COLIN HEARTS KAY, a groundbreaking romantic comedy written, directed and illustrated by Emmy Award-winner Sebastian Conley, featuring hand drawn special effects, animation and an innovative blend of live action and cartoon illustration is about to hit the Asian American film festival circuit. It will be the opening night film at the 2010 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. It will simultaneously make its Southern California debut as an official selection of the 2010 San Diego Asian Film Festival. COLIN HEARTS KAY recently won the Audience Choice Award and the Best Editing Award at the 2010 Brooklyn International Film Festival, where it made its world premiere. The film played to sold-out audiences all three nights of its screenings, prompting festival programmers to add an extra show to accommodate enthusiastic ticket sales.
Colin Hearts Kay is a unique, unequivocally edgy and heartwarming micro-budget gem that seeks to answer the age old question, “What is love?” The film tells its story through the memories of cartoonist Colin Jenson as he tries to uncover what went wrong in his three-year relationship with his girlfriend Kay. Colin’s pursuit of love suffers a setback when a handsome and rich rival, Salvatore, appears in Kay’s life. Ultimately, it’s up to Colin to erase the mistakes of his past and draw upon the lessons learned to win back Kay’s love. Shot entirely in Brooklyn and featuring a soundtrack of brand new music from Brooklyn bands, this indie feature is sure to capture the hearts of young audiences everywhere.
The film stars Noah Starr, a regular on the Food Network’s “Ask Aida,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” and “The Late Show with David Letterman,” as title character Colin. Alongside him is Emmy Award- winning actress Emily Chang (“The Humberville Poetry Slam,” “The Lounge,” “True Blood”), who plays Brooklyn food blogger, Kay Ho. The film innovatively blends animation and live action, and is Conley’s feature film debut as director/writer.
Despite an extremely modest budget, the Conley Brothers managed to pull off extravagant special effects and beautifully cinematic shots. Relying on sweat, ingenuity, and most importantly the latest technology, the filmmakers labored
to create a cinematic experience equal to a project many times its budget level. From a color palette that resolves along with the character arcs, to rotoscoped frame by frame animation, to crane shots created without a crane to snow generated without a snow machine, it’s a truly amazing visual piece combining live action and ‘sketchbook’ cartoon animation. Incredibly, the film was shot on the transformative CANON 5D Mark II digital still SLR camera.
COLIN HEARTS KAY will screen in Philadelphia at the Ibrahim Theater at the International House on October 21 at 7:30 pm and in San Diego at the UltraStar Theater on October 22 at 9:15 pm and October 25 at 9:40 pm. Director Sebastian Conley and cast members will in attendance for a Q&A after the screening in Philadelphia. Actress Emily Chang and Benjamin Conley, Sebastian’s brother and producing partner/ cinematographer, will be present at the San Diego screenings. Both cities’ screenings will be followed by official Colin Hearts Kay after- parties. The film will also kick off the opening night at the New York United Film Festival on Friday, October 22, at Cobble Hill Cinemas, Brooklyn.
Colin Hearts Kay Trailer
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About the Filmmakers:
Conley Brothers Productions is comprised of brothers Sebastian and Ben Conley (half-Chinese brother), who as a team have produced a wide range of video and animation content for a vast array of clients such as Conde Nast, NHL, Glamour and Subway. COLIN HEARTS KAY is their first feature film. Sebastian is a multiple award-winning director and illustrator whose animated series, BEING STANLEY, won an Emmy Award in 2007. A motion graphics and animation expert, Sebastian studied traditional cell animation at the Hanna-Barbera Cuckoo’s Nest production studio in Taiwan. He has illustrated five books and his cartoons have appeared on Good Morning America and in MAD Magazine. The Conley Brothers’ sick and twisted animated series, WeRBopBop, garnered several coveted awards based on user votes on Newgrounds, the Web’s largest flash animation portal. They live and work in Brooklyn.