Pens to Lens 2013

Written by Beatrice, Catherine, David, Dennis, Jonathan, Reuben, & Saewoong

Two poor people need money to get a house so they catch an eel.

Filmmaker: Tim Meyers

You’ll often find Tim Meyers behind the camera as a Director of Photography for several locally-produced short films. He is thrilled to be a part of Pens To Lens, as well as the ever-growing local filmmaking community in Champaign-Urbana. Tim is currently a television and radio producer at Illinois Public Media.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by Logan Lindsey & Blake Primmer

Two boys are ready to mine, but someone’s watching them and they don’t know who.

Filmmaker: Andrew Stengele

Andrew Stengele is a man of many disciplines. Aside from directing “Into the Mine”, he has also done voice acting, editing, motion capture performance, animation, sound design, and even puppeteered a marionette in Pens To Lens shorts.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by Madelyn Childress, Taqia Heryadi & Maya Kesan

A little girl’s beloved toy bunny goes missing and is used for malicious purposes.

Filmmaker: Thomas Nicol

Thomas Nicol has produced a number of shorts over the past few years with teams built from this fantastic community. For the past couple of years he’s managed Champaign Movie Makers, a networking organization connecting local filmmakers since 2008, and served on the board of the CU Film Society.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by Ella Greer

Cassie trades the devil her soul for a hamburger but the devil makes a big fuss over it because it’s not clean so Sammi and Danielle have to save Cassie from herself.

Filmmakers: Joe Taylor and Bill Kephart

This is the first co-production of Joe Taylor and William Kephart. With a love of quirky, comical scripts, they felt this was the perfect excuse to team up – and a good cause! Joe Taylor is a local filmmaker and producer, best known for his successful web series “Up the Creek.” William Kephart, is an actor and writer for local indie productions. Both truly enjoyed working with their talented young cast.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by Quinn Fisher

Super Quinn teaches Mr. Machine about diabetes during their fight.

Filmmaker: Mike Trippiedi

In the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s, Mike Trippiedi was just one of a handful of people that were making movies in the Champaign-Urbana area. He is thrilled to see the local film community grow and even happier to be involved with all of these young writers. Although he will be the first to admit that technology has passed him by, he is pleased to still be able to contribute his talents as an actor, writer and director to various local film projects.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by Iona Sofia Hopping

Ivy and her dog Idris are invited into a parallel world by her unconscious self to help finish a quest.

Filmmaker: Luke Boyce

Luke Boyce is the Creative Director at Shatterglass Studios, a film and new media production company in Champaign that he founded in 2006. He is a passionate film-buff and lover of all things “cinema” and helped to create the CU Film Society in 2011. He also currently serves on the board for the Art Theater Co-Op.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by Aly Hastings

Jim and Jenna are waiting outside of Jim’s cousin, Dave’s home and are reminiscing of prior “Dinner Parties.”

Filmmaker: Victor Miely

Victor Miely started dabbling in filmmaking in late 2010 while finishing his architectural graduate degree in Ohio. This initial spark ignited a series of ever more exciting opportunities in the awesome world of filmmaking. His collaborations and experiences with the diverse and wonderful local talent in works such as “The Job” (2012), “House of Thadeus” (2013), and “The Famine” (2013) have only added to and expanded his love of making movies.

Cast and Crew credits (IMDB)

Written by: Ruth Chung

A young girl and boy try to dig a tunnel to Greenland to see snow and ice during the summertime.

Filmmaker: Anne Lukeman

Anne Lukeman, along with her husband and filmmaking partner Chris Lukeman, has produced several films under the Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions banner, in addition to their commercial video work as Railsplitter Media. By day, she works as a video producer for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Public Affairs office. She is also proud to serve as a board member of the CU Film Society and enjoys telling ridiculous stories about her cats.

Cast and crew credits (IMDB)

Written by three students from Urbana High School

A story about a Mexican family that experiences poverty and immigration problems as they come to the U.S.A.; it is based on a true story and it talks about the lives of illegal immigrants and what they go through.

Filmmaker: AJ Christensen

AJ Christensen is a simulation artist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, a committee chair for the international computer graphics community ACM SIGGRAPH, and a board member for CU Film Society. He does visual effects work on local films, and is excited for his directorial debut here at Pens To Lens.

Cast and crew credits (IMDB)