60 word synopsis

RAINBOWS END. (2010)
www.RainbowsEndTheMovie.com
Documentary Hybrid-Narrative Feature / 90 minutes
Aspect Ratio 1:33:1 (4:3) Standard Definition
Directed by Eric Hueber
Produced by Andy Cope and Eric Hueber
Media Contact:
Kelly J. Kitchens
[email protected]
office: 972-437-1845
cell: 214-684-1378
Production Stills available at:
www.alonestar.com/stills.zip
Video Trailer (Quicktime) available at:
www.alonestar.com/trailer.zip
Screener Copy available by request:
[email protected]
Alonestar Films
www.Alonestar.com
Contact:
Eric Hueber
[email protected]
512 - 656 - 6856
Andy Cope
[email protected]
512 - 540 - 2160
60 word synopsis
An invitation to record with The Legendary Stardust Cowboy prompts Country
Willie Edwards and his band “The Cosmic Debris” to launch their first West Coast
tour. Having never broken the gravitational pull of Deep East Texas, six men, two
roosters, and one bus embark on a perilous journey to the other side of a dream.
160 Word Synopsis
An invitation to record with The Legendary Stardust Cowboy prompts Country
Willie Edwards and his band “The Cosmic Debris” to launch their first West Coast
tour. Having never broken the gravitational pull of Deep East Texas, the band
invites three unique individuals who have dreams of striking it rich in California
to make the trip.
Straight out of 1978, opening act, Peter Guzzino hopes that his one-man show
resonates with modern audiences. Cockfighter Brian “Birdman” Birdwell offers to
drive the band’s fragile bus, Green Hell, in exchange for a chance at landing roles
for his prize roosters in a big time Hollywood feature. Parapsychologist, experienced hitchhiker, and global twirler Audrey Dean Leighton guides the expedition
as far as Los Angeles. Audrey Dean plans to learn the Internet and strike gold
with a cyber psychic readings storefront.
RAINBOWS END chronicles six men, two roosters, and one bus on a perilous
journey to the other side of a dream.
Cast & Crew
AUDREY DEAN LEIGHTON
“Global Twirler”
BRIAN ‘BIRDMAN’ BIRDWELL
“Cockfighter”
PETER GUZZINO
“One Man Band”
ZACH JONES
“Mathemusician”
WILLIE EDWARDS
“Country Willie”
ERIC HUEBER
“Drummer”
Audrey Dean Leighton grew up in the small town of Hemphill deep in the woods of
East Texas. After graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, Audrey spent decades hitchhiking and twirling his batons all over the world. Audrey joined the expedition West to learn how to begin an online parapsychology practice. His destination, the
Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles where they teach free Internet courses to people
over the age of fifty.
Peter Guzzino was the salutatorian of his high school class. As a communications major
at Stephen F. Austin State University, Peter became a celebrity on campus, known for his
exclusively seventies style and random acts of entertainment. Anywhere, anytime, Peter
sang and danced for audiences large, small, or completely unwilling. Peter’s one man
show joined the tour West as the opening act for Country Willie and the Cosmic Debris.
Peter hopes that someone will notice his incomparable abilities.
William Edwards III hales from the traditional country musical wellspring of Sardis,
Texas. “County Willie” as he’s known to his fans is a prolific songwriter with over onethousand songs to his credit. Many of his more popular songs were inspired by his
first hand encounter with UFO’s when he was a child. Despite of or perhaps in thanks
to the alien influence, Willie graduated valedictorian of his high school class. Willie is
headed West to meet and record with his all time musical hero, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy in San Jose, California.
Brian “Birdman” Birdwell is from Cushing, Texas where he met and became childhood best friends with director Eric Hueber. Brian is a carpenter, mechanic, poet,
cockfighter and lover of women. Birdman’s talent for the automotive arts lands him
the driver’s seat on Willie’s fragile tour bus Green Hell. Birdman hopes to land roles for
two of his prize roosters in an upcoming Hollywood feature. First, he must impress an
agent from Birds of Hollywood. Neither Eric or Birdman graduated with any honors
from their high schools.
