microfilm version of Love Stalk was their next project a few months later.
“Being in a cosmopolitan city, we wanted a story that is a fish out of water tale, satire of social media addiction, and psychology thriller with interesting cultural elements from Hong Kong and Singapore,” says Angie.
Angie is an actress, model, and producer who repatriated back to Hong Kong. Locally born and globally raised, she has been involved with many local and U.S. shorts, features, commercials, theater plays, hair shows, and fashion shows the last few years.
Love Stalk is a story of a Singaporean executive called Sharon Ong who has a hard time finding love in Hong Kong. Her fortune seems to have changed when she briefly meets Ryan Tam and finds that he “checks in” online into one of her favorite spots.
As Sharon starts following him through his check-ins, she soon realizes the dangers of stalking her secret crush.
The microfilm version was made in 2012 with a budget of US$500 and a total of four cast and crew members who multitasked and thought out of the box, but producer Angie Palmer said it has a production value that is out of the ordinary. The team has been developing Love Stalk into a feature-length movie since 2013 and is adamant about making it an independently funded project with private funds and crowdfunding.
She emphasizes it is an independent film but is run as a commercial movie with both commercial and independent actors. The teaser trailer for the feature version was just launched today and they are hoping to start principal photography in spring 2014.
