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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. It was a full theater at the Jacob Burns Film Center for the showing of Robert Celestino's feature film "Leave" in Pleasantville Thursday evening.
After the showing of the film, Celestino participated in a Q&A session along with his editor Todd Sandler that was hosted by New York Times critic Janet Maslin.
Celestino took the time to discuss the difficulty involved in shooting a movie of this nature.
"I tried to make the distinction between quitting and letting go, getting up and surrendering,"
The premise of the movie is the tale of a man, played by Rick Gomez, who suffers through terrifying nightmares after a traumatic accident. Throughout the course of the movie, the viewer is put in the character's shoes as he encounters important people who change his life drastically.
Yet, although there is a connection with the main character, Celestino discussed how important it was to him to shoot the movie from an outside perspective.
"We wanted every shot to feel as objective as possible," Celestino said. "We wanted it to seem like someone was watching him at all times, which is why we used a lot of bird's eye camera shots and stuff like that,"
The ending of the movie provided a surprising twist, and Celestino said that was important to keep the viewer's interest.
"I've learned over the years that people can forgive bad shots, bad editing, or even bad acting, but they can't forgive boring," he said.
After taking questions about the film from Maslin, Celestino and Sandler received questions and praise from members of the audience. One member took the microphone and praised the two on creating 'a beautiful film'.
Shoreline Entertainment is the selling agent for "Leave" and Celestino said they are attempting to sell the film domestically and also in multiple foreign territories.
To learn more about the film please visit their website at thefilm-leave.com and find them on facebook at www.facebook.com/thefilmleave.
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