News and Features

Ithaca Journal reprint cover story featuring "Waiting on Alphie"

On December 23, 2004, Kevin Hicks encourages Eric C Lindstrom to produce "Waiting on Alphie" after watching recent string of "average" independent films succeed.

January 24, 2005, White Lighting Productions, of Auburn, NY, formed to finance feature film.

February 1, 2005, Director of Photography (pictured below) and Unit Production Manager secured. Final crew list is developed.

February 16, 2005, White Lighting Productions and "Waiting on Alphie" featured on cover of the Auburn Citizen.

Orazio Salati agrees to donate original artwork to dress movie set on February 18, 2005.

February 23, 2005, project featured in Ithaca Times article by August Smith.

February 24, 2005, Eric Lindstrom appeared on WIXT's "Bridge Street" program featuring Rick Gary and Julie Abbott in Syracuse, New York.

Location for set has been secured, official announcement on this site to take place March 10.

February 26, 2005, auditions held. Over 20 candidates show up. Thanks to the Holiday Inn Ithaca (Charlene) for hosting the auditions.

Auditions held in Ithaca, NY for principle actors (Feb 26) and 20 potential candidates gave it their all. Thanks to Tom and Holly and Doug W. and Kim and especially Dave Hall for pulling it all together.

James K. Fulater, Lance Zurek, and Matthew Landon three actors from Buffalo NY, cast for the roles of Alphie, Gus and the waiter (respectively).

Keri Szymanski cast for the role of Brenda and Kendall McAdams cast as the café robber.

March 10, 2005, feature appears in Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin's Good Times section.

Location for filming is a custom sound-stage built to the specifications of the script in Ithaca, NY. CNY Book Auctions auctionhouse offers space for set.

Artist Tim Youngs agrees to custom-design menu board for set (LeeBo's Cafe).

Movie being filmed in Ithaca
Updated: 4/1/2005 4:53 PM
By: Megan Driscoll, News 10 Now Web Staff

Principle photography begins. 4/1 - 4/3, 2005.

Eric C Lindstrom and Kevin Hicks are featured on Casey Stevens' morning news program on WHCU-NewsRadio.

"Waiting on Alphie" featured on front cover of Ithaca Journal (4/6/05) with photography by MATTHEW HINTON. Eric C Lindstrom turns 38.

Production stills are made available to the media (will be updated regularly).

Doug Womack chosen to play the Pie Guy among dozens of entries in our contest. Congratulations, Doug!

April 10, 2005, Principle photography has commenced. "Waiting on Alphie" has entered post-production with outstanding performances by the actors and an excellent support system in the crew. Thanks to all who have supported this process.

Preliminary stills are uploaded to the site.

Anevis song "Remember" chosen for opening credits to "Waiting on Alphie." Anevis formed in 2003, based out of Tampa, Florida. A one-of-a-kind blend of Rock and R&B with Savina's felt vocals makes Anevis different from other Trip Rock bands and a perfect match for the movie.

Movie poster available for download (PDF file).

Editing "Waiting on Alphie" has begun. Interested distributors may contact Eric C Lindstrom here.

Interested in viewing the movie poster for Alphie? Click here.

B.J. O'Malley songs "Jailbird" and "Take Me" to appear on Alphie soundtrack along with songs by SPITZNAGEL, Blackwater Project, 36 Hours, John West, daymonthyear, La Cacahouette, 36 Hours and others. To read more about these artists, click here.

06-09-05 - Rough edit is complete! Running time right around 82 minutes. Off to the sound engineer and score composer.

Ithaca premier SOLD OUT for August 14, 2005 at Cinemapolis. For information (media contacts), contact Eric C Lindstrom.

Trailer for "Waiting on Alphie" available for viewing (see bottom of home page for WMV files).

Premier article appears in Ithaca Journal's "Ticket"

"Waiting on Alphie" submitted to Slamdance, Sundance, Tribeca, Miami, SXSW, Syracuse and Cinequest Film Festivals.

"Waiting on Alphie" reviewed by pajiba.com.