Eric Hueber – Director/Producer/Writer/Editor
Eric grew up somewhere behind the Pine Curtain of Deep East Texas. He misses his
roots, but he loves his new home in Austin, TX. His previous work includes lots of TV
commercials, shorts, and music videos for artists such as White Denim, Fall Out Boy,
Less Than Jake, At All Cost, Total Chaos, and Sleepthief. Rainbows End is Eric’s first feature length film project.
Andy Cope – Producer/Writer
Andy co-owns Alonestar Films with Eric Hueber. For over a decade, they have worked
together in the field of commercial advertising with the goal of making a transition
into movie and television production. Andy studied cinematography, art, and graduated from Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. Andy was born and raised in Fort Worth,
TX.
Carlos LaRotta – Associate Producer
Carlos is a director, producer and co-owner of Birds-On-Fire in Austin. His professional
career includes commercials, music videos, and digital shorts. Carlos grew up in Kingwood, TX.
Philip Roy – Director of Photography
At a young age, Philip has already gained extensive professional experience. He has
worked as director of photography on nine feature films. Rainbows End was his first
feature length project and holds a special place in his heart. Philip won best cinematography at the Hollywood HD Festival in 2007 for The Lawless. In 2009 Philip won
best cinematography at the Boston Film Festival for Desdemona: A Love Story, and in
2010 Philip won best cinematography at the Milan International Film Festival for 2:22.
Keith Brown – Camera
Keith is a freelance film professional, photographer, and musician. He lives near Dallas where he works as a Lighting Technician. Keith graduated from Stephen F. Austin
State University with a BFA in Film Production and Photography.
Brandon Brown – Composer
After years of composing for the theatre and concert hall, multi-instrumentalist/composer, Brandon Brown formed the Floating Opera Orchestra. Brandon performed all
the instruments on the soundtrack. He was raised in Fort Worth but now resides in
Austin, TX.
Tom Hammond – Re-recording Mixer
Tom has supervised the sound on five of Richard Linklater’s films. For three of those:
Waking Life, Before Sunset and A Scanner Darkly, he was also the lead re-recording
mixer. He has supervised the sound and been the re-recording mixer on many other
independent features and documentaries. He received a BFA and MFA in film/video
production at the California Institute of the Arts.
With Music By
Country Willie
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Cameron Wade
Sleepthief
One-Eyed Doll
Director’s Statement
In 1984, my dad purchased our first cable box and I discovered MTV. I raced home every
day from school and watched it for hours. The marriage of music and images was my first
mystical experience with life.
Soon after, my parents decided to leave big city life. We moved to a community outside of
Nacogdoches, TX called Looneyville, deep in the piney woods of East Texas. Looneyville
only had one church and one store. The store burned down soon after we arrived. No
more cable, no more MTV. I had to rely on my imagination for those mystical experiences.
Between seventh and eighth grade, my best friend Brian ‘Birdman’ Birdwell and I spent the
summer trespassing/fishing in a neighbor’s pond. We never caught a single fish but failure
kept us coming back each day with greater resolve. Out there in a flat bottom boat, I started bouncing dialogue and plot scenarios off Birdman. I’m sure that he was as frustrated
with my rambling as he was with our inability to catch a fish. We arguably wasted an entire
summer waiting for a single bite, but I wrote my first script.
Living in Deep East Texas as an aspiring filmmaker, I may not have known great actors,
but I surrounded myself with great characters, the kind most people only see in movies. I
wanted to shoot narrative films but with the lack of acting talent I resorted to shooting my
friends, documentary style.
Rainbows Begin…
In 2003, I realized that a group of us had dreams that converged out west. I had a school
bus, real characters, and some serious roosters. A master plan emerged in the form of a
road-trip movie. Inspired by Fishing With John and The Muppet Movie, I wrote a treatment.
As luck would have it, the Austin Film Society responded to the idea. They granted us
$5,000, and the tour was a go. Or, at least the decision to take the trip was a go.
With great fanfare we left for California but ‘Green Hell’, our ’77 school bus, broke down before we even hit the Nacogdoches city limits. Before the crowd that gathered to see us off
had dispersed, we were towed back. It was an embarrassing failure, the kind that makes
you stick your head in the sand or step up your tenacity. I decided to keep fishing.
It took every penny that the Austin Film Society granted us to fix the bus. The summer
of 2004 came, and we were set for a second attempt. With a three-man crew and the sixman/two-rooster cast, we embarked on the trip that became the movie Rainbows End.
