If you're from a film festival or news paper and you need promotional material from the film, we've collected a lot of the typically asked for promo stuff here. If you don't see what you need, feel free to E-mail us and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Downloadable Press Kit
Basic bio, various length synapsis and select photos for printing

Stats
Running Time
1 Hour 50 Minutes (110 Minutes)
Image

Color

Aspect Ratio

1:1.78 (16x9) for HiDef

MPAA Rating

(Not yet Rated, expect to be R)

Original Language

English

Country of Origin

United States
Shooting Formats
HDCam (1080p24)
MiniDV (24p)
Release and Delivery Formats
HDCam SR (1080p24)
DigiBeta (60i)
BetaCam SP (Two Tapes, 60i)
DVD (NTSC)
Sound

Stereo (All formats)
5.1 Surround (DVD only)

Year of Production
2003
Year of Release

2006 (Festivals)
2007 (Theaters and DVD)

Budget
Under one million (other than that, we're not saying...)
Official Festival Selections
2006:
Vail International Film Festival (March 30 - April 2)
Palm Beach International Film Festival (April 20 - 28)
Worldfest Houston (April 21 - 30)
IndieFest Chicago (August 3 - 11)
Indie 2006 Film Festival In Bazil
Port Townsend Film Festival (September 15 -17)
Ellensburg Film Festival (October 6-8)
Annapolis Film Festival (November 10-12)
St. Louis International Film Festival (November 9-19)
Santa Fe International Film Festival (December 6-10)
Bahamas International Film Festival (December 7-10)

2007:
Zion International Film Festival (February 23-25)

Festival Awards
Special Jury Prize - Worldfest Houston
Opening Night Film - Annapolis Film Festival



Blurbs
Here are descriptions of the movie in the various lengths commonly asked for. Click on the Document Icon to download the text in MS Word form.


One Line
Five teens on a road trip across the Pacific Southwest learn the limits of friendship and insecurity.



Under 50 Words
A dramatic comedy following five teenagers on a road trip through the American Southwest. They learn the deeper truths about friendship and insecurity when they discover one among them doesn’t plan on returning home when the trip ends.



Under 125 Words
Alex, James and Eric are three unlikely friends on a road trip from St. Louis to California. But Alex has other plans that don’t include coming back. In a small town in New Mexico they are joined by Susie and Kristie with secret plans of their own. From the Mid-West heartland to the deserts of the Pacific Southwest, The Naked Ape is a bitter sweet dramatic comedy about friendships, insecurities, rights of passage and the death of idealism. Corbin Bernsen and Michael Jackson round out the cast of this coming-of-age tale about trying to run away from your problems and learning that the real change has to take place within yourself.



Under 250 Words
Alex (Josh Wise) is a insecure teenager whose only friends are James (Sean Shanks), a charismatic liar, and Eric (Tony LaThanh), a skater punk with a shoplifting streak. The three unlikely friends embark on a summer road trip before returning for their senior year, but Alex has other plans that don’t include returning to St. Louis. While traveling through New Mexico, they meet Susie (Chelse Swain) and Kristie (Amanda MacDonald), two unlikely friends looking to escape the boredom of small town life. Kristie decides that joining the guys on their trip would provide a convenient escape from her abusive father, and Susie finds herself manipulated into coming along. Back on the road, the euphoria of freedom is short lived when bus tickets Alex bought for his friends to get home are discovered and Eric’s casual shoplifting catches up with him. Tempers flare and Alex and Susie find themselves thrown together, alone and lost in the Utah desert.

The Naked Ape is a bittersweet dramatic comedy about friendships, insecurities, rites of passage and the death of idealism. Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law) is featured as Alex’s father, forced to drop everything to come bail the kids out of trouble and Michael Jackson (Newsradio 1070 AM) provides a documentary-style narration drawn from the Desmond Morris book by the same name. The Naked Ape is coming-of-age tale about trying to run away from your problems and learning that the real change has to take place within yourself.






Stills
These are stills in .tiff format. Right Click (command + click on a Mac) on the pictures and select "Download linked file" or "Save linked file" or whatever your browser offeres you. (make sure you download the linked file, not the image on this page!) Though presented small here they are actually full size at 300dpi. If you would like additional pictures, you can find more on the Frame Grabs page. Like these you can Right Click on those to down load them. They are also full sized stills though in .jpg format. You can also download Behind The Scenes pictures, but they are not full resolution. If you'd like larger copies of those please E-mail up a request.


Director

The Naked Ape is writer/director Daniel Mellitz's first feature length motion picture.

(Available elsewhere on this site is a short Biography and a Director's Statement or you can download them in word from here.)

BiographyStatement


From the Film

Lead actors Josh Wise (Alex) and Chelse Swain (Susie) early morning on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Northern Utah.

Lead actor Josh Wise (Alex) with supporting actors Tony LaThanh (Eric, on the Left) and Sean Shanks (James, on the right) in the parking lot of a juvenile hall in Salt Lake City.

Lead Actor Chelse Swain (Susie) with supporting actor Amanda Macdonald (Kristie) in a campground bathroom in Salt Lake City.

Featured actor Corbin Bernsen (Alex's Father) facing lead actor Josh Wise (Alex) in the cafeteria of a juvenile hall in Salt Lake City.



Key Credits
This is a reduced credit list highlighting the names that festivals are most interested in. Elsewhere on this site is a complete cast and crew list identical to the credits in the final film and a page with individual biographies or you can download a copy in Excel format by clicking on the Document Icon below.



Cast
Crew
Alex - Josh Wise

Susie - Chelse Swain

James - Sean Shanks

Kristie - Amanda MacDonald

Eric - Tony LaThanh

Zoologist - Michael Jackson

Alex's Father - Corbin Bernsen

Director - Daniel Mellitz

Producer - Daniel Mellitz

Producer - Kathy Mattes

Producer - Troy Paff

Producer - David Vendl

Producer - Sally Yang

Associate Producer - James Renn

Associate Producer - James Atkinson

Writer - Daniel Mellitz

Cinematographer - Douglas Glover

Editor - Serena Warner

Composer - Mark Petrie

Music Supervisor - Cathy Tamkin

Casting Director - Mark Sikes

Production Design - Jen Swanston



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e-mail: TheNakedApe@mac.com
the naked ape © 2005 closed door productions, llc - all rights reserved • third party notices