2005 Screenings:

• Invite-only screenings scheduled in Greater Binghamton for September 2nd at the Art Mission. Donations will go toward future development of an art-house movie theatre in Greater Binghamton.
• Invite-only screening scheduled at The Haunt in Ithaca for Tuesday, October 18th at 9 PM.
• Invite-only screening scheduled for The Palace Theater in Syracuse (Eastwood) for Saturday, October 29th at 2 PM. For information on tickets, contact Eric C Lindstrom. Media invited.
• Invite-only screening scheduled for November 18, 2005 in Buffalo, NY at the Market Arcade Theaters.

Diesel Movie Werks begins development of next project, "Sketched" (Oct/Nov 2005)

Buffalo News' GUSTO section publishes feature on "Waiting on Alphie" (Nov 18 2005)

Buffalo's ArtVoice publishes listing for "Waiting on Alphie."

Channel 7 News Buffalo interviews Matthew Landon and Kevin Hicks for 11 o'clock news.

"Waiting on Alphie" makes Microfilmmaker Magazine's Editor's Choice Award for December 2005.

"Waiting on Alphie is a great film that has a lot of lasting appeal. Its humor and commentary on life and crime is fun and quite enjoyable. Not since Pulp Fiction has an Indie crime film combined so much spontaneous humor with hit man intrigue."

- Jeremy Hanke, Microfilmmaker Magazine

---

"Films buff who miss the days of gritty dialogue-driven '90s indies like Things to Do In Denver When You're Dead and The Usual Suspects should check [this] out ..."

- M. Faust, ArtVoice Film Critic

---

"... an extremely interesting film, sort of a 'Dinner with Andre' with bullets ... like watching a very well made stage play."

- Michael Norman Saleman
filmrep.com

---

Quote from the Ithaca Times (10/2005):

"Kevin Hicks and Eric Lindstrom have made 'Waiting on Alphie,' their first locally produced film ... a Tarantino-like chamber piece set in a Buffalo diner between two guys. One has been assigned to kill the other, who wants not to be dead.

... the plot twists and turns ... ingenious."

- Bryan VanCampen, Film Critic, Ithaca Times

---

Quote from pajiba.com:

"... a great film, it's better than ... the schlock Hollywood has churned out this year."

- Dustin Rowles, pajiba.com

---

Quote from the Ithaca Journal (10/2005):

“… the underpinnings of their relationship are meant to unravel with the turning of the clock's hands from evening to dawn. Dark and absurd and even funny … the thrill of the story isn’t left to chance.”

- Maya Rao, Ithaca Journal

---

Artists from around the country appear on "Waiting on Alphie" soundtrack

[ITHACA, NY] Enter Gus. A hitman sent from Chicago to either whack Alphie or let him go. The order will come on the café payphone, affixed to a wall only 10 feet from where Alphie sips his coffee.

Alphie, straightening his flatware as he folds the Buffalo News, looks up. "Gus." he says. "Alphie," Gus replies, "Mind if I sit down?" As if he needed to ask.

Cue music.

But the new independent feature from White Lightning Productions won't feature the usual fare of expected Mafia music or top popular hits, "Waiting on Alphie," slated for a Fall 2005 release, has compiled a diverse and eclectic soundtrack to punctuate the original script.

"As we began editing this movie," said writer-director Kevin Hicks, "we realized we had a very unusual and different kind of hitman story unfolding. Working with various artists from across the country allowed us to fill in the background with a wide array of styles that adds to the overall feel of the picture."

Music like the country/punk strum and twang of Ohio's B.J. O'Malley or the metal thrashing of 36 Hours or the trance-like melodies from La Cacahouette, both from Buffalo, New York, where the movie takes place. The soundtrack, which often emits from an antique café radio includes Wayne Garard from Detroit, The Blackwater Project from Columbia, Missouri and a title track from Tampa, Florida's Anevis that sets the mood for the initial meeting of Gus and Alphie.

"As we pulled in all the elements of this movie," said producer Eric C Lindstrom, "one of the main pieces we wanted to make sure we included was original music. It sets the tone and adds so much to each scene. As we started to pull together independent artists we realized the range of styles really added to the quirkiness that we saw unfolding. All the artists have been great to work with."

