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"Bits" screening Oct. 16

bitsWritten by Joe Lueben and Jesse Russell, “Bits” is an independent film about an awkward inventor who spends his days and nights obsessing over a mysterious project. Augsburg theatre and film alumni Ben Katz ’08, Linnea Mohn ’04, Philip Mershon ’06 (pictured), and Nancy Waldoch ’06 star in the film. The “Bits” screening is Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. in Sateren Auditorium.

Katz stars in and aided in the production of “Bits.” Though he did not start out studying film at Augsburg (his first major was psychology), his first filmmaking course showed him that all he wanted to do was make films. “I realized that [making films] made me happy, and I would not be happy unless I was making films.”

Katz’ passion for film helped him finish all of the film production courses at Augsburg by the end of his junior year. For his senior year independent project, he worked with film professor Wes Ellenwood and researched the documentation needed to produce an independent feature. Working with a 90-page script, he created a scene-by-scene breakdown of the script , a shooting schedule, a budget, and a business plan. The final production book was over 100 pages long. He remarked, “The best part about it was that it was for a real feature film. And I recently traveled to Los Angeles [where I] presented my project to the writer. That was a really fulfilling experience.”

“Bits” is the first film by Minneapolis-based FRD Productions. To create the film, an entirely local cast and crew of over 50 people relied on intuition, collaboration, and improvisation rather than traditional narrative methods. For more information and to watch the trailer, go to http://www.bitsmovie.com/

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