Actually, I should say that trip became 110 hours of random footage that still had to be
made into the movie Rainbows End. The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is
that I will never shoot a film again half-cocked, without a script, or at least not without a
budget for editors. When I first sat down with the footage, I had panic attacks when I realized that it was going to take me literally months just to watch it all.
I worked on Rainbows End in my spare time for close to a year, and was beginning to find
some structure when I was invited to intern on the editing team of Terrence Malick’s film
The New World. It was an unbelievable opportunity to work with a hero of mine. I shelved
my project, moved to Austin, and began working nights for Terry. After that experience ran
its course, I came back to my film exhausted, and burnt out on editing.
For two and a half years it remained on the shelf. I feared that the material lacked focus
and vision. The truth is, I was projecting my personal thoughts and feelings on the movie.
When I originally shot Rainbows End, I was discouraged that none of us had fully accomplished what we set out to do. How could I make a movie with an anticlimax? It wasn’t
until the end of 2008 that I revisited the footage and saw it with greater maturity. I realized
that I had a rough gem on my hands. It just needed a lot of time and care to get it in shape.
Fortunately, (maybe just for me) the economy collapsed about that same time. Work became scarce. With a new, seemingly infinite amount of free time on my hands, I poured
myself into editing the movie. My business partner, Andy Cope, helped me look at it with a
fresh perspective, and together we spit and shined for months.
In early 2010, we screened a rough cut of Rainbows End for the cast, crew and about two
hundred friends at the Alamo Draft House on South Lamar in Austin. After so much time,
work, and turmoil, we finally witnessed the reward. The response was exceptional. It was a
beautiful night, one I’ll never forget.
That night, I also realized Rainbows End wasn’t the movie that I originally intended to
make. It wasn’t even close. I had failed again. This movie was much more honest, and far
more special than anything I had imagined. It was a true testament to my friends on the
screen, and a tribute to everyone who contributed their time and talents to help make it.
I hope that other people see the good in the film. For me, Rainbows End is a story about
the journey, amazing characters, and the act of telling a story. I hope people can apply
something from it to their own lives, and that they walk away with a piece of what the
experience has given me.
Most of all, I hope it inspires people to try. Always try.
Screenings
Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
Dallas International Film Festival
Dallas International Film Festival
October 23, 2010
October 27, 2010
April 1, 2011 (10pm)
April 3, 2011 (Noon)
Austin Convention Center
Texas Spirit Theater
Landmark’s Magnolia Theater
Angelika Film Center
Austin, TX
Austin, TX
Dallas, TX
Dallas, TX
Press Reviews
“No matter if Rainbows End is a work of truth or fiction (or both), the film does include
a brilliantly absurd cacophony of music, wrestling, cockfights, mayhem, zaniness
and — let us not forget — cars that are blown up by a cannon. For some viewers the
unbridled craziness might be a bit too much to digest, but for others who are willing
to take a couple hits and go along on this far out trip, Rainbows End promises to be
pure comedic gold.”
Don Simpson, Smells Like Screen Spirit
“A long, strange and beautiful trip, Austinite Eric Hueber’s documentary chronicles
the silly-but-serious saga of a group of Texas men who board a broken-down bus and
sputter off to California in search of their dreams…Their joyful naïveté belies a deep
sense of purpose, and their grounded belief in their own vision is an inspirational lesson. The film is an absurdist fever dream that, despite the echoed tones of ‘Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas,’ bursts with pride and love.”
Matthew Odam, The Austin American Statesman
“There has never been another documentary quite like ‘Rainbows End’...I was under
the impression that it was a film Hueber had cooked up and filmed mockumentary
style...Then I found out it was all real and suddenly “Rainbows End” became something far more fascinating and poignant.”
Stewart Smith, Tyler Morning Telegraph
“Ultimately, what this movie is is a love letter to everyone who is crazy/gutsy enough
to take their shot, those oddballs and down-and-outers who create their own universes that we end up celebrating twenty years after they’re gone once hipster record
store clerks “discover” them. Well, you don’t have to wait. Hueber’s film allows you to
celebrate them right now, so get out there and do it.”
Cole Roulain, Vitagraph American