Also included on the movie's soundtrack is Lonnie Park and John West from Cortland, New York, as well as Buffalo's The Missing Planes, daymonthyear and Ithaca, New York's SPITZNAGEL. For more information on the movie, contact Eric C Lindstrom, Producer, at 607-277-8901 or visit www.waitingonalphiemovie.com.

---

Ithaca, New York, the "Hollywood of the East"

In 1912, Theodore and Leopold Wharton came to Ithaca, New York to film a Cornell University football game. Impressed by the scenery and location of the Finger Lakes, the Whartons turned Ithaca into their own "Hollywood of the East," opening a movie studio at Renwick Park on Cayuga Lake. (Current site of Stewart Park). Other movie companies produced films in Ithaca, but none matched the success of the Wharton Brothers. In the years that followed, the Whartons produced sixty-six films, including numerous one- and two-reelers, dramas, comedies, serials, feature films, and documentaries. Their most memorable series was the "Exploits of Elaine" and "Patria."

Lindstrom/Hicks, the award-winning video production team based in Ithaca, New York, has begun pre-production on the company's first full-length feature film, "Waiting on Alphie" slated to begin shooting Spring 2005 in Ithaca, New York. The feature is also the first production for Auburn-based, "White Lightning Productions," a company formed this year. Moviemaking is returning to Ithaca, New York.

"Looking back at the rich moviemaking history of Ithaca is an inspiration on its own. Producing other projects regionally (including a documentary on the Cayuga Wine Trail) gave us the confidence to produce a narrative that can run the film festival circuit in 2006," says Eric C Lindstrom, Producer. "Kevin Hicks and I wrote this screenplay over a year ago and decided this year to produce it on our own. We are now casting the parts and assembling the crew."

Unlike Ithaca's filmmaking past, "Waiting on Alphie" will be shot and edited in digitally, which has had a tremendous impact on the filmmaking industry. Many of today's top independent films are shot digitally and this is not only a cost-saving measure but it saves time in postproduction as well. "Our experience with digital has been so successful we decided to make this movie completely on a digital platform," said Kevin Hicks, Director (Cornell 1990). "This technology and improvements in video cameras has made it possible to create low-cost movies with high aesthetic value. More and more movie makers are going in this direction."

"Waiting on Alphie" takes place in a café in New York joining two men in an overnight standoff. Gus, flown in from Chicago, awaits the order to kill Alphie or let him live. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, they are in a face-off that turns minutes to hours. As today becomes tomorrow, the two find themselves discussing life, society, food -- and a secret from the past that comes crashing down. The team shot the movie over two weekends on a custom-built set at the home of CNY Book Auctions in April in Ithaca.

"Even while growing up in Binghamton I was interested in filmmaking and shot a number of short films on a friend's 8mm camera," said Lindstrom. "I can remember we would bring the film to Tuthill's in Binghamton to have it processed and wait weeks for the film to come back. Nowadays we can instantly watch the dailies as they are being shot and edited right on the computer after a day on the set."

For more information on "Waiting on Alphie", contact Eric C Lindstrom at 607-277-8901 or email ericl@communiquedesign.com.

---

Links of Interest

Ithaca, Times - Weekly entertainment paper from Ithaca, NY

Ithaca Journal - Ithaca, NY's daily news source

Auburn Citizen - Auburn, NY's daily news source

Press & Sun Bulletin - Binghamton, NY's daily news source.

Holiday Inn, Ithaca - Premier downtown hotel in the heart of the city (site of actor auditions)

Ithaca, NY - Tourism website featuring this unique upstate, NY city

Cayuga Lake Wine Country: Road Trip - Feature documentary on the Cayuga Wine Trail by the Lindstrom/Hicks team (screened at New York Independent Film Festival)

Thomas Hoebbel Photography - Site of the Director of Photogs photography business

Tompkins County History Center

Hark Productions

Cinemapolis - Ithaca, NY's non-profit, downtown movie theater.

Heifervescent - UK artist appearing in movie.

Greater Binghamton's Art Mission

The Haunt - Ithaca's place for the best live music for 30 years.

"Waiting on Alphie" has been submitted to:

Sundance Film Festival

Slamdance Film Festival

Tribeca Film Festival

Miami International Film Festival